What ever you grow, will save a bro - Movember 2021
What is Movember?
Throughout the month of November men are encouraged to grow their moustaches to raise awareness and spark conversation for men’s health issues, particularly prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health.
But where did Movember begin?
Movember started in 2003 as two mates from Australia, Travis Garone and Luke Slattery, jokingly decided to bring back in fashion the moustache by convincing their friends to grow one. Inspired by a friend’s mother who was fundraising for breast cancer, they associated the moustache with the pink ribbon, but for men. This is how the campaign began being about men’s health – prostate and testicular cancer. They found 30 friends willing to “grow a mo” after sending an email titled ‘Are you man enough to be my man?’.
Why Men’s Health?
The state of men’s health is in a crisis. Simply put, men are dying too young.
Gender is one of the strongest and most consistent predictors of health and life expectancy. For men, this is not good news. On average, across the world, men die 6 years earlier than women.
The impact of prostate and testicular cancer on lives is substantial, with prostate cancer being the second most common cancer in men worldwide and the number of cases expected to almost double to 1.7 million cases by 2030.
This is why people from across the globe become a united voice every Movember, bringing vital funding and attention to the hidden men’s health crisis.
What are the rules?
If you want to get involved, there are many ways of contributing to raising awareness on men’s health issues. The first thing you need to do is register. Once on the site, you can decide whether you’re working alone, or whether you want to team up or join another ‘pack’. On The Movember Foundation website you can find their suggestions on how to participate.
RULE ONE
Once registered at movember.com each Mo Bro must begin the 1st of Movember with a clean shaven face.
RULE TWO
For the entire month of Movember each Mo Bro must Grow and groom a moustache.
RULE THREE
Don’t fake it. No beards,
no goatees and no fake moustaches.
RULE FOUR
Use the power of the moustache to create conversation and raise funds for men’s health.
RULE FIVE
Each Mo Bro must conduct himself like a true gentleman.
How else can you help out?
Contributing to Movember is easy and you don’t have to grow a mo’ to get involved. Here are 6 ways you can contribute to Movember and men’s health:
- Become a Mo Sista. You don’t have to be a man to care about men’s health. Men’s health issues don’t just affect men’s lives, but those of their wives, sisters, mothers, extended family and friends
- Move for Movember: sign up and take the Move challenge to get physically active and raise funds for men’s health, whether that’s running a marathon, rock climbing, or simply getting some mates together for a table tennis tournament
- Donate directly to the Movember Foundation
- Use Movember as an excuse to have a chat with a friend, a loved one, or the bloke standing next to you at the bar, about men’s health
- Come up with a health plan—whether that means going to the gym, getting health insurance, or having that long overdue check-up at the doctor’s. Making a health plan will set some health goals for you to work towards.
Help further the conversation
One of the main problems surrounding men’s health is the stigma that speaking about health concerns, be they mental or physical, is a sign of weakness. It’s a relic leftover from yesteryear that seems to be hard for most men to shake from their psyche. The issue with this stigma is that it leaves a lot of men suffering in silence. By bringing men’s health issues out into the mainstream, Movember aims to dispel this stigma and get men talking.
RainbowLife says: Come on folks let's save our bros!
