Movember

Did you know that prostate cancer is prevalent than breast cancer these days? Yet, why do we hear much more about breast cancer and events to fund research breast cancer?

According to Heller, the United States government spends more on breast cancer research than it does on prostate cancer (2006). In 2005, 699 million dollars when to breast cancer research, while only 390 million dollars when to prostate cancer research. Why is there such a difference between awareness of women’s cancers and men’s cancers?

In an article by Karl Rubis, there is a suggestion that breast cancer awareness is strongly tied to feminism and female sexuality (2009). Recently, there was an advertisement on television that showed a woman’s body and zoomed in on her chest as she walked. Only at the end of the ad was it revealed that it was a campaign for breast cancer awareness. This advertisement suggests that there is such a hype over breast cancer research because of how glamorous the campaigns can be.

In 1985, October was declared breast cancer awareness month. The success of this has been a long standing tradition for almost 25 years. In 2004, three guys from Australia had the idea that there needed to be a month dedicated to research for men’s cancers as well. “Movember”, is a term you may have heard lately because November is becoming a prostate cancer awareness month. Movember raises money for cancer research by having men grow mustaches for pledges. In 2008, 75,000 men took part in Movember and raised 7 million dollars. This year, there are over 150,000 men taking part in Movember. To explain further on what Movember is and how you can become involved, watch this video:

Canada is actively participating in Movember. Last year, participants in Movember from Canada raised 2.4 million dollars. For further reading on Movember in Canada, read this article: http://www.insidetoronto.com/community/health/article/156239--movember-aims-to-change-the-face-of-prostate-cancer-awareness

Works Cited:

Heller, A. (2006). Prostate Cancer. Retrieved November 17, 2009, from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/80165/the_great_dichotomy_breast_cancer_versus.html

Rubis, K. (2009). Feminism vs. Breast Cancer Awareness. Retrieved November 17, 2009, from http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/karl_rubis/2009/oct/12/feminism-vs-breast-cancer-awareness/