A couple of people...dudes even...have taken to posting one of those "har har" funny pics on social media of men doing something stupid with the tag line "why women live longer than men." Cute. This latest one is a couple of guys, a ladder, stairs, and a rather novel way of getting at those high spaces.
I'm not one for taking away anybody's right to a good laugh. Even somewhat questionable, possibly offensive laughs...sometimes those are the best. But it also seems like a good time, fellas, to do some straight talk about our mortality rate. And it actually has little to do with us doing dumb stuff on lawnmowers.
We see the doctor less than women. We exercise less. We're out of work in higher rates. We eat worse than women. We're less educated than women. We're in prison at higher rates than women. We have fewer friends. We're in more high risk occupations.
The list goes on and on.
Do men do stupid stuff? Maybe. But if you stop and think about the fact that your dad, your brother, your grandfather, your son are all more likely to die sooner than your mom, sister, grandmother, etc. it suddenly feels like maybe we should be taking the health of men more seriously.
And that starts with ourselves. I'm one of those "invincibles" who has managed to make it almost entirely through my 20's and early 30's without regular medical care. I have a checkup scheduled with a brand new doctor next week though. While I'm confident my diet, exercise, and the like put me in a fairly low risk category for serious illness it's time to do my part at helping my gender.
So, yes, it's a joke. But it's also a good time, guys, for us to have a serious talk about why we do die early. Have a laugh at our gender's love for danger...then go get a physical and eat a salad.
Is it sexist to mock men for early death? Yup, probably. But let's let it slide and start doing something about it.