And so, in 2010 I finally heard about it (too late) and then...completely forgot about it until October this year. A few social network reminders prompted me to think about doing it. Not for the money, but to get some conversations going. Believe me it worked!
If you're a guy and you've mentioned my mo' (AAC excluded) then you've already had a conversation about health.
At the risk of my marriage, and having learnt that I don't want to grow a mo', I embraced the silly and ploughed on. The result.....?
Actually there's something to add before you get the picture.....
The Men's Health Paradox
The biggest problem with getting guys to look after their health is the paralysing paradox we are stuck in; damned if you do and damned if you don't.
One one hand there are stacks of statistics showing that men don't go to doctors soon enough or pickup on their health issues or even talk about them openly enough. So we want guys to talk about their health more, right? Women want it, the medical profession want it and it's a message you can find in every type of media from magazines to TV.
But on the other, we have 'man flu'. A singularly divisive bit of humour. Used throughout the media and in general conversation, this one 'joke' may have been funny. It may even be funny, but it's also emasculating. If you get nothing but hastle and derision for saying how you feel, you're going to learn to keep quiet very quickly. Right?
So there you have it. You either promote the paradox or you have to actively chose not to. Maybe it's true that whatever you don't condemn, you condone. Whose side are you on?
Women, make your minds up, this is genuinely life or death stuff. Are you going to help us promote men's health issues or hinder us?
As for me, well, I have an appointment with a man and his cut-throat razor!
Picture to follow.......
where's the pic? ;)
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