Abstract
The canon that men should be self-reliant coupled with a feminization of self-care and the labor of caring for others diminishes many men’s perceived capability to engage in preventive care as well as devalues the care work they do. The research discussed in this symposium explores the gendered nature of older men’s care, for self or for others, and the consequences of such gendering for the men. The first three presentations engage the performance and meaning of self-care among men. Clark and Bennett discuss how older Canadian men actively draw upon masculinity scripts of physical competency and strength to resist negative perceptions of aging bodies. Leibing’s study of older Canadian men who had embraced experimental stem cell treatment for their heart disease identifies how the men’s cardiac recovery also embraced common masculinity scripts. Smith’s interviews with US veterans incarcerated in maximum-security prison underscore the men’s unmet health needs, and resistance to self-care in a macho culture thick with violence-enforced gender performances. The final presentation addresses the performance and meaning of men’s care work for others. Seaman’s work studies illustrate how men’s caregiving labor is routinely erased, even in caregivers’ own narratives of their labor. Finally, Kaye’s discussion addresses how men’s self-care and care work are obscured when later life masculinities are ignored, or when gender remains equated with the 1950’s sex role model of separate spheres.