SOC 0851 Chapter 3: gender and bodies VII
• Masculinity, Health, and Race
o Bodies can be impacted in different ways by their culture and can
have very different meanings placed on them
o Class, race, and masculinity intersect to make the simple act of
making a living a hazardous proposition for many men
o Immigrant populations in the United States have always been forced
into the occupations least desired by dominant groups, and those
undesirable jobs are often the most dangerous
o Working dangerous jobs is one factor among many that contributes
to dramatic discrepancies in the health and welfare of men of color
and working-class men as compared with white and middle-class
men in the United States
o The long history of discrimination faced by Native Americans, African
Americans, and Latinos in the United States becomes literally etched
onto their bodies
o African-American men have higher rates of alcoholism, infectious
diseases, and drug-related conditions than their white counterparts,
but the health care they receive is likely to be inferior
o The rate at which Black men older than the age of 13 contract AIDS is
almost five times higher than the rate for white males
o These figures have led some scholars to describe young African-
American men as an endangered species
o Being in an African-American male body is a dangerous proposition,
but in an interesting irony, the bodies of Black men are viewed as
dangerous to others in situations as mundane as walking down a city
street
o For many Black men, the power of their bodies as images of danger
and violence lead them to very carefully monitor their actions in
what many white people would consider a routine, if unwanted,
encounter like being pulled over by the police
o I Aerica’s largest cities, the percetage of victis of police
shootings who are Black exceeds the percentage of Black people in
the total population for that city, suggesting that African Americans
are victims of police violence at a much higher rate than their
representation in the population
o Gender of bodies is always complicated by the intersection of gender
with other identities such as race, class, nationality, and sexuality
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
