4 ms·

Rather than blaming men for not living longer consider how much less is spent on treating and researching male health issues than female. For example in the UK

Rather than blaming men for not living longer consider how much less is spent on treating and researching male health issues than female. For example in the UK boys were offered the HPV vaccine 10 years after girls. Yet during that period male death rates from HPV related throat cancer were comparable to female death rates from HPV related cervical cancer.

dan-robertson 7y ago
I don’t really buy this claim. I think there are also examples of this the other way round (eg endometriosis affects many women but little research was done into it for a long time and people were turned away being told they were just imagining their pain instead of being given a diagnosis). I don’t think I’m in a good position to guess at which sex is treated worse by medical research but I don’t think it’s obviously men.
- ericmay 7y ago
  I’m not sure medical research treats one gender better than the other - not something I have a strong opinion about. But if the person you’re responding to is truthful, it’s odd that if the rates were similar why we only hear about one of the two groups being affected, isn’t it? I think if you search you can find a lot of these across both sexes, actually. I’m not sure what the cause of throat HPV is, but if it’s oral sex on women maybe that reveals a societies taboo. It’s so taboo that we are willing to let people die rather than admit it. Anyway just a few thoughts as I was skimming the posts here.
  - sadfklsjlkjwt 7y ago
    As far a public health is concerned it's settled fact and has been for some years. The main risk seems to be for men that have sex with men rather than oral sex with women. Men that have sex with men can now (finally) get the vaccine on the NHS up to the age of 35.
- sadfklsjlkjwt 7y ago
  It is not a 'claim' just google the spending rates.
ribosometronome 7y ago
Understanding cause of death is not "blaming men". The reasons for the gap are, for the most part, known. Big gaps are explained away by the suicide rate for men being 3.54x higher for males vs females and men delaying preventative medical treatment. If you're arguing for the stoic-ness of traditional masculinity as a way to maintain mental health, as the comment I was replying to was, it's important to understand the real mental health issues and longevity issues associated with that same behavior.
- belorn 7y ago
  Since you claim that the reasons are know, it seems to miss that a major reason for successful suicide is untreated depression which are well know area in medicine known to discriminate against men. You can blame masculinity, or you can blame society for how it react to men who seek help.
- sadfklsjlkjwt 7y ago
  > men delaying preventative medical treatment. In the case of HPV caused cancer this is because there is (rightly) a massive screening program for cervical cancer and yet most men that have sex with men don't even know that they are at increased risk of HPV caused throat cancer. Similar programs exist for other diseases that exclusively affect women. They do not for diseases that exclusively or disproportionately affect men.

dan-robertson 7y ago

I don’t really buy this claim. I think there are also examples of this the other way round (eg endometriosis affects many women but little research was done into it for a long time and people were turned away being told they were just imagining their pain instead of being given a diagnosis). I don’t think I’m in a good position to guess at which sex is treated worse by medical research but I don’t think it’s obviously men.

ericmay 7y ago
I’m not sure medical research treats one gender better than the other - not something I have a strong opinion about. But if the person you’re responding to is truthful, it’s odd that if the rates were similar why we only hear about one of the two groups being affected, isn’t it? I think if you search you can find a lot of these across both sexes, actually. I’m not sure what the cause of throat HPV is, but if it’s oral sex on women maybe that reveals a societies taboo. It’s so taboo that we are willing to let people die rather than admit it. Anyway just a few thoughts as I was skimming the posts here.
- sadfklsjlkjwt 7y ago
  As far a public health is concerned it's settled fact and has been for some years. The main risk seems to be for men that have sex with men rather than oral sex with women. Men that have sex with men can now (finally) get the vaccine on the NHS up to the age of 35.
sadfklsjlkjwt 7y ago
It is not a 'claim' just google the spending rates.

ribosometronome 7y ago

Understanding cause of death is not "blaming men". The reasons for the gap are, for the most part, known. Big gaps are explained away by the suicide rate for men being 3.54x higher for males vs females and men delaying preventative medical treatment. If you're arguing for the stoic-ness of traditional masculinity as a way to maintain mental health, as the comment I was replying to was, it's important to understand the real mental health issues and longevity issues associated with that same behavior.

belorn 7y ago
Since you claim that the reasons are know, it seems to miss that a major reason for successful suicide is untreated depression which are well know area in medicine known to discriminate against men. You can blame masculinity, or you can blame society for how it react to men who seek help.
sadfklsjlkjwt 7y ago
> men delaying preventative medical treatment. In the case of HPV caused cancer this is because there is (rightly) a massive screening program for cervical cancer and yet most men that have sex with men don't even know that they are at increased risk of HPV caused throat cancer. Similar programs exist for other diseases that exclusively affect women. They do not for diseases that exclusively or disproportionately affect men.