Suicide and Gender: An urgent issue during and post COVID-19

Abstract

Suicide is a growing social problem worldwide. Gender has been considered one of the risk factors for suicide, however, it has also been one of the misunderstood categories by some researchers. Gender is not a risk factor in itself. Political, economic, and cultural processes assign, distribute, and value social opportunities, roles, and expectations according to sexual differences, and it shape the ways of thinking and feeling ourselves. These ways of thinking and feeling can explain suicide at the individual level. In this sense, this article focus on the processes through which the current COVID-19 pandemic may be affecting our construction of gender, and as a result, our mental health. As a result, some directions are pointed out to understanding suicide and its relationship with human being as a historical totality.