Report: "Girls are much more likely than boys to poison themselves either deliberately or accidentally” Yet "total number of suicides, 78% were male and 22% were female."

KrisK_lvin · 2016-05-17T07:31:28+00:00

I know this is the kind of thing that gets this place a bad name, and no one is suggesting that we shouldn’t care about a rise in the number of teenage girls in the UK who are intentionally poisoning themselves, especially through a harmful overdose of drugs rather than alcohol.

But … latest figures for Suicides in the United Kingdom, 2013 Registrations from the UK’s Office of National Statistics again report that:

There were 4,722 suicides among people aged 15 and over registered in England in 2013, 215 more than 2012. Of these, more than three-quarters (78%) were male (3,684 deaths). There were 1,038 female suicides (22.0%). The proportion of males to females committing suicide has increased steadily since 1981.

Yet that Guardian article does not even mention this point - not even as a footnote or an acknowledgement or a concession. Instead, the report only refers generically to “10- to 17-year-olds”, and "young people” or, of course, to girls (my emphasis):

Nick Harrop, campaigns manager for the charity YoungMinds, said: “The steep rise in self-poisoning is deeply concerning, with this study indicating that young women are the most affected.

And

Over the 20-year period, the number of 16- to 17-year-old girls intentionally poisoning themselves almost doubled, as did drink-related poisonings among 15- and 16-year-old girls.

Prof Sir Ian Gilmore, chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said the rise in teenage girls consuming an excessive amount of alcohol was “very concerning”.

And

The gap between poisonings among girls and boys widened over time with the rate of poisoning in adolescent males less than half that of females.

It’s tedious to have to point this out, but I am not for a minute suggesting that we should not be concerned by a doubling of the rate at which girls are poisoned, but it seems incredible not to even acknowledge - not even once - that boys are three times as likely to actually take their own lives as girls.

Not only that, but by saying "the rate of poisoning in adolescent males less than half that of females" it even hints that the issue is trivial when it comes to boys.

thrway_1000 · 2016-05-17T11:34:22+00:00

Well it's the Guardian, they have to somehow make it all about girls and women or they lose their feminist approved free pass card for bad journalism.

5th_Law_of_Robotics · 2016-05-17T12:50:57+00:00

Why include "accidentally" in that? Accidental poisoning isn't a suicide attempt, it's being bad at reading labels.

You may as well include automotive fatalities in male suicide rates then.

2016-05-17T21:54:53+00:00

I guess we could talk about how it's been IGNORED for so long

Suicide being the #7 killer of men & boys http://www.cdc.gov/men/lcod/2013/index.htm

We could talk about how 80% of suicides are Men & Boys http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/suicide_factsheet-a.pdf

But rather than talk about those who are quite literally dying, I suppose we should focus on those who aren't. We could ask the question "Why are boys moving from poisoning to far more deadly methods" or "Why are girls more likely to make a call for help?" but those will never get asked.

Mens-Advocate · 2016-05-17T07:57:58+00:00

Indeed, the media commonly misplace the emphasis as Kris shows.

Here, I make the same complaint about the NYT, which emphasises females and delays the 3x ratio until the last of many paragraphs: https://www.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/4g5tak/ny_times_lies_about_male_suicide/?

Mackowatosc · 2016-05-17T12:38:17+00:00

here, "accidently" for me is a tell-tale. As in, someone is an idiot.

DavidByron2 · 2016-05-17T15:54:18+00:00

Technically you're poisoning yourself every time you take even one pill.

Stopthecutting · 2016-05-17T07:54:55+00:00

They are including side effects from cosmetics and hair dyes.

AlwaysABride · 2016-05-17T13:52:59+00:00

Feminists think that male privilege causes higher suicide success rates. If girls were given the same advantages as boys, they'd be just as successful at killing themselves as boys are.

Il128 · 2016-05-17T14:40:48+00:00

A lot of men are in denial and are blind to the truth that's all around them.

Women naturally lie, deceive, and manipulate.

When a woman attempts suicide she's just trying to manipulate someone.

When a man does it, it's because he's lost all hope. Men usually kill themselves over a woman.

The truth can burn.

Title	Report: "Girls are much more likely than boys to poison themselves either deliberately or accidentally” Yet "total number of suicides, 78% were male and 22% were female."
Author	KrisK_lvin
Upvotes	38
Comments	23
Date	May 17, 2016 7:21 AM UTC (10 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/4jpqgw/report_girls_are_much_more_likely_than_boys_to/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/report-girls-are-much-more-likely-than-boys-to.949413 https://theredarchive.com/post/949413

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