I have decided to define Ralph Haddad as a member of a culture I will label 'Twit'. It (I don't want to use gender specific pronouns, because I'd hate to try and lock a person into a gender role that they do not wholeheartedly identify with and embrace.) has written an article about Movember.
Movember as microaggression
I had to go look up microaggression on Wikipedia. It (currently) says, "Microaggression is the idea that specific interactions between those of different races, cultures, or genders can be interpreted as small acts of mostly non-physical aggression; the term was coined by Chester M. Pierce in 1970."
I feel that Ralph's article is a microaggression towards non-twits.
If you weren't sure about Movember, participants shave at the beginning of November and then grow the wickedest (is that even a word outside of Boston) 'stache they can for the rest of the month. So that when anyone asks them why they're channeling Tom Selleck, they can tell all of the men in hearing range to get their man tackle checked.
Dude (non-gender specific term, as far as I'm concerned), it's a damn awareness campaign. Just because you can't/won't rock a 'stache, doesn't mean you need to piss on other people's parades. Folks of the trans world have special health concerns already. I think they are already aware of their specific preventative care needs. They pretty much have to be. Transitioning is hard and comes with a lifetime of being very careful with your body.
On the other hand, Joe Schmoe, who likes football, baseball, beer, and tuning out everything his wife says, probably ignored her when she told him he needs to schedule a physical. Suddenly, he sees all of these athletes with weird facial hair, and decides to make an appointment to have the first non-work-required physical of his adult life (while his wife rolls her eyes so hard that she sprains something).
And don't get me started on the black/white thing. PROSTATE CANCER IS SERIOUS, but highly treatable. It doesn't matter if you're black, white, or purple - early detection will make your cancer easier to treat. Does this dude really and truly think that black men are going to deliberately not check their testicles for lumps because there are a lot of the guys reminding them to check are white? Because that would make them sound like petulant children (kind of like Ralph here), not adults.
If you really want to complain about race, let's look at some numbers for breast cancer. You'll notice that white women are more likely to have breast cancer than black women, and yet far more black women than white women die of breast cancer. If you really need to start bitching about race, start there.
