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6. Harness strengths. The stereotype of men being achievement-oriented, competitive problem-solvers can work to health-care providers’ advantages; the key, according to Courtenay, is to explain to men how they can beat diseases by taking control.
I wonder is there a 10,000 lb elephant in the room and no one wants to talk about it. That elephant is women only healthcare, in Canada, we have dozens of women only healthcare centers and hospitals and only a couple for men. Women only diseases receive WAY more funding than men only diseases. By last count women receive over 80 cents of every health care dollar. I am no doctor but I am pretty sure that this will add to the life span difference. Now imagine for a moment a country where 80+ cents of every health care dollar… Read more »
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I agree with you fully Richard. It really is a matter of a long established standard of what MEN are like and how we are expected to behave in our social, family, and relationship circles. This pressure to fit a certain template of manliness if often mistaken as pride-led poor decisions. As you stated, it’s hard not to spring a tangent or debate when scratching beyond the surface with this topic because at some point there is sense of fault on one side or the other, when as with everything it tends to fall somewhere in between. While I think… Read more »
dungone
Agreed. A bunch of mush. Among other things, dying young is completely different from dying at an advanced age but, on the average, several years younger than women.
Primary reason is to get more ammunition–sugar water in Supersoakers–for those who want something else about which to reproach the het male WASP lifestyle.
Great, another specious report on men’s life expectancy based purely on special pleading? Say it ain’t so! Let’s do a thought experiment. Let’s take away birth control, c-sections, ultrasounds, abortions, drugs, and every other medical advancement that helps women survive pregnancy. And while we’re at it, let’s make it so less women have access to health insurance instead of the other way around. Now, let’s write an article about women’s resulting shorter life expectancy by saying that 1 year of the difference is from purely natural and unavoidable causes and the other 4 years is due to a cultural failure… Read more »
Amber.
You’re right that women have and should have those traits. The point is, though, that men are expected to have them, and women are not. It’s a social expectation. Pointing it out is not the same as endorsing it, although pretending they’re the same is common in various debates. Problem is, it’s transparent as a sheet of window glass.
The only thing that bothers me is this passage: “What’s intriguing about the newest research, however, is that the way to extend male life isn’t to feminize us but build upon traditionally male attributes that turn out to promote healthier choices. “Men high in traits that are often considered masculine ideals—self-reliance, responsibility, emotional maturity and an even-keeled approach—are more prone to visit their physicians and avoid risky behaviors, findings suggest.” You do say they are traditionally male attributes, but it’s still insulting to claim that self-reliance, responsibility, emotional maturity, and even-keeled approach are male attributes and not attributes all human… Read more »
This article has been bothering me all day – and I am afraid I have to add it to some other Matlack articles that have been offensive and not reflective of a “good man” in my book. Sometimes he shows some promise at grasping these issues, but too often he seems to me like a guy with some serious “daddy issues” where everything is about defining things as “masculine” and living in some kind of homosocial masculinity (where masculinity is defined by and for men – and women are dependent auxiliaries to the all-important, self-reliant man) at the exclusion than… Read more »
Let me offer a slightly different perspective. I agree with Tom pretty much, and see nothing misogynistic about what he wrote. Lately I’ve been reading Louann Brizendine’s The Male Brain. Now I know that there’s some overlap between males and females here, but the truth is that men cannot actually feminize. The reason is that, over the life course, men produce much more testosterone and vasopressin than women. This is why men are especially equipped for linear thinking, problem solving, and so forth. Their aggression can be used appropriately to defend themselves, women, and children. Sure, Emily, we need to… Read more »
Henry, behaviors like sadism, cruelty and the urge to control inappropriately in adults are rooted in child abuse, and certain personality disorders and are found in both men and women. The myth that these things are rooted in masculinity is modern. That book sounds great, I haven’t read it, just the reviews but her message, stop trying to turn men into women and attacking men for not being women is timely. Emily Schwyzer, is a modern traditionalist, he promotes an extreme form of traditionalism in which women are worshiped as infallible, morally superior objects, all the writers you mention infantilze… Read more »
We’re talking about healthcare. Is there a correction in this for the fact that 90% of workplace deaths are of men? That men enjoy or at least endure higher-risk activities which lead to occasional death? Keep in mind that a man dying of reckless driving at age 22 pulls the average down considerably more than a guy dying at, say, 78. It isn’t all health care. Too bad we have the preaching to the stereotypical guy–whoever he is, he must be busy–who’s too John Waynish to see a doctor. Case in point. I do what I think I have to… Read more »
I like the way you presented the “what you can do about it” part of this article. If I were a man, I think I’d be more likely to take notice…
Thanks Gabi I did try…
“Men high in traits that are often considered masculine ideals—self-reliance, responsibility, emotional maturity and an even-keeled approach—are more prone to visit their physicians and avoid risky behaviors, findings suggest.” I wouldn’t consider these to be “masculine ideals,” but more to be human being ideals. In fact, as Michael Kimmel as noted, “masculinity” in the US has often been defined by being so emotionless – and so unaware of your emotions – as to be an inanimate object “a sturdy oak,” and to take big risks, not really “an even-keeled approach.” Also, “self-reliance” would seem to suggest that one not trust… Read more »
I’ve checked the original article and I see it was misunderstood here. From the original article: “Gilles Tremblay, PhD, a social work professor from Quebec City told the APA that when you look at the difference in life expectancy between men and women, while one year is biological, or possibly genetic while the rest is cultural. His research shows several traits normally associated with men — specifically emotional suppression, aggression and risk-taking—are linked with fewer visits to doctors and hospitals and much higher incidences of injury and disease. “‘We have to frame health-care seeking as an act of self-reliance,’ University… Read more »
I’m not going to go through all the different pages, but thank you dispelling the feminist myth that women are biologically superiour. The gap first opened up the 1950s for some reason … men tend to pay for a disproportionate amount of healthcare yet use it less. They are also subtly encouraged to sacrifice their health for others. This will seem petty but “man flu”, I don’t know how many women I have heard scoffing and mocking when men get sick. I was talking to a relative who works in health care, and she said a lot of the nurses… Read more »
Highly recommend Crowley & Lodge’s “Younger Next Year.” Great advice, accurate science and biochemistry, targeted at men (the original book anyway), really works.