It may say November on the calendar but to hundreds of post-pubescent males, this month is Movember.
But to be honest, it seems to be all about the hair, and less about the cause.
I don’t know about you, but out of all the social media updates on Movember, I’ve never seen anything about donating money. No links to any websites, no friendly reminders to donate what you can. We have seem to forgotten the end to our means, which arguably defeats the purpose.
This movement started in 2003 with only 30 participants and $0 raised, exploding in popularity ever since. Today, Movember sees over one million participants; last year, they raised over $146 million towards men’s health issues.
I’m not sure when this became officially became a “thing,” but lately all I see are Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram updates about the progress of peoples unshaven facial hair. Internet memes of “Keep Calm and Movember” seem to flood my Tumblr dashboard.
What started out as a charitable cause has now become an informal holiday in 21 countries worldwide.
To participate in Movember, men grow out their moustaches and beards in order to raise awareness for men’s health issues like testicular and prostate cancer. Family and friends are then asked to donate money for their efforts, which then goes to support men’s health programs. Movember is a fun and easy way for people to help out a good cause, except for the donation part.
Interestingly enough, we haven’t forgotten that this month is “No-Shave November.” Popular restaurants such as Jack Astor’s give out paper moustaches to all their customers. We take pictures of ourselves with beards, real or fake, and post them to social networking sites with “Merry Movember” captions.
Don’t get me wrong, I love a little scruff on a man. But the key word is scruff. Frankly, I think that Movember has become some sort of validation for men to stop giving a shit. The notion of overgrown facial hair being not only socially acceptable, but celebrated too, just appears to be a free pass. I have a feeling most participants are unaware donations are even part of the whole deal.
Actually, is everyone aware that donations are part of the deal? Let’s do the math.
I see an average of 10 or 20 Movember posts a day during Movember. That’s 300-600 posts in one month and none of them have included information about donations. It was only after a quick Google search that I was escorted to the official Movember website, where I began to understand the finer details of this month.
But hey, maybe that’s just me.
Maybe I’ve bleached my hair one-too-many times. Or maybe no one really knows why they grow their beards or why we’re supposed to care.
Maybe Movember is like pre-Christmas, where we all run around and do things we think we’re supposed to do. We could buy miniature ceramic Santa Claus knick-knacks, or watch A Christmas Carol for the billionth time.
I don’t want to come across as the Grinch that ruined Movember, but maybe we could all take a step back and remember why we’re doing what we’re doing. I’m not telling guys to shave off all their hard work, but doing a quick Google search on Movember beforehand makes a huge difference. If we’ve raised over $146 million since 2003, then we must be doing something right.
But still the fact remains, maybe some people are missing the point.
Julia Alfano
Contributor
