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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   1229 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 8, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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I've always liked to distill complicated arguments like these, in an oversimplified way. So I tend to point to the 4-to-1 suicide rate between men as women as the final word on which gender has it worse.

My understanding was that women attempt suicide more often than men, but men are vastly more likely to succeed, since they tend to prefer deadlier or more direct methods.

My hypothesis is that girls/women do 'cry for help' methods more often, because they can rightly assume that they'll get more sympathy and care when they are discovered or tell others about it. Society is more willing to support sick women than sick men.

Not to mention men's attempts prior to "success" are significantly less likely to be recorded as such for much the same reason.

Quite. To paraphrase a statement that's stuck in my head since the first time I stumbled across it, attempted suicide for a woman is a cry for help. Attempted suicide for a man is calmly taking out a loaded gun, staring at it for an hour, and then quietly putting it away.

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