Be Nice to the Ladies and Increase Your Life Expectancy!

Sounds like a shady ad for a miracle hair growth product, but it’s actually true. A study done by British researchers at the University of Liverpool, and published in the current issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, has found that patriarchy may be responsible for the lower life expectancy of men. Using the pervasiveness of violence against women as a indicator of patriarchal control (and controlling for socioeconomic factors), the researchers analyzed rates of female murders and male death rates (natural and otherwise) in 51 countries, and discovered that women lived longer than men in all 51 countries, but the higher the incidence of violence against women, the shorter the male life expectancies. (As expected, a greater prevalence of violence against women also correlated with higher male death rates from non-natural causes.) The data “suggest that oppression and exploitation harm the oppressors as well as those they oppress," and that the shorter life expectancy among men is "a preventable social condition, which can potentially be tackled through global social policy."

So there you have it. Not only does feminism save women’s lives; it can also extend men’s lives.

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