Pagyvenusių vyrų vyriškumo ir kūno paradoksai

LTLietuvos gerontologijoje itin mažai dėmesio skiriama lyties aspekto analizei. Ypač šiuo požiūriu nuskriausti lieka vyrai, nes senėjimas Vakarų visuomenėse feminizuojamas ir dėl moterų vidutinės tikėtinos gyvenimo trukmės, kuri paprastai lenkia vyrų, ir dėl dvigubų rizikų, su kuriomis susiduria senstančios moterys. Naudojantis įkūnijimo, arba „gyvenamo kūno patirties“ perspektyva bei postraktūralistinėmis kūno teorijomis, straipsnyje analizuojamas pagyvenusių lietuvių vyrų vyriškumo ir kūno santykis. Kūnas laikomas svarbiausiu vyriškumo raiškos veiksniu ir kultūriniu tekstu, kuriame atsispindi asmeninė ir kolektyvinė gyvenimo istorijos. Išanalizavus 19 pusiau struktūruotų interviu su 60–75 metų vyrais, pastebėta, kad informantai nesitaikė su senėjimo procesu, mėgino estetizuoti senstantį kūną ir užmaskuoti nepageidaujamas jo savybes. Kita vertus, jie buvo internalizavę senstančio kūno ir kūniškumo diskursą, besiremiantį eidžizmu, todėl laikė savo kūnus „blogais“. Fiziškai aktyvus, dinamiškas ir estetiškai priimtinas kūnas išliko būtina funkcionalaus vyriškumo sąlyga. Užuot išradę naujų vyriškumo praktikų, padedančių susitaikyti su senėjimo procesu, apklausti vyrai stengėsi pritapti dinamiško ir aktyvaus hegemoninio vyriškumo pasaulyje. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Eidžizmas; Gerantologija; Gerontologija; Hegemoninis vyriškumas; Senyvi (pagyvenę) žmonės; Vyriškumas; Vyro kūnas; Ageism; Gerontology; Hegemonic masculinity; Male body; Masculinity; Older men.

ENTwentieth-century gerontological research tended to be gender blind. Older people were usually treated as genderless. Even if the research into aging focused on gender issues, it usually dealt with women's gendered social lives because of their double jeopardy of being old and female. Instead of analyzing masculinities, most research in the gerontology literature emphasized men's aging and the difficulties that they encountered in later life. For a long time, the masculinities of older men have also been absent from most masculinity studies. Furthermore, older men in contemporary society are either invisible or stereotyped as genderless and even emasculated. This article focuses on the experiences of masculinity and embodiment of older Lithuanian men. It analyzes interviews with 60-75 year-old men on their experiences of embodiment, masculinity, health, and old age. Using poststrueturalist cultural theory of the body, it attempts to interpret practices and experiences of being both old and male. [...] The article focuses on the following questions: How do older men interpret themselves in and through their bodies? How do these men describe their experiences of masculinity? What gender traumas do they encounter in their older age? How does the ageing body influence their perception of masculinity? The analyzed interviews reveal that older men straggled with health issues and bodily betrayals.Despite their illnesses and deteriorating health, most respondents argued that they were still capable males "strong in body and soul". Physically active, dynamic and aesthetically pleasing male body remained a crucial condition for their masculine performances. To appear masculine, tough and patient in the face of illnesses and physical suffering was particularly important to the interviewed men. On the one hand, respondents spoke about the invisibility and marginality of old bodies in the public sphere, including the Lithuanian media. On the other hand, they internalized the dominant discourse of ageism according to which their bodies belonged to the category of stigmatized and "wrong" bodies. Even assigning themselves to the category of "wrong bodies", they emphasized their "spiritual strength" and the age-long "bodily experiences" that could counterbalance the deficiencies and shortcomings of their old bodies. Despite the physical changes in their bodies, bodily betrayals and public stigmatization of old people, these men maintained masculine honour and self-respect by hiding their disabilities, living active lives and trying to look after their bodies. Some respondents boasted that their bodies were superior compared to those of their peers. It can be argued that these aging men were victimised by the lifetime of the rigidly defined sex roles. Instead of inventing new practices of masculinity, they attempted to adjust to the world of ever active and dynamic hegemonic masculinity. [From the publication]