Department of Sociology, East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Masculinity and Health Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council-University of South Africa/Institute for Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa.
Omega (Westport). 2022 Nov;86(1):218-240. doi: 10.1177/0030222820966239. Epub 2020 Oct 20.
Suicide is a serious but under-researched public health problem in Bangladesh. In light of this, we sought to explore the association between masculinities and suicide. We interviewed 20 family members/friends of men who died by suicide across 12 rural areas of the Jhenaidah district, Bangladesh. We found that male suicide was attributed to men's inability to fulfil hegemonic masculine demands such as financial provision and meeting the sexual needs of their spouses. Suicide was also linked to men's loss of self-respect and respect from others. Some participants mentioned that men committed suicide as an act of self-sacrifice, while others cited mental and physical illness. As a result of these findings, we propose that addressing socio-cultural and religious issues associated with men's troubles may help to prevent suicide. At the same time, changing the restrictive gender roles and masculinity-related ideals is also needed to counter the problem.
自杀是孟加拉国一个严重但研究不足的公共卫生问题。有鉴于此，我们试图探讨男性气质与自杀之间的关系。我们采访了孟加拉国杰索尔地区 12 个农村地区 20 名自杀男性的家属/朋友。我们发现，男性自杀归因于男性无法满足霸权男性气质的要求，如经济供养和满足配偶的性需求。自杀也与男性失去自尊和他人的尊重有关。一些参与者提到，男性自杀是一种自我牺牲的行为，而另一些人则提到精神和身体疾病。基于这些发现，我们提出，解决与男性问题相关的社会文化和宗教问题可能有助于预防自杀。同时，还需要改变限制性别角色和与男性气质相关的理想，以应对这一问题。
