These are comments by on the post “Why Are Men Four Times More Likely to Kill Themselves Than Women?“
Eric M. said:
“Men kill themselves 4x more often than women because it doesn’t matter. It’s not considered to be a problem by society. If girls and women killed themselves, 4x more often, you can bet it would be a HUUUUGE issue. By contrast, society at large celebrates and glorifies the death of boys and men, especially if done by violent means. This is the message that boys are taught their whole lives.
Evidence? When has a politician ever, Ever, EVER cared enough to even mention that 4x more boys and men kill themselves than girls and women? When has a politician even suggested intervention, funded by the government? Ever?
“N-E-V-E-R. Why not? Because they don’t care. At ALL. They care about the wage gap, violence against women, getting more girls into STEM and more women into FT500 offices, and they talk about these issues and are willing to create federally funded and state funded programs. Because society cares. As it should.
“But, boys and men dying, especially minority males, by whatever means, is irrelevant societally. What is the point in talking when no one cares to listen, when your issue is a non-issue because you’re male or, even worse, a minority male?
“That’s the message that men and boys are given. Boys and men committing suicide so often will change when society at large starts caring that boys and men commit suicide so often. The real question is when is that going to happen?”
wellokaythen said:
“Hang on.
“I see nowhere mentioned any statistics about *attempts* at suicide. My understanding was that men and women attempt suicide at much closer rates, but men are statistically more likely to “succeed” at the attempt. Men are far more likely to use a gun or other more certain method, less likely to leave a note, and less likely to use a suicide attempt as a cry for help. Women are more likely to try an overdose, for example, which fails to kill more than most people think. Women tend to attempt suicide in ways that are easier to thwart. For every instance in which a man kills himself, there are 2-3 times in which a woman attempts to kill herself.
“So, one part of the difference can be explained by the difference in methods that men and women use.”
Photo credit: Flickr / Erika Thorsen