Freeman Holding

Pearls CLAIMS Men Don’t Complain About Being Mistreated — Doctor Challenges Her With an Argument About Men’s Mental Health Doctor: Do you mean like in the World Wars, when men left and women took over those positions and ran the country? We took over the jobs you say women couldn’t do. Pearls: No, they didn’t take over the majority of jobs. They took over the positions men left. They weren’t doing electrical work, plumbing or building buildings. Doctor: There are women electricians and plumbers. What’s stopping women today from doing those jobs? Pearls: Why aren’t they the majority? Doctor: Discrimination. There are hostile workplaces where women are made to feel like they don’t belong. Pearls: What’s your evidence for that? Doctor: Studies on workplace discrimination in male-dominated fields show that women feel unwanted and unwelcome. Pearls: Men don’t care if they’re not welcomed. They don’t expect people to accept them into a group. Women go into a man’s world and expect special treatment and privileges. Doctor: You speak a lot about men’s mental health and suicide rates, but then you say men don’t care if they’re unwelcome. Those experiences affect men’s mental health too. To care about one, you have to recognise how the other is affected. Pearls: Men understand that’s the real world. They know there’s nothing they can do to change it. Women expect to be welcomed into a new company or group. Men get hazed, but they don’t complain, strike or protest. They accept the world as it is. Doctor: Are they really okay with it? The statistics on men’s mental health show that it affects them. They just internalise it. Women prioritise empathy and communication because we want to improve how we’re treated. Pearls: We’re better at complaining. Women get sympathy on the internet. People care about women’s issues. They don’t care about men’s issues. Doctor: They don’t complain because they internalise it. Just because men don’t take action doesn’t mean they don’t care. Pearls: Men do the majority of infrastructure jobs and account for most workplace fatalities. They have harder working environments and complain less. Female-dominated industries tend to strike and complain more. Women want to do less work and get more credit. Doctor: We care about how we’re treated, and men should care about how they’re treated too.