Jane Powell (London, Director CALM): In the midst of the extraordinary spectacle of 17 young suicides - mainly male - in Bridgend, there's a report out showing that the suicide rate in young men in England and Wales is at all time low. Can both be true?
The analysis published in the British Medical Journal of the decline in the suicide rate is an important detailed study. The fact that the rate has been declining isn't new, but the details within the study are. The headline though - that the rate suicide in young men is at an all time low - seems the only angle journalists have taken any note of. Their message, that all is fine: there was a problem once, now it is disappearing, nothing to worry about any more.
I'm sure such a conclusion would distress the authors of this paper. The rate might be going down - but suicide, largely by hanging - accounts for more deaths of young men than anything else other than road deaths. So, your son/brother/young husband is more likely to hang himself than be shot or knifed to death, die of AIDs or from heroin or ecstasy or cancer. In the UK we're still looking at around 3 deaths a day of men aged between 15-35.
I work for the charity CALM, the campaign against living miserably, with a twofold aim: to get the message out to young men that they can talk and get help and information when they are down - and to challenge public assumptions of what it is like for young men, who are so often just seen as a marauding threat to society.
Recently a journalist rang me wanting to talk to some real ‘young people'. Professionals, she thought, clearly have no idea. She wanted to get to the heart of the matter. I am truly loath to offer up bodies to the press. We had a long conversation. I told her that the elephant in the room is gender, even more than age. Not just in the UK, but across the world. The suicide rate in the UK is moderate compared to the rate of young men killing themselves across Eastern Europe. Australia and America too have it bad. I'd guess about 3:1 male to female suicides would be broadly true across the world. That's 3 young men kill themselves for every young women. I advised the journalist, if you just go for individual stories you'll simply find explanations about why the person was suicidal. You'll loose the bigger picture.
Her article focused exclusively on her conversations with her young interviewees and upon the excellent reasons about why they were depressed. She got her article. Later in the week, another article in the same paper said the whole thing was balderdash as the rate is going down. Which brings us to Bridgend.
A local Samaritan volunteer pointed out how press interest grew when a pretty young girl killed herself. Until then it had just been young men. Indeed.
There are two questions that the media - and society as a whole - need to ask. Why is this happening, and what can we do to prevent it? And frankly until we look at gender we will get nowhere. Hauled in on a daytime TV programme to talk about the issue of male suicides and Bridgend, the journalist next to me announced that life is better than it has ever been for 30 years and those who killed themselves were just selfish. She was deeply offended when I suggested that for women things had indeed improved dramatically over the last 30 years, but not maybe for men. She took that as a direct attack on feminism. It wasn't, but her reaction sums up the fact that people would generally prefer an amputation than discuss the suicide gender gap.
Looking at Bridgend specifically. When you have a small community, with a suicide, it often follows that there will be another suicide. The death of a friend or family member, in this manner is an excruciatingly hard thing to cope with. And mention of it casually among friends, will clear a room - I'd rank it on a level with incest in this respect. Work done by the Samaritans here (and similar bodies around the world) show that irresponsible reporting will increase the suicide rate. Yep, I'd classify the media coverage so far as pretty irresponsible.
Yes, the current generation are all on the internet. I'd be disturbed if they didn't talk online about the suicides in their town, among their friends. This generation are media savvy.
Most young men who kill themselves aren't accessing any help. So, why not? Will encouraging them to call a ‘young persons helpline' help? It's hard to imagine a 19 year old guy, if you will, with a leaflet on depression in his hand, thinking "Yes, here is the solution". If, as a kid, I was given a leaflet on depression, I'd test it to see if it was roach material. Teachers, other parents, religious people of any description, anyone identified with being part of the system were instantly suspect. I'd trust my friends, and my peers. Only. And even then it's hard for a teenager, as image is everything with your mates.
If we are to provide ‘young people' with solutions, then these solutions need to be provided, and packaged in a way that they can relate to - and use and trust. Marketing is all, in the professional sense of good communication designed for those you have to get through to, and those seeking to engage with young men need to consider that.
Which brings me back to gender. In the last 30 years there have been truly monumental, and conflicting changes in society. Once, bashing the wife was an understandable, but sad, occurrence. Being macho and violent continues to be held up as manly. But try it at home today and you're a social outcast. What do you do if the missus or girl friend earns more? Good in theory, humiliating in practice. Men are no longer required as breadwinners or fathers. But it is still the place to be. You'll be shunned midweek at the sandpit when other dads are out working. And obviously, keep with the Clint Eastwood pose, strong and silent (gun optional). Men are supposed to be strong and silent. Women are expected to gabble. And so, on the whole, men won't talk about stuff to anyone, not if it is really personal. They'll keep problems in their head, going round and round. How can a young man express weakness to his girlfriend or wife? The worst it gets, the harder it is to let on about. One consequence, up and down and across our country, young intelligent and thoughtful men are hanging themselves. They may not have not been lynched but they are Britain's strange fruit - and gender lies at the heart of their fate.
