Abstract
The present study investigated men’s experiences with their breast cancer diagnosis and post-mastectomy lives. It is based on the sociological tradition of investigating the “marginal man” who lives in two not merely different but incompatible cultures (e.g., the pink ribbon culture of breast cancer and the everyday ideals of masculinity and the male body). Seventeen mature and aging U.S. men who all lived with a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, including a mastectomy, were interviewed. The principle finding reveals that they saw themselves as men and remain seen by others in terms of their gender, not their atypical illness. Two meta-themes underlying men’s breast cancer stories were identified: body talk and embodiment of their breast. Each of these themes had subthemes. Noticeable was how the historical era when diagnosed and men’s aging experiences influenced their illness journey and stories. For all, even the recently diagnosed, their journey was a lonely one. No man had known another man with breast cancer to consult. Only a few men felt their breast cancer was a stigma, and they too did not feel emasculated. Instead, in the process of embodying their breast cancer, they amended their identities and practiced softer, hybrid forms of masculinities.
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Acknowledgments
The present research was initially presented in a poster session at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, New Orleans, abstracted in The Gerontologist 50, no. s3 (2010), p. 77. The project was then pushed aside as the authors’ work trajectories shifted. An early draft of this manuscript was presented within a symposium at the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics in San Francisco, abstracted in Innovation in Aging, 1, no. S1 (2017), p. 288.
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The research project was approved by the College of the Holy Cross Human Subjects Review Committee in May, 2009.
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Thompson, E.H., Haydock, A.S. Men’s Lived Experiences with Breast Cancer: The Double Consciousness of Marginal Men. Sex Roles 82, 28–43 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-019-01039-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-019-01039-7