Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 21, 1993 TAG: 9309210014
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Neil Chethik
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Some experts say it's higher rates of poverty, exposure to drugs and guns, and even genetics. But a leading specialist in black men's health says one crucial factor is almost always overlooked: the tendency of all men to ignore - until it's too late - the physical symptoms of disease.
"We like to look at black men as completely different from other men," says Atlanta physician Jean Bonhomme. "But we're not that different. All men are taught to ignore their pain, to put off seeing the doctor. Black and white men have the same basic problem. In black men, it's just exaggerated."
Bonhomme, 42, has been taking that message to Atlanta's black communities since 1987. That's when he co-founded the National Black Men's Health Network to help educate black men about how to prevent health problems that could otherwise cause their early deaths.
Bonhomme first noticed those deaths growing up in the Brownsville section of New York City, the same neighborhood where boxers Mike Tyson and Riddick Bowe came from. Many young men died on the streets there, Bonhomme says; only about 15 percent graduated from high school.
Bonhomme was one of them, and he continued on to college and medical school, arriving in Atlanta in 1979, where he took jobs that put him in contact mostly with black patients. Frequently, he recalls, male patients would visit him only after their backaches, headaches or chest pains had become unbearable.
By then, however, it was often too late. Cancers and tumors had grown beyond the point where they could be treated. Heart problems were so advanced that the damage was irreversible.
"I was terribly frustrated," Bonhomme says. "I was seeing people die who should have stayed alive."
When he asked his patients why they had waited so long to see him, he was struck by the answers. "They equated sickness with weakness," he says. "Black males, especially those in the labor class, had learned to tolerate pain, to ignore the signals of their own bodies."
Bonhomme says white males have the same problem. One statistic offers evidence that being male may be as big a health hazard as being black: Black women live an average two years longer than white men.
Of course, being both black and male compounds the health risks. And that's why Bonhomme jumped at the opportunity to join several of Atlanta's black leaders in starting the health network. Network members have since spoken at scores of churches, schools and health fairs in Atlanta and several other cities.
AIDS education has been a key focus. Black men are about three times as likely as white men to be HIV-positive, Bonhomme says. Yet, until the network produced some AIDS pamphlets, there was no written information that spoke directly to black men about the virus.
Post-traumatic stress syndrome is another focus. Black men were over-represented in combat positions from Vietnam to the Gulf War, and the result is that thousands of black men still struggle with the psychological and physical effects of those experiences. The network directs those men to veterans programs that can help them.
Bonhomme's personal thrust has been to show the link between a good family life and good health. He says that many young men who join gangs do so because they "are attempting to find a substitute for fathers and family. They've never seen how a functional person can deal with society."
One aspect of the gang mentality, he says, is learning to ignore pain - a trait that may save a young man in the gang culture, but could kill him later on. Says Bonhomme: "The boy who learns at age 10 not to show emotion is the same person who ignores his chest pains when he turns 50."
For more information, write the National Black Men's Health Network, 250 Georgia Ave., Suite 321, Atlanta, Ga. 30312.
\ MALE CALL
Men: When was the last time you visited the doctor? Do you resist going to the doctor, even when you think you should? What stops you?
Send responses, comments and questions to "The Men's Column" in care of the Features Department, Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491.
\ Brut's back
There's strength in numbers. Faberge is spending $10 million to re-launch Brut after-shave via its aggressive Men Are Back ad campaign. Not a penny was spent altering the fragrance's original formula, however.
"After interviewing over 2,500 consumers, we decided that the Brut fragrance didn't need to change," says spokesman William Ecker.
Brut's poll, conducted by Yankelovich and Partners Inc., indicates the time may be ripe for a Brut comeback, because men's attitudes have changed radically over the past two decades. The New Mindset of Men in the '90s survey found that:
Sixty-three percent of the men polled defined masculinity as "being the provider."
Fourteen percent said "being able to cry" defines a man.
Seventy-six percent agreed with the statement "I long for the days when men were men ..."
Eighty-two percent said they'd rather dress in jeans and host a cookout than wear a suit and go out to dinner.
Eighty percent named Clint Eastwood as their favorite role model.
What fragrance would you expect men with that kind of mind-set to wear - Egoiste? Guess again. Brut products, priced from $1.39 for the shave cream to $5.39 for spray cologne, are available at drug and discount stores.
KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
by CNB