Testicular Cancer and Masculinity
- 1 January 1995
- book chapter
- Published by SAGE Publications
Abstract
How do men cope with illness that threatens their reproductive organs or their sexual functioning? How does such an experience affect their thoughts about themselves as men? Testicular cancer is a disease that enables us to investigate both questions. Its physical consequences include the loss of a testicle and, in many cases, subsequent changes in sexual functioning. Because men who have testicular cancer are likely to survive the disease, they must integrate these changes into their lives and into their self-concepts. In this chapter I will argue that cancer of the testes usually does not alter men's sense of masculinity. Part of the masculine coping process involves defining the cancer experience in a way that reaffirms masculine identity. ...Keywords
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