International Men’s Day Has Come of Age

21 November 2020

5 MINS

Dr Alex George has shared a heartfelt post in honour of his dad, Anthony, to mark International Men’s Day.

The TV star, 30 years old, took to Instagram to mark the occasion and also urged his followers to check in on their male friends’ mental health.

Alongside a selfie of himself with his retired police officer father, Alex wrote:

“I am super proud of you Dad, you are always there for me. Love you.”

He said,

“I see International Men’s Day as a chance to celebrate the incredible men in our lives.
It is also a reminder to check in on our family, friends and colleagues.

Traditionally society has expected men to appear ‘strong’ and ‘tough’. Remember that even those who appear the ‘strongest’ need support at times. ‘Happy International Men’s day. I am super proud of you Dad, you are always there for me. Love you.”

This very moving and powerful news story in the Daily Mail in the UK would not have happened without International Men’s Day. Furthermore, International Men’s Day would not have grown worldwide, as it has, without your amazing support through Dads4Kids.

 

Talking to my media guru who runs our International Men’s Day paid social media campaign, he himself said,

“International Men’s Day has now come of age. The momentum is such that is now unstoppable.”

It is bigger than all of our efforts and is gaining enormous traction. It is now in over a hundred countries.

Full credit must of course go to Dr Jerome Teelucksingh from Trinidad who founded IMD in 1999. No matter what you hear or read elsewhere, Dr Jerome Teelucksingh was the Founder of International Men’s Day and got the ball rolling. Mr Oaster’s efforts in 1992 to establish IMD, whilst noble, largely disappeared from view.

In 2008, when the team at Dads4Kids had what we thought was the first celebration of IMD at NSW Parliament House, we did not know who was behind the 19 November IMD date. In 2009 I contacted Dr Jerome Teelucksingh, and the rest is now history.

International Men’s Day broke records this year at every level. One of the most important was this tweet of “Happy International Men’s Day” from the United Nations (UN).

Whilst it was dripping with politically-correct innuendos, it shows that International Men’s Day is being taken seriously by the UN. Obianuju Ekeocha, an African pro-family activist, highlighted the self-serving banality of the UN’s comment. This is still an important and historic recognition by the UN, whatever you may think.

 

Let me share three more stories that show that International Men’s Day has now come of age.

1. Such was the traffic to the Dads4Kids-sponsored www.internationalmensday.com this year that our website crashed. We believe digital traffic was up between 400% and 1,000% and it could have been much more! This is our first story!

Our ‘Better Health for Men and Boys’ 1:51-second video achieved record views in spite of the website malfunction! Our IMD intro video on Facebook achieved almost a million views and most of it was organic! ‘Do These Three Things Every Morning’ Men’s Health Video achieved 530,800 people reach. Our ‘Family is Everything’ Facebook post reached 308,000 people.

Our ‘Dads are the Most Ordinary Men’ Facebook Post reached 229,100 people. Our ‘Living with an Attitude of Gratitude’ IMD Post reached 190,400 people. Our ‘Laugh, Be Happier and Live Longer’ IMD Facebook post reached 186,300 people. Altogether, we reached almost 4 Million people with messages of positive fatherhood, positive masculinity and practical health tips. Most of the reach was organic!

How many men’s lives were saved and how many men’s lives were lengthened? We will never know, but we are talking about tens of thousands of men’s lives saved over the last ten years.

These lives were saved because Dads4Kids supported International Men’s Day in 2008 and promoted it to the world in the dotcom format! Your support for Dads4Kids has made a major difference in the world!

Rod’s video released for this year’s IMD celebration promoting fathers and father figures has received over 2,000 views and the same on Facebook.

 

2. All over the world, men’s issues are being heard in parliament and in the halls of government. Read a few excerpts from the speech of the Female Equalities Minister, Kemi Badenoch MP, from the House of Commons in the UK:

“Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. I am pleased to be standing at the Dispatch Box on International Men’s Day. … International Men’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate men and boys in all their diversity, and to shine a spotlight on the issues which affect men, from shared parenting to health and wellbeing…

“Madame Deputy Speaker, I would like to close by taking a moment to celebrate the contribution men and boys make to our society. The member for Rother Valley talked about men and boys in his constituency feeling like they have been forgotten. It therefore seems opportune to celebrate our fathers and our sons, our brothers and our friends and indeed our colleagues this week, and the progress we have made in supporting them under this Government.”

At this point, Phillip Davies MP, the UK’s de facto minister for men, interjected,

“Would the member also look to make it easier for absent fathers to actually have access to their children and to speed up the process through the family courts, which is often a tortuous one, which causes so much heartache for so many fathers?”

Kemi Badenoch MP continued,

“My honourable friend is right and yes, this is something I think we can look into. I also want to recognise the work that he has done to raise awareness of fathers who feel a sense of alienation from losing access to their children… I would like to thank him and my honourable friend for Mansfield again for their tireless work on these issues, and for securing this debate today.”

The fact that men’s health, men’s suicide and the inequalities men face are even been discussed by governments today is absolutely revolutionary. Full credit to Philip Davies MP. But I can assure you, this critical discussion would not have happened on the scale it is happening now globally without International Men’s Day.

3. Let me give you two quotes from women who are standing in support for men, and are indicative of thousands of others that are doing the same. Honey badgers unite for a better society!

International Men’s Day is the perfect day to admit that we have tipped the scales too far; we’ve become an anti-male society and a nation merrily consuming an unhealthy diet of man hatred.
~ Corrinne Barraclough, “A pledge this International Men’s Day

A man embracing his masculinity is not shameful or toxic.
Masculinity, as I have always known it, is the meeting of power and magnanimity.
~ Sydney Watson, “This International Men’s Day, let’s celebrate strong fathers.

Lovework

Give your Dad a call this week and wish him ‘Happy International Men’s Day’, for last Thursday. Say this to your Dad:

“I am super proud of you Dad, you are always there for me. Love you.”

You could also say the same words to your children but change them to this:

“Dear son/daughter, I am super proud of you. I love you and I will always be there for you!”

Much Love,
Warwick Marsh

PS: We are raising money during November through the Decorate Dad Challenge. Check out the video here. Check out this info here. We need your help to keep promoting International Men’s Day and keep helping our children. DONATE NOW!

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