Trods den vedvarende kønnede ulighed i forekomsten af arbejdsulykker og
utallige studiers beskrivelser af sammenhæng mellem maskulinitet og risikoadfærd,
har kun ganske få studier undersøgt sammenhængen mellem mænds
køns- og sikkerhedspraksis på arbejde. Baseret på 575 timers etnografisk feltarbejde
og 20 interviews med mandlige ambulancereddere belyser denne
artikel nogle centrale sammenhænge mellem mandlige ambulanceredderes
maskulinitets- og sikkerhedspraksis. Artiklen viser, hvordan mandlige ambulancereddere
bl.a. praktiserer sikkerhed ved at positionere sig i opposition
til en kollektiv fortælling om fortidens ”John Wayne- og Tarzan Syndrom”.
Undertiden udtrykkes denne symbolske skillelinje mellem traditionel og moderne
maskulinitetspraksis eksplicit, men oftest forekommer den implicit i
de mandlige ambulanceredderes kulturelle praksis. Denne kulturelle sikkerheds/
maskulinitets-rekonfiguration indebærer bl.a., at de mandlige ambulancereddere
eksplicit tager afstand fra den maskuline helterolle, som medierne
tilskriver dem. En anden måde, opgøret med den tidligere maskulinitetspraksis
træder frem i det empiriske materiale, er gennem reddernes udbredte
fremhævelse af det, jeg kalder et ”forløsningsfællesskab” i forbindelse med
kollegial bearbejdning af barske ambulanceopgaver.
ENGELSK ABSTRACT:
Morten Kyed: Emergency Medical Ambulance Work, Safety and Masculine Reconfigurations: Ethnographic Tales about Cultural Practices Undergoing Change
Despite the continuing gendered inequality in the incidence of work-related
accidents, and countless descriptions of the relationship between masculinity
and risk behavior, few studies have examined the relation between male
gender and safety practices at work. Based on 575 hours of ethnographic
fieldwork and 20 interviews with male EMTs, this article explores some key
associations between masculinity and safety practices among male EMTs in
Denmark. The article shows how male EMTs practice safety by positioning
themselves in opposition to a collective narrative of the past: The ”John Wayne and Tarzan Syndrome”. Sometimes this is expressed explicitly in symbolic
boundaries between traditional and modern masculinity practice, but mostly
it is expressed implicitly in the male EMTs’ cultural practices. This cultural
safety/masculinity reconfiguration involves, inter alia, that the male EMTs explicitly
reject the masculine heroic role the media attribute to them. Another
way of breaking with former masculinity practices that emerges in the empirical
material is the widespread emphasis on what I call a ”community of relief”
in the context of collegial processing of harsh ambulance experiences.
Keywords: masculinity, safety, practice, ambulance work.
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