Re: Emotional Plague
Lane Singer (lsd@ix.netcom.com)
29 Apr 1995 22:55:27 GMT
Hmm. Three chances, and this was the best you guys could come up
with?
(1)
>: Would this tendancy for women to unsuccesfully attempt suicide imply a
>: great social oppression of the female, or simply imply that men are, just
>: as I had always suspected, simply better than women?
It implies neither, in fact.
(2)
> Without data, I'd speculate that it is that women are more likely
>to attempt suicide as a stunt to get attention, i.e. they want
>to be saved, and choose a method accordingly. Like swallowing
>pills and then phoneing someone to talk about it.
>
> While men are more likely to attempt suicide because they
>want to die, and use a unrecoverable method like shooting themselves.
>
> Anyone got any hard data on this?
The notion that people attempt suicide to get attention is highly
overrated, and rarely occurs in the adult population.
(3)
>I don't have any citable data, but we discussed suicide in my high school
>health class. As far as I remember women might well be using pills as a
>"cry for help". Also, our teacher said that women tend to be more
>violent and final with suicide attempts.
In fact, the opposite is true.
a) People are suicidal due to severe emotional pain, usually caused
by serious depression.
b) They don't "attempt" suicide to get attention, but rather to escape
the pain that they feel they can't end any other way.
c) More women attempt to commit suicide than men because women suffer
from depression at a much higher rate than men. The reasons for this
are all conjectural, at this point.
d) Men succeed at suicide at a higher rate because they usually use
a gun, which is the most effective technique. Women are less likely
to possess guns, and use much less effective techniques, primarily
overdoses, occasionally wrist slashing.
--
Lane Singer
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