218X Gender Health Gap

Gender Health Gap

For this assignment, I chose to explore the prompt: how do characteristics of contemporary masculinity prevent men from seeking health care services.  Instantly upon reading this prompt things came to my mind such as, the age-old saying of “be a man” and to rub off what ever injury or pain is being inflicted, the fear of men in todays society to admit they need help or assistance with anything medical, and todays majority view of women needing the men to help her if she gets hurt, but the man can take care of himself and he’ll “be okay”.

Upon further research into the subject, I came across an article analyzing men seeking health care for HIV.  The article reads, “The accounts detailed men’s unwillingness to engage with HIV testing and care, seemingly tied to their pursuit of valued masculinity constructs such as having strength and control, being sexually competent, and earning income. Articulated through fears regarding getting an HIV-positive diagnosis, observations that men preferred traditional medicine and that primary health centers were not welcoming to men, descriptions that men used lay measures to ascertain HIV status, and insinuations by men that they were removed from HIV risk, the indisposition to HIV care contrasted markedly with an apparent readiness to test among women. Gendered tensions thus emerged which were amplified in the context where valued masculinity representations were constantly threatened. Amid the tensions, men struggled with disclosing their HIV status, and used various strategies to avoid or postpone disclosing, or disclose indirectly, while women’s ability to access care readily, use condoms, or communicate about HIV appeared similarly curtailed” (Gillespie 1).  This article further analyzes the willingness of men in South Africa to get tested for HIV, or to disclose any information regarding the results or the patients current status.

This common shared idea plays into man men battling their own internal egos.  The denial is rooted deeply in modern masculinity, the idea that “this can’t happen to me” is much more prevalent in adolescent and young adults, but still can be and underlying voice in a mans mind to subconsciously make him react differently then a women in these situations.  This parallels the behavior and internal egotistical masculine personifications that are molded into many mens’ character.  Unfortunately, in the health service aspect of their lives, it can lead to their downfall, if their are serious ailments that require treatment that go untreated, this problem can lead to serious health concerns.

 

Works Cited

Chikovore, Jeremiah, Natasha Gillespie, Nuala McGrath, Joanna Orne-Gliemann, and Thembelihle on Behalf of the ANRS 12249 TasP Study Group. “Men, Masculinity, and Engagement with Treatment as Prevention in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.” AIDS Care. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2016. Web. 5 June 2017. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5096677/>.