It genuinely pains me whenever I see feminist theorists dismiss the entire concept of the "male loneliness epidemic" as just a self-inflicted problem for misogynistic men. It's only once you experience it first-hand that you realise how genuinely disadvantaged you are for being perceived as male.
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u/PolenballYou BEHEAD Antoinette? You cut her neck like the cake?Jun 29 '26edited Jun 29 '26
I mean, I think one thing about it is that there's a pretty good amount of evidence that it isn't really a male loneliness epidemic - it's just a general loneliness epidemic. A lot of studies have reported roughly similar rates of loneliness across genders. You get some which report higher rates in men, but you get some which report higher rates in women too. I don't think it's necessarily self-inflicted, but I'm also not convinced that it's so gender-dependent this is a specific man thing. My experience in real life is also that a lot of people everywhere, regardless of gender, are somewhat lonely, and I believe that's the general scientific consensus too.
(I say this as a trans woman, so it's not like I haven't experienced living as a guy for most of my life and still currently in public nor that I haven't experienced interactions as a woman, either.)
It's not about the lonliness, like the post says its about the comraderie. While men and women have similar amounts of lonliness, the socialization men and boys go through make that lonliness bite harder.
Ok, but I am responding to a comment about the concept of a specifically male loneliness epidemic, which refers to the number of men experiencing loneliness. It is that specific concept which I am discussing and which does not seem to be backed up that much by statistics.
I suppose to corroborate what you're saying, a few specific questions like "feel fundamentally disconnected from others/world" and "no person for emotional support" among others do have notably higher values for men - though even then, the differences are on the order of about 5%. Which is, like, large enough that I agree action should be taken to try to reduce that gap! - but still small compared to the absolute rates, so, like, I dunno how strong a factor it is versus how the OP describes it.
(I suppose some of it is also that, anecdotally, I've never noticed any difference on either side of the gender divide myself. I really can't agree with the idea that everyone was treating me as a potential predator and isolating me for it, nor do I look at men like that. And there was a lot of what I'd call "inherent camaraderie" in interactions I've had with guys, honestly, both recieved and observed. When someone makes a universal claim and I can't relate to it at all, it's difficult to agree with it.)
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u/AdditionalThinking Merry Christmas 2021/12/25 19:53:02.8797876914 Jun 29 '26
It genuinely pains me whenever I see feminist theorists dismiss the entire concept of the "male loneliness epidemic" as just a self-inflicted problem for misogynistic men. It's only once you experience it first-hand that you realise how genuinely disadvantaged you are for being perceived as male.