Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50. That fact means that the single biggest threat to a mans life if he is under 50 is himself. There are huge stacks of evidence and I'm happy to tell you from experience that one of the reasons someone gets as far as making that huge, life ending decision is because of masculinity and how society has been conditioned to be emotionless. There is a certain buzz word that is being increasingly bounced around by predominantly the older generations who see their juniors as 'millennials' and this word is 'snowflake' and I find it's one of the most sinister, damaging and derogatory terms to describe someone who is suffering from ill mental health.
I wanted to appeal to anyone who chucks this term around as they seem to have a very concise set of views which include blaming poor parenting of us 'millennials' and the school system has manufactured a nation of so-called 'snowflakes'. I can only speak from my personal experience but school was one of the most harrowing periods of my life to date, I was terrorised by vast amounts of bullies on a daily basis for years. During this time I didn't miss any school, I didn't tell anyone about it, I merely kept my mouth shut, head down and got on with it. If I had the courage to speak out and seek help I would have and I strongly suspect my mental health would be in slight better shape today.
I also have ADHD, this is a learning disability along with Dyslexia. This caused me major problems especially in later life when I studied at university and became employed, both conditions were only recently diagnosed. The drugs, the appointments, the mental health problems, the suicidal thoughts that I have to face on the regular in my day to day life as I still push on with my life shows much more resilience and strength than all of the over-40s snowflake internet Twitter troll club have put together and that goes for my fellow sufferers and fighters too.
The term 'snowflake' is shrouded in prejudice and no different to any other stigmatizing hate word and I think that it is vital that those who choose to use damaging language should know the true impact it can have in many different ways and it puts them on the same level as anyone who choose to use racist, homophobic or other hate riddled terms to describe those who are struggling with mental illness or merely showing emotional intelligence, something which those who target vulnerable people lack severely and may want to read up on it and ask themselves a few questions and maybe find their inner 'snowflake'.