Within Gender Differences in the the Lived Experiences of BRCA-positive Mutation Males

• In Event: 035 - Section on Sex and Gender Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 07. Medical/Mental Health

Abstract

Our theoretical approach to men’s BRCA testing and post-testing for hereditary breast cancer medical decision making takes a social constructivist and feminist standpoint approach. Males make decisions about their health and well-being that is relational and filtered through their own sense of what is is that men are expected by their culture to do with regard to their health and health seeking. It is through their everyday experiences that men construct /enact their gender with regard to their health behaviors. This mixed methods study sample consists of 101 males, 73 who tested positive for the BRCA1/2 genetic mutation that places them at high risk for breast cancer. An on-line survey was followed by in-depth phone interviews with a sub-sample of 26 BRCA-positive males. Important group difference emerged. Males who are single, 50 years old or younger, without children cited health reasons as their primary motive for testing. Participants’ psycho-social well being measured by the BRCA Self-Concept Scale, found younger men feeling more stigmatized than older men; married men experiencing more vulnerable after their BRCA-positive mutation diagnosis than single men. Men’s gender identity, measured by the BSRI sex role inventory scale found men scoring higher on traditionally feminine traits than masculine traits. The qualitative component reveals men re-coding traditional feminine traits as masculine. This strategy allows men to negotiate their gender role identity in the wake of their BRCA-positive mutation diagnosis.

Authors

• Sharlene J. Hesse-Biber, Boston College

• Chen An, Boston College