Medicalizing Masculinity

Abstract

The rate of diagnosis of childhood psychiatric disorders has undergone a steep rise in many Western countries. Among school-age children (particularly in primary schools) there is a strong gender bias, with boys about three times more likely to be diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder than girls, and even more likely to receive drug treatment for this. Furthermore, these diagnoses (such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, and Conduct Disorder) do not concern themselves with boys’ emotional lives, but instead focus on their perceived unruly and nonconformist behaviour. Mainstream child-psychiatric theory and practice appears to offer little explanation for, or discussion of, this gender split: instead these diagnoses have become reified. They are widely viewed as being caused by a biological dysfunction, with treatment being dominated by the use of psychopharmaceuticals. In this chapter I introduce key debates about what is happening to the space of ‘boyhood’ in modern Western culture (by referring to the nonpsychiatric literature), and follow this with a look at the evidence base that supports (or rather doesn’t) the use of medication for ‘treating’ these boy problems.