Just because you look good, doesn't make you right

OK so much has been going on as I earlier said.  This has meant that I lack the time or the mood to blog very much.  But I have been thinking about it and here is a blog post that was triggered by yesterday being International Men's Day.

You know what is coming don't you? Well let's get some baggage out of the way.  Yes there is also an International Women's Day.  It is on March 8th 2016.  I think it's a Tuesday. Yay women.  However...

On March the 8th here is a list of things I would expect to see given the behaviour of SOME women (actually quite a lot if twitter is any judge) and SOME men (ditto) and quite a lot of charities.

I would expect there to be a massive outcry amongst Twitterati saying women have no problems and do not deserve a day.

I would expect andrist groups to point out that women have massive advantages in (insert field here) and so should shut up and get on with it.

I would expect the main causes of death in women to be derided and dismissed, the stuff of jokes.

And, and this one boils my piss, I would expect a testicular cancer charity to hijack the day with the help of a second rank comedian turned columnist. .

Now this one is very clever.  You see this is a cynical marketing wheeze of the first order, and whilst you cannot blame the charity involved, after all charities need publicity and they need to get their names in the paper as often as possible, it is about as low as you can go morally in my opinion.

Why?  Because it is basically the perfect crime.  They are using a day which is trying to focus on MALE diseases like testicular and prostate cancer, which are notoriously late to diagnosis because men feel they shouldn't bother people about trivia like not pissing or having one ball bigger than the other, they are taking that day and making it about ladybollocks.  And they are doing it in such a way that it looks like they are saying thank you.

Well BOLLOCKS. (and prostates. and suicide while we are at it). Anyone involved in fundraising knows about the pinkification of disease.  If it affects women it gets a pink ribbon and massive attention.  I mean sure men have things like myoddballs but this is very small fry compared to say, Moonwalk.  And have you ever tried to get involved in an event like that if you are a man? You might as well turn up in a t shirt saying "Hi, I am Mr Rapey, would you like to see my etchings?".

 I suffer from a disease which is overwhelmingly female.  The support group meetings look like Jessie J concerts, only without the gay guys there for a laugh (shame). In fact the solely male issues are so poorly represented and the information so scarce that it has led me to be treated for several diseases I don't have just because I wasn't aware of an aspect of the one I do.  And before you say it, it has to be me aware of it because it is so rare the Doctor Googles it.  In fact the all-wise Rich Boden  has put together a network of male Zebras just so we can compare penes, as it were.  The last thing men need is to have more of their issues sidelined by the pink avalanche.

I hate cynical marketing at the best of times, which is why John Lewis, M and S and Sainsburies have all had the banhammer come down on my twitter account.  But this was simply filthy.  All involved should hang their heads.

Yes, men are advantaged.  Yes society has been and to some extent (less every year thank goodness) still is patriarchal.  But does that mean we should sentence men to death for it?  because by hijacking space yesterday, or making jokes about men whinging, or contributing to the idea that sharing and complaining and asking for help is not something men should do, that is what you are doing.  You are killing your husbands, brothers, fathers. Every misandrist joke, every use of the incredibly sexist word "mansplaining", every attempt to subvert a day to your charities needs when it has nothing whatever to do with you is killing someone you know.  Just think about that Mr Herring, next time you want to push an agenda.