Every year, the month of November is associated with “Movember”, a campaign to raise awareness of male cancers. This year, a video produced by Movember and Cerhom humorously warns of the risk of testicular cancer.
Pétanque players are gathered in a square and one of them explains how he takes care of his “equipment”: for their new testicular cancer awareness campaign, launched on Tuesday November 6, Movember and Cerhom (French association for the fight against male cancer, testicular cancer, prostate cancer and genito-urinary cancer) have chosen humor.
Promote self-examination
“We can’t laugh with our equipment, we really have to take care of it, it’s vital” explains one of the men in the video, all of whom are series or film actors. Among them, Théo Bertrand from “Plus belle la vie”, Frédéric Bouraly from “Household scenes”, or Théo Fernandez, who shot in “Les Tuches”. All these actors raise awareness about a taboo subject: the health of the testicles.
Self-palpation makes it very easy to detect any abnormal mass in a testicle. Plus, it’s easy because it’s comparative. If there is an abnormal mass or shape, a doctor should be consulted to see if it is a tumour. Men often delay consulting when the 5-year survival rate for testicular cancer is 99% when caught in time.
The macho complex
According to the American Dr. Jay Raman, this is explained by the “complex of the macho”, men prefer to wait and see if the problem will not resolve itself before showing their private parts to a health professional. Some fear the removal of the testicle and this anxiety can postpone the moment of the first consultation.
Testicular cancer affects young men, between puberty and 40 years old, but it can also appear around 50 years old. The prevention video ends with a final message to promote self-examination: “testicular cancer is not a game, remember to regularly inspect your equipment”.
Movember is not just the mustache!
The Movember foundation was made famous by its awareness campaign, every year in November, it encourages men to grow a mustache to raise awareness about male cancers, which are mainly testicular cancer and prostate cancer.
The association also raises funds for research. In 2015, a study carried out thanks to these donations made it possible to highlight the role of family genetics in the appearance of testicular cancer: in 49% of cases, hereditary genetic defects are at the origin of the disease.
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