The smarter you are the more likely you are to struggle with your mental health. I dunno whether that makes y’all more or less likely to hit the skids to be honest. You did make it into uni, but then you actually chose to come here when higher education is the biggest money-making scam the boomers managed since the housing crisis so… jury’s out.
Recent stats from the NZ Health survey reported that women aged 15-24 were experiencing anxiety and depression at double the rate of men the same age, and Māori youth are 1.5 times more likely to have a diagnosis of anxiety disorder than non-Māori. Our trans, non-binary, gender queer, and takatāpui whānau are even more marginalised, so they’re even deeper in the hole.
So don’t try and tell me that there isn’t a societally constructed, gender specific, kyriarchal component to our mental health crisis. The effect of gender-roles and the negative experiences of these throughout your life, often starting before you even realise what is happening, is a very large and specific risk factor for mental illness. Not to mention the fact that we’re usually left literally holding the baby (or the sibling, or parent or grandparent).
Despite being the gold fucking standard of humanity, wom*n (yes, all wom*n, inclusive) are being thrown under the fucking bus. In every country from which data is available, in every racial, ethnic, and age group, from every historical period: we have lower arrest rates than men for all crime categories except prostitution (which shouldn’t be a crime, sex work is work). Several peer-reviewed studies over the last few decades have shown that wom*n outperform men in many of the key areas that make for good leadership: self-awareness, kindness, self-control, humility, social skills, and moral sensitivity. While men outperform us in unprovoked aggression, psychopathy, narcissism, greed, and the kinds of Machiavellian tendencies that create things like white collar crime, mishandling of a global pandemic and the need for the #metoo movement. And yet they’re still in charge. And you still ask us why we need feminism.
Anyway, I digress. Why are wom*n more likely to struggle with their mental health than men? MaYBE iT’s ThEiR HoRMoNEs?
Are wom*n more likely to be anxious and depressed because we do all the emotional labour or because men aren’t allowed to have feelings? Either way you can thank the patriarchy, and the solution is feminism.
Perhaps we’re anxious and depressed because we’ve been sexualised since we were children? Nothing like never being sure if you can trust a person to keep you on your toes.
Perhaps it’s because we still get paid less than men for doing the same work. Nothing like feeling unappreciated to make you want to stay in bed all day.
Maybe it’s because we’ve been taught 10 different ways not to be raped but boys still haven’t been told not to rape us? That deep down, some men think they’re entitled to our smiles, our time, and our bodies, even when we say no.
Maybe we’re all fucked up because we’re more likely to experience mental and physical violence and abuse than men, and trauma is directly linked to the development of anxiety, depression, and a host of other mental illnesses.
Maybe, until we sort that out, wom*n are going to struggle more with their mental health than men.
If you want to help? Call out your friend’s shitty misogynistic jokes. Even just saying that you don’t get it, or you don’t find it funny- that one small awkward moment is worth something huge. Because suddenly, the 1 in 4 women in the room that have been sexually assaulted? Feel just a tiny bit safer.
And that’s a tiny step in the right direction.
