Let’s face it: it’s not easy to talk about men’s issues.
First, there’s the fact that women pretty-much objectively have it worse . Second, there’s the fact
that most men would rather silently power through their problems than talk
about them – as if manliness alone could stop prostate cancer in its tracks.
Third there’s the annoying habit of so-called men’s rights activists to turn
every discussion on the subject into a cesspool of misogyny.
But make no mistake: there are some issues in our modern world that
disproportionately affect men, and our male-dominated media is almost
strangely silent on them.
Violence:
It’s no secret that men lead more violent lives than women. We’re more
likely to be murdered, more likely to be both the perpetrators and victims of
violent crime, more likely to join gangs and more likely to get thrown in jail.
In fact, the only areas where women are more-likely to be victims of
violence than men—domestic abuse and sexual assault—are in categories
where the perpetrators are frequently male. In other words, violence so
completely permeates every aspect of our lives that it winds up damaging
everyone, regardless of gender.
Well, it’s almost certainly rooted in childhood. Boys are more likely to be
beaten at school than girls, and parents are far more likely to encourage
fights between boys. Think about it: if one of your earliest experiences is
being told to punch that kid who insulted you, it’s no great leap to imagine
you’d reach adulthood thinking violence was the right response to, well,
everything. And since our culture loves to reward aggression—in the
boardroom, on the sports field, in the military—it’s easy to see why
unlearning that lesson might be next to impossible.
Depression
Depression itself isn’t solely a men’s issue. It affects people at all points on
the social scale and can destroy your life no matter what chromosomes you
have. In fact, a UK study went as far to suggest that women are slightly
more likely to suffer anxiety or depression than men, so you might be
wondering why the hell I included it here. The answer is as simple as it is
saddening: men absolutely suck at handling mental illness.
No joke. Whereas women are likely to seek help for mental problems, we
men are absolute experts at pretending there’s nothing wrong – even if
we’re dying inside. And that’s a major problem, because not getting help
can lead down a very dark path indeed. Right now, suicide is the single
biggest killer of young men in Britain, with America not far behind.
Homelessness:
In 2007, a survey carried out by the US mayors’ congress found that nearly
seventy percent of American homeless people were men. As a ratio that’s
absurd. And guess what? In other countries it’s even worse: a random
survey in Amsterdam placed the percentage of homeless who were male
at a stupefying eighty-eight percent. Even in countries with a smaller
gender gap, like Australia, men still account for over fifty percent of the
general homeless population. And once you’re out on the streets, the
gender gap only gets worse. According to a Danish report, homeless men
die an average of five years earlier than homeless women. How such a
massive difference is even possible I don’t know. But for a whole host of
reasons, each one probably more stupid than the last, men are statistically
more likely to wind up on the streets and die earlier once they get there.