Movember, the charity initiative in which men are sponsored to grow moustaches in November, wasn’t as noticeable in Copenhagen this year – possibly due to the high number of hipsters.
But that doesn’t mean men’s health issues have taken a backseat. Rather, the focus is moving to the increasing male suicide rate.
A British organisation, the Sides of March, encourages the springtime growth of sideburns every year to do exactly that.
Behind every man
According to the Men’s Health Society, a good woman is the key to any man’s happiness. Not having one, it claims, will knock seven years off a man’s life as he will become prone to smoking and drinking more and exercising less.
According to its survey, 61 percent of Danish men aged 30 to 75 only have their partners to confide in about emotional issues, while women tend to have plenty they can talk to.
However, there is hope that young men are learning to open up more as “they are being raised more and more like girls”, Martin Østergaard, a relationship therapist, told TV2 News.
No more illegal snips
For some men, life can start badly: with a circumcision. And it is a practice the Danes disapprove of. A July survey revealed that nine out of ten would ban the ritual circumcision of boys.
And the Health Ministry is listening. Last week it announced that from 2017 all circumcisions of baby boys must be reported to the National Patient Registry – regardless of whether they are performed at a clinic or home.
Doctors who neglect reporting a circumcision surgery to the authorities will be fined. The Jewish Society in Denmark hopes that compulsory registration will result in a decline of illegal cases.
Surrogate rethink unlikely
An illegal circumcision could compromise fatherhood of course – but single men can forget about a change to the law prohibiting them from hiring a surrogate in the future, according to the government’s ethical council, Det Etiske Råd.
A hot topic of debate in Denmark recently, single men increasingly feel that they do not have the same freedom to reproduce as their female counterparts.
In total, 580 babies were born to women without a partner in 2015, according to the Danish Fertility Society – up from 478 in 2014.
Paying a surrogate is punishable with a fine or up to four months in prison. However, altruistic surrogacy – when the mother is not paid – is allowed.
City mums the oldest
In related news, women in Copenhagen and Aarhus are waiting longer to have a baby than those in provincial towns, according to Danmarks Statistik.
The average age in Copenhagen and Aarhus is 30.8 and 29.4, compared to 25.5 on Lolland and between 27 and 28 in most provincial towns. (CPH POST)
