Authors
Joslyn Brenton, Sinikka Elliott
Publication date
2014/1
Journal
Sociology of health & illness
Volume
36
Issue
1
Pages
91-107
Description
Despite a rich body of sociological research that examines the relationship between gender and health, scholars have paid little attention to the case of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). One recent study (Sointu 2011) posits that men and women who use CAM challenge traditional ascriptions of femininity and masculinity through the exploration of self‐care and emotions, respectively. Drawing on 25 in‐depth interviews with middle‐class Americans who use CAM, this article instead finds that men and women interpret their CAM use in ways that reproduce traditional gendered identities. Men frame their CAM use in terms of science and rationality, while simultaneously distancing themselves from feminine‐coded components of CAM, such as emotions. Women seek CAM for problems such as abusive relationships, low self‐esteem, and body image concerns, and frame their CAM use as a quest for …
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Scholar articles