Today is a twofer

It's Thanksgiving, for my friends in the USA*, and it's International Men's Day.

And it occured to me that one can be very thankful for IMD, if only because it provides a useful and necessary riposte every 8th March to the blokes who come out from the woodwork to moan gripe and whinge Y No International MENZ Day? ('19 November, bozo'.)

It is (surprise! not) of much more recent origin than International Women's Day, according to its Wikipedia entry first mooted 1992 and revived in 1994 which was when it seems to have started taking off, rather slowly.

We, a little cynically, think that perhaps the lack of awareness that it even exists and this rather slow take-up may have to do with the fact that it is explicitly anti-sexist and pro-gender equality and about doing all those things that anti-feminist men moan about as unfair and discriminatory and so on without, however, doing anything about rather than using them to beat women over the head with.

The 'Six Pillars' are as follows:
To promote positive male role models; not just movie stars and sportsmen but everyday, working-class men who are living decent, honest lives
To celebrate men's positive contributions to society, community, family, marriage, child care, and to the environment
To focus on men's health and wellbeing; social, emotional, physical and spiritual
To highlight discrimination against men; in areas of social services, social attitudes and expectations, and law
To improve gender relations and promote gender equality
To create a safer, better world; where people can live free from harm and grow to reach their full potential.

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And, in other news, today I ventured forth into the big wide scary world beyond the front door in order to get my flu jab.

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*I stand corrected!