I was going to write up something today about International Men’s Day, the me-too what-about-the-menz holiday that’s so meaningless that even Men’s Rights activists can barely remember to celebrate it. Do we really need a day to “celebrate [the] achievements and contributions” of men? Don’t we get quite a lot of that already? Do we need a day given over to “highlighting the discrimination against [men]” as if this is really a thing?
But then I discovered that today was also World Toilet Day, and realized it was probably more worthwhile to promote this event, as the lack of toilets and proper sanitation — a widespread problem in parts of the developing world, particularly in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa — can have devastating public health consequences.
Some disturbing facts, from the UN, which I clipped from this CNN story:
- 2.5 billion people — one in three people in the world — do not have a toilet or access to sustainable sanitation
- Diarrheal diseases are the second most common cause of death in young children in developing countries
- They kill more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and measles combined
Learn more at the official website. Also, Al Jazeera has a useful infographic.
And just a note to the MRAs who have somehow concluded from this post that I am comparing men or men’s issues to toilets (!?), let me try to make my point very clear: I am contrasting a sharply focused activist campaign aimed at a very real problem — lack of toilets and proper sanitation in large parts of the developing world — with large consequences — disease and death, of adults and children alike — with a badly thought out International Men’s Day that seems largely driven by jealousy that “women get a day so why can’t we have one too.”
How halfassed is International Men’s Day? Here’s a screenshot of the International Men’s Day website’s “resources” page.
Generally speaking, you would expect a “resources” page to list facts and figures and possibly link to relevant other groups. All you get at the International Men’s Day site are some posters made from stock photos.
What I found on the site’s “about” page was much more troubling. The site was put online by a group called the Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation, working with the founder of International Men’s Day, Dr Jerome Teelucksingh. The Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation, as I discovered with a bit of Googling, turns out to be a virulently homophobic and transphobic organization that is also behind a site called Gendermatters.com. A quasi-manifesto on the site titled 21 Reasons Why Gender Matters asserts, among other things, that:
Transsexuality signals a deceptively fierce disorder. Elective castration, mastectomy, hysterectomy, etc., are futile non-solutions. The cruel, permanent disfigurement of so-called gender reassignment is not the answer. Transsexuals need psychological and spiritual insight that frees them to celebrate the chromosomes they received at conception.
So, yeah, a halfassed men’s “day” that’s associated with transphobic assholes. Not exactly a winning combination.
Look, if you’re concerned about making a difference in the lives of men, pick the issue that matters most to you, and work on that. If you want to increase funding for prostate cancer research, work on that. If you want to raise money to help male victims of domestic violence, work on that. Actually do the hard work of activism. Don’t just have yourself a “day” and pretend that it means something.
EDIT: Rewrote part of the first paragraph and added all the stuff after the Al Jazeera link to clarify the point of this post, because clearly some people have missed the point entirely.
Warren: perhaps you should learn the difference between an inconvenience and a potentially life-threatening situation. Guess what the lack of clean toilets at Glastonbury is?
Lauralot: Hi! Good to see you again!
Me.
Also me.
Lauralot! Hi! Glad to see the wilds of Tumblr couldn’t catch you and hold you.
One more.
Oh! And on the subject of squat toilets, sometimes lately I get Google ads for a little stool that you can put your feet on while at stool (heh). The idea is it emulates the posture of squatting while letting you continue to worship at the ivory altar*.
It’s called … ready? … The Squattie Potty.
*Or is that throwing up? I can never remember.
Welcome back Lauralot! =D
I agree with Argenti; I only remember one troll who ever begged to be banned, and he was the blog herpes from Boston. I really hope I’m wrong.
Dude, whoever you are, go visit a professional dom.
LOL
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! I didn’t stop laughing until I got to the “ban me”. I’m thinking Boston Baby too, since he’d know exactly how ironic that comment is given his unhealthy obsession with Cassandra 🙁
@Lauralot
Welcome back!!! You’ve been missed!
lol wut
It’s like my dear old mum used to say, “If folk want to dig a hole and shit in it, they will!”
No point stopping them then is there? I mean, if folk are all fine and dandy wiping their their shitty arseholes with their bare hands, sticking some Andrex up for them to use is probably a waste of Andrex.
Just because International Men’s Day is currently a headless chicken of an event with little to no organisation doesn’t mean that it isn’t a hole to shit in… Capiche? .
Saying that It’s a ‘Me-Too-I-Want-What-You’ve-Got’ mentality on the part of men and denying that there is any discrimination against men is like taking a massive crap at your mates sisters house and realising that the flush doesn’t work…. It’s a load of hard to swallow shit and it stinks.
That was the most bizarre analogy ever to read while under the influence. Please just go away.
@Mitsuko Goldberg, I’m having a hard time understanding what you’re saying. Squatting is healthier, except in some countries, where the rich don’t die (ed note: ever?) but the poor do because they have to squat? That can’t be right. Try again?
@Viscaria,
Nail + Head
@Cloudiah
Nah, they probably just needed an outrage fix.
@Quackers
Not that they want it to happen because it would prove how terrible women/feminists/radfems are. Nosiree, they’re very concerned…
@Oraclenine
HDU! The failure of the Toilet Day people in Singapore to predict and then coordinate with the Men’s Day people in Trinidad & Tobago is definitely misandry.
@Weeboy
A lot of the MRM’s PR failure seems to come down to this: they come up with an idea and wait for the media/mainstream to stumble across it and run with it (for equality!), not realizing that successful causes (including feminist ones) spend a shitload of time, money and energy getting their message out. What they think is systemic misandry is actually just them being too lazy or inept to be effective.
@David,
You mean you’re NOT basking in all this attention from women (which the MRAs are totally not jealous of)?
Nice blaming there, too.
I’m not native speaker so I might miss something but “I’mamofo”‘s comment looks like word salad with high concentration of ‘shit’. :/
@mofo, it’s spelled “capisce”
‘That was the most bizarre analogy ever to read while under the influence. Please just go away.’
But I’ve only just got here and It looked like we might get on?! Your not my mates fucking uptight shit hating sister are you?! Is that you Carol?!
My point stands. Even under the influence…possibly even more so under it.
@malitia, mofo’s comment is hard to read because he sacrificed his point in favor of half a dozen shit-related jokes/puns/aphorisms.
Seriously. How entitled does one have to be to think that having to use a portapotty at a concert that you voluntarily go to is equal to people in developing countries not even having a latrine to shit in that’s both safe and away from the community’s water source?
The mind. It boggles.
I wanted to make sure there was a ‘shit’ per paragraph…. beginners mistake. We’ve all been there.
hell, they couldn’t even link to http://ca.movember.com/about
“Movember supports world class MEN’S HEALTH PROGRAMS that combat prostate and testicular cancer and mental health challenges. These programs, directed by the Movember Foundation, are focused on awareness and education, living with and beyond cancer, staying mentally healthy, living with and beyond mental illness and research to achieve our vision of an everlasting impact on the face of men’s health.”
yeah, they care soooooo much about men.
LOL whut
no I don’t know any Carol – nor am I Carol
dude what in the world are you doing
Your point stands? Nobody can tell what your point is.
You ARE Carol! She say’s LOL whut.. like all the time, she never really stops saying it. She say’s ROFL a lot too but I think that’s just to spice things up…
I was making a point, which I think you might have missed. Apparently I drowned it in a load of flowery fecal related tom foolery.
I know you were making a point but i don’t care about it
i just think it’s weird that you’re making all of these weird cute little accusations towards me
keep going at it and you might make me giggle