Help-seeking in context: masculine and feminine identities in relation to men’s health issues

Abstract

Much research into men’s health issues argues that men are reluctant to seek help and attributes this to men’s enactment of hegemonic masculinity. This study explored how female partners negotiate men’s health and consequences for their own identities. Discourse analysis of interview data collected from female partners (n=16) shows that participants critiqued hegemonic masculinity as relating to men generally and constructed different identities for their own partners. In all cases however, participants identified women as overseers of men’s health. These findings demonstrate the need to examine identity consequences for all those concerned in negotiating men’s health issues.