The Role of Gender in Understanding How Cancer Shapes the Self and Identity of Survivors

• In Event: 035 - Section on Sex and Gender Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 06. Gender and Identity

Abstract

Nearly half of the U.S. population will be diagnosed with some form of cancer in their lifetime, and every year more than 1.5 million Americans are diagnosed (ACS 2012). The word ‘cancer’ carries significant cultural weight and often induces fear of death, intense treatment, and loss of control. Control over one’s own body is fundamental to maintaining one’s self-identity (Shilling 1993) and losing that control during cancer treatment can alter an individual’s sense of self. There is a perception that undergoing cancer treatment creates a loss of a sense of self or identity. This has been investigated, particularly for breast cancer patients’ and their self-image (Ferguson 2000; Klawiter 2004; Lorde 1980; Rasmussen et al. 2010; Rosenbaum and Roos 2000), however, there has been little research on how both women and men experience and understand their experience undergoing cancer treatment. Through analysis of 62 interviews with breast cancer, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and gynecological cancer patients and survivors, I find that men and women talk about their cancer experience and their sense of self in divergent ways. More surprisingly, women discuss finding themselves and say that their cancer experience helped them realize their strength as opposed to feeling a loss of self. Cancer, for men, challenges their power and invincibility and men often discuss their lack of control.

Author

• Laura E. Rogers, University of California-San Diego