WHEN BEING AN OLD MAN BECOMES AN ADVANTAGE: PROSTATE CANCER SURVIVORS’ PERCEPTIONS OF MASCULINITY

Both old age and prostate cancer have been thought to threaten men’s masculine identities. Our qualitative analysis of interviews with 40 Finnish men with prostate cancer (50–70 years) shows that younger interviewees indeed expressed fears of losing their masculinity due to sexual dysfunctions caused by radical cancer treatments. However, the older interviewees often referred to their age as a factor, which made it easier for them to cope with such effects. Reaching a higher age set the interviewees free from masculine norms revolving around sexual prowess. They attached such norms to younger men’s lives and underlined economic balance and stability in their families as bedrocks of an older man’s good life. Old age thus became a positive resource for the men in coping with chronic illness and maintaining a masculine identity. The study highlights how cultural images of masculinity and ageing are intertwined in men’s interpretations of chronic illness.