Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine how men account for the diagnosis in men of anorexia nervosa (AN), a condition commonly associated with women. Male students participated in focus group discussions of topics related to AN. Discussions were tape-recorded with participants' consent, transcribed, and then analyzed using discourse analysis. The participants spontaneously constructed AN as a female-specific condition. When asked to account for AN in men, they distanced AN from hegemonic masculinities in ways that sustained both dominant masculine identities and gender-specific constructions of AN. These findings show how issues of health and gender are interlinked in everyday understandings of AN. Future researchers might usefully consider how the construction of gender-specific illness implicates wider notions of both feminine and masculine gender identities.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 413-418 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Sex Roles |
Volume | 53 |
Issue number | 5-6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2005 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- Anorexia nervosa
- Discourse analysis
- Masculinities
- Social construction