Welcome to Movember! Formerly known as November, this is the month when thousands of men around Australia bring back the moustache in order to raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues, notably prostate cancer and depression. Now in its sixth year, the Movember Foundation has raised almost $62 million globally and continues in its efforts to change the attitude men have towards their health.
Statistics show that men have a shorter life expectancy than women. Though the reasons for this are numerous, part of the problem is the stigma many men associate with openly discussing their health with others. Studies prove that men still access health services less frequently than women, often due to embarrassment in sharing their medical concerns and questions with a doctor. Movember aims to address this issue and change the community’s way of thinking by approaching the subject in a lighthearted manner, encouraging men to feel confident in discussing their health issues with friends, family and their general practitioner.
Curiosity in this upcoming charity event led me to carry out an online search of our collection, which returned several photographs of men sporting some rather impressive moustaches, such as this photograph taken by Hedda Morrison at a folk festival in Stuttgart, Germany in 1931. Wearing a jaunty tri-cornered hat and buttoned vest, I’m sure this gentleman would have had no shortage of admirers.
And for all the men out there wondering about the allure of a moustache to today’s modern woman, please consider the old English proverb ‘A man without a moustache is like a cup of tea without sugar’. On that thought, I’m off to the café.
Photography by Hedda Morrison
No known copyright restrictions
Post by Kate Scott, Assistant Registrar
