12.2 Gender & Health

Question 1

What gender has the highest life expectancy & what are the top 3 causes of death in both genders?

Answer 1

• Females have the HIGHEST life expeectancy
• MALES
  
  1. ​​Heart disease
  2. Dementia & Alzheimer’s disease
  3. Lung cancer
• FEMALES
  
  1. ​Dementia & Alzheimer’s disease
  2. Heart diseasee
  3. Stroke

Question 2

Give the definitions of:

1. Gender
2. Sex
3. Sexuality

Answer 2

Gender = personal & social characteristics

Sex = Biological characteristics determined by anatomy (primary = gonadal, secondary = physical), physiology (sex hormones), genetics (sex chromosomes)

Sexuality = who you are attracted to

Question 3

What is 5-alpha reductase deficiency?

Answer 3

• Genetic disorder were protein 5-alpha reductase is defective OR abscent
• 5-alpha reductase converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (more potent form)
• Many people with 5-alpha reductase deficiency are born with external genitalia that appear female

Question 4

What is the prevalence of transgender individuals?

Answer 4

1% of the UK population

Question 5

What is the gender socialisation theory?

Answer 5

Females become women through a process where they acquire feminine traits and learn feminine behaviour

Question 6

Explain what is meant by gender is performative

Answer 6

• Gender is not “a stable identity or locus of agency from which various acts follow; rather, gender is … instituted … through a stylized repetition of [habitual] acts”
  
  • Gender is not something one is, it is something one does; it is a sequence of acts, a doing rather than a being

Question 7

What gender has higher suicide rates and what method would they use?

Answer 7

• MALES have the highest suicidal rates
  
  • Hanging
  • Strangulation
  • Suffocation
• Recently, in FEMALES hanging, strangulation and suffocation has been the most common cause of suicide

Question 8

Explain what is meant by hegemonic masculinity (& advantages & disadvantages of it in society)

Answer 8

• The way of ‘doing’ gender that is most valued in our society (societies perspective on gender values/actions)
• A culturally idealised form of manhood - being assertive, aggressive, bread-winner
• People who conform to hegemonic masculinity:
  
  • Are rewarded by society
  • Have better access to power and status in society
    
    • Obvious disadvantage for women
• But also disadvantage for men (e.g., ‘real’ men are not supposed to cry)
• Those who do not or cannot conform to the informal hegemonic masculine norms face discrimination and stigma (e.g., gay and transgender people)

Question 9

What is complicit masculinity?

Answer 9

Complicit masculinity refers to a man who admires or does not challenge hegemonic masculinity

Question 10

What is subordinated masculinities?

Answer 10

A form of masculinity in which a person lacks many of the qualities of hegemonic masculinity while also expressing qualities opposite to hegemonic masculinity

Question 11

What is emphasised femininity?

Answer 11

The idea that women must conform to the needs and desires of men

Question 12

What is subordinated feminities?

Answer 12

A person that lacks many of the qualities of hegemonic femininity while also expressing qualities opposite to hegemonic femininity