ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by exploring the extent to which the young people interviewed incorporated asthma and diabetes into their personal and social identities. It explores how dominant social constructions of femininities and masculinities affect the ways in which young people live with asthma or diabetes by drawing primarily on the interviews with young people. The chapter then examines differences in management styles, relating these dominant constructions of femininities and masculinities. The development of gendered embodiments is important because the body can be seen as, ‘a site where sickness and health are played out’. Children and young people spend large part of their lives in school, so the school environment is important when considering socialising influences on development of gendered embodiments. Diet is critical in controlling blood glucose levels, and in this research it seemed to have gendered impact on control of diabetes. Finally, the chapter explores ways in which aspects of asthma and diabetes management interact gendered embodiments.
