Changing the Face of Men’s Health, One ‘Stache at a Time
November 9th, 2009 by Kelly Hemmingsen
Did you know that a man is 35% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than a woman is to be diagnosed with breast cancer? And while most of us know that October goes pink for breast cancer awareness, did you know that November grows mustaches for men’s health?
That’s right – November is now Movember (with “mo” being slang for mustache, of course).
Here’s a quick synopsis from the Movember Foundation:
The Movember Foundation challenges men to start Movember 1st (November 1st) clean shaven, then grow and groom their moustache for 30 days to raise awareness and funds to find a cure for prostate and testicular cancers.
I absolutely love this campaign! What better way to get guys talking about their health than by pitting them in a friendly competition, doing something as “manly” as growing a ‘stache?!
I first heard about Movember via Twitter a few weeks ago, and it has quickly blown up in the socialsphere: A Facebook search for “movember” this morning yielded 77 Pages and about 4,200 Groups. As this blog is posted, the MovemberUSA Facebook Page alone has 3,958 fans and counting, a gain of more than 350 members since Friday afternoon. Men participating in Movember, or “Mo Bros” as they are called, are posting photos of their facial follicles on their “Mo Spaces,” and “Mo Sistas” are getting in on the act by recruiting more Mo Bros and helping raise funds, which will benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation Livestrong.
Over the years, Susan G. Komen’s Race of the Cure, Pink October and many other events seeking to bring awareness to breast cancer have empowered the female population; I hope Movember will do the same for our brothers, fathers, sons, boyfriends, and husbands, and succeed in its mission to “change the face of men’s health.”
January 5th, 2010 at 10:30 am
[...] in November, I blogged about a movement that used Twitter, Facebook and mustaches to raise awareness and money for men’s health. Today, I stumbled upon another fantastic [...]