PhD Students

This project will explore the issue of ‘men’s health’, taking the particular examples of prostate and testicular cancer. A central objective will be to establish the role of ‘masculinity’ in men’s use of health care services, with a particular emphasis on male use of cancer treatments and services. The project will then attempt to grapple with the intersection of ‘masculinity’ with a disease of the male body, which could lead to a sense that ‘identity’ may be undermined by the side effects of treatment options.

‘Masculinity, to the extent the term can be briefly defined at all, is simultaneously a place in gender relations, the practices through which men and women engage that place in gender, and the effects of these practices in bodily experience, personality and culture’ – Connell (1995, 71).

By taking the two examples of prostate and testicular cancer, the project will attempt to examine the link between ‘masculinity’ and health. Simultaneously, the project will attempt to chart a ‘change’ or ‘transition’ in currently accepted norms and expectations of the ‘masculine role’. ‘ notions of masculinity, centring on testicular and prostate cancers are (socially) connected with male sexuality, and with ‘hegemonic’ ideals of masculinity. Therefore, with such an intersection, the male body will be problematised as a sight of tensions between social expectations, and medical needs.

Prostate cancer is generally a disease that affects older men, and testicular generally affects younger men. By looking at the way an older man deals with the disease, and its effects on his identity, while at the same time looking at the way a younger man deals with the disease, and its effects on his identity, the project will be well placed to illustrate various forms of ‘hegemonic masculinity’. Thus the project will be able to chart a transition in perceived ‘hegemonic masculinity’ (Connell, 1995).

The project will be in the unique position where it can explore the fundamentals of ‘masculinity’. Men are faced with an option, risk the effects of possibly fatal disease, or take up treatment options which may affect the individual’s sense of identity (masculinity). Thus, the question will be posed, does a sense of ‘masculinity’ under threat affect the way men perceive treatment ? Do health services tailor treatment information and services to speak to a ‘traditional’ notion of masculinity, and how does this affect patients?

‘Hegemonic masculinity can be defined as the accepted answer to the problem of gender practice which embodies the currently accepted answer to the problem of the legitimacy of patriarchy, which guarantees (or is taken to guarantee) the dominant position of men and the subordination of women’ (1995, 77).

Therefore, by charting a change in the nature of ‘masculinity’, the project will be able to inform debate around the manner in which men are encouraged to seek medical advice, and also how advice is delivered to men. The project will conclude that the use of ‘hegemonic’ ideals of men in the delivery of health services and information needs to be informed by a contemporary understanding of the nature and construction of ‘masculinity’. The thesis will also conclude that theoretical developments in the sociology of ‘masculinity’ need to be encouraged, and an emphasis will be placed on understanding masculinity as a ‘liminal metaphor’. The thesis will then evaluate the contribution of such a theoretical understanding to the project.