I get blog updates every so often from the family of a terminally ill girl. They update pictures of her smiles, tell me about her chemo, and leave me with the hopeful knowledge that everything she is going through will make her better. But I can feel the sad little voice in the back of my head, wondering what the blog will look like when her illness takes control. Her smiles stay with me for a long time afterward.
What would a blog have looked like for a boy’s illness? Would there have been the same shining hope that threads through this girl’s fight? For these next weeks, I’ll be blogging about how the world portrays females and males with terminal illness, looking at the two gender groups and how the rhetoric compares. I’ve seen much of the terminally ill female: poems, images, articles, whole anthologies. But what about the male? I’ll specifically be looking for if, why, and how young and middle-aged men and women are represented and how their media representation and/or gender have an impact on the care they receive. How much does gender play a role in this uniquely devastating stage of aging? Do gender stereotypes have an effect on care, and would these potential stereotypes change depending on the age of the individual? I think this’ll be an interesting journey for us all.
Oct 11, 2009
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I'm really interested in the angle you chose to explore terminally ill patients. Gender stereotypes have been re-defined in the past decades as the gay, lesbian, trans-gender population has become more present in the public. Maybe you could look into how gay men, specifically, are viewed in the media and how that may effect the medical care they receive. I agree that gender stereotypes have a great influence on the care different patients receive; however, age group does as well. So I guess I am wondering which age group are you thinking about focusing on? Children, adults, teenagers, seniors? It'd be interesting to compare which age group and gender with terminal illnesses get the most media coverage and why. This topic has a lot of potential and I look forward to your future blogs!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it interesting how our society seems to emphasize the value of equality, and simultaneously, give those with unconventional issues extra special attention? I think that it is not just the terminally-ill female that receives the extra attention, but the unconventional female or male in general. And as the title of your post suggests, this really is an "illness"! I think you have a really unique topic here: terminally-ill patients present something deeper than aging -- they reveal the tragedy when aging becomes absent, or impossible to continue. And it'll be really interesting to see how two specific cultures are woven into all that!
ReplyDeleteI like the specificity of the questions in conjunction with your broader topic. I feel as if when it comes to the terminally ill we tend to pull an occasional "awe" or "what a strong soul" from our infinite box of heartfelt sayings in response to their ill-fated conditions. However, one thing we commonly overlook are the subtle differences between the way males and females grapple with their illnesses, and if these subtle differences do indeed lead to a difference in care. I'm intrigued to read your later blog entries revealing your findings.
ReplyDeleteI will be very excited to read more research on this topic -- I hope you find tons of good stuff! The most recent examples in popular culture that I can think of involve that Jane Goody from England, who was a reality TV star, and then, of course, the late Patrick Swayze. I know you're not taking a specifically pop-cultural approach here, but that might be an interesting element of the debate (in addition to the question of care-quality and perhaps even discussions within the medical professions about how doctors are instructed to care for patients with different profiles). I'm intrigued!
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