i’m 20m and only recently started paying attention to my reproductive health, stuff like testicular checks, sperm health, hormones, etc. but whenever i bring it up, even with friends or older guys, it usually gets brushed off or turned into a joke. it’s like unless you’re actively trying to have kids or something’s seriously wrong, no one talks about it
meanwhile, women get tons of education on their cycles, hormones, fertility, and more — but for guys, it’s basically “just don’t get someone pregnant.” why don’t we take this seriously too?
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i’m 20m and only recently started paying attention to my reproductive health, stuff like testicular checks, sperm health, hormones, etc. but whenever i bring it up, even with friends or older guys, it usually gets brushed off or turned into a joke. it’s like unless you’re actively trying to have kids or something’s seriously wrong, no one talks about it
meanwhile, women get tons of education on their cycles, hormones, fertility, and more — but for guys, it’s basically “just don’t get someone pregnant.” why don’t we take this seriously too?
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Because as long as you don’t get someone pregnant by doing something stupid, you’re fine.
Yes, the people that could be stuck with an entire person growing inside of them for 9 months, and who bleed, cramp, need to buy products designed specifically for it and can have a shitload of other complications due to their gentials will need more information than you.
That’s like saying that it’s unfair that men receive so much attention when it comes to prostate cancer, when women also have a colon.
How do you even bring that up IRL😭. just take care of yourself.
Because no one cares about the man, lol.
Because apparently, if it’s not falling off or about to make a baby, we’re just supposed to “walk it off.” Great system, huh?
Do you want every medical problem to be circled back to your menstrual cycle or being anxious while in reality you might be dying of preventable cancer? You have no idea how horribly women are treated regarding their reproductive health. Anything not focused on producing children or maximizing profit extraction out of you will be ignored by both doctors and legislation. All the information that might scare you from producing children will be actively withheld from you as to coerce you into making as many and as early as possible.
You are in excruciating pain and bleeding so bad you are anemic? Too bad, it’s part of being a woman and you need to hide all the consequences of this and smile while you are at it. Otherwise women in the past would have never gained the rights to do work and be paid for it. You won’t have to spend a day of your fucking life bleeding at work and being expected to not just keep doing your job but being great at it and not showing any symptoms or inconveniencing anyone.
You want to get sterilized as man? There will be multiple clinics available in your area that will be ready to perform the procedure for you with minimal questioning. As a woman? Your rights to your personal autonomy belong to the state and the interests of an imaginary man you haven’t even met yet. You will be treated with the same respect a slaughterhouse animal is, a breeding cow that is being hysterical for refusing to create more lambs for the slaughter.
Birth control? Birth control with the same side effects it has on women was created for men as well but was not pursued since men found THE EXACT SAME SIDE EFFECTS intolerable. As a woman you are expected to endure or to die trying as pregnancy is a potentially deadly consequence, so BC that damages your body and quality of life was treated as a worthy trade off. Up until recently you would get 0 numbing while getting the spiral. The closest feeling to this without an exaggeration would be you twisting one of your balls for the duration of the procedure and being expected to endure it with minimal fuss. Women would pass out, vomit and get cold shakes during the procedure due to the pain and this is till this day treated as completely fucking normal by medical professionals.
Your frame of reference has no idea of the bodily horror that is women reproductive healthcare. My mom died from cancer growing everywhere in her body. She was in her 40’s, she asked to get her sterilized before she got ovarian cancer but was refused by multiple medical professionals until the cancer already spread and the organ was no longer useful. Why? Because after having 2 kids she had the potential to make 1 more, despite saying that she doesn’t and was done, being divorced with 2 young kids and being a single working mom barely scraping by. “What if she met another man and he wanted kids?” – this question is why my Mom is dead. Would you like to be dead for the potential of making someone kids?
When it comes to reproduction, men are very simple. Womb on the other hand is the reason we exist!
You are absolutely right: we should take this more seriously. So many young men die of testicular cancer because they don’t know how or why to check themselves, and so many hormonal issues get ignored, etc. Yes, men don’t have as complex needs when it comes to reproductive health as women, yes, but still, “less” should not equal “none.”
I think a big issue is that dads aren’t as upfront with this stuff with their sons as moms are with their daughters. If your father doesn’t take it seriously, why should you? But the future generation will hopefully break that cycle
Men don’t take their health seriously buy and large, and even then they consult anyone or anything other than a medical professional.
It’s a multiple reason factor, also depends where you live in the world too.
Least, where i live the reasons why mens reproductive help isn’t looked in more detail are below.
Contact with professionals – in general, women are far more likely to visit their health professionals for ailments or problems they have than men. Further, that gap with the more intimate the purpose of the visits.
Awareness, exposure and medical campaigning – Due to a fair amount of celebrity deaths due to cervical cancer, HPV jabs are given to school girls, smear tests are pushed, and there was a big massive campaign was launched on it, which is good and well done.
But despite the national push for prostate screening for men, it’s sort of fell flat because not enough momentum. It still goes on but there isn’t as big of a push for mens health issues as it would fall on deaf ears.
Fundraising for issues – kind of falls in with my previous point. Funds, research, and grants to particular issues, like it or not, fall down to people coming together and driving the cause forward. Who do you think is better at driving a cause more? Women are, i dont know why us men think we’re making too much fuss or complaining.
To simplify it, men tend not to talk about or seek medical assistance, especially for intimate issues, least of all want to raise awareness and be a part of campaigns to fix the issues. Until that changes, mens health issues will be overlooked.
Cause no one cares about men until we’re dead or seriously injured to the point where we can no longer provide. You think it’s only reproductive health where male care is treated like a joke? Hell its healthcare in general. Mental and physical care are treated like a joke. Male suicides are through the roof and no one gives a shit. Hell, a woman decided to me a man for a week cause she thought men had it great and ended up killing herself afterwards. Her name was Norah Vincent, killed herself back in 22 by assisted suicide. Men are treated like shit but only women can be victims of anything.
Women’s reproductive health is definitely not taking as seriously as you’d think.
On the flip side it’s because in general other dudes won’t see the doctor for multiple reasons: seen as weakness, cost, time.
Should it be taken more seriously? Absolutely.
Mens issues in general are not taken seriously, because supposedly men have all the power in society (even though its like 1% that do) so how could they possibly face serious issues?
Because we’re men. Who gives a flying fuck whatever happens to us.
Misfortune to a homosapien that happens to have a fallace and scrotum is just considered peek comedy…
Because men are expendable, unlike women. This is the sad reality of humanity.
… testicular checks?
MGM at birth is still routine in many parts of the world, how is it surprising that nobody gives a shit about men?
Unfortunately women’s health is treated as a joke too – the stuff you hear online is fairly recent, awareness being brought to attention by other women – not by doctors. And it’s all come from years of not being taken seriously about so many things, including abnormal pain, “just give birth”, false diagnosis or NO diagnosis etc. And that’s still very much a thing.
It’s pretty bad that men don’t talk about this stuff, or go get regular checkups. Just because your friends are being stupid about it doesn’t mean you should too – try to educate yourself about your body and push to get the care you need. We all deserve it 🤞
Talking to my male doctor about my balls? That’s gay, bro.
/s
Women get education from other women. The difference is that women uplift other women, but a man could talk about mental health or reproductive health as you said, and a literal man would make fun of him. The call is coming from inside the house
Because men can be dumb and stubborn. We ignore the doctor or downplay it. Anything to avoid actually admitting we have problems. It’s probably a combination of pride, ego, stubbornness, and fear of being seen as weak.
Cancer doesn’t give a fuck about your ego.
Men can absolutely do better with their health.
I now completely get why women get pissed when they have to make the appointments and then ‘nag’ their partner to go.
It’s embarrassing.
Men are raised to be stoic and disposable.if you don’t live up to heroic stoicisim then you are tossed aside, because women are tought the only deserve the best.
“You’re shooting blanks are ya? HUR HUR HUR HUR!”, is the typical laddish response I get.
So now, I’m very careful about who I discuss this stuff with. When I found out my fertility issues, I was devastated, but it has led me down a further path to uncover other health issues. It has not been a fun time, or easy to deal with, and absolutely not a joke.
You think men’s reproductive health is a joke? You should look into men’s reproductive rights. Men literally have no reproductive rights. Men are not protected against the kind of sex crimes women commit (paternity fraud, baby trapping (aka enslavement), etc.) and men have zero “choice” about becoming parents or not. The women can “choose” to kill your child or she can force you to work for her, at the point of a gun.
Men are a slave class.
Because the men v. female war that the media have created is being skilfully maintained, and a lot of people have no problem with it. That’s the real tragedy, that both men and women see this narrative and think “that’s ok”.
I’ve often wondered this. Where I live there are really good national screening programs for breast and cervical cancer.
Nothing for prostate, skin or testicular cancer which are the cancers that most affect men. You don’t even get prostate checks untilyour 50s, unless you specifically ask for it.
They do not even talk that much about it in school. Where I live you would be surprised by the number of late teens/early adult (men and women alike ) that do not even know what a prostate is.
Most people dont have problems with it or in denial. Its just not taken seriously as most expect to get medical care for life threatening things.
Because society has a bias
Womens stuff is much more complicated and close together. But you are right men don’t talk about it, we all just live in fear of our dicks being one centimeter smaller than the next guy. Great than insanity. Most don’t even get the link between food and health, just look at the lineup at McDonalds. Get some apples and carrots for food.
This is just a social thing and not all people are like that. I don’t have boys of my own, but I’ve always told my nephews they can ask me anything they need too. No judgements and no laughing (although some of the questions they’ve asked did make me chuckle tbh). They know Ill either respond directly if appropriate; or I will facilitate the conservation with their dad. Especially if it’s something I feel he should be answering and the boys are too embarrassed to ask directly.
However, just to back you up, there have been questions the boys have asked and their dad will tell them “im not sure about that, go ask uncle abraxsis.” Im always like “dude, you’ve had a penis almost as long as I have, how tf do you not know that??”
If you can find “Rhod Gilbert: Stand Up to Infertility” somewhere online, it’s worth a watch. It covers a lot of what you’ve mentioned as far as the UK goes.
Aside from testicular cancer, reproductive health at 20 is mostly a non-issue for the vast majority of men.
Keep checking your boys for unusual growths or nodes, and keep your reproductive chats reserved for your primary care doctor.
Because men as a whole are treated as a joke.
Empathy towards men and boys past the age of 10??? Jesus Christ you sound like a crazy person! /s
Because men have pushed off the idea of a safe space amongst other men throughout society so whenever serious topics that regard our health need to happen its hard to find the environment to have those. In other words, patriarchy has regressed is in ways that we as a whole haven’t been able to truly pull ourselves out from.
There are more men at the top in nearly all areas of the culture, politics, industry, religion, etc, ask them.
All in all, men don’t take any of their health serious enough. There is a stigma about needing help meaning you are weak. The genitals are typically strongly associated with manliness, so its a double strike there. “Don’t talk about weakness, and for damn sure don’t talk about weakness below the waist” is just what we are ingrained with.
You sound like a hypochondriac.
Most men don’t have reproductive health issues. Things work fine, they don’t need any special attention. Be grateful that we’re far less likely to have things go wrong. Also, a lot of the poking and prodding that women have been pushed into (at least in the US) has, I think, been shown to be useless and not beneficial. I’m glad no similar crap has been pushed on men, thank you very much!
Because men are idiots about that.
Men are dumbasses, I’ve been cqlled a metrosexual for plucking my eyebrows, wouldn’t surprise me if u could find a guy that calls you gay for washing your hands after shitting
I personally do. ALL of my Ancestors died from prostate issues or greatly suffered from them until death. I recently turned 62…and thus far I’m in great health.
Keep doing what you’re doing and live a good life.
What exactly do you think needs to be talked about or done that isn’t being talked about or done?
Our junk is pretty straightforward. Just check your nuts every now and again; other than that, there’s really not much to it. Our hormones are on a 24hr cycle, so each day is pretty much the same for us in that regard.
Women’s plumbing is much more complicated, and their hormones being on a 28 DAY cycle makes dealing with hormones much more complicated as well. And since pregnancy obviously affects their bodies and not ours, of course there’s a bigger emphasis on their fertility issues being understood.
Honestly this just feels like you reaching to make a ‘whatabout’ the MEN’ post.
Not everything needs to be a competition; we can acknowledge that women have it much more difficult than we do in this regard.
Cuz it’s not as complicated as women’s reproductive health
What gap is there that you thinks need fixing?
I don’t feel the need to discuss my balls with my friends… I have a doctor for that
Our reproductive parts and hormone cycles are a lot less complicated than women’s and don’t impact our day to day as much, so there’s less to talk about. Managing their menstrual cycles takes a lot more effort and knowledge so yeah, women talk about it and we teach young women more about it.
Unless there’s a big issue and then, again… That’s what doctors are for, not my buddies
There is a cultural issue that men don’t take their own health as seriously as women and they should. Go to the doctor if you have an issue, folks!
I’d also add that joking about something doesn’t necessarily mean we can’t also take it seriously. Talking about private stuff like our junk can be awkward, so it’s natural to make light of it. Checking your own balls is important but it can be awkward to discuss, so yeah, I’ll crack a joke about touching yourself (but then also reiterate yeah, seriously, give your balls a fondle and check it out)
Eh I think you’re conflating “positive views on men’s reproductive health” with over sharing and openly talking about medical health screenings. You might think otherwise, but talking about pelvic exams and gynecology isn’t as hot a topic as you might think it is.
I think it’s turned into a joke because talking about your sperm health is just awkward. Pretty sure this entire thread is missing the part about talking with others about your fertility and sperm.
It’s not talked about not because it’s some deep taboo, but because there’s millions of possible health problems you can have and generally that’s not a major source of them for men, especially before well into middle age. Paying outsized attention to something that isn’t an issue or likely to be comes off as odd to most people.
The same is not at all true for women – where it’s one of their biggest health issues, and one of their biggest health issues from their teen years onward.
As someone else has noted, even with basically zero attention paid to it by most men – testicular cancer kills a couple hundred men a year, whereas even with tons of attention paid to it – breast cancer kills tens of thousands. These kinds of things are not equivalent problems.
It’s not pleasant but it’s true, a man’s reproductive health is an innate measurement of his manliness. It is one of the main ways men have ever been measured.
It is not different than how a barren woman was viewed as less of a woman 50+ years ago.
The big issue is that loads of people have advocated for women and no one wants to advocate for men.
You’re 20 and worried about sperm health?