#JamesDonaldsononMentalHealth – Local View: #Sexism, #Suicide Both Alive and Well

All major religions have male godheads and male hierarchies of power, and several restrict women to minor roles. People who say they are Christian are known to sometimes write hate-filled letters to the editor condemning those of us who do not follow Christ. I am not a rib or a second thought; I am human and equal.

Fueled by presidential vitriol, many folks feel emboldened to proclaim the white race as supreme. (Yes, I am white; no, I am not supreme.) The majority of these white supremacists are men, filled with anger and hate. Who are their popular targets? Women: 76 percent of serial killers in the 20th century were from the U.S., as Michael Newton reported in his 2006 book, “The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers.” Also, the majority of serial killers have been white males from lower- to middle-class backgrounds, according to the FBI. Sex is a primary motive of serial killers, sources suggest. And our legal system lacks stable programs to protect abused women or to safeguard justice for those who have been abused, raped, or murdered.

There are folks more concerned about stopping medically safe abortions (which impacts women) and who also loudly support everyone having the right to buy guns (which mostly men do).

The #NationalRifleAssociation would like to blame people like me for massacres. The primary purpose of guns is to kill. They are popular for #suicide because anyone can buy one and they can produce quick death with little pain. Killers obviously are not mentally stable people, but quit blaming people who suffer from #mentalillness for mass shootings.

Many movies, books, TV shows, magazines, and social media continue to project females in second-to-men status; we are there to be sexy, to be raped, to be murdered, to be helpless.

There are four major U.S. sports, and only one has female representation: basketball. In my view, the majority of colleges practice discrimination against females: in faculty positions and salaries — and particularly in sports. These colleges tend to be dominated, it seems, by male regents, male presidents, male department heads, and well-to-do male alum.

Why did the Holocaust happen? Because no one stopped it. Respectable people saw others behaving brutally. It became normal, acceptable, and even applauded. For the health and welfare of all American women, we need to stop behaving brutally.

I suffer from major #depression and general #anxiety disorder. I am considered high risk for #suicide because I have lived through family #suicides; as many already know, when there has been one or more #suicides in a family, the risk potential rises quickly.

Nancy Lanthier Carroll is a writer and editor who lives in Duluth.