As many a feminist has tried to explain, the patriarchy hurts men, too. Usually this happens in covert ways — but a new study out of Rutgers University suggests that the patriarchy is actually shortening men’s life spans.
The study investigated why men have shorter life spans than women, and found that “men who held traditional beliefs about masculinity – that men should be tough, brave, self-reliant and restrained in their expression of emotion – were more likely to ignore medical problems.”
Furthermore, men with traditional beliefs about masculinity were less likely to be honest about their medical issues with male doctors, but more likely to choose a male doctor, because they believe them to be more competent than women doctors.
One of the researchers, Diana Sanchez, theorizes that men are less open with other men because “they don’t want to show weakness or dependence to another man, including a male doctor.”
So, hey, MRAs, turns out that fighting the patriarchy might just increase your life span. Muahahahaha!
