“Men don’t talk, don’t take action and are dying too young. We want to change that.” Say the founders, Travis Garone, Luke Slattery and Justin Coghlan of The Movember Foundation. Today a global movement, Movember began with November being a month to ‘grow the mo-ustache’ and raise awareness and funds for men’s health. The premise behind the organisation, to help men live happier, healthier, longer lives and to invest in four key areas: prostate cancer, testicular cancer, poor mental health and suicide prevention. Since 2003, five million people have joined the Movember men’s health movement around the world, across 21 countries and raised an incredible AU$800 million, funding over 1,000 programmes through impact investments that focus on collaborative research, and survivorship pathways for men living with and beyond these health problems. Phew! A whopping success so far, right?! These guys have done good.
Ahead of Movember 2018 Forbes magazine wrote an article titled ‘More than Movember’. It highlights the silent global crisis that is men’s mental health, which I had heard/ briefly read about in the last year or so but in not too much detail. When we look at the statistics for suicide, 800, 000 people die each year and of those 75 % made up the male demographic in the western world last year alone. That statistic is disturbing considering suicide is largely preventable. It came as a shock and well, it was just plain sad, when one of the country’s leading journalists and presenter Greg Boyd committed suicide in August this year. At the time, I thought sh*t, how did this happen? Not only had I bumped into the guy 3 weeks earlier with his young son and he seemed more than fine, but I questioned, how bad did it get for that person that they felt that there was no way out of what they were going through? Movember has been the catalyst for sparking conversation and a focus on male mental health, however it must extend beyond November that we discuss it. Depression is now the Number 1 health risk, with it affecting 300 million people worldwide. Addressing depression, men’s substance abuse in our society and re-framing masculinity is a good start.
There are a handful of great men who are pioneering the way, Richie Hardcore is one. He’s the go to spokesperson in New Zealand about most issues related to and about men. Last month Richie spoke at TEDx Auckland and to a big crowd, he had some empowering things to say. If you get the chance to hear him speak you’ll leave well informed about subjects that are seldom publicly discussed. I asked Richie if I could interview him and ask a few questions related to Movember. The guy has an impressive portfolio and we need more men like him doing the awesome work that he does! To give you a background: Richie Hardcore is a former professional Muay Thai fighter, DJ and radio host turned activist and educator in New Zealand. He has worked in drug and alcohol harm reduction for many years, as well as holding board positions at Rape Prevention Education, White Ribbon New Zealand and Ministry of Social Development ‘It’s Not OK’ campaign, working to end men’s violence against women. These days he says his work focuses on challenging stereotypes and ideas about masculinity and ending rape culture, sexual and family violence.
Verve magazine did a cool profile on Richie ahead of Mental Health Awareness Week earlier this month: vervemagazine.co.nz/richie-is-hardcore
What are some of the statistics that relate to men and women, alcohol and drug abuse and sexual and physical violence in New Zealand? Why is it a worry?
New Zealand has the highest rate of reported family violence in the OECD. It’s shocking. According to Family Violence Clearinghouse, who collect and disseminate research on gendered violence, one in 3 women in New Zealand will be a victim of intimate partner violence, and one in 4 will be a victim of sexual assault or rape. We should all be ashamed of those facts. Boys and men too are the victims of rape and sexual assault as well as violence at the hands of their partner, and that must also be acknowledged. In regards to alcohol and crime, a third of all offences recorded by police are by someone under the influence of alcohol. The Ministry of Health estimates that there are about 780, 000 considered hazardous drinkers. In a country as small as ours, that’s a staggering percentage. Our culture, driven by advertising and marketing, considers binge drinking normal and sensible drinking lame, it sucks. We have normalised intoxication as a coping mechanism too. That compounds people’s emotional and mental health struggles, it doesn’t improve them. Our overarching constructs of masculinity, of what it means to be a man, while changing for the better, still teach this idea that boys and men need to be tough and stoic, and not talk about their feelings, and that plays a part in all of these issues. When we bottle things up as men, we lash out and hurt those around us, or ourselves. If we fostered a more vulnerable conception of masculinity in our society, that would have so many positive spin offs.
International researchers have recently said that there is a silent global crisis, and that is men’s mental health. A discussion that you had with Mike King on Newstalk ZB radio you both raised an interesting point, that “men need to be socially responsible for young men” what do you mean by that?
Well, so many of us grow up with poor male role models, or no male role models at all. Good men, and I think most men are good men, can play a huge role in helping boys and young men grow up healthier if they aren’t afraid to step up and have brave conversations. There’s a lot of power in storytelling, on reflecting and learning from ones own mistakes and then sharing them with people close to you so that they might avoid making the same painful errors.
For those who missed your TEDx Auckland talk, you spoke about the need for ‘re-framing’ masculinity. Can you elaborate and explain what you mean?
Well, from a young age, boys are conditioned and taught tacitly and explicitly that they need to fit into what’s often referred to as the ‘man box’, strict ideas about what it means to be a real man. Men are meant to be in control of their emotions, score lots of women, pursue status, make lots of money, and be physically strong. But the thing is, these are socially imposed ideas, they aren’t natural or inherent, they are taught and learnt. So, if our culture starts rejecting these old limiting ideas and embed new ones about a masculinity, that’s not meant to be emotionless or has to be tough, it’s creating a new idea that’s healthier and happier for everyone.
You speak passionately about wellness and health and advocate for a vegan/ vegetarian lifestyle and sobriety – why are these important to you?
I believe sobriety helps us gain self knowledge faster. When we know ourselves, and learn to love ourselves instead of masking our insecurities and fears with substances, then we can grow consciously. Regular intoxication can limit our development. I think sometimes, but not always, the drugs that poison the body, lead to apathy in the mind. By rejecting the mainstream culture of intoxication and substance abuse, it has helped me focus on what I believe is important, learn about academic issues and in turn work on a professional level to address some of these. I’m a strict vegetarian not vegan, though I eat a largely vegan diet, I wouldn’t describe myself as vegan. Animal agriculture is one of the leading causes of global warming, so to eat a meat free diet, we are making a direct positive impact on climate change. We aren’t contributing to the suffering of other animals, and we aren’t polluting the rivers so much. Obviously, we all damage the environment by just existing in western society, but we can all make a positive impact by making little changes. When it comes to health and wellness, well, ultimately all we have is ourselves. If we lose everything, our friends, family, our jobs, but we have a strong physical body and have fortified our hearts and minds with strong coping mechanisms, and developed an inner resiliency and ways of processing grief, stress, or hardship in general, we can rebuild. We can thrive if we cherish our physical, mental and emotional health, and obviously these things are interconnected. Our health is the founding stone from which we can base all of our other actions, so we must pay attention to it.
Movember is coming up, why do you think the organisation and month are important?
Movember continues to be a really important event because quite simply men aren’t taking care of themselves and they are dying younger as a result. Whether that’s through illness such as heart disease or suicide, or car accidents, men die from preventable causes at a really high rate. The money that Movember receives supports important educational and awareness raising work to try and shift some deeply embedded ideas that are problematic. It also offers new and healthy ways of tackling some of these problems.
Get involved – grow a mo for a month or host an event to raise money for the charity!