Taking back the meaning of Movember

This is a hard post to find the words for, mostly because I have always been incredibly upfront about my feelings about Movember. I'll just come out and say it; I hate that dirty strip of hair over a man's lip. However; because this is done for such a great cause I can honestly put that aside, no matter how much I don't like the way it looks. 

The hardest part of this post was and is trying to come up with the words that don't take away the meaning of this campaign. So please, no matter how I come across here know that this is a great and important campaign. This needs to keep happening and the support for it is incredibly important. With that away we go! 

I have a major problem with the way Movember has been going and no, it's not because of the facial hair. It's this:

I've talked to a couple of people about this and my feelings on it I've gotten a variety of reactions. The biggest being, of course women would try to get in something that is focused on men. To which I say, bullshit. Bull. Fucking. Shit. Any woman should be allowed and encouraged to support men in a raising funds and awareness for a "male" issue, in the same way a man can wear pink in support of breast cancer. 

What I'm talking about it's deemed disgusting if a woman doesn't shave anywhere for a month, even if she's showing support for the Movember campaign. I realize that a lot of people will shake their head and think I'm turning this into a feminist issue - and honestly if that's your thought - shake away. 

The first tweet here is the one of the ones that has me scratching my head the most. #KeepItClean. 

Because if a woman doesn't constantly maintain herself she's dirty and disgusting. Part of my frustration comes from sitting on Tumblr and seeing people anonymously asking some of the people I follow if they're disgusting for having periods while dating people. Why, why, WHY is it so ingrained into our brains that our natural selves are just dirty and not good enough for us to feel attractive. That somehow the fact that we're not shaving our legs or lets just get it out there PUBIC HAIR dictates we're not worthy of feeling attractive. 

Now I'm not saying that women who do these things are fake and not gorgeous, some people are just more comfortable getting their landscaping on - and that's fine. Some women think they're gorgeous without it and that should be fine too. 

These two tweets I've seen reproduced again and again and again. Women shaming other women for being disgusting for not shaving and thinking that women who leave everything the way it is are nasty. 

What's nasty is this completely overbearing need to dictate body image and covering it up through a movement meant to help prostate cancer and men's mental health - both very important issues.

Now, this post is shorter than I wanted it to be - I may edit it later, but I have to get up early for work tomorrow. I leave you with this:

Boys: 

- Good luck to all you Mo' Bros out there. May your upper lip sport the dirtiest most money-raising and change inspiring facial hair.

- To all of you supporting and raising money for this amazing campaign, I hope you do awesome.

- To all those affected by either prostate cancer directly or no someone who has - this month is for you. 

Girls:

- Do not feel pressured into feeling like you need to look a certain way in order to be attractive. If the fact that your legs are hairy is enough to send someone running for the hills then let them get as far away from you as they want. 

- Don't shame other women who may be completely comfortable in not shaving any part of their body into thinking they're disgusting or nasty. 

Don't let hype overshadow the real reason this campaign is happening. Show your support, any way you feel you can.