Know shave November

No Shave November is infamous. It’s a whole month where men don’t shave their faces because, just because.

It’s also now becoming infamously sexist.

Feminists everywhere denounce the irony that men can have an entire month razor-free, but women cannot participate because unshaved legs and armpits are gross.

Yet No Shave November did not begin as a sexist event.
It began as a campaign to raise awareness about pancreatic cancer. It then broadened into a larger men’s health event.

Participants abstain from shaving to show solidarity with pancreatic cancer
patients. So it is not, in fact, a peacock-ing show of masculinity in order to repress women’s leg hair.

But here’s the problem.

People think it has become a sexist event because the majority of men who decide to participate in No Shave November have no idea what it’s for or about.

It’s become a hodge-podge of oversensitive feminism from women (ladies, armpit hair is gross and there’s no two ways about it) and complete ignorance from men.

One quick Google search could tell you No Shave November’s cause, where it started, why it started, who started it, etc.

You need to be aware of what you’re participating in, what you’re telling the world when you choose to align yourself with something, a cause, an organization, whatever.

When I saw men participating in No Shave November I thought it was great that they were raising awareness about health and disease.

Some of them might have been doing it just to tick off a girlfriend or the woman who friend-zoned them. They didn’t realize that they were standing for a cause that they may not have entirely agreed with.

And it’s a good example of when activism should maybe calm down.

I consider myself a feminist, but I was not at all offended by No Shave November, where as some were so mad they practically began speaking in tongues.

It’s again an example of what lack of knowledge can do.

Instead of raising a fist in the name of women’s rights, I found myself offended by anyone who bashed No Shave November.

When they wished it away, they were effectively saying they did not support pancreatic cancer research or men’s health research, something they probably didn’t mean to do.

You need to be aware of all aspects of something before you jump on the bandwagon. It’s a great way to avoid looking like an idiot.

Women, truly, not everything is about oppression. And men, if you participate in No Shave November, do it for the cancer patients, and not for any other reason
besides.

­— ewenning@indiana.edu
Follow Emma Wenninger on Twitter @emmawenninger.