Editorial: Men’s mental health often ignored

Men’s mental health is often ignored when compared to their female counterparts. As of 2020, men were 4x more likely to commit suicide than women, and this statistic has only risen over the past several years. The worst part of this all being the fact that the majority of people are refusing to address it. Men are more likely to suffer in silence. This is what is known as the Warrior Mindset, something instilled in male youths across the nation. The Warrior Mindset creates a feeling of lesserness when men open up and talk about their feelings.

Over the past 20-25 years, the nation has been slowly building on an idea. Whether it be through pop culture, social media, or movies – men’s feelings are not as highly valued as women’s. This is popularly known as “extreme feminism”. The idea that the man is to be the provider and protector of the household can be dated back to the television of the 1950s. Although gender inequality was frequent back then, the idea stated stands true even today.

In many instances, the installment of this mindset in young men has not been direct. They have slowly been given hints throughout their childhood that they are to be big, emotionless robots for their future family. In the case they ever do open up to anyone, they would be looked upon as lesser and weak. Although this might seem extreme, there are facts to back it up.

More than 80 percent of professional athletes are men. When most athletes are being brought up they are taught that they should play through pain and stop at nothing to get what they want. Although this may seem like a good thing, it can prove harmful for lots of athletes that ignore injury. If an NFL player gets a career ending concussion, nine times out of ten, they would play in the Super Bowl the next day if given the chance. Simply because they know that if they dont play, they will be looked upon as weak and inferior. It is an extremely toxic and dangerous mindset to take place in, but it is unfortunately what boys are taught. This goes hand in hand with what is being taught concerning mental health. In both instances you have a man in pain that wants to quit and ask for help, but deep down, they know they can’t. Purely because of what they have been taught. Because society will consider them weak. 

So after all this, what is the source? This is what experts are trying to figure out, and while they haven’t figured out a direct cause to this issue, there are several ideas. The most widely believed is the idea of “extreme feminism”. It is believed by many therapists and other scientists that as gender equality became the norm, women got a sense of entitlement. Rightfully so, they were mistreated and under appreciated in society for decades. But the rise of equality amongst genders proved an issue. As time progressed, this created a different kind of inequality.

The idea that it was actually men who were lesser was spread through pop culture and popular TV. The term “girl power” was spread throughout the country. To the unsuspecting reader, this would sound like a good thing, but unfortunately it turned from female empowerment to an unequal playing field when it comes to mental health. Mental health specialists believe that the idea of women’s empowerment was a key factor in the downgrading of the importance of men’s mental health. This dramatically worsened the issue of men’s mental health.The best thing that people can do is to spread awareness and realize that the only way to make this better is to truly make all genders feel equal.