By ELI LEE
Web Editor
Movember. The name that strikes fear in the hearts of significant others everywhere. If you don’t know what Movember is, you must be living under a rock.
Movember is a month where people around the world grow mustaches, or any facial hair that they can. During this month, people who don’t normally have facial hair try their hardest to grow some, most without success. There’s a lesser known reason behind Movember though.
The growing of facial hair is to raise awareness for men’s health issues which include: prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s suicide. Movember supposedly started around 1999 when a group of young men from Adelaide, South Australia coined the term, and the idea to grow moustaches for charity during November.
It started with 80 men and soon spread world-wide. Then another group in Melbourne, Victoria, organised an event with 30 men to grow moustaches for 30 days, this soon snowballed into the creation of the Movember Foundation charity. Since then it’s raised $174-million worldwide for men’s health.
These are issues which aren’t commonly talked about or discussed in society. Men don’t really talk about them between themselves, or with others. Telling people you have testicular cancer isn’t the easiest thing to do, especially in a society which still perpetuates the idea of masculinity, as if it’s a required characteristic to be a “real man.”
As someone who identifies as a male, these are issues I believe to be important. I personally still sometimes struggle with how I present myself to others. I hold certain characteristics that are traditionally “feminine” when it comes to society.
These are mostly hobbies, but also include some mannerisms. Some are pretty blatant, like caring about fashion or how I dress. Something that men until recently weren’t “allowed” to care about.
The point is, men still do struggle with fitting a mold in society. They don’t face the most unrest or hardest conditions. You can’t really compare the struggles of one personsto another though, everything is subjective. As are how stuff personally affects us, and how we live and go about our lives. The fact of the matter is, there are still some issues men can’t openly talk about.
That’s the point of Movember, to bring these issues to light and have a discussion about them. I know personally if I went up to one of my male friends and said “Hey man, I’m losing one of my balls from testicular cancer,” the first thing that would happen would be a laugh, then probably a few jokes.
It’s also very hard for men to discuss their feelings with other men, or anyone in fact. Telling others you suffer from mental health conditions isn’t easy, especially as a male.Growing up with guy friends you never really talked about your feelings with each other, and if you did it probably resulted in becoming the brunt of jokes for a while.
This is enforced with the culture of “men don’t cry” which results in a majority of men just suppressing their feelings, because they were never taught its okay to talk about them. I still don’t really have an emotional relationship with my dad, it’s almost like a business relationship.
It’s time to get rid of the idea of masculinity and the “ideal man” because frankly, it’s archaic. We’re reaching a point of gender fluidity in society, so why continue to confine certain genders to characteristics which they might not identify with?
It’s unfair, and it doesn’t make any sense. Let Movember spread, let the facial hair flow, but most importantly; open the discussion about men’s health issues.
It’s okay to lose a nut, or talk about your feelings with a fellow guy. Let’s get rid of the bro-fist, and welcome the era of the bro-hug, because everyone needs a hug.
These issues might not be as prolific, or culturally ingrained as what others face, but that doesn’t mean they should be dismissed. That’s why Movember is important.
