November is an important month since it’s the time to raise awareness and funding support for men’s health. This next post for my series, One Man’s Voice… in the Noise, introduces you to the “Movember” movement, along with an interesting contradiction about how men view their health. The rest of the month will include posts on several aspects of our health, specifically mental health & suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer.
These posts for Movember are a good follow-up to my earlier messages about Blood Pressure Management and Male Depression for One Man’s Voice... in which I curate content from around the web to sift through “the noise” with my viewpoint and “voice” about the issues we men face today.
So let’s start with an education on Movember.
About Movember
As you can tell, the name “Movember” is a portmanteau (a word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others) of “mo” (short for mustache) and “November.” The event run by the Movember Foundation has grown from a small group of friends to a global movement involving millions of participants to support men’s health.
The movement started in Australia in 2003 when two friends, Travis Garone and Luke Slattery, decided to bring mustaches back into fashion to spark conversations about men’s health. Participants would grow mustaches and facial hair to prompt a discussion about how they support men’s health issues. While men are the primary focus, anyone can participate. Women and children frequently show their support by rocking fake mustaches or participating in other ways, such as running or walking to raise funds.
Back in November 2020, I participated in Movember and grew facial hair while writing posts about Men and Cancer, since my father had prostate cancer and other heart-related issues. The mustache and beard didn’t last but my awareness of cancer did as my dad passed away of lung cancer in 2022.
We All Have Skin in This Game
This first post of the subset of Movember posts is based on a piece Why men’s health matters to everyone, written by Richard Reeves, founder of the American Institute for Boys and Men (AIBM) and author of Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It (2022). Reeves includes a guest post by Dr. Zac Seidler, one of the world’s clearest, sanest, and strongest voices on men’s health.
Seidler’s article, The Real Face of Men’s Health (and report of the same name, released on October 8, 2025), is the most comprehensive assessment of American men’s health outcomes to date. According to the Movember Institute of Men’s Health, the “real face” of men’s health is not only men’s faces but also those of the loved ones, communities, and systems around them.
The downloadable report deliberately dismantles the counterproductive way men’s health advocacy is often navigated: as a zero-sum competition between demographics, as though improving outcomes for men somehow diminishes resources for women. It’s as though the health of fathers exists independently from the well-being of their children, partners, and communities. But supporting men’s health is not a zero-sum game. We can and must support better health outcomes for both genders equally.
The Contradiction for Men
That said, Reeves writes that there is an interesting contradiction that we refuse to name: we teach boys and men rigid self-reliance and not to ask for help when struggling, while we simultaneously celebrate and valorize their self-sacrifice. We praise men for working themselves into early graves to provide for families, then express bafflement when they don’t prioritize preventive care.
Sadly, many males are conditioned from an early age to not show any weakness and to stuff their emotions. Phrases like “man up” and “boys don’t cry” are examples of how societal expectations, reinforced by parents, peers, and media, discourage boys from expressing fear, sadness, or a need for help. This cultural expectation leads them to internalize these beliefs as adults. This emotional suppression can result in a lack of emotional literacy that leads to isolation, unhealthy coping mechanisms (like substance abuse), and a higher suicide rate among men.
Friendships Help You Stay Healthy
If you follow my blog, you know my theory is that every man needs an inner circle of best friends who hold each other accountable to higher standards of manhood, which includes taking care of their health. I call this kind of friendship, GodBuddies, which is the deeper, more authentic male friendships that desire to become more like Christ.
Regardless of your belief or non-belief in God or a higher power, everyone needs their friends and family to challenge them to be healthy, since you can’t take care of others if you don’t take care of yourself. Managing all aspects of your health is one of the most important aspects of becoming a better man.
That’s my voice in the noise for this week. Feel free to comment or share this post with others. Then look for the installment of this set of Movember posts next week
