1/13/2024 0 Comments Real men dont sparkle meaning24,25 Public health intervention strategies increasingly aim to empower women and transform gender structures and power dynamics that inhibit women’s autonomy and harm their health. 23 Since the pivotal Cairo conference, public health practitioners and researchers have made substantial progress in embracing women’s rights and examining and intervening upon social constructions of gender when tackling health issues both globally and locally. The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo spurred a global focus on women’s rights and gender equality and elaborated the links between women’s rights and sexual and reproductive health. We start by reviewing the recent history of efforts to address gender norms in the name of improved health for both women and men we then define some of the pitfalls and ethical implications of current approaches that deploy reinforcing instead of gender-transformative notions of manhood we end by offering a path forward for public health interventions that seek to intervene on masculinities in the name of improved health.ĮVOLVING PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER AND HEALTH We argue for the importance of gender-transformative health interventions that “transform gender roles and promote more gender equitable relationships between men and women,” 7(p4) rather than those that reinforce the norms of masculinity that have been shown to harm health. Even well-intentioned, carefully designed programs can have unintended consequences and may need improvement. 12–14 Furthermore, adoption of inequitable beliefs and adherence to traditional norms of masculinity have been found to be associated with violence, 15–18 risky sexual behaviors, 12,19,20 and sexual and intimate partner violence against women, 20–22 which in turn negatively affect the health of men, women, and children.Įven though the Man Up Monday campaign leverages best practices, it is crucial to thoughtfully and constructively critique messaging strategies used in programs such as this one to advance and refine the development of future gender-related health interventions. 11 However, masculine norms do not only lead to higher social status but they also come with a price for men’s health, often referred to as “costs of masculinity.” 11 Paradoxically, to be perceived as masculine and thus to achieve the higher social status and power afforded to “real” men, men are pressured to and rewarded for adopting certain traits (e.g., being aggressive, virile with many sexual partners, unemotional, in control, adventurous, risk taking, dominant) that result in vulnerability to negative physical and mental health consequences. We define gender norms as “those qualities of femaleness and maleness that develop as a result of socialization rather than biological predisposition.” 10 (p146) In most societies across the globe, men as a group enjoy social and institutional privileges over and above women as a group. However, interventions using approaches that leverage gender norms require careful consideration as researchers have documented the detrimental effects of narrowly defined gender norms and gender inequality on the health of men, women, and children. 6 By suggesting that it is manly to get tested for STIs and linking this specific gender ideology to health behaviors, the program recognizes and deploys male gender norms to change men’s behaviors-an oft-recommended strategy for furthering health and well-being. The ads ask men to “man up,” a colloquialism indicating the adoption of masculine ideals such as courage and being strong-willed. Man Up Monday advertisements include a photo of boxer shorts or condoms and have taglines such as, “If you hit it this weekend, hit the clinic Monday” ( Figure 2). It also deploys language that is relevant to young men 6 and uses savvy advertising to appeal to the target population by conveying the image that STI testing is hip. For example, Man Up Monday draws on the documented favorable conditions of Mondays for behavior change 5 to facilitate a shift in men’s health-seeking behaviors. Print marketing material for the Man Up Monday campaign.Īt first glance, the campaign has used public health best practices.
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