Gender Studies

Breaking stereotypes about going to clinics: Towards a pro-male health system Written by Malefetsane Soai

Men’s attitude towards healthcare systems seem to be similar worldwide–they shun going to medical check-ups for a variety of reasons, even if their lives are in grave danger.(2) The greatest challenge for health policymakers with respect to men, is thereforeto encourage more men to go to medical check-ups in order to stem some of the diseases that are specifically claiming the lives of men, such as prostate cancer.

This paper seeks to unearth the factors that inhibit men from developing health-seeking behaviours and exploresthe best ways in which a men-specific healthcare system and services can be developed to cater for men...[more]

Malefetsane Soai works for Consultancy Africa Intelligence’s Public Health Unit.

 

Sexual violence is one of the most horrific weapons of war, an instrument of terror used against women. Yet huge numbers of men are also victims. In this harrowing report, Will Storr travels to Uganda to meet traumatised survivors, and reveals how male rape is endemic in many of the world's conflicts.
The Observer, Sunday 17 July 2011

Of all the secrets of war, there is one that is so well kept that it exists mostly as a rumour. It is usually denied by the perpetrator and his victim. Governments, aid agencies and human rights defenders at the UN barely acknowledge its possibility. Yet every now and then someone gathers the courage to tell of it. This is just what happened on an ordinary afternoon in the office of a kind and careful counsellor in Kampala, Uganda. For four years Eunice Owiny had been employed by Makerere University's Refugee Law Project (RLP) to help displaced people from all over Africa work through their traumas...

It's not just in East Africa that these stories remain unheard. One of the few academics to have looked into the issue in any detail is Lara Stemple, of the University of California's Health and Human Rights Law Project. Her study Male Rape and Human Rights notes incidents of male sexual violence as a weapon of wartime or political aggression in countries such as Chile, Greece, Croatia, Iran, Kuwait, the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia. Twenty-one per cent of Sri Lankan males who were seen at a London torture treatment centre reported sexual abuse while in detention. In El Salvador, 76% of male political prisoners surveyed in the 1980s described at least one incidence of sexual torture. A study of 6,000 concentration-camp inmates in Sarajevo found that 80% of men reported having been raped...

The research by Lara Stemple at the University of California doesn't only show that male sexual violence is a component of wars all over the world, it also suggests that international aid organisations are failing male victims. Her study cites a review of 4,076 NGOs that have addressed wartime sexual violence. Only 3% of them mentioned the experience of men in their literature. "Typically," Stemple says, "as a passing reference."...

"International human rights law leaves out men in nearly all instruments designed to address sexual violence,"...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jul/17/the-rape-of-men

The clinic as a gendered space: Masculinities, health seeking behaviour and HIV & AIDS

Written by Hanlie Myburgh

Many studies find that men visit public health care facilities much less frequently than do women,(2,3) which has some significance for the poor uptake of men in voluntary counselling and testing services (VCTs) for HIV. A number of explanations have been given for this phenomenon, some of which focus on constructions of masculinity as a barrier to seeking health care. This paper draws on a relatively unexamined reason for men’s lack of attendance in public health care facilities which resonate strongly with debates around masculinity: that men view the clinic as women’s space. As many clinics are run mainly by women, holding positions as nurses and counsellors, and are also primarily attended by women and children, men may find visiting the clinic cumbersome and embarrassing, as it challenges traditional and hegemonic notions of masculinity. This paper focuses on the particularities of masculinity and health seeking behaviour in an African context... [More]

Author : Hans Reiling

http://www.transculturations.org/

Contents:

About the author:

I was born and raised in the southwest of Germany. After high school, I decided to travel. I was longing to learn more about Anthropology, History, Psychology, and Comparative Studies of Religion. Fortunate enough, I was the first one in my family to study at university. From the late 1990s until now my personal and academic quests lead me to South Asia, North and South America and in the last couple of years particularly to South Africa. I’ve become a transcultural migrant working with universities, civil society organizations, and intergovernmental bodies on issues including HIV/AIDS, gender, racism, biopolitics, and subjectivity. My latest project is this blog in which I want to share some observations that are part of a larger dissertation project concerned with (un)changing men in times of crisis. Hans Reiling, Cape Town in May 2010

Thanks to Fareeda Jadwat for this.

a continental symposium aimed at strengthening capacity of civil society and government to work with men and boys on gender-based violence and HIV...

 A growing body of research has helped us to understand the origins and nature of the problems faced by the continent and the role of men and masculinities in these, as well as the opportunities and potential for change...

Sonke and the MenEngage Alliance are pleased to announce the MenEngage Africa Symposium to be held 5-9 October 2009...  It will bring together activists, policy makers, service providers and researchers working on gender, HIV, health, development and human rights and will produce clear country and region specific plans of action.

The symposium will include a range of presentations, skills building activities and work-plan development. Objectives of the meeting include:

* Developing shared vision of the need for work with men and boys in Africa and the policy, programming and action required
* Strengthening participants’ ability to implement multi-faceted approaches to working with men and boys on gender and AIDS
* Developing country and region-specific work-plans with clear, time-bound activities, outputs and outcomes
* Building and strengthening the MenEngage Alliance, the Pan-Commonwealth civil society network on HIV/AIDS and the Commonwealth Women’s Network in Africa.

Confirmed speakers include:

* Elhadj As Sy, UNICEF regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa;
* Gary Barker, International Center for Research on Women;
* Mbuyiselo Botha, Sonke Gender Justice Network;
* Rachel Jewkes, Medical Research Council, South Africa;
* Robert Morrell, University of KwaZulu-Natal;
* Anisha Rajapakse, Commonwealth Foundation;
* Warren Nyamugisira, the Commonwealth Foundation’s Civil Society Advisory Committee.

The symposium fee is $500 with a reduced fee for organisations headquartered in the global south. Funding for scholarships is available to be determined by criteria established by the steering committee.

For more information please contact Orly Stern - orly@genderjustice.org.za, or Regis Mtutu - regis@genderjustice.org.za. You can aslo visit : http://www.genderjustice.org.za/menengageafricasymposium

 

From AU Monitor

 

Understanding men's health and use of violence: interface of rape and violence in South Africa [executive summary] (June 2009) by Rachel Jewkes, Yandisa Sikweyiya, Robert Morrell, Kristin Dunkle

From Polity SA

A comprehensive bibliography of writing on men, masculinities, gender, and sexualities (19th edition) Compiled by Michael FloodFirst published in 1992 Updated 24 January 2008 19th edition published 2008 By Michael Flood, AUSTRALIA  http://mensbiblio.xyonline.net/

Isandla Institute and the Open Society Foundation for South Africa invite you to a Development Dialogue on