From r/all: Why are there so many more homeless men than women?

OkLieThen · 2021-07-12T11:10:25+00:00

thread about how women are in disadvantage over a particular matter:

everyone: PATRIARCHY! men are worse! fuck men. they have all the power, poor women. its always the same :((( misogynists. -istophobes. wahaaaamen strong. misandry is a virtue!

thread about how men are in disadvantage over a particular matter:

*everyone turns into an enlightened centrist*: yeah well okay but whatboutism women have it harder anyways! ok ok men sometimes have a hard time, too, but they shouldnt cry. they cant even get raped! men should help men ofc, its a patriarchy !

anecdote man: i was there when a man had a problem but then i saw 100 women with far worse problems at the very exact moment.

*everyone claps*

Deadlocked02 · 2021-07-12T11:22:34+00:00

It’s so curious how defensive some people get when this conversation comes up, specially when someone mentions how much more funding female shelters receive. It’s very rare for these conversations to end without victim blaming or a hint of female superiority. Like, “Women have shelters because women fought for it”. Feminists love to treat their achievements as only their own, but let’s be real, they would still be doing their clumsy terrorism and begging for the privilege of voting without having to be conscripted if men weren’t on their side. And it’s not like feminists don’t try to coerce or outright force men to support their cause. What is “#HeForShe, after all? What is “Men should call out abusers and stand up for women”?

I feel like the mere idea that men are more disadvantaged in some areas cause extreme discomfort in some people, specially (but not exclusively) feminist women. The whole denial and minimization is probably more subconscious than we imagine. When a good part of your identity is based on a movement that believes in things like male privilege, I suppose denial and minimization are way to preserve such identity. It’s really a shame that preserving this identity takes precedence over the well-being of countless men.

hostergaard · 2021-07-12T13:55:11+00:00

Saw that thread earlier. Funny how they tried to justify the massively skewed support for female homeless and shelters for them by saying that they would fell into prostitution otherwise. What? How does that makes sense? What you are saying is that women have an option (prostitution) to avoid homelessness that is apparently preferable to homelessness because they choose to prostitute themselves rather than being homeless and that is why we should focus on women shelters?

That is nonsens. If anything we should focus on male shelters then as they do not have the option of prostitution like women do and so is much more vulnerable and unable to support themselves.

Ok-Dragonfruit-697 · 2021-07-12T12:06:42+00:00

Probably because we don't show our emotions enough because of the patriarchy we benefit from.

peanutbutterjams · 2021-07-12T03:07:25+00:00

I see you're having to deal with at least 1 misandrist victim blaming homeless men

hendrixski · 2021-07-12T03:16:56+00:00

There's a good point somewhere in the comments about head injuries. Some study had found that the majority of homeless people had suffered a traumatic brain injury.

This made me realize that two other facts contribute to homelessness.

Perpetrators of violent crimes victimize men at a rate 5x higher than women.
Employers are way more likely to place men on tasks with a risk of physical injury

Higher rates of injury includes higher rates of traumatic brain injury, which in turn is a huge risk factor for homelessness.

echonian · 2021-07-12T03:50:57+00:00

There are interesting answers in the comments, though I do feel quite a few of the most highly upvoted ones are a bit blind to the specific issues in men in favor of sympathetic calls for women and children (though I do understand the need for that to a point).

My own understanding is that women are more likely to be victimized if homeless, are more likely to seek help than men due to largely cultural reasons, and have far more resources available to them in terms of help if they do want help getting off the street.

There are far more shelters that women can use than men can use. Women also are more likely to be able to find a "temporary place to live" with friends or family or even just random acquaintances, while men would be seen as needing to "buck up" or as more dangerous (which is technically true, but still leads to a lot of victimization and harm).

There are far more women being exploited (willingly or otherwise) in the sex trade when they are homeless or financially in a bind.

There are far more men who never would ask for help from others for a number of reasons. Many of these men turn to drugs, and you then run into the issue of many social services refusing any help to those with drug addictions - making the problem worse.

Ultimately, until society both gets past the idea that men should be seen as second-class citizens that society has no need to help, and women/children should exclusively be given all protection - this isn't going to likely change. That cultural and often legal expectation leads to men being more likely to be homeless or harmed by homelessness than is reasonably fair. I understand of course that perfect fairness in terms of treatment might be impossible, as it is true that women out on the streets "are" at a higher risk of violence or harm, but there is no excuse for our society treating homelessness with such callousness in the first place.

Society refuses to fix homelessness for men, even though it could through things like drug rehabilitation and shelters for men (to a point at least), but people are fully willing to help women and children "get off the street" (as long as the child is not a male teenager).

Consistent-Scientist · 2021-07-12T14:02:40+00:00

A lot of people mention that more men are homeless as in sleeping outside but an equal number of women are effectively homeless but sleeping at a friend's house or a shelter. Not sure about the statistics of that but even if it was true, this is very reminiscent of the points brought up when people talk about higher male suicide rates. They like to point out that women actually have an equal or higher number suffering from something that isn't quite comparable. That way they completely derail the conversation and minimize men's problems.

BloomingBrains · 2021-07-12T22:30:59+00:00

The consensus seems to be:

Because of veterans
Mental illness
Drug addiction interlinked with all the above (so in other words, an effect and not a cause).

What you notice is that both 1 and 2 are attributable to misandry. For 1, only men have to go to war so that one is pretty simple. For 2, men are attacked more more often and work jobs where head trauma is more likely at a much higher rate, and also men's mental health is not taken seriously due to the feminization of the system. This also links back to expectations about being stoic and bottling up feelings.

The commenters talking about how the women get pimped out or are more vulnerable on the street have a point, but lets remember that they're still being shown the favoritism of protectiveness. I didn't like the way one person said that men are just more "visible"--almost making it sound like they're over-represented. The fact that you even have to point out there is a difference between unsheltered and sheltered homeless shows that its a distinction that matters. The numbers may be the same but its still mainly a male issue if the males are the ones not getting any shelter. I think we need to question why that is. Shouldn't we try to help all homeless instead of just the female ones? If that means we need more capacity then they need to make more shelters. Just because one side is more at risk than the other doesn't mean you should only focus on that one.

Also lets remember that for women there is a bigger social safety net because people care more about women. Most women having financial trouble won't get to the point of being homeless in the first place because she can easily find a guy who is willing to support her.

Blauwpetje · 2021-07-12T18:06:38+00:00

Women much more often get help from different people when they're in trouble, no matter if they had bad luck or made a mess themselves. Especially the idea of a woman being homeless is unbearable for many people.

EZPickens71 · 2021-08-19T07:39:34+00:00

A mildly crazy man will have a very hard time maintaining a job. No job, no wife, no house.

A mildly crazy woman can often maintain a relationship that will result in a home to live in.

step_aside_butch_ · 2021-07-12T03:13:47+00:00

Because homeless men much more often choose this lifestyle. They reject government services, they don't do rehab in good faith, they burn every bridge with their families, they refuse to listen to their doctors, they refuse to find a job, very little desire to address their addictions and mental health issues. You can only lead a horse to water so much

We can be honest, right?

Title	From r/all: Why are there so many more homeless men than women?
Author	a-man-from-earth
Upvotes	158
Comments	45
Date	July 12, 2021 12:13 AM UTC (5 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/comments/oify6h/from_rall_why_are_there_so_many_more_homeless_men/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/LeftWingMaleAdvocates/from-rall-why-are-there-so-many-more-homeless-men.1060927 https://theredarchive.com/post/1060927

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