Categories: uncategorized
Date: 02 December 2011 11:28:09
The message that feminism needs to care about men too is well put in this article by Jane Powell on the CALM website. As a personal tutor and college mentor I have seen how hard it is for lads particularly to be willing to access the support and help they desperately require. It does not help matters that whilst there is acknoweledgement that male eating disorders and so forth are rising the focus of on looking for and understanding the warning signs is so often on young women, because these are the groups most at risk from self-harm and eating disorders - signs things aren't good.
In my experience of working with young men apart from the risk of suicide the risk of violence towards others as well as themselves and the risk of addiction starting/ getting worse is higher when they are miserable. This can lead on to issues which directly impact women coming into play but more often it leads to young men becoming further isolated as they try to deal with the feelings they are having which then often have guilt added to them.
Factors linked to these feelings often relate to issues such as domestic violence (upon men by women); girlfriends losing or aborting babies; losing contact with a pregnant partner or being a young dad threatened with losing access rights to their child; problems with step-parents; unemployment and not living up to parental or partner expectations. Many of these are issues feminists take up for women but because of the gendering of their actions- to show the disproportionate suffering to women caused by domestic violence for example - sometimes should hold responsibility for. We need to understand that pain is not gendered, the effects of violence are not gendered and the problems created by poor mental health are not gendered. And most importantly for me the effects of being a single parent are not gendered.
That's why I am wholeheartedly supporting CALM - as a feminist who believes that the voices of men need to be heard more often and as somebody who wants to tackle the male invisibility in some areas of life.