Throughout the entire course of History 4250, the idea of gender and health norms as a social construction are a re-occurring theme. Throughout Canadian history, the way society or the individual experiences and understands health and gender norms is very dependent on the social context of the time period. Health is a lived out responsibility of an individual, which is based on the ideas of Crawford and healthism. Through healthism, health becomes performance oriented, where one must embody and live up to health ideals, which makes health susceptible and controlled by the social atmosphere. The fluidity of health comes from the idea of healthism, where “healthiness” can be described by one’s well-being not just an absence of sickness. Well-being is not measurable unlike absence of sickness, so the ideas of health can be constantly changing.[i] These health standards due to healthism and embodied citizenship of health, force people to live out societal expectations to reach a state of well-being, which then is deemed as “healthy”. This is equally applicable to gender expectations, as one performs to meet gender ideals prescribed by the environment one is in. Health and gender expectations are both socially constructed, as they are both based on societal expectations, which need to be performed.
Gender roles and expectations as a social construction is a major theme in Stafford’s article, where she observed a kindergarten class. Finding that current anxieties of the plight of boys in public schools comes from rigidly set standards of gendered behavior. The findings show that gender norms are created and performed as a re-action to the societal norms in place.[ii] In one situation in Tracy Penny Light’s article, From Fixing to Enhancing Bodies, the performance aspect of gender norms and health intersect to show the social construction of both ideals. A boy suffering from gynecomastia, felt from both health and gender norms based on societal ideals of masculinity and healthiness in males, that the over-development of his breasts were infringing his ability to be a good male citizen. The social construction of proper male health and to perform proper gender norms was hindered due to a condition, which was not a sickness.[iii]
Health works in a very similar way to gender, as health is not always about what actually makes one physical and medically healthier, rather what is considered “healthy” comes from prescribed ideals of popular culture. For example in Tracy Penny Light’s article, a woman had been diagnosed with breast cancer, a measurable, physical medical sign of unhealthiness, however she opted not to get the lump removed. Stating this “God placed me on this Earth with two breasts and He will take me away with them.”[iv] Even though her health was compromised, the prescribed ideals of having two breasts overrode getting medical help from a professional. The social construction of health is clearly seen in this situation as health was more intertwined with cosmetics than the absence of sickness, showing that health is more than merely a medical state but a social prescription.
Hutterites offer an interesting case to study, when looking at health as a social construction. If health was not a social construction, then all people would have the same ideas of health no matter their circumstances, however, this is not the case for Hutterites. Hutterites health norms differ from the popular culture ideas of mainstream Canadians. Due to Hutterite’s seclusion from society and their differing lifestyles, their construction of health ideals are based on their culture and popular beliefs, which creates different health norms. The social climate breeds different ideas of health, making the definition of health fluid and constantly changing, as it is reliant on society’s perceptions.[v]
[i] Crawford, Robert., “Healthism and the Medicalization of Everyday Life,” International Journal of Health Services, 10,3 (1980): 365-388.
[ii] Stafford, Anika, “‘I Feel Like a Girl Inside’: Possibilities for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Early Primary School,” BC Studies, 181 (Spring 2016): 9-29.
[iii] Penny Light, Tracy, “From Fixing to Enhancing Bodies: Shifting Ideals of Health and Gender in the Medical Discourse on Cosmetic Surgery in Twentieth Century Canada,” in Penny Light, et.al, Bodily Subjects: Essays on Gender and Health, 1800-2000, Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015: 331.
[iv] Ibid.
[v] Kraybill, Donald B., and Carl F. Bowman. On the backroad to heaven: Old Order Hutterites, Mennonites, Amish, and Brethren. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.