‘I don't consider a cup performance; I consider it a test’: masculinity and the medicalisation of infertility

Abstract

Researchers have deemed medicalisation a 'gendered' theory, yet the incorporation of men and masculinity in medicalisation literature is sparse. Recently, however, medicalisation scholarship has begun studying men. This burgeoning literature heavily emphasises sexuality and is beginning to focus on medicalised masculinities in which traits associated with masculinity are deemed a health risk. Such research has demonstrated how masculinities shape men's lived experiences of health, but how does health itself shape masculinity? I explore this question using the case of infertility. Through thirty in-depth interviews, I find that men use medicine as a way to achieve rather than diminish their sense of masculinity in the feminised context of reproduction. By perpetuating the stereotype that infertility is a woman's problem, the medical establishment has caused men to not necessarily see themselves as infertile. Additionally, even if men do claim the infertility status, they do not perceive it as negative. The legitimating effects of medicalisation objectify the ailment and separate its connection with sexuality. In centring men's voices, the study not only reveals men as active players in the reproductive process, but also incorporates them into understandings of medicalisation.

L’expérience psychosociale des hommes de leur infertilité : une recension narrative systématique

“…Les études retenues ont été menées principalement en Europe, dont 7 en Grande-Bretagne, [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] une en Irlande, [20] une en Suisse, [21] une en Suède, [22] une en Allemagne (23), et seulement trois en dehors de l'Europe ; soit une aux États-Unis, [24] une en Iran, [25] Par ailleurs, il est essentiel de ne pas examiner cette expérience isolément, sans tenir compte des interinfluences entre les différentes dimensions du système social dans lequel elle s'inscrit. Il s'agit ici de considérer non seulement l'expérience de l'infertilité masculine au plan individuel, mais aussi d'en examiner les interinfluences systémiques.…”

“…Pour ce qui est des approches employées, on en relève principalement deux ; soit la phénoménologie interprétative[15,22,25] et la théorisation ancrée [14,20,23,24]. À part les trois études qui avaient pour matériau d'analyse les messages sur des forums en ligne,[16,18,27] toutes optent pour la méthode des entrevues, sauf l'étude de Dwyer, Quinton[21] qui recourt aux groupes focus.…”

Men and infertility: Insights from the sociology of gender

“…Western cultural ideas about the primacy of mothering and the centrality of female bodies to reproductive medicine make the experience of infertility particularly difficult for women (Inhorn & van Balen, ; Ridgeway & Correll, ). When couples undergo infertility treatments, men report seeing their primary role as supporting their partner (Bell, ; Bell, ; Herrera, ; Malik & Coulson, ; Webb & Daniluk, ). Given that women's bodies are affected by biomedical infertility treatments, men report feeling more detached from treatments and that the greatest strain of the process is on their intimate partnerships (Hanna & Gough, ).…”

“…Men's experiences with infertility are important sites for exploring what Inhorn and Wentzell (2011) call "emergent masculinities": culturally contextualized ways that men negotiate new masculine identities, particularly with evolving health technologies (Inhorn & Wentzell, 2011, p. 802). Research highlights how men use medical technologies to construct masculinity in feminine spaces (Bell, 2015b;Throsby & Gill, 2004). Bell (2015b) explores how men use medicine as a way to achieve a masculine identity through detaching "their selves and identities from their bodies by appeals to science" (p. 715).…”

“…Western cultural ideas about the primacy of mothering and the centrality of female bodies to reproductive medicine make the experience of infertility particularly difficult for women (Inhorn & van Balen, 2002;Ridgeway & Correll, 2004). When couples undergo infertility treatments, men report seeing their primary role as supporting their partner (Bell, 2015b;Bell, 2016;Herrera, 2013;Malik & Coulson, 2008;Webb & Daniluk, 1999).…”