Breaking the Taboo of Men's "Privacy": New Men's Health Awareness, Preventive Tendencies, and Implications of the Vienna Health Report [i]

No matter how optimistic the predictions of modern medicine may be, the benefits that men and women share from its achievements are not entirely the same. On the one hand, women have achieved equality. On the other hand, gynecological medicine has made tremendous progress in treatment, and books on women's health fill many library shelves; while the impression of men's medicine as a whole is limited to treating prostate diseases. It was only recently that men's diseases were put on the agenda. Only after the invention of the aphrodisiac "Viagra" in 1998 did people cautiously begin to pay attention to men's diseases, gradually breaking down the previously held taboo against discussing "privacy" in men. Various men's diseases, as well as the changes in aging and typical weaknesses related to the same sex-all these "privacy" topics have gradually broken down taboos and are increasingly becoming topics of public discussion. Women have their own characteristics in many ways, and one of the primary differences between them and men is that they regularly visit gynecologists. They are very knowledgeable about health and often exchange information with other women who share similar experiences. In contrast, men are reluctant to undergo preventative checkups and rarely discuss declining virility with each other. Urology clinics, primarily serving as consultation and reception areas for men's health issues, have seen slow development. Most men only see a urologist when they experience discomfort or illness. Why do men wait so long for a urologist? Why don't men have doctors like gynecologists, who provide consistent medical care from birth, adolescence, adulthood, and old age? It is precisely these aging men who face a series of gender-related problems today. It is well known that, statistically, men have a lower lifespan than women. Although both men and women experience aging, men's lifespan is six years shorter than women's. Furthermore, more men die before the age of 70 than women. The first "Vienna Report on Men's Health" pointed out that while treatment methods have improved and follow-up care is more effective, effective disease prevention is still far from being achieved. The report indicated that accidents, alcoholism, and suicide are the main causes of shorter lifespans for men. Men, consciously or unconsciously, lead risky lives, neglecting their physical and mental health and rarely undergoing physical examinations. In childhood, girls often accompany their parents to the doctor to discuss their health problems; boys, however, tend to suppress their pain because traditional education teaches them things like, "True Indians don't know what pain is," and "Men don't cry easily." Women receive medical care almost continuously during menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth, while boys, lacking these experiences, lack a concept of disease prevention. Although women's suicide attempts are three times higher than men's, the actual suicide rate for men is three times higher than for women. Furthermore, men have a higher risk of dying from cancer than women. The most common malignant tumor in men is prostate cancer, followed by lung cancer and colon cancer. Particularly disturbing is that since the 1980s, the likelihood of men developing prostate cancer has doubled. Because men don't prioritize health checkups, the likelihood of early diagnosis is also lower. Only 5% of Viennese people have regular health checkups. In contrast, women are 150 times more likely to have preventative health checkups than men. Men's health reports indicate that although men and women understand health concepts similarly, strangely, they both believe that men are, in principle, healthier than women. This perception leads to men neglecting their health. Health reports analyzing patient ailments in some industrialized countries explicitly state that while men die earlier than women, women are at greater risk of illness. Patients of different genders describe different characteristics of their illnesses and at different ages. Women tend to describe more ailments caused by psychological and social factors, while fewer describe physical symptoms and their associated suffering. Although men have shorter lifespans than women, their health awareness is very limited, only able to name the symptoms associated with shortened lifespan. In the survey report, approximately 77% of men described their health as "very good" or "fairly good"; only 20% described their health as normal. The report indicates that within a year, 40% of men become so ill that they cannot get out of bed or at least cannot perform their original work. Common ailments among men include colds, organ damage during exercise, or high blood pressure; about 6% of men reported having a myocardial infarction or other heart disease or stroke. Overall, about half of all men have some kind of health problem. [i]