Masculinity, aging, and sexuality in health-disease-care processes among male workers in Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the representations and experiences of male workers regarding self-care, and the ways in which configurations of health-disease-care processes and aging affect male sexuality. A qualitative study was conducted that included semi-structured interviews with fifteen men living with a chronic disease. Respondents had an average age of 56 years old, most had not completed elementary school, and they were residents of a low-income neighborhood in the city of Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Two findings emerge from the analysis: on one hand, conceptions of health care, gender, and the reproductive process are socially mediated by gender-biased sexual prejudices or reproduce stereotypes such as those based on sexual medicine; on the other hand, the aging process has repercussions on the conception and practice of male sexuality, and disease opposes values socially attributed to traditional masculinity. However, the aging process has made it possible for some to reinterpret gender relations, as well as ideals of dominant masculinity.