they wanted me to sit silently and listen while they complained about their jobs or talked shit about an ex

Makes me wonder whether they have other relationships they're able to do that in.

I'm still not totally sure what "emotional labor" is since it seems to be conflated with so many different things, but if we define it as the burden of serving as someone else's emotional crutch then it seems odd to me that this is considered a women specific issue. In my experience it tends to go the other way more often than not. With men being expected to offer emotional support to the women in their lives while getting very little in return.