Artifact 5: Gender & Health Gap, Cultures Causing Calamity (Sometimes)

Reflective Tag:

So far, we have seen that Gender does not ever stand by itself.  What this means is that it plays into many aspects of society and the world, including heavily interacting with culture.  This interaction of culture and gender can put expectations or stereotypes onto people that can have effects oh their health.  That is exactly what will be addressed in this artifact.

GENDER & HEALTH GAP

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In cultures around the world, there are expectations for genders to fill with regards to the way that they conduct themselves and live out their lives.  In the world of health, this can be a positive or negative thing.  Men and women have very clearly defined roles with regards to masculinity and femininity for the most part and this does have effects on health.  Everyone knows the typical image of masculinity that pervades the culture of the United States… be tough, don’t worry about it, be a man, suck it up, don’t be a [insert derogatory insult of choice]… everyone knows this.  These are not always the best things to hold on to as they encourage men to neglect their health and try to push through things.  As the very first words of the WHO reading states,  “The social expectations of what men and boys should and should not do and be directly affect attitudes and behavior related to a range of health issues.”  Some of these things should not be ignored as they can have serious consequences for the health of the individual in the long run.  An example of this would be a man with a nagging pain in his abdomen that will not go away… if he were to say something about it to some guys around him, they might tell him the old ‘you’ll be fine, suck it up’ and he might feel obligated by his idea of masculinity to suck it up and ignore it when in reality it might be a serious condition like a large cyst or cancer or something of the sort.  It is not a good thing that our men’s culture in the United States is doing, and obviously, that is the extreme side, but it is still prevalent.

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Now, women face a similar yet different struggle in the expectations of femininity.  The culture that we live in with in the United States tells women what their image must be and how their figure should be and this has serious implications for a lot of the population.  This can effect women’s mental state (i.e. depression, anxiety, etc) as well as have the more obvious effects caused from improper diet such as anorexia or other eating disorders.  There are other health implications that can be had from women trying to cosmetically improve themselves and countless other things as well.

Not only are their culture factors for health, but there are biological factors as well.  Men and women have higher or lower risks for various types of cancer between each other.  Men have higher risks for cardiovascular issues and such, and women have some of these cardiovascular issues as well.  Hormones have a big deal in determining health as well.

There are now measures being taken to equalize genders and take down some of the negative stereotypes.  The Health Communication Capacity Collaborative is engaging in what are known as gender transformative approaches.  The idea behind this approach is to eliminate negative gender norms and help equalize the environment for the betterment of everyone’s health.  As the WHO reading states, it is going to be a long term change that will not be easy and it is important to make sure that it extends past small scale operations.

Works Cited:

Class notes/ handouts

Canvas readings