Dear Ellen,
International Men’s Day isn’t about handsome, shirtless men. It’s about Suicide.
Dear Ellen,
I’ve always appreciated your sense of humour and understand your take on objectifying “ripped” men.
Whilst I have absolutely no problem when you have Diane Keaton on your show and have shirtless men walk through the crowd, I would implore you to have some sense of emotional intelligence when you do decide to talk about “Mental Health”.
I understand and fully appreciate your efforts for the need to bring awareness to how crucial #MeToo has been in exposing predatory behaviour by men, but never did it allow for exploiting a day dedicated to preventing suicide amongst men to be exploited.
I understand your sense of humour and your will to satirically display “sexy shirtless bodies” on your show, occasionally even hiring models to appear shirtless; I get it, it’s entertaining.
Jimmy Kimmel does his thing with women in bikinis, so it’s fair game that you bring attractive men on your show for the women in your audience.
I guess, the part that failed me was that you, of all people — ignored the issue at hand, as you garishly disregarded a serious issue to take pleasure in exploiting seemingly attractive attractive men in your version of what “International Men’s Day” stands for.
I understand men have played a part in sexual assault and as such there is not a shred of a doubt that those men need to be held responsible.
I just hope that you understand, just because certain men sexually assault women — doesn’t necessarily mean that we should disregard mental health entirely because it’s “girl-power”.
As an individual who struggles with suicidal thoughts and depression, your version of “International Men’s Day” was not only lacking in empathy; it felt hollow and lower in standard to disregard and dismiss the value of bringing attention to mental health, I guess we aren’t allowed that luxury anymore because men in power really fucked that up for the rest of us.
You could’ve done better, you had the opportunity to talk about suicide prevention more eloquently — yet you chose Chris Hemsworth and Idris Elba as sexual images because that’s what’s sexy and that’s what sells.
I guess it wouldn’t be all that sexy if a person like myself appeared shirtless, not because you could count my abs, but rather the cigarette burns, the razor blade marks, and the scar on my back when I jumped hoping for death would be rather distracting and not too sexually appealing.
Of how it was meaningful to have compassionate sisters and a mother who was there to patch me up, bringing hope to me that depression was not the end.
Of how it helped me become more sensitive towards people who are discriminated against, of how it taught me the value that homosexual men suffer from suicidal thoughts too — not just women.
I hope that you’ll attempt to understand that not all men, regardless of how handsome they appear, or how ripped they are, are sexual predators and that not all men deserve to be dismissed.
That men too suffer from suicidal thoughts, and not all of us have perfect bodies — and whilst it’s aesthetically appealing, even “ripped” men suffer from depression and anxiety (Chris Pratt, Robin Williams, and Tyson Fury — to name a few).
It wasn’t the right time to objectify Hollywood famous hunky men to shrug off the real reason for what “International Men’s Day” is meant for; bringing awareness to mental health and suicide prevention.
Maybe it wasn’t your intention, but it certainly made me feel more alone in a world where I feel has already made it quite difficult to regain the trust of women due to the oppression they’ve suffered at the hands of powerful men.
Much Love and Kind Regards,
Nabeel Tahir. :)
