If the headlines of Men’s Health are any indication, the only health problems I need worry about are fatted abs and an idling sex drive. But, really, I don’t think much about my health. For a twenty-eight-year-old male, the only message I’ve heard is that, at some point, I’ll need to have my prostate examined. Even that usually comes with a punchline.
Apparently, gentlemen, we’re being done a disservice:
The Weaker Sex | Marianne J. Legato
‘…It’s possible, too, that we’ve simply been sexist. We’ve complained bitterly that until recently women’s health was restricted to keeping breasts and reproductive organs optimally functional, reflecting the view that what made women valuable was their ability to conceive and bear children. But aren’t we doing the same thing with men?…
…In 2004, the National Institutes of Health spent twice as much on studies done only on women as only on men. We are not devoting nearly enough money to men’s health; worse yet, we may be spending those insufficient funds to answer exactly the wrong questions.’
I had no idea that being a man was fraught with such peril. Combine men’s increased health risks with our tendancy to ‘walk it off’, and it becomes clear that we really need to start paying closer attention to ourselves. When’s the last time you saw your doctor for something that didn’t require stitches?
Britain certainly does a much better job of getting men’s attention when it comes to health. Sure, it’s slightly inappropriate; but, then again, the same can be said of men: