Gender and Health: Feminist analyses

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Gender and HealthFeminist analyses
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Discuss in pairs/ threes

• How do you understand the terms
• Gender
• Sex
• Gender roles
• Patriarchy
• Feminism

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Gender

• Social construction, not biological phenomenon
  (sex)
• one is not born a woman, one becomes one
• Simone de Beauvoir
• Powerful social norms around appropriate behavior
  of a man and woman
• Varies in different contexts
• BUT powerful in determining actions, behaviors,
  opportunities

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• Gender roles
• Assumed and differing norms of behavior/ roles/
  responsibilities for men and women
• eg clothing, speech, work in public/ private
  sphere, body language

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• Masculinity/ femininity
• behaviors most appropriate to male/ females
• as determined by society
• Expressions of masculinity/femininity reinforce
  identity as male/ female
• Reinforces social status
• Troubling these norms can lead to discrimination,
  exclusion, empowerment

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Patriarchy

• Dominant structuring of many societies
• Based on family unit with father/ patriarch as
  head
• Reproduced in public sphere workplace, political
  sphere, school, university
• Expectation that men take power, control, lead
• Hierarchy based upon assumed gender norms

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Feminism

• Broad range of political and social movements
• Concerned with social, economic, political,
  cultural process that reinforce Patriarchy and
  oppress women (and men!)
• Aims to bridge differences of race, class,
  nationality to work towards feminist agenda

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Key attributes of feminist analyses(see overhead)
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Patriarchy

• The manifestation and institutionalization of
  male dominance over women and children in the
  family and the extension of male dominance over
  women in society in general. It implies that men
  hold power in all important institutions of
  society and that women are deprived of access to
  such power. It does not imply that women are
  either totally powerless or totally deprived of
  rights, influence and resources
• (Lerner, 1986)
• a set of social relations between men, through
  which, though hierarchical establish and create
  interdependence and solidarity that enable them
  to dominate women
• Hartmann (1981)

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Gender as performance

• Gender not biologically determined/ assigned
• Structured and shaped by society
• AND performed/ enacted by individuals
• Gender identity and behavior are not simply
  imposed on individuals through structured forms
  of socialization, individuals actively
  participate in the construction of their gender
  identity and behavior
• Performances of gender differ across societies,
  cultures, and in individuals across time and in
  different places

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Masculinity

• Gender roles/responsibilities/ traits associated
  with being a man
• Behavior
• Clothing
• Language/ gesturing
• Occupation
• Toys

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• Masculinity/ femininity

What are ideal attitudes/ behaviors/ attributes
of femininity and masculinity?
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Masculinities
Robert Connell No one fixed
masculinity Not a uniform oppression of
all women by all men Rather multiple
masculinities that affect both men and women
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• He identifies 3 ways of understanding masculinity
• Competing masculinities performed at any one time
• 1. Hegemonic masculinities
• Dominant, assumed to be the norm
• Reflects, supports, cultivates dominant gender
  order
• Exerts dominance over women, and lesser males
• 2. Marginalized masculinities
• Masculinities demonstrating traits associated
  with femininity
• 3. Stigmatized/ minority masculinities
• Associated with groups lower down in race/ class/
  (dis)ability/ group status hierarchy

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Men in Crisis?

• Growing interest in men, masculinities and health
• Are men in crisis?
• If so, why?
• Study by Judith Stillion

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Life Expectancy
Women live longer, but difference is declining
here smoking?
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Life expectancy
Lower life expectancy for men is the norm across
economic indicators
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Death rates by accidents, Sex and Race
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US Census 1992

• mortality levels for each of the 10-15 leading
  causes of death were higher for males than for
  females. The largest differentials were for HIV
  infection (US), suicide, Homicide and accidental
  death
• Links to greater expressions of violence in life
  and death

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Rates of suicide
Canada Vital Statistics, 1998
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Suicide rates sex, race
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Why?

• Men, and ethnic minority men experience more
  stress?
• Emasculated by female gains, unemployment, loss
  of status?
• Less likely to seek help early on?
• Less able to express emotion?
• More likely to use violent methods to commit
  suicide rather than use it as a call for help?
• Others?
• Ricketts et al (1998)

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Homicides by race, sex
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• The differences between boys and girls are
  defined in terms of violence. Boys are encouraged
  to be rough-house girls are taught to be gentle
  (ladylike). Boys are expected to get into
  fights, boys that run away from fights are
  sissies with the implication that they are
  homosexual or queer. As little boys become big
  boys their education for violence continues
• Komisar (1976)

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Other reasons?

• Biologically more violent?
• Broader oppression in society?
• Bullying in work, school, society
• Feel need to defend oneself
• Insecure economic instability
• Turn to violent occupations
• Access to more violent means than women?
• Expressions of violence are expressions of real
  masculinity
• Others?

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NatureNurture

• Stillion (1995) argues these statistics have
  partly biological and partly social explanations
• 3 schools of thought
• Male biology influenced by genetic messages that
  mitigate against male survival
• Higher levels of testosterone and immunoglobulin
  M
• Female hormones protect against heart disease etc
• Greater resistance to infectious diseases and
  rare X-chromosome related illnesses
• Verbrugge (1985)

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• 2. Power differences
• Evolved through history from a time when physical
  power determined dominance hierarchies that ?
  species survival
• Socialization continues along historical lines
• Continue to reflect and reinforce gender roles of
  male dominance and female submission
• Come to be understood as natural/ inevitable/
  fixed/NORMAL
• 3. Masculinity and male socialization
• Male ideals of masculinity
• Socialization into violence, poor ability to
  express emotions, Tough Guise

Although there is a great deal of debate it is
generally agreed that both psychosocial and
biological (genetic or hormonal) factors are
involved
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Tough Guise?

• What do you think?