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

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

#31

Post by mold_aid »

donkey_brains wrote: post #21

How did this make it to the top of HN? It’s an extremely facile work and reads exactly like a high school essay: “In having his character consider execution to protect his and his family’s reputation, Doyle explored the societal expectations of Victorian masculinity and how men struggled with such pressures.” It’s an interesting topic, but the paper makes no revelatory statements and provides a very superficial analy…

>How did this make it to the top of HN? It’s an extremely facile work and reads >exactly like a high school essay

Asked and answered

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

#32

Post by bell-cot »

donkey_brains wrote: post #21

How did this make it to the top of HN? It’s an extremely facile work and reads exactly like a high school essay: “In having his character consider execution to protect his and his family’s reputation, Doyle explored the societal expectations of Victorian masculinity and how men struggled with such pressures.” It’s an interesting topic, but the paper makes no revelatory statements and provides a very superficial analy…

If HNer's want to talk about something, or just feel the topic is important, then a short & weak article is more than good enough to be a sort of seed crystal.

(If you know of better articles on this topic, then please provide links!)

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

#33

Post by akimbostrawman »

andersonpico wrote: post #27
akimbostrawman wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really don't need to reach that far. As a man if you are too often vulnerable, too much, for the wrong reasons or at the wrong time you will loose the respect of your partner and soon after there love.

divorced dad take

Crazy cat lady take. See I can make useless remarks too.

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

#34

Post by squigz »

akimbostrawman wrote: post #30
squigz wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone's partner is that shallow.

Exceptions don't invalidate the rule. Everybody thinks there partner isn't right until they are.

Your experiences don't validate the rule, either.

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

#35

Post by JKCalhoun »

donkey_brains wrote: post #21

How did this make it to the top of HN? It’s an extremely facile work and reads exactly like a high school essay: “In having his character consider execution to protect his and his family’s reputation, Doyle explored the societal expectations of Victorian masculinity and how men struggled with such pressures.” It’s an interesting topic, but the paper makes no revelatory statements and provides a very superficial analy…

Perhaps it made it to the top of HN because there are a lot of Sherlock Holmes fans here who are curious about some of the nuances of the character not often cited. That the article itself may be lacking in specifics may not be a problem if it has at least whetted the curiosity of a number of us. (And we can then seek out more details, or better still, read the whole series of books with a keener eye.)

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

#36

Post by akimbostrawman »

paganel wrote: post #12
tossandthrow wrote: post #2

> One of those taboo subjects was male vulnerability and mental health problems. (emphasis is mine) I would argue that still in 2025 this is an extreme and institutionalized taboo.

[flagged]

>huge taboo to have your employer or your fellow co-workers know that you have been institutionalized in the past for mental health problems

Depend if you have the right trendy label that HR is in love with then you will get more and better jobs because if it.

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

#37

Post by FridayoLeary »

donkey_brains wrote: post #21

How did this make it to the top of HN? It’s an extremely facile work and reads exactly like a high school essay: “In having his character consider execution to protect his and his family’s reputation, Doyle explored the societal expectations of Victorian masculinity and how men struggled with such pressures.” It’s an interesting topic, but the paper makes no revelatory statements and provides a very superficial analy…

Yes, i thought it was silly as well. revisionist analysis such as these are pretty common, though normally better written. You can probably find half a dozen essays with titles like "Sherlock holmes fought against colonial oppression, a deep dive in how Conan doyle covered unpopular and controversial topics in the victorian age". And another 50 essays arguing the opposite point.

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

#38

Post by andersonpico »

Tarks wrote: post #6
nephihaha wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do they mean by "vulnerability" here? There is this constant redefinition of words. In mainstream usage, "vulnerability" is not a good thing as it means you are open to problems and can easily be attacked. They presumably mean it in the sense of being "open to your own emotions" or tender. Silly misuse of words for a serious subject.

My take is you've got the right reasoning but the wrong conclusion, I agree with your contextless definition of vulnerability and with the use of it in this context, vulnerability makes people vulnerable, by definition. From my experience, the reason you'd risk being vulnerable is there are some things you can't achieve without doing so, it'd be like trying to do surgery with a scalpel on someone wearing platemail, o…

> I think it's sad that performative emotions & vulnerability seem to be a popular thing to have to signal for acceptance.

You only think it's performative because you think people are signaling. They're not and performative anything is not required for acceptance, but people are not accepting of others who deal with their social interaction in these terms and your very language betrays where you stand. These imaginary requirements for affection are not what's sad here.

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

#39

Post by akimbostrawman »

squigz wrote: post #34
akimbostrawman wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exceptions don't invalidate the rule. Everybody thinks there partner isn't right until they are.

Your experiences don't validate the rule, either.

Right I forgot we are on HN where we even need a scientific paper on "do women like weak vulnerable or strong confident men?" because nobody ever goes outside.

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

#40

Post by varjag »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #29

Not from Doyle, but the film, "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution", presents Holmes as very vulnerable. Especially given the amazing cast, it is an excellent portrayal. That Holmes would encounter Sigmund Freud seemed to me at the time as a wild use of artistic license. Since then though I have come to believe that there were a lot fewer people on the Earth in general than I could really appreciate at the time, and some of…

Luminaries also were concentrated in but a few spots of the world at the time: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21859771
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