An ‘unholy alliance’ of existential proportions: Negotiating discourses with men's experiences of cancer and aging

Little is understood about how experiencing cancer and aging together can disrupt people's socio-personal worlds and lead to existential questions about identity, life ambiguity, and death. Toward this end, we interpreted the metaphors that three aging men with cancer used in a focus group to describe their existential concerns. We also considered how two dominant cultural discourses around cancer and aging, generally referred to as discourses of “progress” and “decline”, figured into the participants' meanings. Finally, we compared the men's attitudes toward cancer and aging to dominant ideas about how men respond to these life events. Through interpretative phenomenological analysis, informed by critical phenomenology, we came to three conclusions. First, the men's interpretations of cancer and aging shared similar existential themes of tragedy and transcendence. Second, these existential concerns were informed by dominant discourses of cancer and aging, in that they followed the culturally constructed trajectories of decline and progress, respectively. The men's metaphors point to a negotiation of these two discourses. A third and related point is that the men predominantly contradicted gendered assumptions about dealing with life adversity but in some ways repeated them. This research indicates that people interpret cancer and aging in somewhat shared ways, via dominant cultural discourses, but also in individual ways depending on personal life histories. As discourses and life histories seem to influence how people make sense of aging life with cancer, it may be useful to be aware of these contexts when providing psycho-social care to aging cancer patients.     

Learning to “Deal” and “De‐escalate”: How Men in Nursing Manage Self and Patient Emotions

While prior research has explored how gender frames emotion management processes, little work has specifically examined the links between men's emotion management in a caring profession and theory on masculine emotionality. Stereotyped as less sensitive to their own and others' emotions, male nurses confront unique challenges in navigating the profession's emotional demands. Drawing on men's diaries and interviews, I examine emergent emotion‐based processes that characterize men's emotional labor—the strategies men use to manage their own and patient emotions on the job. In managing their own emotion, men's narratives reveal three distinct strategies: reframing the nurse role, distancing, and relinquishing situational control. In managing patient emotions, they frame control over their own emotions as a means for managing others and emphasize knowledge/education as a strategy for managing patient stress and anxiety. While both male and female nurses may engage these strategies, men's emotion management implicates the simultaneous reproduction and disruption of hegemonic masculinity and the reason/emotion dualisms that undergird the current gender system. Implications for masculinity and emotion management theory, as well as recruiting, training, and retaining male nurses are explored.     

Men and infertility: Insights from the sociology of gender

This review explores the framing of men and infertility in recent interdisciplinary social science research. I illustrate how men's diverse institutional roles surrounding medicalized experiences of infertility are critical for understanding inequality in reproduction. Situating research on men and infertility in the theoretical framework of gender as social structure shows how men's secondary position in reproduction can be seen across institutional roles, which include men as patients, men as partners, men as sperm donors, and men as doctors. Men's experiences with reproductive medicine often reinforce men's marginal position in reproductive medicine through institutionalized arrangements; yet, men are intimately and structurally involved in reproductive decisions. I argue that bringing gender to the center of research on infertility could make clear the many structural ways women and women's bodies are controlled, regulated, and treated by reproductive medicine.     

Age and embodied masculinities: Midlife gay and heterosexual men talk about their bodies

This article integrates critical gerontology and masculinities theories to examine how midlife gay and heterosexual men experience their bodies in relation to cultural discourses of aging. Analyses of in-depth interviews with 15 gay and 15 heterosexual men ages 40–60 reveal that while both groups of men describe their bodies as deteriorating or declining in terms of functionality and are often distressed by these changes, midlife gay men also articulate a concern with a perceived decline in bodily appearance. Both gay and heterosexual midlife men frame their bodies as fundamentally different from women's, possibly in an attempt to protect a masculine identity in response to the threat that aging bodies pose to that identity. We argue that midlife men's embodied experiences are shaped by a discourse of midlife decline as well as inequalities between gay and heterosexual men. We also discuss the implications of embodiment for midlife men's well-being.     

Men in online eating disorder recovery spaces: Gendered barriers,content moderation,and narrative experimentation

Eating disorders (EDs), once considered solely a women's health problem, have increasingly affected men. Previous research on recovery from addiction has emphasized the importance of narratives, which help provide structure and make sense of events. While narratives are often important for an individual's recovery from hardship, hegemonic narratives can be invalidating and obstacles to wellbeing. The highly gendered nature of ED recovery narratives has posed a barrier to men adopting alternative, more successful narratives, particularly in female-dominated spaces. This study examines how content moderation policies and enforcement on Tumblr, Reddit, and an ED recovery website shape men's participation in ED recovery support groups dominated by women. We find that high degrees of moderation and censorship limit men's platform participation and narrative experimentation. However, platform rules without active censorship face the same challenges. Instead, narrative experimentation and greater participation from men occur during moderate regulation because they can share their experiences while also being encouraged to find salient aspects of other, healthier narratives. We observed that men were able to break from unhelpful recovery narratives when they could masculinize the suggestions from women with more productive approaches. While past research has shown that men are particularly reliant on hegemonic masculinity when their gender is challenged, we find that phenomenon is part of a more fundamental process of reconciling ideas into one's self-concept.     

Quality of Life in Nursing Homes

Abstract

The Nursing Home Reform Act (NHRA) of 1987 established nursing home requirements and dually emphasized quality of care and quality of life outcomes. We researched elders' perceptions of quality of life in nursing homes using focus groups. Analysis revealed four major themes important to residents: generativity, spiritual well-being, homelike environment, and privacy. Themes were used to analyze the disparity between NHRA's goal of dual emphasis and the dominance of quality of care in the treatment of frail elders living in nursing homes. Policies and procedures must be developed that promote decisional control in everyday matters of an older person's life.     

Gendered Policies and Practices that Increase Older Men's Risk of Elder Mistreatment

SUMMARY

We aim to detail some of the ways that social policy and gendered practices put older men at risk of elder mistreatment. Research on the abuse and neglect that older adults experience has often focused on the characteristics of the victims and the dynamics within families, emphasizing factors such as the likelihood of an intergenerational cycle of violence, substance abuse and dependency, and older men's financial status as key risks in elder abuse. The effect on men from this type of analysis is that elder mistreatment remains an individual or family problem rather than being viewed as a larger societal concern. This article challenges the individualistic focus by outlining the importance of societal forces affecting older men's risk of mistreatment.     

“And then AIDS came along”: A life course turning point and sub-cohorts of older gay men

Research on life course turning points focuses on heterosexuals. Scholars acknowledge that the early AIDS epidemic was a period of crisis for current older gay men, and that this period has shaped and will likely continue to impact their lives. However, few studies have considered the range of early AIDS-related experiences within this group. In this article, I use a life course perspective and in-depth interviews with 40 gay men (60+) in Atlanta to address the following questions: (1) How did current older gay men's experiences vary during the AIDS years? (2) What social factors shaped this variation? I identified three AIDS-related sub-cohorts, which were defined by how participants' social and spatial relationships to urban gay communities influenced their experiences of personal loss, community loss, personal support, and community support between 1981 and 1996. The results suggest that scholars and service providers interested in how early life experiences impact later life should consider the divergent early AIDS-related experiences within the group “older gay men.”     

Being a man in long term care

PurposeMen tend to represent a distinct minority in long term care (LTC) facilities. Here we explore men's seldom examined experience in LTC.Design and methodsAs part of a major study of Bereavement in Long Term Care, we focus on 21 men who live in five LTC facilities (assisted living facilities and nursing homes). Transcribed qualitative, in-person interviews are examined using standard qualitative analytic methods.ResultsThrough multiple rounds of coding three inter-related themes emerged as salient. (1) Men's work experience as central to their sense of identity. (2) The presence of a wife often is associated with men's sense of couplehood and of feeling protective. (3) Men often regulate their relationships with other LTC residents.ImplicationsDiscussion examines how these three themes are related to men's maintenance of a masculine role in LTC.     

Multiple Predictors of Korean Elderly Men's Leisure Participation

This study examines the leisure constraints experienced by elderly men and investigates how leisure constraints affect their level of participation in leisure activities. A convenience sampling of the independent elderly, sixty or older, residing in Seoul and the province of Kyenggi in Korea comprised the study sample. Of the total 275 participants, 164 were male. The study employed hierarchical multiple regression analysis including demographic, health status, financial status, and leisure constraint factors impacting participation in leisure activities. The findings of the study highlight the importance of interpersonal constraints of elderly men in leisure participation. The elderly men reported significantly higher levels of interpersonal constraints than the elderly women. Financial status factors, such as leisure allowance and employment status, were confirmed to be more influential predictors in determining the elderly men's leisure participation. Practice implications include considering interpersonal constraints or financial status to enhance elderly men's leisure life.     

Social Change and the Gendered Division of Household Labor in Canada

Housework is asymmetrically distributed by gender. This uneven allocation is an important indicator of inequality between women and men. The imbalance is closing, although exactly why remains uncertain. It is also unclear if the convergence has more to do with women's lives becoming more like men's, or whether it is because men are changing their practices on the home front. Using 30 years of nationally representative time use diary data, we explore three broad theoretical frameworks addressing social change—cultural, structural, and demographic—to examine how and why the gender dynamics around housework are shifting. We find that structural factors, and in particular women's engagement with paid work, have changed most sharply as drivers of greater symmetry in domestic labor, although changing cultural beliefs have contributed as well. Furthermore, there have been significant changes in men's behavior. One focal point for this domestic change is in men's and women's shifting practices around childcare. Intensive parenting, not just intensive mothering, has become more prevalent.     

“It's a Different Condom,Let's See How It Works”: Young Men's Reactions to and Experiences of Female Condom Use During an Intervention Trial in South Africa

Although male partner cooperation is often essential for successful use of the female condom, only a few studies have directly assessed men's experiences of using the device. We examined barriers to and facilitators of female condom use via qualitative in-depth interviews with 38 young men (18 to 28 years) in South Africa whose partners, all university students, were enrolled in a female condom intervention trial. In all, 21 men used the female condom; the remaining 17 did not attempt use. The main facilitators to female condom use were convenience of use for men, curiosity to see how female condoms compared to male condoms, enhanced sexual sensation, and perceptions of better safety and comfort of the device compared to male condoms. The main barriers were men's limited familiarity with the device, insertion difficulties, and men's concerns about loss of control over sexual encounters. We recommend that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and condom promotion programs around the world target men directly for education on female condoms and that they also work with couples jointly around issues of safer-sex communication and negotiation.     

Power,desire, and pleasure in sexual fantasies

One hundred and sixty‐two participants (ages 21–45) wrote open‐ended sexual fantasies and completed self‐report measures of rape myth acceptance, adversarial sexual beliefs, and attitudes toward women. We coded fantasies using a newly developed scoring system that includes themes of dominance, submission, sexual pleasure, and sexual desire. Men fantasized about dominance more than women did; they also tended to focus more on the desire and pleasure of their partner. Desire and pleasure were more closely linked in the fantasies of men than in the fantasies of women, for whom the two were distinct constructs. Although fantasies of submission were not associated with problematic attitudes for either gender, men's fantasies of dominance were associated with greater acceptance of rape myths. For women, greater rape myth acceptance was associated with emotional and romantic fantasy themes.     

More than half of the men in a Swedish population of men aged 55, 65 and 75 believe in ‘a male climacteric’

Aim.?Symptoms of late-onset hypogonadism (LOH) are often unspecific, and the existence of a male climacteric has been much debated. In this study, we investigate aging men's thoughts about, and beliefs, in a ‘male climacteric’.

Methods.?A questionnaire was developed including background demographic data, symptoms possibly related to LOH and questions about men's thoughts and beliefs in a ‘male climacteric’. All men, 55-, 65- and 75-years old, living in Linkoping, Sweden (n?=?1885) received the questionnaire.

Results.?One thousand three hundred fifty-six (72%) questionnaires were eligible for evaluation, 65.4% of the responders had heard of a ‘male climacteric’, and 42.2% believed it existed but only 3% had sought medical advice for these symptoms. More than half believed that a ‘male climacteric’ was related to decreased libido and less strong erections. Almost half of the men thought that decreased memory and/or dystymia and anxiousness were related to a male climacteric.

Conclusions.?The majority of men have heard of a male climacteric, but only a minority had consulted a practitioner about their symptoms. More information and knowledge are needed, for the general population to better motivate men to seek medical advice and also for the health care professionals to better deal with the symptoms of LOH.     

The impact of infertility on men's work and finances: Findings from a qualitative questionnaire study

The impact of infertility on the emotional, social and relational aspects of men's lives is now more widely understood. Yet the impact of infertility on men's working lives and financial status remains largely overlooked. Drawing on a qualitative questionnaire study into men's experiences of infertility (n = 41), this article examines how work and finances are managed and negotiated during infertility, including treatment cycles. Three key themes were identified from our thematic analysis: managing infertility in the workplace; compromised job performance, (in)security and progression; the financial burden of infertility, suggesting that infertility can have significant implications for men's working lives, including their identities as productive workers. The impact had a gendered dimension, with threats to masculine‐relevant breadwinner roles and career ambitions. Awareness and management of infertility as a chronic health condition could be a useful way for employers to support disclosure of infertility and to allow men to navigate infertility and their working lives and identities in less stress‐inducing ways. This article contributes to our growing understanding of the stigma men experience in relation to infertility and how such stigma may intersect with masculinity in general and breadwinning in particular.     

Ambivalent sexism and attitudes toward women who engage in premarital sex in Turkey

This study examined the relationship of ambivalent sexism, political conservatism, demographic variables (age, education, and gender), and prior sexual experience to Turkish men's and women's attitudes toward women who engage in premarital sex. Participants included 124 Turkish undergraduate students and 60 nonstudent Turkish adults. Benevolent but not hostile sexism uniquely predicted more negative views of women who engage in premarital sex once other variables were controlled. Regression analyses demonstrated that for both men and women, older, more politically conservative and less sexually experienced respondents and more educated men (but not women) respondents were more likely to disapprove of women who engage in premarital sex. Similarly, regression analysis revealed that men who were older, politically conservative, and less sexually experienced expressed stronger preferences for marrying a virgin. Both hostile and benevolent sexism predicted men's preference for marrying a virgin after all other variables were controlled.     

Older adults' perceptions of work

Traditional definitions of work may not reflect the activities of older adults. A broader definition that incorporates non-economic as well as economic measures may better describe their participation in the labor force and the meanings they ascribe to these activities. Because productive activity has been linked to successful aging, it is important to understand how elders perceive work. Twenty-six community-residing older adults were interviewed over a two-year period. Participants were mostly female and represented diverse cultural, religious and educational backgrounds. All these individuals participated in some activities they perceived as work. Three themes emerged as describing their attributions of meaning or importance to productive activities: contribution to self-concept, giving back to community, and staying engaged. Findings suggest that the productive activities of older adults contribute to quality of life for them and have implications for society as well.