Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies, UBC
Lecture Series
Blye Frank
Dean, Faculty of Education, UBC
Gender is one of the most important socio-cultural factors influencing health and health-related behavior. Although a large body of health research suggests that men with similar social disadvantages as women experience poorer health outcomes in relation to disability, chronic illness, injury rates and mortality, men’s health is rarely deconstructed through the lens of gender. The focus of this presentation is to increase understanding of the ways in which masculinities intersect with other social determinants of health creating health disparities among men, and to provide direction for masculine affirming health interventions aimed specifically at men. With the goal of promoting the health of men and decreasing health disparities, within the Canadian context, an innovative theoretical framework for men’s health, Health, Illness, Men and Masculinities (HIMM), based on the influence of masculinity throughout the lifecourse will be presented. The HIMM Framework points to the need for research and theory development that moves us beyond a limited focus on any one individual man to consider men’s health and illness practices in the larger social context within which masculinity is defined and produced. The HIMM framework provides direction for policy, education, health care delivery and health promotion initiatives aimed specifically at men in many locales, contexts and countries.
Everyone is welcome to attend
Dr. Blye Frank has been appointed as Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia for a five-year term, effective April 1, 2011. With over four decades working in education, Dr. Frank’s teaching and scholarship has always been framed through a social justice and equity lens. Dr. Frank has worked with Faculties of Medicine across Canada towards the promotion of diversity and cultural competency within the medical education environment. In 2005-06, Dr. Frank contributed to the development of a program for Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC); a cultural diversity-training program for teachers of internationally educated health care professionals. His particular module, Education for Cultural Awareness, is being used extensively throughout Medical Schools in Canada. Dr. Frank supervises and mentors several PhD candidates in the area of gender, health and medical education. Dr. Frank is a recognized expert in the field of gender studies. He has been called upon to provide advice on issues of equity in schools and health care environments. He is one of five national researchers developing the Health, Illness, Men and Masculinities (HIMM) theoretical framework, which is intended to inform methodology and analysis of how the social construction of masculinity intersects with men’s health and well-being.
