Theories in health care and research: Theories of masculinity

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Abstract
This is the second in a series of six articles on the importance of theories and values in health research Series editor: Priscilla Alderson How do theories help us to grasp various truths about men's and women's responses to illness? How do theories of masculinity illuminate the reactions of young men who have lost a sexual organ and face a life threatening disease? Why are men sometimes treated differently from women in life threatening situations?1 This paper shows how theories that underlie research influence the ways in which we perceive phenomena and how we deal with them. It questions assumptions about the concept of masculinity in medicine and how these assumptions affect men. Alternative ways of seeing may widen our perceptions, but at the same time they present us with more difficulties. #### Summary points In the biological approach, sexual anatomy equates with sexual destiny. Anatomy is proof of being a man. Being a man takes on a universal status, generalisable and immutable. Aggression, reason, a need for control, competitiveness, and emotional reticence are thought to be “natural” attributes for a man2 contradiction or ambiguity is anathema to …