Around the world, girls and women have higher rates of suicidal ideation
and behavior but lower rates of suicide than boys and men. A review in the April 2008 issue of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry examines the significant variation in gender patterns and meanings
suicidal behavior within and across cultures. For example, in the
United States, suicide is most common among older "White" men, and is
typically considered "masculine" behavior. Women who kill themselves are
viewed as acting like men, and therefore deviant. By contrast, in other
societies, including China, suicide is viewed as an act of the
powerless, and is most frequent in young women. In these societies, men
who kill themselves are considered weak and effeminate. The cultural
diversity in gender patterns and interpretations of suicidal behavior
challenges essentialist perspectives on gender and suicidal behavior.
It also challenges the assumption, common in industrialized countries,
that women are protected from suicide as long as they stay "feminine"
and subsumed within the family. This cultural diversity also points to
the pitfalls of theorizing about clinical phenomena as if they were
culture-free, and calls for culturally grounded theory, research, and
practice.
Around the world, girls and women have higher rates of suicidal ideation and behavior but lower rates of suicide than boys and men. A review in the April 2008 issue of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry examines the significant variation in gender patterns and meanings suicidal behavior within and across cultures. For example, in the United States, suicide is most common among older "White" men, and is typically considered "masculine" behavior. Women who kill themselves are viewed as acting like men, and therefore deviant. By contrast, in other societies, including China, suicide is viewed as an act of the powerless, and is most frequent in young women. In these societies, men who kill themselves are considered weak and effeminate. The cultural diversity in gender patterns and interpretations of suicidal behavior challenges essentialist perspectives on gender and suicidal behavior. It also challenges the assumption, common in industrialized countries, that women are protected from suicide as long as they stay "feminine" and subsumed within the family. This cultural diversity also points to the pitfalls of theorizing about clinical phenomena as if they were culture-free, and calls for culturally grounded theory, research, and practice.
Click here for the abstract.