It’s that time of the year when your male housemates start sprouting a rather gentlemanly look and a large percentage of campus are seen sporting some dodgy looking facial hair fluff. The month of Movember is in full swing and the cult of moustached men, who annually refer to themselves as “Mo Bros”, have abandoned their razors with the intention of raising awareness for the often-ignored issue of men’s health. So ladies, no moaning about tickly kisses and the bristly appearance of your boyfriends’ face, it is all for a very good cause.
Movember is a campaign designed to raise awareness for men’s health issues. It began in Melbourne in 2003 with just 30 moustaches, since then the charity has escalated globally, with 858,288 moustaches in 15 different countries raising £79.3 million last year. Movember’s tagline is “changing the face of men’s health”; they see the “mo” as the catalyst to bring about change in men’s attitudes towards illnesses like prostate and testicular cancer. Their campaign relies mainly on word of mouth, the intention being to drastically change the appearance of a usually clean-shaven man as a way of prompting family, friends and the general public to ask why they’ve embellished their top lip. With men being a more indifferent species when it comes to health than the open way us girls offer up every little detail to each other, the idea is that the following explanation will impel them to be less reserved and to question how proactively engaged they are with their own health. This serves to promote awareness and education as a means of breaking down the barriers and the “I’ll be fine” mindset, Movember wants men to take more responsibility for their wellbeing and to understand the symptoms in themselves and others so they can appreciate when to seek help if they need it.
As they are reintroducing a facial feature that was last popular in the 19th century, Movember has provided a style guide to give men some ideas! So if your boyfriend, housemate or best mate are a bit clueless on what to do with their facial hair now they’re forgoing the razor, it’s time to get them reading HCX!
The campaign laments the fact that previously men’s health has been neglected in terms of investment in research and awareness, it aims to become as big as the iconic pink breast cancer campaign, and it isn’t a movement that solely involves men, they actively encourage women to get involved too! Endowing us with the title “Mo Sista”, Movember describes them as ladies who “essentially love a mo” and are committed to raising awareness and funds. One inspirational Mo Sista this year is Rosa Glover, a post grad of Exeter University. Having recently lost her father to prostate cancer, Rosa has become a significant contributor to the 2012 Movember campaign. She has vowed to get a moustache tattooed to her index finger live in honour of her dad if one thousand people donate £10 each. So far she has managed to fundraise an astonishing sum of money, she describes her inspiration as “seeing my father fight through everything these last months, never once did he feel sorry for himself…he was smiling and reassuring us until the last. I am so proud to be the daughter of someone so wonderful and strong. Dad is my inspiration and will be forever.” You can donate money to Rosa’s amazing campaign via her Mo Space on the Movember website http://uk.movember.com/mospace/5317329.
So girls it might tickle, scrape and feel like it’s sawing off your already winter-weary face, but remember it’s all for a good cause and it’s a great excuse to give the guy in your life his christmas present early – a brand spanking new razor wrapped and ready to open on 1st December!
Credits
http://topcountry.ca/movember-style-guide-2012/