Wounded Masculinities: Men, Health, and Chronic Illness

The book contributes to the emerging field of men's health studies, delving into how men incorporate, adapt, negotiate, and reject health care practices to perform masculinities in daily interactions. By moving beyond the simplistic association between masculinity and 'risky' or 'unhealthy' practices, the book draws from the seminal work of Raewyn Connell and recent critical perspectives on the study of men's health, seeking to challenge and problematize the relationship between masculinities and health. The text presents empirical research examining the different ways in which men (re)negotiate their masculinities after the onset of a chronic illness, focusing on diabetes as a strategic case study. Living with a chronic illness implies that those gender practices that are usually taken for granted suddenly become unachievable and impose a reconfiguration of the masculine self, as well as a negotiation of the very meaning of masculinity. This text aims to untangle and critically examine how this (re)negotiation of masculinity takes place when confronted with the everyday reality of managing a chronic illness, while also reflecting on men, masculinities and their health on a more general level.