Men, if we weren’t pathetic enough already, it’s only going to get worse!
According to a report in the British Journal of Psychiatry, the rate of depressive disorders among men will increase over the next century. In women, the rate is currently twice as high, but scientists say the rates could eventually match up.
Why is this happening, you ask? Those silly society, economy, and modernity things!
First, they argue that society is encouraging men to discuss their feelings more, and stop being so tough and stoic.
This could lead to greater diagnosis.
Second, Western economics are undergoing a “profound restructuring,” with traditional male jobs associated with manufacturing and physical labour being outsourced to low- and middle-income nations, or becoming obsolete through technological advances.
One of the researchers, Dr. Boadie Dunlop of the Emory University Medical School, added:
Furthermore, western women are increasingly becoming the primary household earners, with 22 per cent of wives earning more than their husbands in 2007, versus only 4 per cent in 1970. Compared to women, men attach greater importance to their roles as providers and protectors of their families, and men’s failure to fulfill the role of breadwinner is associated with greater depression and marital conflict.
Yes, yes. The “profound restructuring” of Western economics and the need for men to be “providers and protectors of their families.” We’ve seen this somewhere before, haven’t we? Oh yeah, we’ve written about it here, here, here, here, and everywhere else. Over at Gawker, Max Read hilariously hit it spot on:
Problem Area: Your Inability to Let Go of Your Already Outdated Sense of Gender Roles and Their Relationship to Your Self-Worth
Not sure if the researchers covered this one, but it seems like it might be important!
Solution: Never speak with anyone or watch television again.
That’s it, no?
Isn’t the biggest problem men not being able to come to terms with the societal changes? Isn’t it men not realizing that they don’t have to fit any specific mold, so long as what they’re doing fits them, personally? Isn’t that what’s wrong here? Not the actual societal changes, but our reaction to them. I wonder why that isn’t anywhere in the report.
—Photo daisiebellesmom/Photobucket