"One of my internal tests is “Is there an ‘opposite’ gender equivalent? If not, you’re gone!”

"I’ve noticed, lately, some prostate cancer awareness commercials telling men to “man up” and go get checked. I appreciate that, statistically, perhaps men are less willing to go to the doctor for screenings than women, and particularly keen to avoid something so invasive. The intentions are good—encourage men to get checked and catch cancer early, and do it by appealing to men’s internalized notions of “being a man.”

We don’t tell women, however, to “woman up” to go get screened for breast cancer or ovarian cancer. And I’m sorry—how does a man’s prostate exam require strength and manliness while my breast exam (being medically groped) or pap test is considered easy? Until ads tell me to “be a woman” or “woman up,” I’m not into the male version"

I don't give a rat's *ss if she's "into it," her gross insensitivity to public heath outreach needs demonstrates both a willful misreading of the the language as well as a callous disregard for a real health crisis.

Women's health outreach also use puns and clever wordplay, would we remove any advert asking us to "make a clean breast of it" just because "breast" is now synonymous with the mammaries and no unisex "chest" equivalent exists?

Of course not. This is even moreso true for the areas where there is no gender equivalent anatomy.

And, of course she might have bothered to considered just why it might be required to associate taking care of onesself with "being a man."

Had she given it just an ounce of thought she might find that men avoiding screenings is more than statistical, its cultural.

Getting a guy to take care of his health is already an uphill battle. "Big boys don't cry." "Shrug it off." "Its just a fleshwound." All of these are the things that mothers teach their sons from the moment of their birth. And there is a very good reason for this; you cannot assign someone to the role of risktaker cum human sacrifice only to watch them retreat to the nurse's station when injured.

Bhoys are taught to idolize the Brave 300 for their sacrifice. Girls aren't taught to see heroism in stoic indifference to injury or death. But then again they aren't being prepped to be first-responders or even breadwinners who should never leave the office to take a sick day. The latter roles are optional for women thanks to first-wave feminism, but still mandatory for men.*

Top that off with the fact that the prostate exam is just basically paying some guy a whole lot so that you can "take it up the *ss," and you have serious resistance from guys who've been taught to be manly men.

Now sure, we could take it in the order that it comes; and spend the next millennium fighting the associations promoted by both genders of men and stoic indifference. Further we could fight against the false equivalence between passivity and receptive penetrative sex.

Or we could just go ahead and try to save lives that might otherwise be lost.

She has never lived with the pressure that mocks the guy for seeking medical treatment. So she may not care about the association between avoiding health care and being valued by women for ones masculinity. But that still ought not shape anti-cancer campaigns.

* Though here culture may be rooted in the irrefutable facts of biology.

The woman has the womb that holds the child. The man's essential contribution is over in minutes. Women who run towards danger heedless of their health don't have offspring. In situations where one must remain behind to fight while another flees with the child, the man who dies in the effort to hold off attackers so that the nursing mother and babe are safe will be more likely to have offspring than the man who shirks.

Technology levels the playing field in most cases. But our instincts and genetics aren't shaped by technology.

This is why women still overwhelmingly select men on the basis of capacity to fight ( cues for higher testosterone levels ) willingness to take risks ( bad boy attitude ) and the evidence of success in combat ( even if its just Wall Street carnage. )

Dante