Concepts of gender and masculinity between primary healthcare professionals in Brazil

The presentation will focus how men’s health is constructed by the analyses of concepts of gender and masculinity among Primary Healthcare Professionals. It is based on two perspectives: the meanings associated with being a man and the relations between masculinity and healthcare comparing the context of men´s health and the development of women’s health. This qualitative study is part of a multicentric investigation in four Brazilian States (Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Sao Paulo), which used triangulation methods as a benchmark. Sixty-nine in depth interviews carried out among health professionals with higher education were analysed. The discourses (re)produce the notion that health facilities are “feminized spaces”. Within the daily routine, this notion is translated as reinforcing the idea that the male body is not a locus of this care, as opposed to the female body which is considered a locus of care. The presence of a hegemonic pattern of masculinity is prominent among professionals’ representations of men and seems to influence the latter, in their lack of commitment with healthcare. The existence of a stereotyped gender model (re)produces disparities between men and women in healthcare and compromises the visibility of other meanings and expressions of gender identities.