Ainda somos os mesmos?: masculinidades e produção de cuidados entre duas gerações de homens

Abstract

In recent decades, men have been the target of studies in different areas of knowledge, as a result of increased morbidity and mortality and the apparent reluctance with the care of the self and the incipient concern with health. In this perspective, the present study aims to analyzing how two generational groups distinct from men (20 to 30 years old and 50 to 60) take care of their health, from the knowledge of skills and care practices developed in their day to day. That proposal was justified by realizing, in the daily life of assistance and of teachinglearning,the little emphasis in health actions on the needs of the men and thosebeing considered as subjects who cannot care for themselves. Therefore, to achieve the proposed objective, a descriptive exploratory qualitative research was performed. The data were collected through narrative interview. Research participants were eight men between 50 and 60 years of age and thirteen men between 20 and 30, residents in Belo Horizonte. The place of data collection, by request of the subject, was basically at home or workplace. Seeking to achieve the meanings manifested and latent of the data, there was followed by the analysis ofnarratives, proposed by Gomes and Mendonça (2002). The results of this study demonstrate permanence and ruptures in the way that the men of the two generations studied care for themselves and understand health care. Care practices were more related to caring for the physical dimension of health and linked to an understanding of health as absence of disease, to the older such actions are understood as prescriptions to be followed in order to prevent diseases and promote a healthier aging, to young people care actions with the body are important to fit aesthetic standards and immersed in the culture of fitness. Even among young people it was possible identifying other care practices that relate toother dimensions of health, revealing how the evolution of the concept of health contributes to broadening the understanding about the actions of health care. It was observed that the social imaginary of being a man, how to be strong, virile and invulnerable, little has changed between the two generations and that this contributes in the manner of men interacting with the actions of care and especially the relationship with health services. It is believed that this research has great importance not only for the social sciences and of health, but for society as a whole, as it gives visibility to these subjects, who, culturally and socially, so far, aredesigned as target of health programs or users of health services. Listening to the men about their understandings about health can be a successful way to rethink health actions aimed at the male audience.