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Men's Mental Health
Sexual Abuse

A lot of things that they don't tell you about being a boy, being an adolescent and growing into a man

Being a boy you're raised to always believe that you need to be tough, that you have to mask your emotions or else you're perceived as weak, and this cycle is difficult to break, because the people who teach it to us are related to us, or they're our role models on TV

There are-

hardly any role models on TV that teach young boys about being compassionate or that it's okay to feel or to cry or to like things that other boys don't like.

When you're a boy growing into a man, you're going to be called a "pussy" more times than you can count, over pretty-

much everything.

A lot of boys are raised to shelter their emotions and it turns into a lot of emotional suppression that bursts and causes violent tendencies, hence the stereotype that boys are violent, I grew up being told to never let anyone see my emotions and it took me-

down a really dark path that hurt friends, family, and the people that I would date. Things I've been working to unteach myself.

When boys do something wrong they're met with "boys will be boys" so we are often put in a position where we are taught that we don't need to be-

our own perception of ourselves.

Realistically if you look at support groups for men, the results are scarce, we don't have a lot of support and it causes a dramatic recoil of suicide and depression in men.

We are taught that our purpose is to provide and that if you don't-

then you're not considered a real man, because a "real man" provides for his family.

The media, TV, our families, our role models, they all feed in to this idea that a "man" can only be one thing, one stereotype-

someone who can fix cars, build a house, hunt, smokes, drinks, a handyman, is a stone wall of emotion, has lots of sex with lots of beautiful women, loves violence and is muscular and well built.

That's what the world tries to teach us that we should be

That we can't be-

If you're a boy who was the victim of sexual abuse by an older man, you're afraid to open up about it, because your hyperhetero household will taunt you and make homohobic comments about your abuse towards you.-

So whether you're a boy who's growing into a man, a man who grew up in an abusive environment, a trans man, young, old, tall, short, skinny, large, whatever it may be.

Your mental health is important, you are valid, I will always be your ally.

You are a real man.