OpenLB
Open Library of Bioscience
Advanced Search
Sociology of health & illness
11, 2020;42 (8): 1902-1917.

Men, masculinities and diabetes: 'doing gender' in Italian men's narratives of chronic illness.

Valeria Quaglia
Author Information
  1. Valeria Quaglia: University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy. ORCID
PMID: 32944985 DOI: 10.1111/1467-9566.13176

Abstract

There has been a growing interest in the study of masculinity and its intersection with health. However, and despite epidemiological data showing men's general disadvantage in health, there are only a few empirical studies that explore men's experiences of chronic illness. Drawing on empirical data collected in qualitative research on masculinity and autoimmune diabetes, this article investigates the multiple ways in which gender may intersect with health, in an attempt to go beyond the widespread thesis that 'masculinity is bad for men's health'. In line with more recent critical perspectives on the study of men's health that have challenged this oversimplistic assumption, this work further problematises masculinity in relation to health and illness. In-depth interviews have been conducted with 40 young/adult diabetic men from working/middle-class backgrounds. The findings show that gender might intersect health in complex ways and diabetic men can embody and re-signify health practices in order to fulfil or redefine dominant ideals of masculinity. From the analysis, three different 'diabetic masculinities' have been identified and will be discussed: the Diabetic Quantified Self, the Athlete and the Free Spirit.

Keywords

chronic illness diabetes masculinities men’s health qualitative research

References

Barbour, R. (2007) Introducing Qualitative Research. A Student’s Guide to the Craft of Doing Qualitative Research. London: Sage.
Bourdieu, P. (1990) The Logic of Practice. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1984) La Distinction: Critique Sociale du Jugement. Paris: Les Editions de Minuit.
Bridget, T. and Pascoe, C.I. (2014) Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity: a critique, Theory and Society, 30, 3, 337-61.
Broom, D. and Lenagh-Maguire, A. (2010) Gendered configurations of diabetes: from rules to exceptions, Journal of Gender Studies, 19, 2, 195-209.
Broom, A. (2004) Prostate cancer and masculinity in Australian society: a case of stolen identity, International Journal of Men’s Health, 3, 2, 73-91.
Butler, J. (1990) Gender trouble. Feminism and the subversion of identity, New York: Routledge.
Cardano, M. (2008) Disuguaglianze sociali di salute, Differenze biografiche incise nei corpi, Polis, 1, 119-48.
Cardano, M. (2020) Defending Qualitative Research. Design, Analysis and Textualization. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
Courtenay, W. (2000) Constructions of masculinity and their influence on men’s well-being: a theory of gender and health, Social Science & Medicine, 50, 1385-140.
Charmaz, K. (1994) Identity dilemmas of chronically ill men, The Sociological Quarterly, 35, 2, 269-88.
Connell, R.W. (1987) Gender and Power: Society, the Person and Sexual Politics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Connell, R.W. (1995) Masculinities. Berkeley and Los Angeles: California University Press.
Connell, R.W. and Messerschmidt, J.W. (2005) Hegemonic masculinity: rethinking the concept, Gender and Society, 19, 6, 829-59.
De Visser, R.O., Smith, J.A. and McDonnell, E.J. (2009) That’s not masculine: masculine capital and health-related behavior, Journal of Health Psychology, 14, 7, 1047-58.
Demetriou, D.Z. (2001) Connell’s concept of hegemonic masculinity: a critique, Theory and Society, 30, 3, 337-61.
Faircloth, C.A., Boylstein, C., Rittman, M., Young, M.E., et al. (2004) Sudden illness and biographical flow in narratives of stroke recovery, Sociology of Health & Illness, 26, 2, 242-61.
Favretto, A.R., Fucci, S. and Zaltron, F. (2018) Con gli occhi dei bambini. Come l’infanzia affronta la malattia. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Ferrero Camoletto, R. (2013) Ridere e parlare di sesso: una costruzione plurale delle maschilità eterosessuali, Salute e Società, 2, 59-76.
Ferrero Camoletto, R. and Bertone, C. (2012) Italians (should) do it better? Medicalisation and the disempowering of intimacy, Modern Italy, 17, 4, 433-48.
Flurey, C.A., Hewlett, S., Rodham, K., White, A., et al. (2016) Men, rheumatoid arthritis, psychosocial impact and selfmanagement: A narrative review, Journal of Health Psychology, 21, 10, 2168-82.
Foucault, M. (1988) Technologies of the self. In Hutton, P.H., Gutman, H. and Martin, L.H. (eds) Technologies of the self. A seminar with Michel Foucault , Anherst: The University of Massachussetts Press.
Gibbs, L. (2005) Applications of masculinity theories in a chronic illness context, International Journal of Men’s Health, 4, 3, 287-300.
Ghigi, R. and Sassatelli, R. (2018) Corpo, Genere e Società . Bologna: Il Mulino.
Goffman, E. (1981) Forms of Talk. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Gough, B. and Robertson, S. (eds) (2009) Men, masculinities and health: Critical perspectives. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
King, N. (2012) Doing template analysis. In Symon, G. and Cassell, C. (eds) Qualitative Organizational Research. London: Sage Publications.
Lave, J. and Wenger, E.C. (1991) Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lohan, M. and Faulkner, W. (2004) Masculinities and technologies, Some Introductory Remarks, Men and Masculinities, 6, 4, 319-29.
Lupton, D. (2016) The Quantified Self. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Maturo, A. (2007) Sociologia Della Malattia: Un’introduzione. Milano: Franco Angeli.
Messner, M.A. (2005) Still a man’s world? Studying masculinities and sport. In Kimmel, M.S., Hearn, J. and Connell, R.W. (eds) Handbook of Studies on Men & Masculinities. California: Sage Publications.
Morgan, D. (2005) Class and masculinity. In Kimmel, M.S., Hearn, J. and Connell, R.W. (eds) Handbook of studies on men and masculinities. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Ltd.
Oliffe, J.L. and Thorne, S. (2007) Men, masculinities, and prostate cancer: Australian and Canadian patient perspectives of communication with male physicians, Qualitative Health Research, 17, 2, 149-61.
Riessman, C.K. (1990) Performing identities in illness narrative: masculinity and multiple sclerosis, Social Science and Medicine, 30, 11, 1195-200.
Robertson, S. and Kilvington-Dowd, L. (2019) Masculinity and men’s health disparities: conceptual and theoretical challenges. In Griffith, D.M., Bruce, M.A. and Thorpe, R.J. (eds) Handbook of Men’s Health Disparities. London: Routledge.
Robertson, S., Zwolinsky, S., Pringle, A., McKenna, J., et al. (2013) “It’s fun, fitness and football really”: a process evaluation of a football-based health intervention for men, Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 5, 3, 419-39.
Robertson, S. and Williams, R. (2010) Men, public health and health promotion: towards a critically structural and embodied understanding. In Gough, B. and Robertson, S. (eds) Men Masculinity and Health. Critical Perspectives, Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Sassatelli, R. (2019) Italians and Food. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Schrock, D. and Schwalbe, M. (2009) Men, masculinity, and manhood acts, Annual Review of Sociology, 35, 1, 277-95.
Seymour, W. (1998) Remaking the Body: Rehabilitation and Change. London, UK: Routledge.
Twaddle, A.C. (1969) Influence and Illness: Definitions and Definers of Illness Behavior Among Older Males in Providence, Rhode Island (PhD Thesis). Rhode Island: Brown University, Providence.
Wajcman, J. (1991) Feminism Confronts Technology. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
Watson, J. (2000) Male Bodies: Health, Culture, and Identity. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
White, A. (2004) Men’s health: the challenges ahead, Journal of Men’s Health & Gender, 1, 4, 296-9.
White, K. (2017) An Introduction to the Sociology of Health and Illness. London, UK: Sage Publications Ltd.
Williams, C. (2000) Doing health, doing gender: teenagers, diabetes and asthma, Social Science & Medicine, 50, 387-96.

MeSH Term

Adult
Chronic Disease
Diabetes Mellitus
Humans
Italy
Male
Masculinity
Men's Health
Qualitative Research
Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Word Cloud

Similar Articles

Cited By