Understanding Men and Health: Masculinities, Identity and Well-Being

Abstract

Understanding Men and Health: Masculinities, Identity and Well-being , by Steve Robertson. London: Open University, 2007, 192 pp. Many contemporary men's health texts consist of edited chapters that provide disconnected snapshots of men's health issues. These are useful for understanding the elements of men's lives or specific men's health issues, but often fall short of painting the whole picture. This book, however, is different. It systematically examines the value of listening to lay perspectives when contextualizing men's health, more specifically, showing how men define health and how this relates to their health practices- how they Moreover, it is carefully grounded in a theoretical discussion of masculinities that is mindful of and palatable to both practitioners and policy-makers. The combination of men's voices, the opinions of health professionals and Robertson's own commentary enables the reader to connect with the content of each chapter. Vignettes about participants included at the start of the book are useful for contextualising what is being discussed throughout each of the remaining chapters. In this six-chapter book, Robertson commences by introducing the context of men's health and the role of masculinities in it. He then carefully shifts his focus towards the benefits of listening to lay perspectives on health (rather than illness) to contextualize how men from different backgrounds understand their health. The book is empirically based, with a plentiful supply of vignettes in chapters two through to five. These chapters focus on topics such as conceptualizing health and well-being; embodied masculinities, drawing heavily on the work of Watson (2000); men, relationships, emotions and health; and men engaging in health care. Health professionals' perspectives are interwoven throughout the text, which not only provides a balanced account of how men's health and health practices are understood, but also allows Robertson to problematise the disjunction between how health professionals and lay men talk about and perceive men's health practices. It is noteworthy that the author distinguishes between health practices and health behaviours, a useful distinction for reiterating that men's health practices cannot be considered outside the social context that contributes to their health and well-being. A key difference to other men's health texts is the way in which gay men's and disabled men's understandings and experiences of their health are included alongside those of men who do not identify as either gay or disabled. Recognising that masculinity is not a static concept, Robertson demonstrates that men create a masculine identity or series of masculine identities based on a range of personal life experiences. …