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.
I wonder if these “oh we’re gender neutral!” ex-Fathers and Families now NPO include the actual work of child raising in their concerns? Like, y’know, more men doing a damn sight more than they do now? Bet they don’t. Bet it’s all about the ownership and punishment underneath.
Why not?
Because they are stingrays.
You’re allowed to pet baby ticklerays all day long, though.
But…but…momma stingray is in the touch tank!
And touching stingrays is fun! They are sooo soft underneath!
I <3 Stingray City.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=stingray+city&qpvt=stingray+city&FORM=IGRE
Among my “when I win the lottery (that I don’t play)” list is a freshwater stingray tank (yep, those exist) — they need a specially designed tank though as it needs to have a huge bottom but doesn’t need to be particularly deep. And they aren’t particularly easy to care for.
Gorgeous though, and I’ve already got a species tank since puff can’t have tankmates (there’s a substainal risk he’d attack them), at least a stingray tank would allow for multiple stingrays.
Speaking of puff, I have a few plastic things in the snail/fry tank for snail collection (fake plants, that sort of thing) — dropped one in his tank earlier and dear gods did he gorge himself. Come back for seconds little guy, they can’t go anywhere!
And the fry are doing well, I was hoping for 10~ to survive, I’m counting at least five, three of whom have recently graduated to ground up adult food. So their tank is getting powdered fry food, and a few flakes given a rub between the fingers. I should try photographing the bigger ones, they’re starting to look like actual fish!
More stingray pictures for Argenti (et al):
http://i.imgur.com/AubwwAQ.png
http://i.imgur.com/POFWS2v.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/qzUsHoW.jpg
http://oi56.tinypic.com/1zdz0x1.jpg
I’m acting like a kid in a candy store. They’re way too cute! And always look happy!
Only time I’ve seen a stingray live was at the Melbourne Aquarium last year. I was in the underwater tunnel when suddenly the light disappeared – it was a huge stingray swimming overhead.
Here is a good pic:
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/cb/a8/5a/cba85ad9a7ee30eb2140cbd5d5a97698.jpg
That’s one of my favorites, neuroticbeagle!
auggziliary – Well if you had bubbles popping on your skin and tickling it and making it feel good, you’d hang out around the bubbles too. 😉
That’s such a cute image, auggz, of the stingrays and the bubbles!
It must have been one hell of a big aquarium to take whale sharks. Ours isn’t that big.
Did anyone else look at those pictures of stingrays from below and think, “moisturize me”?
@Alice
I love the feeling of bubbles.
emilygoddess – Bubbles feel good. Unless they’re fart bubbles. Then it just smells.
Otherwise, they’re pretty happy-making. 🙂
I’m thinking of the wrong sort of bubbles in the bath, now.
/is twelve
Oh, so I’m not the only twelve year old here! 😛
Kittehs, are you referring to what Pratchett called “the ghosts of beans on bath night”?
::dies::
Yes, I am! Where did he use that great line, emilygoddess? I don’t recognise it.
kittehs – If you’re twelve, then I’m ten, and I just finished reading Captain Underpants. 😛
Ha, but have you read The Day My Bum Went Psycho?
@Kittehs, it’s in Witches Abroad, which is one of my favorites. It’s how he describes the bubbles in a cauldron of gumbo.
No, but I have to read it now. Damn it, what was my Amazon password again…?
You do – just look at this plot summary!
Zack Freeman’s bum is constantly detaching itself from his body and running off. One night, when he follows his bum, he learns that there is a plot by bums to take over the world. Specifically, the bums plan to create a huge, worldwide fart by building up a massive quantity of methane gas in the “Bumcano”. When the Bumcano blows, all humans will be rendered unconscious. While they are unconscious, the bums will seize their chance and switch places with their heads.
Fortunately, Zack meets the “Bum-hunter” Silas Sterne and his daughter, Eleanor, and is introduced to the realities of life in a world where bums are constantly a threat. To prevent the Bumcano eruption, the friends enlist the help of the Kisser, the Kicker, the Smacker and Ned Smelly. The characters encounter a variety of bum-related places and things, including the “Great Windy Desert”, “flying bum squadrons”, Stenchgantor The Great Unwiped Bum and the Great White Bum.
Naturally, every possible opportunity for toilet humour is milked in this book for children, which won a number of Children’s Choice awards in Australia.[1][2]
It is followed by Zombie Bums from Uranus (2003) and Bumageddon: The Final Pongflict (2005).