0623 - Sickness and Meaning/Sex and Gender - RM

Question 1

How are some illnesses are conventionally regarded by patients and doctors as more legitimate than others?

Answer 1

Society has a tendency to legitimise illnesses with a known underlying physical cause. Thus, conditions such as infectious diseases are considered legitimate, whereas conversion disorders and syndromes such as Chronic Fatigue are often not considered as legitimate as others.

Question 2

What is the ‘sick role’? When can it apply?

Answer 2

The ‘sick role’ is a term used to describe the sociological placement, and roles and responsibilities of the ill person. They receive secondary gain (legitimate disengagement from everyday tasks, not responsible for their condition). There is sometimes a tension between the desire (and ‘responsibility’) to recover, and the secondary gain they receive.

Question 3

What is the difference between gender and sex?

KEY EXAM CONCEPT

Answer 3

As defined by WHO:

“Sex” refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.

“Gender” refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.

Question 4

Illnesses are frequently distributed along gender lines for both biological and social reasons. Identify some exemplary differences between men and women

Answer 4

Migraine headaches are more common in women. Could be an underlying biological reason, or a gendered reason that women more likely to seek treatment.

Boys have higher rates of ADHD. Most likely a gendered reason that girls are considered more likely to talk/chatterbox.

Women make better counsellors because they like talking. Most likely a gendered reason, society expects this from women, rather than an underlying biological reason.

Bedwetting is more common in boys than girls. Could be a biological reason that boys develop slower than girls at the equivalent age.

Question 5

During the 2009 swine flu epidemic, which of the following activities or decisions illustrates the adoption of the sick role as described by Talcott Parsons?

A. When you developed a cough and fever, you worked from home in order not to spread the infection.
B. When you developed a cough and fever, you decided to attend your PBL group wearing a mask and sitting a metre away from everybody else.
C. Although you were not unwell, you went to the University Clinic and demanded Tamiflu because you cannot afford to be sick.
D. The Vice Chancellor advises all people with a cough that their examinations can be deferred for two weeks.
E. You were on a plane with someone who was diagnosed with swine flu in the early days of the epidemic, so you stock up on DVDs and seclude yourself for a week.

Answer 5

E. Talcott Parsons’ theory of the sick role states that sickness enables people to opt out of everyday responsibilities legitimately. The persons who opted out of work because of their possible exposure to swine flu and went into voluntary seclusion for a week were taking on a Parsonian sick role.

A is wrong because you haven’t opted out of everyday responsibilities, but are instead working from home.
B. is wrong because you have continued your normal activities
C. is wrong because you are trying to avoid sickness
D is wrong because it’s the VC foisting a sick role on others, rather than the person adopting it themselves.

Question 6

Men with breast cancer have a higher mortality rate than women with breast cancer. State which of the following are explanations due to sex, and which due to gender.

1. Men with breast cancer tend to present later because they have felt that breast cancer, publicized using the colour pink, is a woman’s disease.
2. The RCTs for treatment for breast cancer are performed on women, not men, and may not be applicable for men.
3. Surgery on men for breast cancer is more difficult because there is less breast tissue
4. Men with breast cancer are not afforded the same level of community support as women with breast cancer.
5. Nodal spread is more possible because the regional nodes are closer anatomically to the cancer in male breasts than female breasts.

Answer 6

1. Men with breast cancer tend to present later because they have felt that breast cancer, publicized using the colour pink, is a woman’s disease. Gender
2. The RCTs for treatment for breast cancer are performed on women, not men, and may not be applicable for men. Sex
3. Surgery on men for breast cancer is more difficult because there is less breast tissue. Sex
4. Men with breast cancer are not afforded the same level of community support as women with breast cancer. Gender
5. Nodal spread is more possible because the regional nodes are closer anatomically to the cancer in male breasts than female breasts. Sex

Question 7

You are on a bushwalking school trip with a group of 20 sixteen year olds. On the walk back down the hill, you observe that there are more girls in the group at the back of the class. Give at least two explanations of why this may be the case (assuming the boys and girls are of equal, moderate fitness). Think gender, and sex.

Answer 7

Gender: The boys are responding to social understandings of masculine behaviour as leaders, or those who take the most risks, and are therefore positioned at the front of the group where they can take more risks and lead the group. The girls are clustering together in order to create stronger links as this is a socially-expected pattern of behaviour for teenage girls.

Sex: The girls have a more difficult time negotiating downhill slopes because of the biomechanics of the quadriceps tendon and its different angle of pull from the female hip – the patella undergoes greater excursion across the knee joint and the knee itself is more difficult to stabilize