"It's because of the invincibility thing": young men, masculinity, and testicular cancer

Previous research on testicular cancer and testicular self-examination has not specifically examined how masculinity informs the ways in which young men think about the disease and their self-screening practices. This paper reports on the findings from two focus groups conducted with healthy blue-collar and white-collar young Australian males, who have never been diagnosed with testicular cancer. Data collected from the focus groups show that young men's adherence to "masculine" values such as stoicism, avoidance, and robustness influences their overall attitude toward health care, their preparedness to perform a testicular-self exam, their willingness to visit a physician for a testicle check-up, and the ways they might seek help if ever diagnosed with the disease. The paper also discusses the implications these findings have on education programs. © 2008 by the Men's Studies Press, LLC.