Why such faint praise? Because we could be doing so much better. Men have never lived as long as women, but the male-female longevity gap has expanded from just one year in the 1920s to five years today. With the exception of Alzheimer’s disease, all 15 of America’s leading killers now take a greater toll on men than on women. We’re twice as likely to die in accidents or homicides, three times more likely to be diagnosed with AIDS and four times more likely to take our own lives. At the same time, men are less likely than women to receive medical care when it’s needed and less apt to seek social and emotional support. Our lives are as stressful as women’s, if not more so. But as David Williams of the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research observed recently, “Women seek more support, receive more and are more satisfied with the support that they receive.”
This sad state of affairs is not entirely our fault. Males are fragile from the moment of conception. We die off faster than females during gestation and early childhood, long before we take charge of our own health. Chances are we would perish earlier even with optimal care and feeding. But our ill health is not just a matter of destiny. Some 26 percent of American men still smoke, and we’re twice as likely as women to abuse alcohol. In fact, one recent analysis found that U.S. men were more likely than women to engage in 30 different high-risk behaviors. It’s surely no coincidence that we make up 94 percent of the U.S. prison inmate population.
The articles in this Special Report illuminate both the challenges we face and the progress that is possible. Medical science is producing powerful new weapons against heart disease, prostate cancer and other common killers, but experts are still debating important questions. Is male circumcision really a good idea? And what about testosterone replacement therapy? New research is clarifying the issues, even if it hasn’t yet resolved them. Meanwhile, behavioral scientists are shedding new light on the male mind and its sometimes perilous quirks. And ordinary men are discovering that yoga–like routine health care–is too good to pass up. So check it out, men. You have nothing to lose but your pain.
