I actually read somewhere that transgenders have the highest suicide rate. I wonder if that’s because they are mentally unstable or because they are sad that they are rejected?
Back when we didn’t have a label, I wonder if that was the case. Sometimes I feel people are just better hiding their defects as oppose to hoping that the world accepts you for who you are and standing out. For the nail that sticks out is hammered down!
https://gillette.com/en-us/the-best-men-can-be
"Thirty years ago, we launched our The Best A Man Can Get tagline.
Since then, it has been an aspirational statement, reflecting standards that many men strive to achieve.
But turn on the news today and it’s easy to believe that men are not at their best. Many find themselves at a crossroads, caught between the past and a new era of masculinity. While it is clear that changes are needed, where and how we can start to effect that change is less obvious for many. And when the changes needed seem so monumental, it can feel daunting to begin. So, let’s do it together.
It’s time we acknowledge that brands, like ours, play a role in influencing culture. And as a company that encourages men to be their best, we have a responsibility to make sure we are promoting positive, attainable, inclusive and healthy versions of what it means to be a man. With that in mind, we have spent the last few months taking a hard look at our past and coming communication and reflecting on the types of men and behaviors we want to celebrate. We’re inviting all men along this journey with us – to strive to be better, to make us better, and to help each other be better.
From today on, we pledge to actively challenge the stereotypes and expectations of what it means to be a man everywhere you see Gillette. In the ads we run, the images we publish to social media, the words we choose, and so much more.
As part of The Best Men Can Be campaign, Gillette is committing to donate $1 million per year for the next three years to non-profit organizations executing programs in the United States designed to inspire, educate and help men of all ages achieve their personal “best” and become role models for the next generation.
Our tagline needs to continue to inspire us all to be better every day, and to help create a new standard for boys to admire and for men to achieve… Because the boys of today are the men of tomorrow.
We’ve all got work to do. And it starts today."
In my view, the underlying backlash/resentment against this ad, #metoo, BLM, etc… is a big part of why Trump got elected and why he still remains popular. I would say a good majority don’t necessarily agree with Trump and his blunt, vocal outbursts. However, when the left dishes out crap like this ad, this same majority probably just stays silent.
Wow look at the number of dislikes!
75k likes, 328k dislikes so far! I’m never buying one of their products again.
this is what happens when you cut ad spend. lol they went from “like a girl” which was a positive way to talk about categorizing people to this negative pos. its a bit odd too that they would try to alienate men, considering that’s who the hell would shave and that their competitors are already taking their share.
The thing they didn’t think through is that they are not just insulting the person watching, but they are insulting the fathers and/or other males who taught them how to be a man and their parenting as well if they have kids. At least that’s how I felt watching it.
I’m raising my boy to be as masculine as possible. You don’t know where people end up in life, maybe he’ll be a professor at a super liberal college or he’ll be in rough situations like I had to go through (hope not). Can’t risk raising a soft kid.
i wish pa was still around to give an unbiased review
you should name your boy Sue, brah
There is so much anxiety thrust upon kids these days that didn’t exist when I was growing up in the 90s (was that so long ago?).
Today children are raised inside a bubble- give them a tablet, keep them in doors, schedule everything, helicopter and coddle. Promise them the world, tell them they are special and that all of their wildest dreams will come true. Then off to college, take a seat in the intellectual safe space and ingest the latest post-modern neo Marxist SJW propaganda. Something wrong in your life? It’s not your fault, it’s the system oppressing you. Abdicate personal responsibility, embrace the victim mentality, and blame the white patriarchy.
3rd wave feminism has done nothing but infantilize women. Girls are told that STEM fields are hotbeds of sexism, any bad sexual experience makes you a rape victim, traumatic experiences damage you for life, and you can’t trust men to help you succeed.
When I was a boy I looked up to my grandpa who survived depression poverty in the dust bowl, served in WWII, and worked his ass off his whole life to provide for his family at a blue collar job. A pull yourself up by your bootstraps, slow to anger, never a complaint, god fearing man. Told me to look people in the eye when I talk to them, say please and thank you, respect women and call adults by sir, ma’am, Mr. or Mrs. Never heard a racial slur or sexist remark from the guy. A classic stoic, not a thrill seeker but would stand up for what he believed in and the people he loved. That is what I think of when I think of traditional masculinity.
Instead of making boys and men anti-fragile we are doubling down on the fragility. It’s no wonder that anxiety, depression, and suicide rates are worsening so much for men.
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/suicide.shtml#part_154969
https://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/
We are doing more now than we have ever done in the past to recognize and provide assistance to victims of bullying and sexual assault. Racists, sexists, and bigots are being called out in the media. Corporations are developing strict policies for workplace interaction. Unemployment is at record lows. Why do we see a rise in anxiety, depression, suicide? Why can’t people make meaningful relationships?
1 in 4 children under the age of 18 — a total of about 17.2 million — are being raised without a father. https://singlemotherguide.com/single-mother-statistics/
76% of school teachers are female. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=28
Toxic masculinity isn’t the problem. The lack of masculinity is the problem. Just my take.
i dont see why masculinity has anything to do with suicide. if anything it would point out that suicide is a old white manly thing to do. i did read somewhere in my socio class that privilege people have a higher chance cuz they feel more like losers when compared to their counterparts. happiness after all is = achievement - expectations and privilege people always have such high expectations!
https://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/
In 2016, the highest suicide rate (19.72) was among adults between 45 and 54 years of age. The second highest rate (18.98) occurred in those 85 years or older. Younger groups have had consistently lower suicide rates than middle-aged and older adults. In 2016, adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 24 had a suicide rate of 13.15.
In 2016, the highest U.S. suicide rate (15.17) was among Whites and the second highest rate (13.37) was among American Indians and Alaska Natives (Figure 5). Much lower and roughly similar rates were found among Asians and Pacific Islanders (6.62), and Black or African Americans (6.03).
In 2016, firearms were the most common method of death by suicide, accounting for a little more than half (51.01%) of all suicide deaths. The next most common methods were suffocation (including hangings) at 25.89% and poisoning at 14.90%.
Researchers from the San Francisco Federal Reserve found people who earn 10 percent less than their neighbors are 4.5 percent more likely to commit suicide.
Location, location, location. Poverty has been shown to increase suicide risk, but location plays a big role as well. Low-income individuals who lay down roots in wealthier communities are essentially setting themselves up for disaster. Not only do they have less cash to afford a higher cost of living – health care, housing, and other expenses are typically higher in high-income areas – but they’re basically living inside of the wealth gap. That all leads to an increased risk for suicide.
$34,000 is the misery line. If earning $75,000 annually is the benchmark for financial happiness – earnings over that amount haven’t been shown to increase happiness in the long-term – then consider $34,000 the new tipping point for financial misery. People who earned less than $34,000 were 50 percent more likely to commit suicide, researchers found. People who earned between $34,000 and $102,000 increased their risk for suicide by only 10 percent.
Unemployment. The secret to happiness may simply be having a 9-to-5. “We find that being unemployed or out of the labor force, for any reason, raises suicide risk relative to being employed,” the researchers write. Unemployed people, in fact, are 72 percent more likely to commit suicide than people who are working. Retirees and people on leave from work also had higher suicide rates.
Suicide rates have risen across the board on an age adjusted basis where it is the second leading cause of death in people ages 10-34 and boys/young men have 4x the risk than women. Unless eating too many cheeseburgers, getting diabeetus and dying of a heart attack is a form of suicide then there are more important things to focus on with regards to causes of death in old white men.
You state that privileged people have a higher chance of suicide because of expectation but then quote the figures that state suicide rates are far higher in poor people. Last I checked privileged people are not poor so how do you define privilege?
My argument is that the coddling of our youth is setting them up for failure in life because they are not prepared to deal with their problems. I believe this results in anxiety, depression, victim playing and blaming other people/society instead of metaphorically “cleaning your room” or dare I say “manning up.” I’m not saying that it is specifically that a lack of masculinity is the driver for all of these issues but I think some masculine virtues would better prepare people to handle them.
Just to make sure I’m following, rates are dramatically higher for men age 45-54 than any age group <34 because we’re raising people not old fashioned and manly enough? The four highest categories by rate per CDC are age 45-54, >85, 55-64, and 75-84. I think this is one of those rants that sounds really great on paper until you bother to actually dig into the data. We really need to get these whipper snapper’s into shape like the greatest generation so they can be prepared to not contribute to crime, violence and suicide stats and live a long full life like their grandpappy did *POW*… Grandpa?
Anyhow, you’re right it is terrible that there seems to be something related to the male population that is almost poisonous to them or toxic if you will, that I wish some mental health organization would attempt to raise awareness on… Nah, who am I kidding, a bunch of snow flakes would just get offended about it and boycott personal care companies.
Another point of interest- you often hear the figure that black men make up 7% of the population but 37% of the prison population. We all know this is because of the oppressive white patriarchal court system. But did you know that 70% of black children are born to unwed single mothers? Who is teaching masculine behavior to a boy who is raised by a single mom and 76% of the time has a female teacher?
I think that’s a pretty simplistic understanding of what growing up with a single parent is like.
I commend the APA for raising awareness about issues men face but I condemn their broad categorization that traditional masculinity is oppressive because there are positive virtues within traditional masculinity that society is largely missing today. Gilette is just joining the virtue signal bandwagon. This is the same company that charges more for crappy women’s venus razors. https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristatorres/listen-lets-talk-about-mens-razors-vs-womens-razors
^Brah, I read your description of your grandpa who sounds like a standup guy - hard-working, family-loving, respects fellow human beings, not racist, all that. Sounds like a good person. Why are any of these virtues associated with ‘traditional masculinity’ other than the fact that your grandpa happened to be a male, is it something about the Y chromosome that I’m missing. Then the whole argument that single moms cannot teach their kids such behavior - haven’t heard such hоrseshit in a while.
^ Being a provider, protector, assertive in action but reserved in emotion, these are traditional masculine virtues. You should read some of the stoics, may I recommend Marcus Aurelius?
Certainly mothers can and do teach this sort of behavior and I’m not saying that it is uniquely male behavior just like being aggressive and violent is not uniquely male behavior. You do not need to be a man to act “masculine” and negative “masculine” traits can be learned just as easily from a mother as a father. A mother can not replace a male role model though and there are studies that support this.