We Remain Very Much the Second Sex: The Constructions of Prostate Cancer in Popular News Magazines, 2000-2010

Informed by social constructionism, biomedicalization, and a feminist framework, a discourse analysis was performed on 31 popular news articles published in North America between 2000 and 2010. The magazines construct prostate cancer in a gendered manner. Its construction is rooted in themes that are related to discussions of biology, prostate cancer as a heterosexual problem, the responsibilization of health and masculinity. Through these constructions, the popular news articles reinforce dominant ideals and performances of hegemonic masculinity and male sexuality, traditional femininity, and heteronormativity. While reinforcing such ideals, the prevention, treatment, and knowledge of prostate cancer is constructed as the responsibility of individual men. This study reveals that the articles favor discussions of heteronormativity and hegemonic masculinity over racism, rendering health inequalities silent.