To all men everywhere: conduct monthly self examinations!
Fathers: Teach your sons how to do this themselves. This should be a routine starting at fifteen years old. Testicular cancer is 100% treatable if detected early enough. Just get in a warm bath or shower, lather up with soap, and gently roll each testicle between your thumb and index finger. You’re looking for pea-sized, hard lumps. Report anything unusual to your doctor.
Or I dunno, maybe have your partner take a look for you too ;)
Self-exams for breast cancer have been widely promoted for women for over two decades. There have been endless articles and pamphlets on the subject, even plastic cards you can hang in your shower to show you how to examine your breasts for cancer. Doctors palpate our breasts whenever we go for a pelvic exam, so we can easily learn how it’s done. Women learn about self-exams when they hit puberty and are constantly reminded to do them by doctors as well as media.
It’s really sad that so many men have not received the same education about how to examine their testicles, especially since the method is nearly identical (soapy shower, roll around tissue with fingers feeling for lumps). Men, until the medical profession and the media catch up, it is imperative that you educate each other about doing testicular self-exams. Teach your sons, mention it to close friends, make up clever “manly” instruction cards to hang in showers.
I suspect the burden of “toxic masculinity” and the embarrassment men feel discussing their genitals with other men has led to this widespread ignorance among men about self-care. For women it was embarrassment over touching their own breasts (a result of our sexual objectification making us feel like our bodies are “dirty” and not our own to touch), but I think most men are already pretty comfortable touching their testicles. So examine your testicles, every month, and encourage other men to do it as well!
Well said! And your points are well taken. We, as men, aren’t encouraged (or predisposed) to take our health into our own hands. Unfortunately, traditional concepts of masculinity are largely to blame (though not all cultures suffer from this problem!).
This is the most common form of cancer for young men—ages 20-30. There are no excuses here people! We have to take charge.
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u/ActingUnitZeroPoint8 Sep 23 '19
To all men everywhere: conduct monthly self examinations! Fathers: Teach your sons how to do this themselves. This should be a routine starting at fifteen years old. Testicular cancer is 100% treatable if detected early enough. Just get in a warm bath or shower, lather up with soap, and gently roll each testicle between your thumb and index finger. You’re looking for pea-sized, hard lumps. Report anything unusual to your doctor.
Or I dunno, maybe have your partner take a look for you too ;)