I had a brother, and since we are Jewish, that is a culture that is more open about its feelings than most, and men are far less threatened about talking about them. We grew up together and shared a lot, and I learned not only from him but from his observations about the more macho crowds around him. I read male authors and try to absorb the unspoken gestalt behind their assumptions. I know that under the skin men and women are both driven by the same chemicals, though in different balance, and that a lot of male behaviour is the result of feelings that women would really understand at the source, that they express differently or choose to deny, as the male template dictates. I am aware that a lot of that template has to do with the male struggle for dominance in the Darwinian dance, the fact that males are by their nature designed to compete with each other physically and agressively, and nature rewards them for this.
Vulnerability is bad.
Emotions are expressed indirectly, through actions, or sometimes by the very act of not saying things. Bear in mind that the male animal was designed to do combat with its own kind, much as the stag with the big antlers, and a lot falls into place. Beneath the template are the same hungers, the same needs, that all of us feel. It's certainly the moment that appeals most to female readers,the struggle of emotion against nature. I could go on forever, but I guess if there are basics, those are them.