Telegraph reports that female breadwinner damage their husbands health

[QuentinSummers]

" men struggling to cope with long hours and the pressures of work, it might seem like the perfect arrangement.

But it turns out having a wife who is the main breadwinner is potentially dangerous for a husband's health.

Researchers found being a kept man, with a wife who is the primary earner, increases the chances of heart disease, strokes and type two diabetes.

Sociologists at Rutgers University in the US who carried out the study said the problems arise when the husband loses his role as chief earner.

Being superseded by a spouse in the income stakes seems to strike a heavy blow to men's health.

It's thought men suffer psychologically from being toppled from their position as main provider and that this has a knock-on effect on physical health.

'We found that violating cultural expectations, such as the masculinity ideal of male breadwinning, is associated with older men's poorer health' "

www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/09/04/female-breadwinners-damaging-husbands-health/amp/

Nice to see it's all working women's fault as usual.

[Datun]

'We found that violating cultural expectations, such as the masculinity ideal of male breadwinning, is associated with older men's poorer health' "

Which is why we need to change the cultural expectations.

[OlennasWimple]

OK, I've given this about 5 seconds thought, but I wonder if these findings have anything to do with these breadwinner women not providing as much of a crutch to their husbands in terms of cooking decent food / cleaning / wifework / making doctors appointments for them to see about their frequent urination and constant thirst....

[NotMyMonkees]

I believe that traditionally, marriage lengthens men's lives whilst shortening women's. So perhaps this is just a rebalancing of that effect? Fair enough then.

[thatstoast]

But from the woman's point of view, at least their misogynist husband is going to die earlier.

[VestalVirgin]

Wow. Men sure are fragile.

I find it rather amusing that having their sexist views proven wrong literally kills them.

We need to talk a lot more about female main breadwinners, might kill some sexist men.

[tribpot]

Ha - my DH was already ill, which is why I'm the only breadwinner. Thus proving the Telegraph's point. Or in fact not at all.

[Slightlyperturbedowlagain]

Oh well. There are always downsides to everything

[TheWitchAndTrevor]

Of course it had to be an American study too.

[Slightlyperturbedowlagain]

(Can anyone offer Melania a job?)

[ILoveDolly]

My basic guess is, as others have suggested, its because the men don't look after themselves with out a "mummy" who has time to monitor their doings. Why isn't the headline "silly men can't look after own health"

[Birdchangedname]

Itcouldbeworse Just won this thread.

[QuentinSummers]

That's exactly what I thought olennas
No doubt we will have the MRAs on later to tell us how this is more evidence of feminism ruining the world
If I cba I would look at the actual study to see whether my initial impression that it is bollocks is accurate or not

[VestalVirgin]

(Can anyone offer Melania a job?)

Best plan ever!
That could actually work, with how old the dude is already ...

[minipie]

Assuming the statistics hold up, isn't it more likely that the causation is the other way round - i.e. the man in these relationships is a "kept man" (ugh) because he has health problems, he doesn't develop health problems because he's a kept man?

Also I wonder if age was taken into account. If they are looking at marriages where the man is a fair bit older, and retires earlier, that would correlate with the "kept man dies earlier" theory.

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

Well personally it is all part of my grand plan. I could just hit DH over the head with a frying pan. But instead, I'm putting in overtime week after week, year after year, slowly and painfully gaining incremental promotions over a 30 year career.

It's a long game, you see. And the police will never be able to touch me.

[Slightlyperturbedowlagain]

Johnny

[StealthPolarBear]

I'd like to think this s one of those American studies that doesn't translate well to the UK

[VestalVirgin]

No doubt we will have the MRAs on later to tell us how this is more evidence of feminism ruining the world

The MRAs should go and become monks already. Monks live about as long as nuns, if I remember correctly, and are also actually leaving women the fuck alone (which MGTOWs just talk and talk about but never do).

But I suppose men who decide to become monks are able to look after themselves and have no need to leech off women in the first place.
If you forced MRAs to live with other MRAs in a monastery, they'd probably, like, kill each other in the first week or so. Or live off pizza deliveries and make a complete mess of the place in the first week, and kill each other off in a month. Something like that.

[reallyanotherone]

Interesting. We have just swapped roles.

Dh is, i think, physically fitter. He has swapped an office job for going out running, walking to school, housework etc.

I agree with the food thing. I think he'd have us live on ready meals and takeaway. He has never learned to cook. He does try, but i think mil's cooking was so fucking bad that he's never developed any sense of how to combine tastes. So i still cook while he runs them to after school activities.

Psychologically, it has been tough. Having been told all his life that he needs a pension etc, he's having a panic about retirement. He is also struggling not to see "my money" and "his money", and because he's not earning genuinely thinks he has no money. He can't see that i was in exactly the same position when he was the sole earner, probably because i am very good with money so he just handed it all over to me.

So yes, we need to change the cultural expectations so men don't have this utter loss of identity and self worth that is tied up with their role as provider.

[StealthPolarBear]

What about gay men where there's a salary/career imbalance?

[Slightlyperturbedowlagain]

Minipie I'm guessing it's a bit of all of the possibilities suggested already plus a great big dollop of you can usually make the numbers say what you want if you begin with a sufficiently biased premise.

[StealthPolarBear]

And anyway there simply can't be that many examples of this. Women don't earn that much with their little jobs. Not enough to support a family.

[VestalVirgin]

@minipie: Yeah, that's probably the real scientific explanation. In combination with men just not looking after themselves. Also possible: Men who earn less than their wives didn't earn so much to begin with. In the US, that massively increases all health risks, because of shitty healthcare system.

[VestalVirgin]

What about gay men where there's a salary/career imbalance?

Anecdotal, but I knew a gay man who voluntarily became the "househusband" because he had tried paid work and hated it.
I suppose gay men are a lot more relaxed about this, and thus, less heart attacks.