https://www.equimundo.org/wp-content/up ... n-2023.pdf
First, going into depression and suicide, this is a shocking finding on page 13:
40% of all men show depressive symptoms, and 44% of men have thought about suicide in the *prior two weeks*. Not a year, not a month, not lifetime, but thought about suicide in the last two weeks. That means that if you know 10 men, 4 of them have likely thought about suicide since the last time you saw them. This is much higher in younger men than older (38+ are much less likely, at 31% and 34% respectively, to have depressive symptoms or have considered suicide, again, in the last *two weeks*).
Almost half of men are regularly contemplating suicide.
65% of men say no one knows them well. Two men out of every three. This could be a major factor.
I'll circle back to slide 15. I think that goes better with a later slide.
Moving down to slide 18, 53% of men agree that "in America today, men have it harder than women." This means it is now a mainstream position, with over half of men below 45 agreeing with the sentiment. They argue that men are threatened by demands for equality and respect for women. I would argue it's because men are literally discriminated against from birth and then told they are dirt all the time on the basis of their gender. This tends to make people start to feel a certain way about their lot in life. The authors themselves are failing to understand the thing they are studying.
I'll circle back to slide 19 and 20.
Moving down to the online life section, 48% of men find their online social life is more engaging and rewarding than offline, but 2/3 think they should spend less time online, and 3/4 appreciate they can connect with like-minded people they wouldn't meet otherwise. This last one is an interesting finding, but I have a hypothesis - they can't meet likeminded people not because they don't exist nearby, but because they are literally afraid to speak their mind. They even mention this on slide 18 - that 7 in 10 men say they can't speak their minds. They're afraid. We have literally muzzled over 2/3 of men as a group using social fear.
Now, here's where things get very dark for me. Men who subscribe to more traditional masculinity have more purpose in life than those who reject it. And these ideas (which they refer to as the "Man Box") are getting more popular, not less. My attempts to free men from the man box literally causes loss of purpose for them. Or maybe other peoples' attempts. Given the reaction of many (not all) women when men do try to leave the man box, I can see why this would be the case - this is probably the quickest way to wind up alone and unloved.
When men lose purpose, they tend to seek out purpose. Slide 38 finds what men trust in influences (which they refer to as "the manosphere"), split out by race. No single place breaks 15% trust.
By far, AVfM is the most popular, and especially popular among African Americans and Latino populations.
Andrew Tate (blech) is mostly popular in the hispanic community.
MGTOW is primarily African Americans.
Jordan Peterson pretty even across most groups, slightly more whites and hispanic people.
Everyone else they asked about doesn't have much attention among men, and only one (r/theredpill) even has anything to do with "the manosphere".
Circling back to slide 15, you can 46% of men trust one or more of the things on their list (which includes "the manosphere" and also other things). It's highest among those 18-23, and levels off as they age. But even millennials trust one or more at a 30% rate.
When it comes to political figures and institutions (slide 34), men have very low trust in those as well, with the most trust being the military at 31%, and Joe Biden at 29%. Somehow, Andrew Tate (20%) is more trustworthy than Beyonce, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jordan Peterson, and Justin Baldoni (I didn't know who that was until I started writing this), and all of them should be on suicide watch.
Circling to slide 19, you can see there's broad support for equality - that men and women with the same qualifications in the same jobs get paid equally. About 80% support a national law to enforce this. Yet only 20% have given credit to a female colleague for a great idea, and only about 16% called out a friend for making a hurtful joke about women. I think this goes back to the silence part earlier - men are told to be silent for their entire lives, and there's a very real risk that complimenting a female colleague could be taken as flirting and endanger themselves, so they prefer to be silent. This is especially true among unmarried men (IMO), which is my hypothesis on why younger men are especially unlikely to do so. It also could be they have lower class jobs where ideas aren't necessarily provided or utilized, given there's a process and procedure for everything.
It probably is no surprise but those with the highest economic standing and education (those are correlated) tend to have the most optimism towards the future - as their economic situation impacts their outlook.
The one thing I do agree with is that the total failure of engagement with young men except to yell at and criticize has had deleterious results - and resulted in them seeking out someone, anyone, who will tell them they aren't scum. I disagree with this:
Finally, we must trust and empower young men to find and define pathways to healthy manhood, in dialogue with young women.
This implies women should be helping define what healthy manhood is for boys, and I heartily disagree. Men do not get to define to women what healthy womanhood is for women, and women do not get to define to men what healthy manhood is to men.
The one really interesting thing is that this... trend... is led by and dominated by lower classes and minorities, and, I would argue, is the result of oppression by the upper classes and elites. And until we start engaging with men and the trying to correct the discrimination and hatred they face, it's only going to get stronger. And it may not get stronger in a good way - as you can see, it's largely not now.
