Man: From Healthy Model to Deficient Creature

Abstract

Abstract The recent discourse on health inverts the traditional positions of gender – where men are supposed to be in good health, while women are not. The contribution proposes answers to the question of why this discourse has emerged over the last twenty years. Furthermore, the important effects of this discourse on the constitution of medical and epidemiological knowledge are analyzed. Some effects were one-sided and therefore problematic for men as well as for women: This concerns the relation to their body and the gendered appropriation of what medicine offers. Men and women were distributed to different fields of practice separated by gender, which limited their freedom of choice. The gendered discourse has also impacted health politics, leading to an unequal distribution of resources often not in line with the actual needs of men and women.