Arthur Conan Doyle explored men’s mental health through Sherlock Holmes

Honestly, I think that this delineation between descriptive vs. substantive representation is the more likely attempt at rewriting history. Even if you look only at political elites across time, you’ll easily see women disenfranchised from positions of power because of male lines of succession, or from certain lines of work (even knowledge work) because such activities were expected of and considered rightful for men. That’s not to say that women have it worse. While it’s true that men have been victims of conscription to wars and dangerous labor, by your own explanation, these forms of oppression would go away if only those men were rich—-but there wouldn’t be any respite for women even if they could change their socio-economic standing.

As regards generational blame, I disagree that it is immoral to place accountability (which is different from blame) on a people even across generations, and ergo, time. You might not have a hand at something that your ancestor did, but you could be reaping the benefits of it today. You don’t have to be sorry for it with your every breath, but since we’re already talking about morality, you do have the responsibility to recognize the past and where your current resources are from, and to make reparations towards people who are still suffering the consequences to the present.

And as a man, I would like for men’s issues to be more out there and recognized in its own right, but honestly, “men’s rights” is a very recent thing and only came about as a reaction against the rise of feminist discourse in social media. How could one not see that as a derivative of women’s issues? It’s not even talking about the things that really matter to me as a man, such as the discrimination of men against an “alpha” ideal which, I could argue from experience, is really what’s driving those mental health issues and suicidal thoughts. I’ve seen that men’s rights movements are actually trying to defend this ideal, and it doesn’t even seem to consider LGBT men in the picture.

I agree here.

There is something to be said for soldiering through a rough phase. It's not always the right thing to do but below a certain threshold, it's necessary to build some amount of resilience.

Collapsing at the slightest exposure to an uncomfortable situation and having to rely on an extensive support structure that includes a therapist, drugs and other things should not, in my opinion, be the default.

As for Holmes, I read, re-read and practically memorised most of the canon when I was in my late teens and early 20s. Mental health was never one of my take aways. I was fascinated by the intensity of the character and how his work meant so much to him. That the lack of it depressed him might have been something Doyle observed in his patients and decided to use as a foil but I don't think he was "exploring men's mental health" in the stories. He was merely trying to make a believable detective who explains his methods. My feeling is that this is overlaying a 2025 interpretation onto a Victorian tale.

As a matter of interest, many of the traits were inspired by someone Doyle worked for named Dr. Joseph Bell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Bell) who emphasised and used careful observation - a skill that can be very useful to a medical practitioner. The relationship between Bell and Doyle was fictionalised into a series called "Murder Rooms". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_Rooms:_Mysteries_of_the...

First, we have only discussed equal representation of men's and women's issues with the argument that an imbalance in the public discourse leads to an imbalance in personal opinion. You are going of of slope to misrepresent this as a mens rights movement - that is not very polite.

You are completely right in your observations about women being disenfranchised from power and not hold the same rights. But this is just a minor aspect of life and invite you to reflect on whether this in its own right led to worse lifes as a whole for women - if you take all other obligations and privileges into consideration. I tried indicating that life expectancy could be a well understood proxy, but you are free to find other holistic proxies.

I do believe in full gender equality. and as while women has gained autonomy and agency men need to gain the same amount of protection of that of women. Men can not be the only ones conscripted for war. Men can not be the only ones taking dangerous and physical jobs.

I am also not here to push a zero sum view of these things - But to push a reasonable understanding of "sum" and be open for being taught something if it turns out that what we thought was not right.

Your comment about generational blame for entire groups of people is abhorrent and needs to be rejected. It leads to people "paying reparations" or "taking blame" for something they have not done just by being a part of that group. It is out of touch with societies based on rule of law. And it needs to be rejected.

You have absolutely no responsibility to accept or recognize anything you have not been a part of. This mere idea that you can force people to adapt (by accepting) a truth i borderline authoritarian. It is such an extreme form of mental coercion and needs to be rejected.

We all are.

I have a nephew with bipolar. He has chosen to “go public” about it, on LinkedIn. His reasoning, is that it helps remove the stigma. He seems to be doing fine, but he also has a very good background, and a lot of advantages, not available to others (I come from a fairly Ivy League family, and my sister has a lot of resources).

For myself, I have been in Recovery from drug addiction, for over 45 years. I was once a Very Bad Boi. I quit at 18, so never got a[n adult] record.

It’s not something that I have chosen to reveal, while I was working. I know, damn well, that it would not have worked in my favor (even though the Recovery process has conferred significant advantages). I never explicitly told my employees or my employers. My last employer was a Japanese company, and drug addiction suffers a great stigma, in most Asian nations. It would not have gone well. As it was, they kept me for decades, and I enjoyed an “inner circle” level of trust (a significant part of my path of Recovery is rigorous Honesty, Personal Integrity, and self-Discipline. I’m a very trustworthy and hard-working person). They never knew it, but they got a great deal of benefit from my addiction and subsequent Recovery.

In fact, I guarantee that some folks, after reading that, now suddenly hate me (in addition to the ones that already do, because they think I’m a stuck-up boomer). There’s a great deal of emotion, in mental illness and Recovery, and there’s a very good reason that folks don’t reveal it. I’ve watched it happen, for a long time. It’s a real thing.

As it is, I still don’t mention it often, though it’s a primary fact of life, for me. It’s not relevant to most of my interactions, and most people have no understanding of Recovery (and shouldn’t be required to, either). It’s very much a “If I have to explain, you wouldn’t understand” thing. It’s my problem, and my responsibility to manage. I have to understand others; they don’t need to understand me.