Why do men fail to seek health care? Why won’t they eat their vegetables? Why don’t they just floss regularly? It’s not like flossing is hard or even time-consuming, as Suzanne has pointed out to Vince many times.
Why men let their health care slide.
In the Journal of Health Psychology, Christina Lee and R. Glynn Owens write that gender roles can explain men’s reluctance to seek health care. Simply put, men are less likely to be proactive in all aspects of health care for three reasons: fear, embarrassment, and machismo, according to an American Academy of Family Physicians survey.
First, let’s be clear about fear: while men may be fearful of the dentist’s office, they aren’t going to come right out and say so. Women report being more afraid of the dentist, but according to the University of Toronto News Digest, it’s men who actually faint more once they get there. For many people, going to the dentist is scary, uncomfortable, and sometimes painful and embarrassing. There’s a whole new field of sedation dentistry that appeals to this very group of people: you can be under anesthesia during even routine dental visits so that you don’t experience any pain. These dentists usually advertise helping people who haven’t had a cleaning in years. The truth is, men are often as afraid of going to the doctor or dentist as women are, but they may not admit it even to themselves, and so wind up ignoring their health.
Embarrassment is also a large factor in men’s reluctance to seek or be proactive about their health care. Men are embarrassed (like women) about having their bodies touched and examined by even experienced professionals, and they are very reluctant to go in for routine physicals because they’re usually uncomfortable with the idea of a prostate exam (unlike women). Men are also embarrassed to be overheard asking questions like, “Excuse me, can you please tell me where the multivitamins and Metamucil are?” in the pharmacy because doing so is an admission that they’re vulnerable and need help.
