Filed under: Movember | Tags: depression, men's health, Movember, prostate cancer, Prostate Cancer Awareness Month
I’m a whinger. Yesterday I complained that the Commonwealth Bank changed their logo to pink for an entire month for Pink Ribbon Day on 25th October, but did nothing for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month in September. How wrong was I?
Maybe my ignorance is indicative of men’s habit of shunning issues concerning our health. Even when it’s all around us, we don’t notice until it happens to us and it’s too late. It’s a good thing I’ve got involved with Movember. Not only am I raising awareness of prostate cancer and depression in those around me, I’m also learning a lot along the way.
Filed under: Movember | Tags: depression, domestic violence, men's health, Movember, murder
It’s interesting to follow yesterday’s post with a report about an abused man who killed his wife. I’ve never condoned wives killing their abusive husbands and this man killing his wife is no different. You do feel sorry for them, but the onus is on the abused party to walk out. Of course, once you’re there, walking out could be the hardest thing to do. It sounds like the abused man was forced by his wife to live a very depressing existence.
I just wonder if Anthony Sherna were a woman, would the judge still have sentenced him to 14 years in prison? This blog isn’t about gender politics, but the sentence for this crime does highlight the imbalance between the way we treat abused men and abused women. By the same token, we as a society are more aware and supportive of distressed and depressed women than we are of distressed and depressed men. That’s why Movember is so important. It’s bringing men’s health out of the darkness and getting people talking about prostate cancer and depression. Movember is donating directly to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and beyondblue who are doing things to provide resources for people suffering from depression as well as many groups who are at risk, such as adolescents and gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (GLBTI). Donate today.
Filed under: Movember | Tags: depression, gender equality, International Men's Day, men's health, Movember, suicide, violence against men
I read a tiny 50 word article in the free daily rag that today is International Men’s Day. I’d never even heard of it. How sad it is that I had to Google it to find out that it started in 1999 and “is celebrated in Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Australia, India, Italy, United States, New Zealand, Moldova, Haiti, Singapore, Malta, South Africa, Ghana, Hungary, Canada, China, and the United Kingdom”. Well that’s news to me. This day has gone by silently with no celebration in the street, no flyers being handed out, and no special Google logo. In fact, there’s absolutely nothing on our usual news sites about it. What little there is on the net consists of backlash (see post by Kate on November 25, 2008 10:41 PM) about taking attention away from women’s rights and the needs of women. We’re told to “man the hell up” when we talk about violence against men. But one in three victims of family violence is male. For all the talk and government funded campaigns to stop violence against women, I’ve known only men who were being beaten by their partners. One of them used to be hit in the face with saucepans by his girlfriend. Like a typical victim of domestic violence, he blamed himself and said that he had a big mouth. We find it humorous and make light of men being hit by their wives. But it’s this sort of attitude that keeps men in the dark about our plight, leading to depression and suicide. If there are more men committing suicide than women, then perhaps depression is actually more prevalent in men, only we don’t talk about it.
This International Men’s Day (week) acknowledge that there is a need to stand up for gender equality and gender relations, celebrate men’s achievements and sacrifices and promote men’s health. Support Movember!
The plan is to take a photo at the same time each day so that you can all see just how stupid I look trying to grow a moustache. But it isn’t all for your amusement. That’s just a little bonus. The real reason was the cause.
I’ve been sponsoring friends or even random people in my company in Movember for years now. Movember highlights two very important issues regarding men’s health. You say “men’s health” and most people probably think about the metro men’s fashion/fitness mag, or something related to erectile dysfunction. That’s part of the problem. I’m talking about prostate cancer and depression – the two main causes that Movember supports. About as many men die from prostate cancer as women do from breast cancer, but there’s nowhere near as much awareness about prevention and detection of prostate cancer, and probably proportionately little funding. This month, while growing my mo and seeking donations for prostate cancer and depression research, I’m also going to raise awareness of these issues.
Here’s my growth this morning before shaving my chin:
My girlfriend started to count the specks of stubble tonight before I stopped her in indignation. Make it all worthwhile. Donate to prostate cancer research.
Filed under: Movember | Tags: Arab, Asian, charity, donate, facial hair, men's health, Movember, Russian
“Well you know that if you hate it half way through November, I can’t just shave it off? I’ll have all these sponsors and I can’t let them down”.
I went three days without shaving to see just how lame it could look. It was pretty sparse. Well the ridicule is something I’ll have to live with. It’s for a worthy cause. It irritated my girlfriend’s face a bit. She agreed to live with that too.
I looked for a group to join, asked my colleagues and guys I’d sponsored in past years. No one wants in. One’s on holidays and gets back too late to join in. I’ve got several Asian colleagues like me who know they don’t have enough facial hair. A Russian colleague is too sensitive and gets itchy after a couple of days, then there are the guys who would feel naked shaving off their goatees and moustaches. One guy said ‘yes’ today. He’s my half-Lebanese, half-Dutch boss who looks more Arabic than European. Then he realised that he’s going to be in America for a couple of weeks in the middle of all this. He gets enough shit at the airports without facial hair. The last thing he needs is another excuse for them to ‘randomly select’ him for interrogations and tests, so we decided that it was a ‘no’ for him in the end.
Now I’m biting the bullet and going to give it a shot. I’ve signed up and I’m flying solo. Only five days to go.
It's Movember. Just gimme a mo ok? 