Do men really need an International Men's Day?

Question of the day on International Men's Day: Do men really need another day for themselves? A question no man would ask but every woman is thinking.

While women sat and cleaned the bear skin, men went out to hunt an animal for dinner. That joy of bringing dead meat to the cave instilled in men a pride that with evolution has evolved into a heightened sense of entitlement.

From their thoughts being superior to their work being more hectic, men have been brought up to see their experiences as central. Consider this, the hunter wouldn't know the first thing about dinner if the gatherer didn't know everything about cooking that dead meat and making it edible.

You worked hard at the office to be able to sort money for the dinner of the day. And now that you are home you need to relax and watch TV? Sir, you used to hunt without light thousands of years ago, but yes, go ahead, have a day.

Understanding International Men's Day

International Men's Day is celebrated on November 19 annually. The day was started in Trinidad and Tobago in 1999, founded by Dr Jerome Teelucksingh. He chose the day to honour his father's birthday and a meaningful moment in the country's football history.

Now, celebrated across 80 countries, International Men's Day has evolved into a day that puts issues faced by males in the spotlight. This year, the theme of the day is "Celebrating Men and Boys." As if we haven't been doing that enough already?

Need for representation

Men also dominate most power structures. Trump is leading the government, Musk is leading tech, and Mamdani just became the mayor of New York. When it comes to representation, men have had it sorted for years. Take the fact that the entire household is on their toes when "Dad is coming home", the team is rushing to their seats when the "Boss is here", and gyms are full of men adoring their bicep, kissing a dumbbell.

Representation influences visibility and men have rarely lacked it.

Emotional understanding

In an appearance on Liz Plank's "Boy Problems," Mamdani talked about the male loneliness crisis and ideated the creation of more third spaces where people can hang out. He shared how people can be themselves without the constant pressure of having to spend money on every interaction they have.

Valid concerns. But here’s the catch: in the age of performative self-improvement, many men have mastered lifting heavy, walking tall, and reading books that look deep but are actually "How to get girls: Volume 1” far faster than they’ve learned vulnerability, empathy, or emotional articulation. Chandler thinking Monica would break up with him after their first fight wasn’t just sitcom humour—it’s still a reality for many men today.

Ironically, the focus on men's emotional struggles is now mostly weaponised in relationships with arguments such as “You don’t understand where I’m coming from,” instead of truly tackling deeper communication.

As for resolving loneliness? Well, you've got to leave the gym or pause the Xbox for longer.

Social butterflies

Social spaces are crowded with men. From friends to colleagues, they are all celebrating bottom-up on something and definitely commenting on a woman or two on their beauty. The idea of an equal representation among a friend group, as you've seen on 'Friends' or 'How I Met Your Mother', is pure TV.

Even online male opinions flood the feeds- politics, celebrities, history, finance, and everything under the sun. You name it, a man's already mansplaining it.

The male demographic has always reached out and made use of every tool at its disposal. It can be their experience, their bank account, their connections, or their social media accounts. They don't hesitate to speak as a father, a son, a brother, a husband, a boss, and more.

So another day for them to be able to push their problems in the front and centre, when they have been there all this time? It is welcome, but not required by EOD. Their issues matter. Their mental health matters, and their loneliness should be tackled. But another whole day just to appreciate them? They've been demanding the claps ever since they dragged that meat into the cave and said, "I brought dinner." So yes, International Men's Day is celebrated, but it's not warranted.


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