Last week ShortList magazine thought it was a good idea to run an issue entitled: How to Be a Man, by Women, led by Lily Allen as guest editor.

There’s so much wrong with this that it’s hard to know where to begin. For a start, try swapping the genders and see how you feel about the idea.

But I’m not writing this to point out the blindingly obvious.

I’m writing it in response to a BBC article yesterday that shows why the kinds of messages conveyed by Lily Allen and the ShortList edition aren’t just offensive, they create real damage in men’s lives.

In 2008 Jonny Benjamin was stopped from taking his own life by a passing stranger, who talked him out of jumping off Waterloo Bridge in central London.

Yesterday Jonny wrote an article for the BBC entitled: “Is macho culture causing young men to take their own lives?” explaining what he thinks are the cultural reasons why three times as many men kill themselves as women.

He wrote: “Society seems to like dictating how we should act as males. A magazine last week dedicated an issue to How To Be A Man, By Women. We were advised to ‘go out, earn some money, come back and look after the children. Men should be men.’ The dictionary itself synonymises 'masculinity’ with phrases like 'toughness’ and 'robustness’.

“But when I was unable to cope, it was the fear of not living up to such expectations that led me to almost taking my own life. What stopped me was another man’s understanding of how I was feeling. Perhaps we need to redefine the meaning of masculinity, stop telling males to ‘man up’, and start showing them that grown men do actually cry.”

When a formerly suicidal man says there is a direct connection between a high-profile celebrity’s expectations of what a man should be, and the reasons why he didn’t ask for help, I think it’s time to take notice.

I think it’s time to question why people like Lily Allen – a woman who has written lyrics mocking men for their penis size and sexual performance – should have the right to dictate that men conform to ideals that are literally killing them.

Dan, Editor, Malestrom