in the United States women attempt suicide more while men die of suicide more. This is a pretty well known fact, as is the reasoning that men are more likely to use methods like guns, hanging, etc while women are most likely to self poison.
the reason for the disparity in methods is something people love to speculate and argue about. The theories include that women are socialized to care more about what their corpse will look like afterwards, or about the person who will have to clean up after them, and that men are more comfortable with violent methods due to more exposure to violence in their careers, not to mention are more likely to own firearms and be able to make impulse suicides with them. Some people, including mens rights activists, will claim the disparity is simply because women don’t actually want to die when they make these attempts, they are simply cries for help.
the real reasons are probably multifactorial. One important thing to consider is that in cases where more effective methods of self poisoning are readily available, womens completed suicide rates are much closer to mens and in some cases higher. This is true in china, where people often have access to extremely toxic pesticides and many women kill themselves that way. It’s also true of women who’s careers give them knowledge of and access to extremely lethal medication, such as veterinarians and physicians. Also, in countries where assisted suicide is available solely on the basis on mental illness, women are twice as likely to apply as men. So that kind of refutes the mra talking point that women who overdose are all simply making cries for help.
but like, what about these cry for help attempts, also called suicide gestures? Some people outright admit to making them, and I don’t believe everyone who overdoses on a handful of advil truly intends to die. However, the topic is rarely acknowledged and when it is it’s in a highly disparaging, stigmatizing way. Many people have little empathy for those who make them, who are often young women and teenage girls. Few ask what circumstances drive people to feel the need to take such drastic measures to try to get their pain and suffering taken seriously.
“Boys/men are told to act tough, and hide their pain, and never ask for help” is a talking point used often when talking about gender and mental illness. “Girls/women are assumed to be melodramatic and irrational, so when they do ask for help, they often aren’t taken seriously, and have to resort to things like suicide gestures to get people to listen or care” is made far less often. Why? Why do so many people consider gendered socialization of the utmost importance when it comes to understanding male pain, but irrelevant when it comes to womens?
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