I thought I submitted this very early in the thread but it obviously didn't make it through cyberspace so I'll try again. My apologies if it has become a little "dated"!



I remember once coming across a statistic that indicated that a high proportion of young males who commit suicide are gay - the suggestion is that the stresses associated with social opprobrium are a factor, one would hope a diminishing factor.

I don't really understand the genetics of the next point I'm going to make, but I won't let that stop me. Apparently, males have a higher genetic tendency to extremes; e.g., more mental retardation and more genius, more physical disability and more exceptional athleticism; more extreme mental illness or disorder that might lead to suicide ...

A last point. Sometimes there almost seems a "blame the victim" tinge to the observation that males don't "share their feelings", and thus (according to the logic) end up killing themselves in disproportionate numbers. It is important to bear in mind that this male reticence is a constantly-reinforced social expectation. It is pointless to tell young men that they should be talking to people about their feelings without providing some sort of social setting in which it is safe to do so (I don't have anything specific in mind). Because, simply put, no one wants to hear men "whining" about their troubles. I think some of this is how we're genetically programmed: if you, a male, expose your vulnerabilities, some competing male may kill you and take your females; if you're female and your males expose their vulnerabilities, they may be killed and you taken over by the erstwile competition or left with no protectors and breadwinners (or meatwinners). I don't have the answer for how we get around all that.