Today I was in Manchester city centre, when I came across a poster for CALM (The Campaign Against Living Miserably); a registered charity created to prevent male suicide in the UK. I’d seen their posters around town before, and had researched the company. I’d even sent in a story about my personal experiences with suicide ideation and depression for publication in their Calmzine.

I am an avid supporter of CALM, they are an innovative charity who have done a lot of work to address a problem which get surprisingly little attention; Suicide among men.

“In 2013, male suicide accounts for 78% of all suicides and is the single biggest cause of death in men aged 20 – 45 in the UK.”

To my horror, I saw that somebody had scrawled the word “SEXISM” underneath their poster. I couldn’t believe it.

Is it sexist to encourage women to screen for breast cancer, when the disease affects men too? Of course not, the reason being that Breast Cancer kills 12,000 women a year, whereas only about 75 men die from Breast Cancer per year. Therefore, the best way to save more lives is to encourage more women to get themselves checked for breast cancer, rather than clogging up the system with men, who are very unlikely to suffer the same fate. It’s not ideal, but it’s pragmatic, and at the end of the day, it saves lives.

How somebody can call CALM sexist is beyond reproach. They are literally trying to save people’s lives. Sexual politics shouldn’t even come into it.

But what about suicides in women?

Well of course it’s still a problem, and one that CALM are very much equipped to deal with, to quote their website:

“We take calls from anyone. It’s our belief that all of us at one time or another, regardless of gender, will hit a crisis and we could all do with specialist help when things go wrong.”

This means that CALM will help anybody, male, female or transgender. It’s irrelevant. The reason it is targeted at men is because there is a serious social and cultural issue that is not being addressed here. The most likely cause of death for me, and any other man in my age group is suicide. And the shocking truth is that almost nobody I meet is even aware of this! CALM are boldly addressing this issue, and trying to break down the cultural barriers in place that make men who are struggling feel like they cannot reach out for help.

“We want to make people aware that suicide is a gender issue, we want to challenge those social constraints preventing men from seeking help when they need it and we want to support those affected by suicide and depression, as well as develop the support available for the bereaved through the Suicide Bereavement Support Partnership (SBSP)”

Now I’m a big believer in women’s rights, gender equality and feminism, and there are many issues in the modern world that need to be addressed in terms of social equality among the sexes, but when it comes to the issue of suicide, the focus should be on saving lives; nobody should be creating conflict with a charity that seeks to save lives.

I imagine that whoever vandalized the poster probably didn’t take the time to actually research the charity they were slandering. I’m quietly confident that if they truly wanted to fight sexism, they’d support CALM for helping to combat sexism by breaking down society’s perceived gender roles, which say that men are weak for expressing their emotions and seeking help.

JC Axe



If you are struggling with feelings of depression, contact CALM:

Nationwide: 0800 58 58 58

London: 0808 802 58 58

Online: https://www.thecalmzone.net/help/get-help/

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