Movember: What is it all about?

By Isaac Haigh, President of Support Our Services

Men everywhere are withstanding from facial shaving this month, but why? Isaac Haigh explains the meaning behind Movember.

This November marks the 11th UK Movember, a time of the year dedicated to raising awareness to men’s health issues and fundraising for campaigns to help solve these issues. It was initially started to raise awareness of prostate cancer, a cancer that kills more people now than breast cancer but is hardly ever talked about between men.

Men are far less likely to be diagnosed with mental health problems because men are far less likely to go to the doctor about their health in general and especially their mental health.

The Movember Foundation has, in the last few years, started to focus on men’s mental health as well as physical health. An issue that is far more likely to affect the men reading this than physical health issues. Men under the age of 45 are still far more likely to die by their own hands than by any other cause. Two thirds of suicide victims are male, despite women being far more likely to be diagnosed with depression.

We must look to see the root causes of these issues if we must solve them.

Men are traditionally far less likely to open up about their feelings and be honest with themselves with how they feel. Instead, they fall into a state of what they think they must be like. Sometimes this can be stoic, strong and powerful. In recent years there has been an equally dangerous flip of this… The plague of the ‘Nice GuyTM’ a man who will blindly agree with anyone in not wanting to rock the boat. Someone who cares far too much of others’ opinions to the point of not being honest with themselves or others with what they truly feel. These are often people who will do anything to appease people, often members of the opposite sex and when things don’t go their way, bottled up resentment can explode in a dramatic and ugly fashion. Both of these extremes are just as bad as the other, in both cases we have people burying their true feelings and not being honest with themselves.

This ties in to the next cause of the issue: men generally think they require permission to show vulnerability and weakness or at least have a very difficult time expressing it. Asking for help, telling someone their struggling or telling a stranger in the doctors about how their mental health is declining are all incredibly difficult tasks for anyone to do in a society that prioritises status, wealth and power over all other values. Men are far less likely to be diagnosed with mental health problems because men are far less likely to go to the doctor about their health in general and especially their mental health.

Image by Epigram / Luke Unger

I believe that both of these issues can be improved massively by changing the way that men talk to each other. It says on the Movember website that almost all men say they would be there for a struggling friend, but many do not feel comfortable going to their friends in times of need. If anyone is struggling it can be incredibly difficult approaching your mates for help, simply because you don’t want to feel like you’re a burden. Perhaps then the onus is on us, the community, to provide that permission to show vulnerability, to make it more normal to talk about about our honest feelings so that when we, or someone we know, are struggling it is easier to express those feelings.

Perhaps then the onus is on us, the community, to provide that permission to show vulnerability, to make it more normal to talk about about our honest feelings so that when we, or someone we know, are struggling it is easier to express those feelings

If you do anything this Movember, as well as donating money or attempting to grow a moustache start asking your male mates how they really feel, twice if necessary. Make it known that you will be there in a time of crisis. This should go without saying, of course, that you must also look after your own mental health first; put your own air mask on before you help others. Whatever you do this Movember, start by checking in on your mates.

Featured Image: Unsplash / Alexandar Andrews