Rethinking Gender and Health

Abstract

Help-seeking and health-seeking are social practices influenced by ethnicity, class, race, age, and gender, among other factors. Globally, research suggests that ideas about masculinity influence men’s health-seeking practices. However, only a modest body of literature has considered masculinity in relation to men’s health problems in South Asia. To address this research gap, a qualitative study was conducted to gather the narratives of three distinct social generations of men in Bangladesh concerning the understandings of gender and masculinity, and men’s help-seeking and health-seeking practices. Drawing on evidence from men’s accounts, we suggest some of the ways in which specific forms of social generational masculinity influence men’s help-seeking and sexual health-seeking practices. Findings carry implications for future health policy and health promotion practices. Generational masculinities and generation-specific health-seeking practices need to be taken into account in health policy and practice.