Introduction

There is a gender health paradox where men have more societal privilege and experience worse health outcomes compared to women. Thus, men’s health is important to economies, communities, and families both domestic and abroad. In the face of limited political action to protect men’s health, there is a need to advocate for men’s health in dynamic and inclusive ways. In this book, we conceptualize men’s health to be a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, as experience by men (male-identified persons) and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. We believe that men with strong social support have better physical and mental health.

An Intersectional Look at Men’s Health was written with gender and equity in mind. This book explores various men’s health issues through the lens of intersectionality. The term intersectionality was coined by Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw, a legal scholar. Intersectionality is a framework that enabled us to see how social identities are inscribed with increased access to good things or exposure to bad things because power, oppression, and inequities exist in society. Although intersectionality is typically applied to work addressing experiences of race inequity, sexuality, and women, it is both relevant and needed to think critically and creatively how to equitably advance men’s health equity without adversely affecting women’s health. 

Each chapter explores a different health issue that affects men and focuses on a few intersectional identities (e.g., life stage, race/ethnicity, immigration status, sexual orientation, rurality, socioeconomic status etc.). With this in mind, chapters are structured to include a general overview of the health topic, how the health topic is experienced by men, current evidence on the health topic among men of different particular intersectional identities, and end with a brief discussion of what is being done for the health topic and proposed recommendations to advance health equity among men. Discussions of what is being done and proposed recommendations use an ecological perspective to acknowledge that men’s health happens through interactions with people, institutions, policy, and culture. Words that may be unfamiliar are highlighted (to provide a definition) or defined in text by authors.