A Content Analysis of Contemporary Men's Health Books Marketed to the Health Professional

Abstract

The concept of "men's health" per se has followed on from the development of substantial social theories that coherently supported the women's health movement and women's health policy. Subsequently, literature on women's health took a variety of forms and has had time to meet the growing needs of that market. While men's health literature is a burgeoning area the needs and derivations of the market are yet to be fully understood. This review of three men's health books intended for health professionals and easily located in Australian bookshops or on-line marketing, shows that there are numerous gaps in content that are likely to frustrate the health professional who is wanting salient knowledge and appropriate guidelines on social and health practice. We argue that the reason for the mismatch between what is supplied and what is demanded by the health professional can, to a great extent, be attributed to two important factors. That is, the domination of the biomedical model as a means of structuring and presenting information and a rhetorical approach that attempts to extrapolate theories about masculinity to men's health issues. We further suggest that a more vibrant rhetoric is about to take place with the emergence of a more critical appraisal of where the men's movement is heading.