Why Mutate November To Movember?
When it comes to men’s health, various issues like heart disease, prostate, testicular, and colon cancer osteoporosis and many others can be prevented and can be easily cured if detected at an early stage. When compared to women, men are more likely to follow an unhealthy lifestyle and put off routine medical check-ups. They won’t visit a doctor at all until some major issue emerges. Lack of awareness is one of the major reasons for this.
The entire month of November is globally dedicated to raising awareness about men’s health issues and is called Movember. Here the mustache is used as a catalyst that contributes to the improvement of the lives of men around the world.
History of the Movember Foundation
Luke Slattery, Travis Garone, Adam Garone and Justin Coghlan of Adelaide, Australia co-founded the Movember Foundation in November 2003. This non-profitable movement has grown since then globally, and now official campaigns are run in different countries including United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, and Finland.
A simple conversation between Luke Slattery and Travis Garone led to the idea of Movember. They were analyzing the comeback of past fashion trends during their talk when they realized that the comeback of mustache was missing. So they thought of bringing back the mustache in fashion and after discussing it with some friends they initiated with Movember. It started on the 1st of November with a clean-shaven face and then grow a mustache for the rest of the month. Although in the beginning, it was a competition amongst this small group that who could grow a better Mo, but this fun idea was taken on a serious note and the founders decided to develop this idea into a cause, hence giving rise to Movember Foundation. It was in November 2004 that they started to grow a Mo with a mission to encourage men to engage in their own health issues, for which they could generate a little money too.
The Movember foundation was initialized in Australia, with an aim to raise awareness and fund about testicular cancer, prostate cancer, and mental health of men and now it campaigns in various countries worldwide supporting over 800 men’s health programs.
Rules of participating
The Movember Foundation works simply by challenging men to grow mustaches of different kinds during the month of November. This simple thing could spark conversation among them about their health issues, which provoked confidence in them to learn about different health problems that a man suffers with and also take the required action immediately. This also encouraged them to donate money for it.
The rules for participating in the Movember Foundation program are very simple:
- The participants called the Mo Bros would first have to register with the Movember.com
- After this, they would have to start with a clean-shaven face on the 1st of November.
- They would then grow a mustache of any style they like for the entire November month.
- No beard or goatees are allowed.
- The mustache should be real. The participants should not fake it.
- The mustache of the Mo Bros is powerful enough to create a dialog with others. Taking advantage of this the participants should raise awareness about various health issues that men come across. This includes different cancers and mental health.
- The Mo Bros should never forget about their mission and should always behave like gentlemen.
Following these simple rules, any man can become a Mo Bro and participate in this great mission. However, women participants called Mo Sistas can also participate in this mission by simply registering on the website and making donations, plus encouraging their husbands or boyfriends to become a Mo Bro.