I've lived a fairly long life, had many friends of both sexes, dated for many years before getting married over 13 years ago and I have seen people of both genders want to "vent" or communicate a problem, only to either get it off their chest, or get sympathy/emotional support.
That being said, of all the people I have seen do this, only women have ever complained about me offering solutions to their problems and explained they just wanted sympathy...or to be heard etc. Some of them said it was cultural (An austrian friend of mine said that Austrians like to complain and when asked how they are doing...they like to list all the things wrong in their life...lol), some said it was based on gender (when a woman says she has a problem, she doesn't mean she wants a solution, just that she wants someone to listen and give emotional support etc). In every case though, the person saying such things was female.
Perhaps there were guys that felt that way, they just didn't verbalize it. I've certainly had male friends who complained about things without wanted a solution. It's quite likely guys don't want the person they are talking with to try and solve their problems as well....but they just don't want to say that lol.
I guess, on the whole though, my male friends have usually brought up emotional stuff far less then my female friends. I think, for the most part, we find other ways of dealing with stuff (sports, video games, getting in an argument with someone...and many other ways both healthy and unhealthy). I think, in general again, that often women use communication (verbal that is) more then men, which could often be a better solution then what men come up with.
Then again, I've had many friends go on about girls they are dating, family issues, problems with their job etc...so it's not like guys don't complain or communicate problems verbally as well.
In the end, I think the idea that men want solutions and women want emotional support is incorrect....and that, like most things, it is based more on the personality involved, then just on the gender. Women may tend to have certain personality traits that make it more likely for them to communicate in that way, but it is not their gender specifically that causes that. Instead, I think it has to do with the feeling you can express your emotions freely and not be thought less of, and masculine/feminine stereotypes (IE, men should buck up and be a man...and not complain about stuff, show emotions or feelings etc).
I must admit, I have always struggled with people telling me problems they have, and not wanting solutions. I get the concept, but I just plain WANT to solve things if I can. I have, over many years of marriage, eventually realized that it is not always best solution to a problem, to try and solve the problem.