movember

This year I have decided to take part in Movember and become an official Mo Bro...

Let's get the "technical" stuff out of the way first:

Hi All,

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I'm growing a Mo. That's right I'm bringing the Mo back because I'm passionate about tackling men's health issues and being proactive in the fight against men's depression and prostate cancer.

The money raised by Movember is used to raise awareness of men's health issues and donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative. The PCFA and beyondblue will use the funds to fund research and increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer and depression.

Did you know:

• Last year in Australia 18,700 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 2,900 died of the disease - equivalent to the number of women who will die from breast cancer annually.
• Depression affects 1 in 6 men... most don't seek help. Untreated depression is a leading risk factor for suicide.

For those that have supported Movember in previous years you can be very proud of the impact it has had and can check out the Fundraising Outcomes.

Thanks for your support.

Obviously, my Blogging Bretheren are a sizeable (and sometimes more influential than I'd like to admit) part of my life, so I'm asking you all for your support...

But since my Movember profile has to have my real, actual name on it (I probably could have used a pseudonym, but then that might have confused the people who know me in the flesh)... and I'm always a little twitchy about having my "mild mannered alter ego" out there on the interwebz, especially having it connected to the blog (it's a whole paranoid "Two Degrees of Kevin Bacon Town" thing), so I'm doing things a little differently...

Use the email link below to...

ASK FOR MY DONATION INFORMATION

... and then I'll send you the link for donating online.

Convoluted, yes... and I'd probably raise more if I just put the link in, but I know you'll all be good Bloggers (and hopefully some good lurking readers too) and email me.

Remember, all donations over $2 are tax deductible.

So, why am I getting involved this year?

There isn't any one particular reason... part of it is because of being semi-involved with all the hubbub around Pink Ribbon Day this year... and seeing just how many marketing opportunities there were and how many products were used to push the Pink Ribbon device... everything from bread to Tim Tams to bottled water to dip to chocolate bars.

And there really isn't a similar sort of push for Movember (or for Prostate Cancer in general, even given the stats mentioned above). There isn't a ribbon or a teddy bear or a rubber bracelet that you can buy (that I'm aware of anyway)... and the prostate (and, for that matter, depression) isn't all "sexy" like... well... breasts. Or at least as talked about...

Having said that, I think that, as gay men, we're actually more "in touch" with our prostates (and I leave any and all pun related activity at your discretion)... much more than straight men... or at the very least we're more aware of where they are and what they can do.

And while I've never suffered from "Big-D" Depression (thankfully), I have had my bouts of the little-d variety, and that's never fun. When you add to that the fact that as queer folk we're "six times more likely to attempt suicide than people who are straight"... I'm more than happy to try and do my little bit for beyondblue.

Plus I'm working during Movember this year, so it seemed like a good time to milk rely on the generosity of both current and former workmates, friends, acquaintances and random people I know for a donation.

As soon as I'd committed to doing this and signed up, I then started second (and third and fourth) guessing myself (which I do whenever something unknown is coming up and I have time to panic about it... what can I say, it's a gift)... not about the cause, just about the reality of dealing with a Month Of Moustache... whenever I've grown facefur before, it's always been the mo that I've gotten sick of (and hence gotten rid of) first... so this should be an adventure.

I also realised that the Feast shows I'm going to are during November, so here's hoping I don't end up looking like a complete tool...

I'm thinking that I might do a weekly update on the Mo Situation... if I remember, I'll snap a photo once a day, come up with some sort of Mini Mo Montage and maybe post it on Sundays... or if that turns out to be really, really, really boring, I'll come up with something else...

Now all I have to remember to do is not shave properly on Monday morning...

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