Men’s mental health is not a problem for women to solve –

Contemporary feminism is experiencing increased pressure to meet men’s needs as an increasing number of women seek to accommodate men’s concerns in their space and persuade men to join the movement. This expectation in a space designed for women’s advancement has disturbing consequences and is inherently unproductive.

The increase in men citing deteriorating mental health as a problem that plagues them is often accompanied by a tendency to blame women for lack of concern or reluctance. It’s not that men’s mental health isn’t a worthy cause, but if men want to create a movement to address their specific issues, they need to drive it themselves. The claim that women are causing or contributing to the problem and should change themselves and their spaces to fix it is untrue and offensive.

The enemy of feminism is what forced the crisis in the first place. Men refuse to admit that their problems are caused by this common enemy, so they direct their condemnation towards women, the only visible others, making every issue an unproductive debate between men and women.

The way many men approach raising awareness is completely the opposite; most have never experienced gender oppression. They use statistics they don’t understand, like higher suicide rates, to prove it’s just as bad. But how can someone comparatively say that someone is worse when women are more likely to attempt suicide and have higher rates of mental illness? If men want productive solutions to the problems they face, they need to stop using them as a tool to win a debate that doesn’t exist.

Most other communities take the initiative to celebrate and raise awareness about their issues. Where queer communities organize parades and rallies Pride Monthwhile women create campaigns and donation drives Women’s History Month. Crowds of men say that not enough people are watching Men’s Health Awareness Month not understanding that if they themselves had taken the initiative to implicitly communicate their problems instead of answers, many would have followed suit.

Women continue to try to force men to engage in feminism, demonstrating that dismantling patriarchy will benefit men. But why do we have to prove that men have something to gain? Men benefit financially and socially from women’s unpaid and undervalued work. Apart from empathy, which should be a good enough motivator, there are several reasons why they want to participate in feminism.

Feminism fights for equality, which cannot and should not be done on equal terms. Closing the equality gap by supporting the rights of an oppressed group does not require equal efforts from both sides of an unequal system. It is not a woman’s role to show unconditional sympathy to someone whose pain manifests itself in apathy, misogyny or violence towards them.

Suicide in all forms must be prevented. While efforts must be made to make men feel safe expressing their emotions and suicidal thoughts without stigma, this cannot be compared to fighting for basic rights. Because of these choices, women will die at the hands of our system, slaughtered like farm animals. Men’s mental health crises are not systemic or rooted in historical oppression, but the mental, physical, emotional and social struggles that women face and will continue to face.

Before you remove yourself by calling this argument an over-generalization that doesn’t apply to you, remember that literally everything, including women’s policy, is based on generalizations. If the overall trend shows a pattern, it is the responsibility of the entire community to consider it.