Are men disposable?
In the fight for male dominance, there is room for only a few at the top. What happens to rest of us?
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Until recently, only men went to war. Millions of men have been sent to die as soldiers.
Forty-four percent of the homeless population are single men. One in four are veterans.
The majority of people warehoused in prison are men: one out of 18 men are under correctional control in the US today, compared with one in 89 women. Violence against men, particularly in prison, is largely ignored and accepted.
One in six men is a survivor of sexual abuse.
Although men’s mental illness is diagnosed at lower rates than in women, and women attempt suicide more often, men complete suicide at three to four times the rate of women.
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Yet there is a cultural aversion to seeing men in pain, or as victims. Today, thousands of veterans live in physical and psychic pain from their injuries. Male survivors of sexual abuse and other violence are not offered support. There are no abused men’s shelters.
Those who don’t measure up to the ideals—for male beauty, power, stoicism, virility, and other masculine markers of success—are told that we will find ourselves alone, broke, and helpless. We’ll be unable to achieve complete manhood, to enjoy intimacy with a partner, or to pass on a legacy to children. Men who are fathers are told that they are the less important parent, a stereotype we still struggle to overcome in fighting for paternity leave and custodial rights. And more direly, those men who cannot measure up as workers and who cannot find employment at a living wage, lack the basics for survival.
It’s clear that the way men are treated as disposable has far reaching implications. We are looking for the stories that illustrate these connections, the images to place in the minds of people who have never considered the plight of men. What are the ways in which men suffer? What is your story, as a “disposable man”?
Submissions for this theme are due by Saturday, January 19, for consideration. Send your completed submission (500-2000 words) in the body of an email to Justin Cascio, Senior Editor of The Good Men Project, at justin@goodmenproject.com.
Read more Calls For Submissions.
Image credit: Hello Turkey Toe
About The Good Life @ GMP
When faced with the woes of life people turn to others; my GOD, I hope it is someone anointed with the Holy Spirit. Many have been fortunate to have met me at their crossroads. I’m not concerned about the so called rule book. Act like you desire success and push non-supporters aside.
I am not sure that I understand the motivation behind asking a question, that by all reckoning reads like a rhetorical question. You already site all of the stats that are already known by most and are for the most part, agreed upon. Although I must add that the idea that women are pulling their weight in the military is far from true. There is no widespread movement by women to do their fair share in the military.Coming from a military family, my father served in Korea and my brother in VN, I don’t see the point in further underscoring what we know to be true, that people don’t care.
is the series going to be published?
It started today with W.R.R.’s “The Violence of Homelessness.”