The medicalisation of men’s bodies.

In today’s society, something in which is becoming medicalised is ageing men’s bodies. This association of ageing which is a natural life event has now been turned into a medical problem what is seen to need treatment. Focusing solely on ageing and the body it brings to surface the negative social beliefs about the fears of the ageing process in men.  The medicalisation of men has often not been by design, but concepts such as erectile dysfunction, hair loss and andropause have been through medical discoveries for other things (Conrad 2007). There is no common ground to say that these types of natural things should be treated as illnesses as much as they are highly medicalised with the exception of erectile dysfunction as this has a clear treatment and medicalised base.

It is most likely that individuals do not concentrate on mens bodies as all the attentions is normally focused on woman’s bodies. As a man ages, their body can experience many changes such as baldness, more or less testosterone, erectile dysfunction. Erectile dysfunction has been a problem for many older men but this was sharply medicalised when Viagra was released and people became a lot more open about talking about their problems. An issue in which society has created is the perception that a man should be masculine and should be a certain kind of individual. This then creates a problem for men as they start to age and get older as their testosterone levels diminished (Bordo 1993). As a result of this a lot of the treatments that a man has on offer are cosmetic.

Baldness-

The medical profession is hesitant to call baldness a disease, the medicalisation of baldness is gaining momentum in the light of new treatments for hair loss (Conrad 2007: 34). Baldness is one of the most common changes that a man faces as he starts to age. This will often occur for most men when they hot their 60’s and 90 percent of the time will be due to male pattern baldness. This type of hair loss is cause by a combination of genes and also male sex hormones which will usually follow the classic pattern which leaves the hair receding at the temples leaving an M shaped hairline on the male. There is a small minority in men aged between 30 and 50 who may have hit this stage earlier and already have started to go bald. Testosterone has a massive significance in baldness as it is all to do with the male’s hormones that are making these changes to their bodies.

A man who is facing this physical change related with older age, loss of physical strength, sexual prowess and dependency can often cause the individual physiological distress as you can well imagine if something is completely out of your control and you can’t physically stop it. Research has reported that the impact in which baldness could potentially have on male psychological wellness as the hair loss in men is related to low self-esteem, depression and also a feeling of unattractiveness.

In the Birth if the Clinic, Foucault argues to how the medical profession ever actually gained and received any respect by using scientific knowledge gaining them power in characterizing reality (Foucault 1975 cited in Pylypa 1989). Sociology theorists have stated that men’s bodies in fact have been completely socially constructed and there are a number of factors in which have influenced the way an individual views the man’s body such as pharmaceutical influences and media (Harvey 2013).

Erectile dysfunction-

The definition of erectile dysfunction is when a male unfortunately has the inability to have an erection for sexual activities. This as you can imagine can cause a lot of distress and put a lot of strain on relationships and on the individual which doesn’t help matters one bot as this makes them more paranoid, stressed, and worried about the situation and also what the cause of it may be. It has been said that a lot of men seem to think that they may have caused some damage whilst they have been masturbating but to their partners, it can be disheartening and upsetting as they may feel as though the individual does not seem them as attractive anymore. Every single man at some point in his life will have this issue which doesn’t necessarily mean that they have erectile dysfunction as after just a few day or weeks, the problem goes away and it just resolves itself. Things in which may cause this in younger men are too much smoke, drinking alcohol, taking drugs, having a late night or just being genuinely worried.

In relation to medicalisation and the man’s body, there is a range of evidence in which support Illich’s notion of medical imperialism. An example of this cause be that normal body functions relating to ageing is being medicalised and can also be seen as deviant as things such as baldness and erectile dysfunction indicate that when an individual is viewed as being unwell, their role can change within society (Parsons 1951).

Men and the subject of masculinity have been absent from the process of medicalisation until recently. It is becoming apparent now that they are in fact becoming part of the process of medical surveillance and control (Conrad 2007). There are many medical treatments in which can help a man restore his youth and have a youthful appearance and performance. Illich seen this as the medical profession and industry taking their own control over the matter and making out what they define as a normal body. Because of the imagine in which is seen as normal, this makes the male want to seek this image in which society, medical practitioners, and pharmaceutical have engaged onto everyone.