Is Masculinity a Health Risk - Assignment Example

Sociology Institution Course name Module name Student’s name Date of submission Is masculinity a health risk? The health disparities that affect men can partly be explained by the changing behavior and attitudes that the society define as manly. Male’s health cannot be conclusively discussed without deeply exploring the concepts of masculinity. Though different cultures attach different meaning to what it means to be a man, Masculinity can be defined as having characteristics that are considered suitable for a man(Courtenay,2000).Masculinity therefore means an identity created through behavior that involve risk taking. It means physical features that portray a man as hardworking under undesirable safety and health standards. Both traditional and modern society reward men for their bravely, courage and achievement in politics, art and science. But these attributes that the society view as important for a man to possess are responsible for shortening the lives of men and have dire health consequences. Men put a lot of effort to live up to the society’s demand and expectation and as a result cut short their lives. In actual sense this has serious consequences on their health, their family and the general connection with the society (Galdas et al, 2005). In fact the life expectancy gap between women and men is six years in the favour of women. Males between 15 and 30 years are at a higher risk of accidental death than their female counterparts. When we look at the activities that are associated with this aspect of masculinity, with what it takes to be a man, the most salient ones is providing and protecting .Men face challenges in performing these roles which range from lack of adequate education, poverty, unemployment and limited access to services (Courtenay, 2000). The barriers that they encounter make them adopt survival mechanism and coping strategies that adversely affect their health. They are expected to behave in a calm way, show no fear, hide their feelings and generally show that they are tough in the face of obstacles. Masculinity means that a man should adopt a cool pose which involves having behaviors and possessing attitude that portray confidence, control, inner strength, competence and high self-esteem. It also means being hard in the sense that a man is able to hide inner emotions and reluctance to portray weakness (Galdas et al, 2005). In this regard a man is expected to perform tough activities and behaviors which may include rarely visiting the doctors for checkup, failure to show compassion to close persons or having intimate relationship and even failure to solve disputes peacefully but rather adopting other violent measures. This radical behavior encouraged by this calm pose contribute to the higher rate of male suicide, drug abuse, risk to ailments like cancer, high blood pressure and even early fatherhood. Continuation of traditional ideas of masculinity may be said to be killing men. The behavior and attitudes that men adopt to cope with the expectations of the society may result to dire health consequences (Galdas et al 2005). To get rid of these health disparities interventions that would challenge men on their notions of masculinity need to be mooted and a more gender sensitive culture encouraged for the sake of ensuring the welfare of men since they are of immense value to the society. What is physical capital and how is it related to gender? Physical capital refers to the fixed asset that is used in production. It is one of the factors of production the others being labour and land. Physical is the term used to differentiate physical capital from human capital and financial capital (Dollar and Gati, 1999). It is considered as one of the primary inputs of production and includes things like building, machinery and motor vehicles. Through reduced inequality in education and employment a more productive labor force can be created. This has the effect of increasing the expected rates of return which in turn invites more investment leading to economic growth (Handshake and Woman, 2007). Equality in income distribution whereby the wages of women are revised to match those of their male counterparts would consequently lead to higher levels of savings. This means that the financial institutions have more financial resources which are made available for investors, be it individuals, companies or corporations to make new investments in physical capital. Access to finance and assets is one area of possible constraint that has a gender dimension and which invariably affects the entry into business, performance and investment especially in physical capital. Women encounter great impediments in accessing finance than men(Dollar and Gati, 1999). When we delve deeper into the aspect of physical capital and education, we cannot ignore the importance of education. More educated women have the ability to undertake economic activities of higher value (Dollar and Gati, 1999). Generally women devote most of their income into family affairs like health and children education. With more education women have greater control of their fertility. This gives women opportunity to exploit available investment opportunities since they have few commitments and therefore can participate fully in production. Investment in physical capital will increase by a great deal if gender equality in employment and education is achieved. This will not only lead to economic growth but will increase the expertise and skills on both men and women and thereby improving the overall output. Investment in physical capital is precipitated by the attractiveness of the investment in the sense that higher rate of returns will be achieved. The rate of return is a function of the output of the labor force, technology and the size of capital stock (Hanushek and Wobmann, 2007). The combination of all these inputs dictates the output, gender equality in employment and education and invariably reduces the overall average labor productivity and as a result limiting the level of economic growth. Why are many Trans activists and authors critical of medicalised models of transgender identity? Presently, the delineation of transgender encompasses all transsexual persons, but this has received various criticisms. Transgender is defined as the state of an individual’s gender identity. Certainly, transgender does not merely signify any particular form of sexual orientation; but these persons can categorize themselves as heterosexuals, pansexual, bisexual, homosexuals or polysexual (Lee, 2008). Transgender identity encompasses various overlapping categories among them transvestite, cross-dresser, transsexual, androgynies, drag queens, drag kings and gender queer amongst others (Lee, 2008). In the current history of transgender identities, numerous discursive models have been used to conceptualize who precisely is transgender. Most of the present social and legal understanding of transgender persons is entangled with a medico-scientific model which has been generated and extended by endocrinologists, psychologists and sexologists over the past decades (Lee, 2008). Currently, the medical model endures basically in the form of GID that is a trans-particular mental disorder (Lee, 2008). In the current times, the medicalised models of transgender identity have been criticized by various authors and Trans activists. These persons have recommended the self-determinative model which replaces the medicalised model (Lee, 2008). These critics base their argument on various factors including: The medicalised model for transgender identity pathologizes and therefore stigmatizes transgender persons The medicalised model underpins the domineering gender binary It is descriptively and diagnostically under inclusive The medicalised model highly disfavours transgender persons who earn low income. (Lee, 2008) The main criticism as put fourth by critics is that the medicalised dialogue that surrounds gender identity signifies that transgender persons are flawed persons. Certainly, labeling persons as disordered or disabled is intensely offensive to majority and thus may be particularly unpleasant to those who do not feel mentally or physically limited (Lee, 2008). The argument regarding strengthening the oppressive gender binary implies that medical model pathologizes gender nonconformity whilst at the same time generating merely small, limited diagnostic grouping for specific transgender persons who if treated may eventually end up in one gender group (Lee, 2008). This implies that the medicalised model identifies transgender persons to hyper-normative standards of femininity or masculinity. Besides, critics argue that the medicalised model does not favour transgender persons who earn low income as these individuals’ lacks the economic means for accessing the complicated health care concerned with diagnosis and treatment (Lee, 2008). The last criticism as pointed out above is that medicalised model is descriptively and diagnostically under inclusive; and it is founded on a wider disapproval that GID is grounded in excessively formalistic and rigid diagnostic standards. This rigidity forces transgender persons to present rehearsed narratives which do not exactly portray their experiences and failure to present leads in denial in the provision of trans-specific health care (Lee, 2008). What is the relationship between female embodiment and women’s oppression, according to Iris Marion Young in Throwing like a Girl? What are the strengths and limitations of her argument? In her essay, Throwing like a girl, Young offers an analysis of various components including bodily comportment, ways in which the body is used to perform tasks, physical engagement with things and bodily self-image of feminine existence (Young, 1990). According to Young (1990) the way in which women make employ and regard their bodies is obviously not the same as men. According to her, women bodies make use of limited movements, they behave clumsily, and negating to even try to makes use of their abilities and strength. Furthermore, Young (1990) puts forth that female lack adequate confidence of doing what their counterpart men can do and they have an irrational and exaggerated fear that they may be injured in the process of undertaking some tasks. From this Young (1990) concludes that feminine movement is ambiguous and transcendence, discontinuous unity, and inhibited intentionality. According to Young (1990), women and girls frequently fail to employ completely the spatial capability of their bodies, they endeavor not to take too much space and furthermore, they have a tendency of approaching physical activity uncertainly and tentatively. Feminine bodily comportment, spatial orientation and movement according to Young show similar tension between immanence and transcendence which makes women to view their bodies as subjects and objects and this makes them to be perceived by the entire society the same. This view results to oppression of women in the society as they are viewed as objects, persons who cannot make their own decisions. According to Young (1990) there are various faces of oppression and they encompass socio-economic marginalization, economic exploitation, cultural imperialism, lack of autonomy or power and systematic violence. Young (1990) puts forth that being subject to these oppressions is enough to term a person as oppressed. In the United States, most women experience all of these forms of oppression whilst others experience less than that. Reference Courtenay W.H (2000), Constructions of masculinity and their influence on men’s well-being: a theory of gender and health. Social Science and Medicine, 50:1385-1401. Dollar, D. and Gati, R. (1999), Gender Inequality, Income and Growth: Are Good Times Good for Women? Policy Research Report on Gender and Development Working Paper Series No. 1. Galdas P.M., Cheater F. and Marshall P. (2005), Men and health help-seeking behavior: Literature review. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 49, 616-23. Hanushek, E.A., and Wobmann, L. (2007), The role of education quality in economic growth, World Bank, pp 18-29. Lee, A (2008), Trans models in prison: the medicalization of gender identity and the eighth amendment right to sex reassignment therapy, Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, vol. 31, pp. 452-459. Young, I M (1990), Throwing Like a Girl and Other Essays in Feminist Philosophy and Social Theory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Pp. 143-155. Read More