3 days ago
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
Dying early, suffering in silence: the harms of toxic masculinity
Opinion
When I was growing up, the two messages I heard most were 'real men don't cry' and 'real men don't show weakness.'
These ideas were conveyed to me and every single other male I knew at school, during sports, and in virtually every movie and TV program we watched.
These messages taught me not to show emotion or ask for help, and judge those who did as weak, to question their virility, masculinity and sexuality.
This led to bad choices and behaviour that continue to infect generations of men and leads to bullying, harm and violence.
Some of the worst harm occurs among men themselves.
Alongside my colleague John Oliffe of the University of British Columbia Men's Health Research Program, we have published a report for the international organization Movember (best known for international moustache campaigns) titled 'The Real Face of Men's Health: the 2025 Canadian Report.'
Available online, our findings identify how and why men in Canada are dying prematurely, suffering in silence, and how this crisis is costing Canada billions of dollars in resources and infrastructure. We also give recommendations and call for a national action plan to deal with the issue of male health.
In the report, we point out that two in five (37 per cent) Canadian men die prematurely (before 75 years old) and these deaths are, for the most part, preventable. In fact, Canadian men live to an average age of 79.5 – almost five years younger than women.
The two leading causes of premature death in Canadian men are cancer and heart disease, which can be dealt with simply by understanding male health, proper screening and encouraging men to see their doctor regularly.
The next leading causes are accidents and unintentional injuries — also solved with an eye on good health and getting help — but a sense of humility and humanity, too. A whopping 50 per cent more males than females die from preventable causes or issues that can be treated effectively and on a timely basis.
The next causes of male premature death though are the most complicated and the hardest to address.
These are deaths caused by alcohol and drugs (particularly opioids) and suicide. In Canada, 72 per cent of all accidental opioid toxicity deaths are men; nearly 75 per cent of suicides in the country involve males.
Instead of asking for help while in mental crisis, men most often turn to substances and, if untreated, harm and kill themselves.
Well-funded, resourced, and competent mental health institutions and initiatives that understand the specific needs of men are crucial if male deaths are to be prevented. Necessarily, these must include the many sexualities, cultural specificities, and other contexts of that make up male and male-related identities.
In nearly all of these cases and statistics, Indigenous men are two to five times higher than these averages, with the leading causes of male death due to historical trauma, poverty, legitimate and historical mistrust of the medical system, and poor access to health care.
For more than two centuries, Indigenous women and men have experienced avalanches of imposed norms and beliefs from newcomers who brought with them foreign ideas based in gender and sexuality.
These were turned into practices and policies with the goal of undermining traditional identities while replacing them with ideas often traumatizing.
The Indian Act of 1867, for example, defined men as the sole rights holders in communities, property owners and heads of households while denying women the same rights while instilling rules that tried to control female behaviour.
Gender normativity was so ingrained in the treatment of Indigenous communities that when the Indian Act was amended in 1884, to allow status Indian men to will their estate to their wives, it was only if the Indian agent determined she was of 'good moral character.'
Indigenous men, in many ways, were therefore taught that patriarchy was normal, to feel and act entitled, and many gained privilege and power. Anyone who rejected or resisted acting in the ways males were expected to act was punished and ostracized.
This meant that, for some Indigenous men, abuse and trauma became a language of expression. For others, the language became work, abandonment, and silence.
It is only now that healing programs and initiatives have begun to help Indigenous men become the fullest sons, nephews, fathers, uncles, and grandfathers they can be.
Still, Indigenous life expectancy continues to be much lower than the Canadian average: 72.8 years for First Nations males, 78.9 years for Métis males, and 68.8 years for Inuit males.
Premature male death is costing Canada dearly. The report finds that poor male physical and mental health and premature death costs the Canadian economy $12.4 billion in health care costs, lost productivity, and caregiver time and supports.
Speaking of caregivers, these are often disproportionately women.
Everyone pays when men are taught not to cry or ask for help.
Let's try something else.
Niigaan SinclairColumnist
Niigaan Sinclair is Anishinaabe and is a columnist at the Winnipeg Free Press.
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