“I’m Not Afraid of Dying Because I’ve Got Nothing to Lose”: Young Men in South Africa Talk About Nonfatal Suicidal Behavior

Abstract

First-person narratives of suicidal behavior may provide novel insights into how individuals with lived experience of suicide understand and narrate their behavior. Our aim was to explore the narratives of young men hospitalized following nonfatal suicidal behavior (NFSB), in order to understand how young suicidal men construct and understand their actions. Data were collected via narrative interviews with 14 men (aged 18–34 years) admitted to hospital following an act of NFSB in Cape Town, South Africa. Narrative analysis was used to analyze the data. Two dominant narratives emerged in which participants drew on tropes of the “great escape” and “heroic resistance,” performing elements of hegemonic masculinity in the way they narrated their experiences. Participants position themselves as rational heroic agents and present their suicidal behavior as goal-directed action to solve problems, assert control, and enact resistance. This dominant narrative is incongruent with the mainstream biomedical account of suicide as a symptom of psychopathology. The young men also articulated two counter-narratives, in which they deny responsibility for their actions and position themselves as defeated, overpowered, wary, and unheroic. The findings lend support to the idea that there is not only one narrative of young men’s suicide, and that competing and contradictory narratives can be found even within a dominant hyper-masculine account of suicidal behavior. Gender-sensitive suicide prevention strategies should not assume that all men share a common understanding of suicide. Suicide can be enacted as both a performance of masculinity and as a resistance to hegemonic gender roles.

Men’s perspectives on the relationship between masculinities and suicidality: A thematic synthesis.

“…Some men described fulfilling provider and protector roles was protective against suicidal behaviors. Men Must Fulfill the Provider Role for Life to Be Worth Living . Common across cross-cultural studies (Akotia et al, 2019; Bantjes & Mapaling, 2021; Cleary, 2005; Ferlatte et al, 2019; Holmes, 2022; N. Khan & Naz, 2016; N.…”

“…Additionally, some participants framed suicide as an act of masculine dominance (e.g., Mahalik et al, 2003) over intolerable feelings or situations. Suicide, therefore, became a desirable option, allowing men to “take control” (Bantjes & Mapaling, 2021, p. 5) over their lives and distress. Men presented themselves as rational, objective decision-makers who were taking the “best option” (Knizek & Hjelmeland, 2018, p. 6) or “right decision” (Woollacott, 2020, p. 73) by attempting suicide.I was depressed about some stuff.…”

“…I would say I had enough … I can't reach the standards I tried to set myself. Around by this time I thought I would be achieving those (Bantjes & Mapaling, 2021).…”

“…The financial provider role seemed particularly salient within Bangladesh (A. R. Khan et al, 2021Khan et al, , 2022, Pakistan (N. Khan & Naz, 2016;N. Khan et al, 2019), Ghana (Akotia et al, 2019;Osafo et al, 2015), and South Africa (Bantjes & Mapaling, 2021), where some described suicide attempts as direct consequences of inability to provide. Pakistan-and Bangladesh-based participants also described mockery and criticism from their families and communities for failing to provide, leading to unbearable shame and, consequently, suicide attempts.…”

‘They Sent Me Out to School, and I Came Back with a Baby’: Perinatal Women’s Experiences of Biographical Disruption and Nonfatal Suicidal Behaviour

“…Many of the women describe feeling abandoned and alone because of the father’s absence. Previous studies in SA have explored how young men’s suicidal behaviour occurs in the context of a strict gender regimen (Bantjes et al, 2017; Bantjes & Mapaling, 2021), but relationships between gender norms and maternal suicide remains largely unexplored. This line of enquiry is supported by empirical evidence suggesting that strategies to eliminate culturally embedded gender discrimination have the potential to prevent suicides (Chang et al, 2019).…”