I was talking to my father on the phone earlier today.  He was telling me that he had been speaking recently to another man he knew.  It had been a sad conversation with this friend of his.

This man had suddenly discovered he had serious health problems.  Basically, he found out that he had prostate cancer issues.

“You know, it’s amazing,” he told me.  “There is all this push in the culture here for awareness of women’s health issues.  We hear about breast cancer awareness week.  We hear about how we should care about female slavery in the Third World.  We hear about how we should care about reproductive rights.  We hear about how we should care about all things about women’s health.

“But men of my generation were never educated one bit about their bodies.  Most men don’t even know what prostate cancer is.  Most men don’t even know the basics of their health.”

I agreed completely.  Men’s health has always taken a back seat to women’s health.

Men in America are conditioned by the media to believe that they are second-class citizens.  The society here shames and denigrates healthy masculinity.  So why should it be any different when we speak of men’s health issues?

It fits the narrative, certainly.

The media wants you to be a slave to their agenda.  You’re expected to be a good little slave, and carry water and hew wood for your masters until you drop dead.  That’s what they expect of you.

But we, in our part of the internet, are challenging this worldview.  We refuse to accept this.  We reject this.  Our goal is, and always has been, to educate, inspire, and motivate our fellow man, so that he can immunize himself from the prevailing ideology.

But getting back to the issue of men’s health:  it’s clear to me that many men don’t even have the most basic understanding of the health issues that they should be aware of.

And I’m not just talking about complicated subjects here.  I’m talking about basic anatomy.

In my view, these are the health topics that every man should have at least some basic understanding of.  I’m not saying you need to be an expert in these areas.  I’m not even saying you need to be anything close to that.  But you should have at least a basic understanding of these 6 topics:

1. Testosterone and its place in masculinity.  A great deal has been written about testosterone and its effects.  You need to be aware how important it is.  Why?  Because it is one of the “defining chemicals” of masculinity.  It’s part of what makes men, men.  Testosterone levels in men have been declining for a long time, for a variety of social and environmental factors.  Knowing how this chemical works can help us to preserve a good level of this critical chemical in our bodies.

2.  Male pattern baldness.  It’s not a life-threatening issue, of course, but it still is something that matters for a great many guys.

3.  Prostate cancer.  This disease affects a large number of men.  You need to understand the basics of how it works, how to spot it, and how to deal with it.

4.  Basic knowledge of male anatomy.  You would be surprised at how ignorant most people are with regard to the most basic anatomical things.  You should at least have a general understanding of what organs are where, of what connects to what, and how the machine generally operates.  This sort of thing is more useful than you might imagine.

5.  Physical fitness.  So much has been written on this subject that I’m not even going to provide a link to anything.  Just know this:  get in shape and stay in shape.  You already know how to do it.  Just get off your ass and do it.  Your life literally depends on it.  You should also think about getting a good reference work on men’s health.  You will want to look things up every now and then.  I personally like this one here.

6.  You should be aware of any work-related health hazards that you may be exposed to.  Men suffer from work-related injuries at rates far higher than women.  It is critical that we understand the hazards specific to our respective professions.  Document everything.  Why?  Because chances are that one day you’ll have to claim compensation for something.  And he who has the superior paperwork, wins.  Trust me on this.

The bottom line here is this:  no one is going to do this for you.  No one else cares.  We are a long way off from a point at which our culture cares about men’s health in the same way that it does women’s health.  In this, as in so many other things, we have been betrayed.

But you can do it.  If you just approach this subject as another one of your hobbies, it will become second nature.

Remember:  the only one who cares about you, is you.

 

Read more about ethics and perseverance in my ground-breaking, original translation of Cicero’s “On Duties”: