And then I found this link:
And that's when it hit me. I realized what this was
about: male emancipation. There is such a thing? Well, there should be.
We're working on it, but it's a very slow process. The reason being that
most people think we don't need it. People think that men have always
been the dominant, and therefor privileged, gender. We are supposed to
be the stronger sex. But are we? Do we not bleed if you cut us? Why yes,
we actually do. We do have feeling and we do get hurt but we are not
allowed to express that. Showing sign of weakness means you are not a
real man. The pressure is huge and depression among men is much more
common then people think. Men are not likely to get help because this
means admitting you are weak. Even admitting this to yourself is a huge
challenge for most.
The ironic thing about humans is that
they invented the word inhumane. It applies to humans only. Animals are
not inhumane. They are simply animals. But humans are capable of cruelty
beyond compare. In the meantime there is a quality that is widely
spread in the animal kingdom. It's called compassion. It's quite an
amazing thing. What you do is you protect and support an individual that
is weaker then you are. I'm pretty sure people are capable of it too.
They call it acting humane then. It's pretty much the opposite of
bullying. Pretty cool huh? But what do men get when they show weakness?
They are told to Man Up! And with that they are denied compassion,
something I believe to be a primal need for a social species like ours.
The
reason why I like the Movember movement so much is that it shows men
that it is okay to talk about their health in a way that wasn't possible
before. Admitting there are serious health risks in men's lives is
admitting that men are not untouchable. That they do have weakness and
they do need to be cared for, by themselves and by others. This is a
huge step. Even the way Movember came into existence is a clear example
of how difficult it is for men to talk about these kind of things.
Prostate cancer kills about just as many men as breast cancer kills
women and not a single man has had (excuse the pun) the balls to stand
up and battle this publicly, raising awareness and creating support. Because men's illness is something you don't talk about. But now we finally do. About bloody time.
And
then what happens? Ladies, don't get me wrong. I'm totally okay with
you not shaving what ever part of your body you want to. I really don't
care. But this counter move pisses me off. Men finally have something
that helps them talk about serious life and death issues and it is
trivialized by making it about growing hair in a place you don't like.
The mustache is becoming a symbol for men's health. We are finally able
to talk about these things and you are making us feel stupid by saying:
oh we can grow hair too if we want. Let us have this! We need this. And
you can say men already run the world and we owe you but this is
serious. We are talking about human lives here that are at risk. Show
some respect, please. If you want to grow hair somewhere, by all means,
go ahead. It's your body and you can do with it what ever you want. Just
let us have Movember.
