Wow! It really is surprising to come across such a misinformed and morally bankrupt writing on mental health. This piece—essentially a political screed pretending to be about men’s mental health—manages to incorporate science denialism, the long since abandoned 1980s feminist obsession with supposed “phallic imagery”, shameless politicization of a public health matter and the further stigmatization of men with mental illness.
From a statement of the purely factual the author pivots into entirely unsubstantiated radical feminist dross:
“The socialisation of men, it is important to understand, is based on homophobia, sexism and an incredible amount of pressure from media and peers who support these mindsets.”
This bold claim — unlike the reference to male mortality statistics which preceded it— bears no citation, it is a presented as a self-evident axiom.
What isn’t explained is why now in the West — when patriarchy is near non-existent, or if you otherwise insist, no worse than it ever was — male suicidality should be at a historical high. If there is a causal relationship between patriarchy and suicide we would expect the rate of male suicide to be — at worst — unchanged between the beginning of the 20th C. and the beginning of the 21st C. The only way that this central thesis of the article can be salvaged is to argue that patriarchy is now worse than it ever was. However, such a claim is untenable because it is entirely counter-factual. Nothing more need be said, the central premise of this political screed, is stillborn. But there is much more fault to be found.
We are told:
“This is why feminists often face the issue of trying to teach men that the patriarchy is as damaging to men as it is to women — that it provides a cage for both gender identities, while damaging many more identities and demographics in addition.”
This attempt to shoe-horn a political ideology into a public health matter represents a vulgar form of victim blaming and opportunism. Thus if you are male and are suffering from mental illness you haven’t sought help because you are somehow implicated in the subjugation of women. So the homeless schizophrenic male that sleeps in his own filth on a packing crate in an alley is somehow participating in a patriarchal conspiracy that keeps women out of STEM, amongst other things. How compassionate of the author. “Oh no,” you may cry out in Christos’ defence, “he’s not saying that! The homeless schizophrenic man is not asking for help because he is captive to his masculinity”. Really? So the problem isn’t that the homeless man has an acute psychosis and is tormented by a constant stream of auditory hallucinations and is delusional; he hasn’t sought help because he has internalized a self-destructive conception of masculinity. Really? This is an ugly, misanthropic and shameful idea to try and insert into the minds of those that have no exposure to mental health outreach programs and would not know better — all for the sake of ideological self-congratulation and recruitment. To preempt a likely response, this is not an unusual example, the lifetime risk for suicide for those with schizophrenia is ~5% (general population is 2.9%) [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2951591/ https://www.health.ny.gov/regulations/task_force/reports_publications/when_death_is_sought/chap1.htm ]. Further, the risk of suicide for a person after their first psychotic episode, without medication, rises to 37 times the base rate of 2.9%. Most of the homeless are men and 16-40% (depending on city) have mental illness [ http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/12/shelter.aspx ]. It takes a real misanthrope to try and use this most disempowered and marginalized of people as a means of propping up a mythical patriarchy in the Anglosphere.
We are told:
“Breaking Bad is a wonderful show, but it’s a show about men who are completely incapable of discussing their weaknesses, to the point where a man creates a meth empire rather than ask his friends to pay for his cancer treatment.”
Wrong. The protagonist tells us what really motivated him in his confession to Skylar (Season 5 Episode 16): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g-E4bvs94c
It appears that you have no regard for anything in your narrative construction.
But it gets worse:
“Men are terrifying creatures with an increasingly documented habit of killing women, gay men, animals and other men they don’t like.”
This is beyond the pale and shows that you have no real regard for men’s mental health and are just a vulgar propagandist. Only a very small minority of men have committed or attempted murder. How then is murder a “habit” of anyone other than serial murderers? Regarding animals, in all cultures in which eating animal protein is normative both men and women kill animals to eat.
There is much more I can fault but I self-censored for the sake of brevity. The real motive Christo’ screed is divulged towards the end:
“Let’s overturn the patriarchy and save as many men as women.”
This is really no different than:
— “accept Jesus as your saviour and you will be healed” (Christians)
— “rise proletariat, overthrow the bourgeoisie and your sickening alienation from your labour will end” (Classical Marxists)
— “if you accept a higher power you can overcome your alcoholism” (Alcoholics Anonymous)
— “if your engrams and body thetans are eliminated you will be illness free” (Scientologists)
This is what any ideologue or zealot resorts to when what they’re selling will not sell on its own merits: attach their ideology/religion/cult to some otherwise non-partisan, non-sectarian, non-political, non-religious matter. In this instance mental health.
Accepting radical feminism — which is what you are promoting since the notion of patriarchy distinguishes this branch of feminism from its first wave antecedent — is not a prerequisite to mental health nor is it a prerequisite to obtaining treatment for mental illness. This attempt at “binding” as per Alcoholics Anonymous and theism is highly unethical and not based in any evidence.
By way of contrast consider an (actually) very patriarchal subculture: that of Haredi (“Ultra-Orthodox”) Jews in both the USA and in Israel. Many secular and liberal/reformed Jews go so far as to describe Haredi Judaism as misogynist [ http://www.thejewishweek.com/editorial_opinion/opinion/when_fealty_jewish_law_becomes_misogyny ]. This subpopulation presents a challenge in receiving mental health treatment because of their (varying) rejection of modernity and highly regimented and ritualised lives [ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876201812002018 ]. Yet no one is calling on Haredi Jews to abandon their (actual) patriarchal customs, laws and traditions in order to become more mentally healthy. Instead, healthcare is delivered to Haredi Jews in a “culturally sensitive” manner, e.g. no female nurses for psychiatric in-patients. If anything, the interaction of Haredi Jews with mental health services shows that patriarchy has nothing to do with the etiology or treatment of mental illness of men. Furthermore, just as with the Haredim no one should be compelled/misled/shamed into adopting any ideology as a prerequisite to accessing mental health services.
Showing complete contempt for your readers you add:
“Love yourselves, men.”
Yes, love yourselves even though you are murderers, as you have been told earlier.
“I love you.”
No you don’t. Your self-loathing and misandry ooze out of your writing like puss out of a boil.
It is telling that it is mainly women that are congratulating you on your article. So even on an article ostensibly about men’s health it is women that are seeking to validate it. This irony appears to be lost on them.
