Ultra.
Two guys walked into a bar. The first guy says: “What a shame that mustaches have gone out of style.” The second guy says: “Bet you we can bring it back.”
17 years later, they were part of a global community of 6 million people who proudly rocked a mustache for 30 days every November while establishing the largest global alliance of research into prostate and testicular cancer.
It may sound like a punchline, but the impact they’ve made is no joke.
Movember is an Australian non-profit organization that’s on a mission to change the face of men’s health on a global scale. Since 2003, they’ve raised over $1 billion dollars and funded over 1,250 programs in prostate and testicular cancer, mental health, and suicide prevention — and they’ve had fun while doing it.
I had a chance to chat with the Movember team about men’s health, cancer research, and why a mustache (or mo if you’re Australian) is even a part of this conversation.
Streamlabs is proud to be a partner of Movember. You can help fundraise on their behalf by scheduling a charity stream to support them. Find them on our charity platform when you’re ready to get started.
First things first: Why Mustaches?
The better question is: “Why not?”
Back in 2003, the founders of Movember were at a pub watching a game of football and noticed an ad for a breast cancer awareness campaign. Inspired by the enthusiasm and outpouring of support for that cause, they asked themselves “Why doesn’t something similar exist for prostate and testicular cancer?”
As a demographic, we men can be kind of bad at talking about men’s health. There are outdated stereotypes of men being tough, and many of us think we can just tough it out and wait for things to get better. Generally, we tend to just delay things until something gets really bad, but of course, this is the exact opposite of what you want to do for prostate and testicular cancer.
If your car needs fixing, you go to a pro. Why would you not do the same for your body or mind? — Tom D’Souza, Movember
Men might not feel comfortable or know how to bring up concerns about mental health to their own friends and family; speaking up might be difficult.
In that way, mustaches serve as the ultimate icebreaker. In Tom’s words “It sort of transforms you into this walking, talking billboard. Men do need to get better about opening up, but a big part of this is about having fun. There’s nothing like the looks you get when you’re rocking a 13-day mustache.”
We’ve seen the Tom Selleck’s of the world, the people who wax the edges so they curl. But what takes real passion is to walk around with something really, really terrible on your face. And those are the mo’s we truly salute.
Where Mo Donos Go
When you fundraise for Movember, medical research is a big part of where the donations will go. Movember partners with a global scientific community to make sure that the money is spent well on the 3 biggest issues in men’s health today: prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health/suicide prevention.
When it comes to men’s health, there’s not just 1 solution, so we finance multiple streams of research and innovation. — Tom D’Souza
Broadly speaking, the research they fund seeks to understand cancer better, understand male biology better, and understand what’s working for men diagnosed with these diseases. Funding from Movember has directly lead to a significant research breakthrough identifying that there are over 25 different types of prostate cancer. It also helped complete the world’s first Prostate Genome Mapping project, expanding our understanding of how prostate cancer works.
Additionally, Movember provides patients with tools and resources to make sure they get the best health outcomes and quality of life. They also fund programs that help men maintain social connections, support positive mental health, and awareness campaigns “just to get guys to check their nuts.”
Grow a Mo, Save a Bro
2020 has been a big year with some huge curveballs and challenges. Nearly 1/4 of men’s health has deteriorated, loneliness has gone up, and we’re currently losing 1 man per minute to suicide. The #1 way to help is to sign up and host a charity stream. Whether for one day or 30, Streamlabs offers all of the tools you need to host a fundraising campaign for Movember.
We’re proud to be the only charity platform that charges streamers and charities no annual fee and we take 0% cut of all donations, always and forever.
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