The risk of age? Early detection test, prostate cancer and practices of self

Drawing on Rose and Novas's concept of biological citizenship and Michel Foucault's practices of self, this paper reflects on how men become agents of their own therapeutic regimens, and yet internalise messages of risk and practices of self within early detection of prostate cancer discourses in the late 20th century. In doing so, it traces the ways in which concepts of age, gender and risk converge at the problematic site of prostate cancer and preventative health strategies, both of the state and the medical profession. Analysing how insecurities have simultaneously resulted in over-promoting and over-diagnosing risk, thereby blurring the lines between normal and pathological states of health and aging, the paper finishes with a critical discussion on how men have adopted self-surveying and attuned themselves to risk discourses. Suggestions are made for future research on comparative gender studies on embodied concepts of self and cancer screening and the relation between differential aging, risk management and the concept of the body. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.