"Men's bodies, men's selves": men's health self-help books and the promotion of health care

International Journal of Men's Health, Jan, 2003 by Andrew Singleton

One further point about terminology ought to be added. In this paper, I make extensive use of the concept of "ideology." As the term is used in contemporary literary and social theory, ideologies are the various, usually competing, bodies of knowledge or sets of values "which human beings [and social groups] perceive, and by recourse to which they explain, what they take to be reality" (Abrams, 1993, p. 241). Importantly, all cultural texts are infused with ideologies; as Buchbinder (1998) argues, the "products of culture, whether in the form of works of art or of social institutions [in this case self-help books] ... are produced within and by ideology. Indeed, their task, is to articulate the culture's ideology to us and to affirm its validity" (p. 4). The ensuing analysis considers the various ideological perspectives privileged in the pages of men's health self-help.

GOOD HEALTH FOR MEN? READING MEN'S HEALTH SELF-HELP

THE GENERIC FEATURES OF MEN'S HEALTH SELF-HELP

Prior to examining the type of health care promoted in men's health self-help literature, it is valuable to discuss the salient features of this genre and its key themes. I also highlight differences and similarities between these and other health oriented self-help books.

The books analyzed in this article are more than just source books that men can dip into when they feel sick, much like the traditional family medical encyclopedia. They possess both a writing style and a narrative structure that calls for ordered reading in some measure. For example, each of the six books I examined feature some variation of the same plot structure: taking the reader on a journey towards achieving "good health," and indeed, a "good life." Five of the six books discuss broad lifestyle issues central to achieving "good health" in the first few chapters or sections. This includes advice about diet and nutrition, stress reduction, health insurance, choosing an appropriate doctor, and emotional well-being (including some relationship advice). In these early sections, the books exhort the reader to engage in lifestyle practices that will produce superior health outcomes, typically understood to be a longer life expectancy and reduced risk of morbidity. From there, the focus shifts to a review of common "male" health concerns, or issues in which men have poorer health outcomes compared to women. Areas of discussion include sexual problems (both psychological and physiological), heart and lung disease, and muscular injuries. The one book that omits the review of lifestyle issues in the first few chapters, It's in the Male: Everyone's Guide to Men's Health (Pryor & Glass, 2000), proceeds directly to discussion about men's sexual and reproductive health issues. It concludes, however, with an account of the lifestyle factors which need to be managed in order to achieve "good health."

The contents and concerns of men's health self-help reflect several broader social trends that have transformed contemporary understandings of both the self and health. The first of these is the primacy accorded to the self in late modernity. Giddens (1991) argues that contemporary society is characterized by reflexivity and that the "self is seen as a reflexive project, for which the individual is responsible.... We are, not what we are, but what we make of ourselves" (p. 75). Doing something to address one's situation or circumstances is deeply enmeshed in Western culture. Men's health self-help, which places great emphasis on health as a "personal project," fits well with contemporary concerns about the development of the self (cf. Rimke, 2000), in this case, the healthy self. In addition to concerns with the self and individualization (Giddens, 1991), cultural critics have suggested that contemporary society is increasingly characterized by concerns about "risk" (Beck, 1992; Peterson, 1997). According to Green (1995), contemporary health promotion is crucially concerned with the management of risk. Examples include warnings on cigarette packs, billboards extolling the virtues of applying sunscreen, and health insurance companies encouraging members to join gyms. The topics featured in men's health self-help--advice about health insurance, choosing a doctor, diet and nutrition--are centrally concerned with risk management and risk reduction.