Yes, Virginia, There Is A Movember

We here at Abnormal Use are as frustrated as anyone about the growing trend in society to leap from Halloween straight into Christmas, overlooking that wonderful holiday season that falls in between – you know, Movember.  What is Movember, you ask?  It’s a worldwide charitable effort to raise awareness about men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health issues.  And it involves growing awesome mustaches and other such facial accouterments during the month of November.  Not wanting to miss out on this movement, some of the gentlemen in our firm have thrown their name in the ring, even forming an official Movemeber team page with two of our construction lawyers, an intellectual property lawyer, a corporate lawyer, and two defense litigators, all on board.

Why do this?  Maybe it’s the chill in the fall air.  Maybe it’s the personal grooming habits of the Boston Red Sox.  Maybe it’s an excuse not to shave.  Maybe it’s just idle silliness.  To some extent, it is probably each of these, but there is actually some good to be gained.  Because the point of Movember is to raise awareness about men’s health issues, our team has been throwing out some tidbits from time to time.  For example, did you know that men are significantly less likely than women to see a doctor for preventative care?  Did you know that 1 in 6 men will face prostate cancer at some point in their lives – a rate higher than breast cancer in women – but that if detected and treated early, there is a 97% success rate?

Of course, this is a law blog.  So what does this have to do with the law?  Straight-laced lawyer-types of today who prefer a clean shave often overlook the long tradition of fantastic facial hair in our profession.

Take Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, who sported quite a ‘stache in his day:

(Image courtesy Wikipedia).  Last year, Bloomberg Law sported its own Movember team and created a video of some of the most famous legal mustaches, which you can see here.  So while we may indeed be engaging in idle silliness and raising awareness about men’s health issues, we are also making our own tribute to the law.  And also not shaving.