1. Male and female suicide attempts are fundamentally different qualitatively, as evidenced by the fact that men succeed at approximately 10x the rate of women

1. Male and female suicide attempts are fundamentally different qualitatively, as evidenced by the fact that men succeed at approximately 10x the rate of women (and, to preempt the usual response, this extends to places where guns are illegal and account for a small minority of suicide methods). This is due to a difference in intent: women attempt suicide as a cry for help; men attempt suicide to end their suffering. Both are bad situations, but it's wrong to equate them, and the latter is clearly worse, because men don't have help available as even an option. 2. Suppose men succeed at suicide 30% of the time, and women succeed at suicide 3% of the time. The greatest risk factor for suicide attempts is having previously attempted suicide. A useful exercise: calculate the gender ratio of suicide attempts, assuming equal likelihood of a first attempt and repeating attempts until success.