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Feministing has declared December “Decembrow,” in response to Movember, a mustache-growing event that happens every November to raise money for prostate cancer. Except Decembrow seems to have less clear goals than Movember. Lori of Feministing says:
“While women in the U.S. generally rock two groomed brows, I say let’s be inspired by Movember and take this opportunity to let our facial hair grow…for a cause. This month, I encourage you to grow in your unibrow, or, if you don’t have one, use an herbal remedy or a pencil to fake it (as they do in Tajikistan), for the cause of your choice. (Need ideas? Check out last year’s feminist holiday gift guide for some great organizations and charities.) Challenging cultural norms …
… about women’s facial hair while raising money for a good cause? Now that’s just the kind of thing that gets me in the holiday spirit.”
So you’re supposed to “challenge cultural norms” by looking potentially awkward and uncomfortable at your high-brow (ha, no pun intended) office holiday party? The spirt of this event might make more sense if its goal was to raise money for diseases where hair grows on your face excessively, of which I’m pretty sure there are several. Both Decembrow and Movember are based upon the concept of Beardvember, which became popular among my male friends when they got to college. This hallowed month usually involved no charities, just who could grow the most epic or weirdest or whatever of beards in the month of November. The prize? Pride, or something like it. Some aspect of the challenge seemed to be that at the end of the month you’d have to go home for Thanksgiving and face the wrath of relatives who would judge you for your unkempt facial hair. In general, the Beardvember tradition always seemed mildly silly to me, because no one really looked that different, just perhaps suddenly a little more lazy.
But of course, raising money for charity in interesting ways is always relatively ridiculous, and that’s the point. My best friend buzzed off her long red hair a few years ago for the St. Baldricks Foundation, which raises money for children with cancer. I was pretty nervous for her beforehand; I mean, how many of us (especially women) actually know what we’d look like bald, or nearly so? I haven’t rocked that look since I was a baby, and what was expected of me beauty-wise was pretty different then. But when she buzzed it all off, it looked awesome, and she’s basically never looked back. Sure, it’s a little longer now, more pixie than full on bald. But she has such a beautiful face, and now you can really see it, and how would any of us have known that without that little push?
I guess what I’m saying is, that seemed like a challenge that made sense. There was a clear goal (children with cancer lose their hair, do this in solidarity with them), rather than just penciling in a unibrow because our society considers them ugly (unibrows are usually not considered so sexy on men wither, though perhaps not as stringently). This is the season of giving, and whatever way you choose to do that is great by me. But perhaps set your sights on something that makes a little more sense?
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Unibrows are pretty much not attractive on anyone, regardless of gender. It’s not changing societal norms, it’s kind of ignoring basic aesthetics.
Ugh. Unibrows.
How about we don’t shave our legs? THAT would challenge social norms…
I have written many times about my distaste for ‘awareness’ events that don’t really do anything. Sounds like this is similar.
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I’m also not a fan of canvas-your-friends-for-money attempts. I think that if you want to support a cause, please donate your own money and leave me alone. I certainly don’t mind hearing about an organisation you support, and I can think about it myself, but I don’t like this constant appeal for money.
I am supposed to ’sponsor’ you with donations because why? Because you’re growing an ugly ’stache/beard? I’m not convinced. It’s not the worst – athletic events for charity are really annoying. Every year I get these appeals from sorta-friends:
“I’m walking 50km in two days for breast cancer! Money!”
“I’m going on a long bike ride for breast cancer! Money!”
“I’m shaving my head! MONEY”
“I’m NOT shaving MONEY!!!”
I find it all quite obnoxious, and no, I’m not going to fund your cause so that you can join in a run. I also dislike the amount of money it takes to run these things, so I will donate directly to the cause if I feel it is worthwhile, and skip all the overhead of a race pledge or whatever else.
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And if you want to ‘challenge social norms’, just do it. Stop shaving. Pencil in a unibrow. Hell, pencil in a double brow. Do whatever the hell you want – grow up and stop needing an excuse for it.
Ha! I should tell my boyfriend about this – the amount of time he spends on his eyebrows is rather impressive to say the least. An hour being the record before going out to the local gothic dive, I believe. I’m the slob there, I’ve never done anything to my eyebrows in terms of grooming on indeed anything.
On a less silly note, I do not see the point of this. Far as feminist issues go, eyebrows have never figured highly in my view, and to be quite honest, I don’t see how letting your eyebrows grow a bit is really going to “raise awareness” unless you’ve got lurid blue ones that reach the floor. Raising awareness normally involves doing something that will genuinely grab attention, and full eyebrows don’t really cut it for me. No one is really paying attention to your eyebrows. This just sounds like a lazy excuse to feel mild moral superiority. If you want to canvas for feminist issues or indeed any issues, you might as well pick something that makes a statement.
As Kai said, if you want to challenge social norms in any meaningful way, just go ahead and do so. It is likely to make more of a statement/impact if you jump right in rather than if you make up an excuse to do it temporarily.
I thought you said you liked facial hair on men?
unibrows, mustaches – raising awareness for causes is good !
Here’s a short youtube music video I jsut made for Movember called Grow a Muzzy – PHOTO version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmEo6xmaWDo
Hope you like it. Cheers, marsh in the canadian prairies