SOC 0851 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Masculinity, Reproductive Health, Social Inequality
12 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Rubin 1
Casey Rubin
Professor Daǧdelen
Soc 851
June 12, 2018
Is the male sex a risk factor?
In the United States, men “suffer more severe chronic conditions, have higher death rates
for all 15 leading causes of death, and die nearly 7 years younger than women” (Courtenay,
2000, p. 1385). There is research that leads scholars to believe that men are more likely to adopt
health-related beliefs and behaviors that increase their risks, and are less likely to engage in
behaviors that promote health and longevity. Health-related beliefs and behaviors are social
practices that women and men engage in, and are a means for demonstrating femininity and
masculinity; this means that these behaviors are used in the context of daily interactions in the
social construction of gender and power. There are many factors that can influence the kind of
masculinity that a man constructs. Factors in men that contribute to health risks include ethnicity,
economic status, educational level, sexual orientation and social context. This paper explores
how social and institutional structures help sustain and reproduce men’s health risks and the
social construction of men as the dominant sex; therefore, generating power imbalances and
gender inequality between men and women.
Health and wellness are influenced by factors such as ethnicity, economic status, and
access to care. These factors do not explain the gender differences in health and wellness. For
example, while lack of healthcare, poor nutrition, and insufficient housing each contribute to the
health issues of African Americans, this does not explain why death by cancer occurs at twice
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Rubin 2
the rate in African American men than in women (Courtenay, 2000, p. 1386). Most health
professionals agree that the most effective way to prevent disease is through “modifiable health
behaviors” (Mahalik, 2007, p. 2201); they agree that modifying health behaviors is more likely
to reduce mortality in the United States than anything else that can be done. Thousands of
research studies show that “half of all deaths could be prevented through changes in personal
health practices” (Courtenay, 2000, p. 1386). It has been proven that because of women’s
promotional-health behaviors, being a woman may be the strongest predictor of preventative and
health-promoting behavior. On the other hand, males are more likely than females to engage in
many behaviors that increase the risk of disease, injury, and death. Men don’t attend as many
health care visits as women do, independent of reproductive health care.
Women and men behave the ways that they do because of the concepts about masculinity
and femininity that they “adopt from their culture” (Courtenay, 2000, p. 1387). From the social
constructionist point of view, one would argue that gender is not two distinct categories, but
rather “a set of socially constructed relationships which are produced and reproduced through
people’s actions” (Gerson and Peiss, 1985, p. 327). From the interactionist approach, gender is
viewed as a constantly shifting social construction, fluctuating based on time and place, and only
exists in social interactions defined as gendered. Despite the fluctuating ideas of masculinity and
femininity, there is a “high agreement in our society about what are to be typically feminine and
typically masculine characteristics” (Courtenay, 2000, p. 1387). People commonly do conform to
the dominant, stereotypic forms of femininity and masculinity. Men experience a greater social
pressure than women do to endorse gendered societal stereotypes – “such as the strongly
endorsed health-related beliefs that men are independent, self-reliant, strong, robust and tough”
(Courtenay, 2000, p. 1387). Men and boys actively construct dominant forms of masculinity.
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Document Summary
In the united states, men suffer more severe chronic conditions, have higher death rates for all 15 leading causes of death, and die nearly 7 years younger than women (courtenay, There is research that leads scholars to believe that men are more likely to adopt health-related beliefs and behaviors that increase their risks, and are less likely to engage in behaviors that promote health and longevity. There are many factors that can influence the kind of masculinity that a man constructs. Factors in men that contribute to health risks include ethnicity, economic status, educational level, sexual orientation and social context. This paper explores how social and institutional structures help sustain and reproduce men"s health risks and the social construction of men as the dominant sex; therefore, generating power imbalances and gender inequality between men and women. Health and wellness are influenced by factors such as ethnicity, economic status, and access to care.
