Men should stay at home to minimise risk. Can we have this conversation?

[DJLippy]

The stats are showing that men are far more likely to die from Corona than women. It's a 70/30 split according to some estimates.

However when I go out on my daily bike ride I notice far more men in the streets than women. They are very vulnerable to Covid I am concerned. Should we encourage men who are not key workers to stay at home? Would society be able to function?

Many of the key services are staffed by women. The NHS workforce is 74% female and nurses and health care assistant workforces (who provide the most intimate care) are 90% female. Even doctors (who we often imagine as male) are 45% female.

The key workers seem to be split by sex quite a lot. For example - nurses and teachers overwhelmingly female. Drivers, engineers, road crews ect overwhelmingly male. Obviously they are allowed to travel freely. They are doing vital work.

Is there a case to be made (to minimise risk) that men should stay in the house?

Aside from the genetic aspects which make men vulnerable to Covid, stats show that men (as a class) all have much lower personal hygiene than women. Women obey the hand washing rules better than men. Therefore women (as a class) are less likely to spread disease.

Meanwhile police have to concentrate their resources on Covid related issues. Considering that men commit 90% of violent crime maybe it's best we introduce a law which keeps the sex with the greatest propensity for criminality in the house.

I cant help but feel like if the stats were the other way around women would be living under house arrest. Or at least face a lot of social pressure to do so...

Can we have a conversation about this?

Maybe the lower male standards of hygiene are a way of building resistance?

(Which doesn't seem to be working. Oh well).

And to be fair, most kids are filthy and their risk is very low

"And I do not for a second agree with the lame justification “if women were higher risk there would be a law restricting us..”

Maybe not laws, but advice. Women are regularly advised not to go out alone at night, for example, because it's not safe.

I'm interested in the "men have lower levels of hygiene" argument.

I don't know what men as a group do re handwashing but I've seen many, many women "wash" their hands in public toilets before C19 and they were most definitely not washing their hands, they were waiving them under the water, not washing them. I think any boasting that women are cleaner than men because women waive their hands under a tap is naive.

Which is a bit weird, because more men than women were the victims of crime outside the home during darkness last time I looked.

Hearhoovesthinkzebras

Oh, it's a sweeping generalisation but, overall, I'd say women at work seemed to be hotter on using hand gels, cleaning desks etc than their make counterparts even before Covid (which isn't to say that men can't be clean freaks and women messy).

(Male poster btw).

The thing about effective hand washing after the toilet is that usually I haven’t had to touch my genitals to go whereas a man urinating does, don’t they? (Period time excepted of course) So even a cursory handwash is probably more effective on a woman?

So you haven't touched the seat, the flush or door handles then?

Yeah, don't think you can claim the cleanliness high ground to be honest.

How come it's only now that people have adopted the twenty second hand washing? I don't get this at all.

poster QuentinWinters Sun 12-Apr-20 09:17:19
I can't even be bothered any more. It's interesting that the mere suggestion men should have to inconvenience themselves more than women, based on actual facts and statistics, is something we can't discuss.

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Hang on- my impression is more that the staying in wouldn’t be an inconvenience because it would exempt those people from all sorts of labour and that the remaining women would be expected to shoulder the burden ... not only would they be having to do everything the men previously did outside the home, you can bet the majority of those women wouldn’t be getting home to a clean, tidy house with meals cooked, kids calm, educated and groomed! No thanks.

I usually try not to, yeah. I open door handles etc with my scarf and flush with toilet paper. Usually don’t touch the seat in public.

Thanks, Rufus.

not only would they be having to do everything the men previously did outside the home, you can bet the majority of those women wouldn’t be getting home to a clean, tidy house with meals cooked, kids calm, educated and groomed!

If we're already keeping men indoors for their own safety, they shouldn't have to engage in any strenuous activity. The stress would harm their already fragile immune systems and exposure to other people/environments would lead to more chances for infection, since the dirty beggars can't keep themselves clean.

Instead, they should have a room to themselves and be served curry and beer while watching old, misogynistic comedies (laughter helps with immune function). They should only get up and move to make space for their partner or whichever woman is conscripted to take care of them to clean their room (ideally, a smaller secondary entertainment area would be made available so they don't worry while she cleans).

"Which is a bit weird, because more men than women were the victims of crime outside the home during darkness last time I looked."

Mugging is the fear for men, but rape for women, I think. Men do get attacked more while walking alone at night probably because they're more likely t be out. If I have to walk late at night I notice that there are far fewer women out.

Is that your lockdown plan gronky 😀

Is that your lockdown plan gronky

If I could, I absolutely would, minus the misogynistic comedy films, I've sat through too many Carry On films out of politeness for one lifetime. Not sure how I'd feel about a random man coming to my home (I presume you mean the reverse), I'd probably be more stressed by that than cleaning for myself.

Sadly, I'm still going in to work because it's been deemed essential (I'm covering for the practical aspects of the job for people with families). I understand the anxiety some people at home are feeling but can't help but feel a little jealous as I'd love nothing more than to spend several weeks at home on my own.

Hope working isn’t too stressful for you at the moment

Ive only spoken to a very few people about working out of the home but most of them seem torn between safety and at least getting out of the house and having interaction

Hope working isn’t too stressful for you at the moment

Thanks, it's much less worrying than heading to the supermarket because there's so few people and I can put some music on. Are you going into work?

No I don’t Work much

I invigilate at school so its very ad hoc

And although we do mocks for all year groups obviously may and june are ONLY for gcse...so i might not be back at work at all

I really don’t like shopping im so worried about doing the right thing I’m probably doing the wrong thing !

im so worried about doing the right thing I’m probably doing the wrong thing !

I imagine you're doing fairly well as long as you're washing your hands, not touching your face and avoiding licking other people's eyeballs (hard to resist, I know).

Its the licking eyeballs bit where i fall down unfortunately

Its the licking eyeballs bit where i fall down unfortunately

They are very tasty. I've been making do at home with lightly salted, peeled grapes.

Oh ma god...that’s actually really gross 😀

Are eyes salty?

I bet eyeballs aren’t salty

Im either gonna have to lick someone or google it

I'm joking about the grapes and I'm assuming eyes are salty in the same way as tears (I honestly can't say I've licked any).

No i just googled

Apparently they taste pretty neutral

They are both saline and alkaline to help fight off bacteria

Apparently