Mental health is a topic that is associated with a lot of stigma. Tremendous advancements have been made in recent years regarding how we as a society perceive and discuss mental illness, which is fantastic, but based on my own observations, there is one area where mental health awareness could use some serious improvement.
Mental health and men are two concepts that tend to clash quite significantly. As a result of heteronormative assumptions and hierarchies throughout history, it has become socially acceptable to maintain the belief that men who struggle with their mental health are weak because they aren’t depicting the typical behaviour affiliated with masculinity.
I say this belief is horse shit.
Mental health is relevant to all people, regardless of gender, sex, age, race, and lifestyle. It impacts men and women the same, but it seems as though women are more comfortable discussing their mental health openly and publicly than men. This is a generalized observation – some men do, in fact, speak about mental wellness publicly, but I would argue a majority of men refrain from doing to to avoid coming across as feminine or weak.
The presence of toxic masculinity in terms of men’s mental health is a serious problem. I know males who have blatantly expressed their hesitation to converse about their mental wellness as a result of them being male, and therefore being expected to perpetuate a specific masculine persona. This ideology is an extremely harmful and dangerous one, and it must be challenged in order to free up conversation pertaining to the mental health of men.
Men should be able to feel comfortable about discussing their mental health without feeling vulnerable. The stereotype that assumes men shouldn’t openly discuss their emotions is why there is a hesitation from males to be open about their mental health in the first place, and it is one that needs to be eradicated.
ontheedgeofeverything 
This is so true. There are so many men suffering with poor mental health but feel like they have to conceal it because of the idea that “men are meant to be strong” which is so not true!
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Absolutely!! It’s so wrong. Thank you for reading!
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Agree! One of the biggest problem in our current society reside in the fact that men have a very hard time talking about their feelings creating a whole lot of issues for themselves and the people around them. This statement seems overgeneralized, unfair, and a tad offensive; but it is actually backed up by a lot of studies. My eldest daughter Maya put her blogger’s hat on and wrote an article dealing with this important societal issue. I was very impressed with the way Maya tackled this sensitive issue: I am bias of course because she is my daughter after all, but judge for yourself. I guarantee you it will be time well spent https://authorjoannereed.net/men-feeling-shitty-its-not-just-you/
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Thanks so much for reading, your insight, and for sharing your daughters article!
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You are most welcome 🤗🙏
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