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Richard Herring spends International Men’s Day re-owning trolls for a good cause

Oonagh Keating. Updated November 19th, 2019

Every International Women’s Day, comedian Richard Herring makes a point of replying to all the idiots asking “But when’s International Men’s Day?” with the information that it is, in fact, on the 19th of November – which is today, at the time of writing. He then uses International Men’s Day to follow up the enquiries, and both days to raise funds for charities – Refuge on International Women’s Day and CALM – the Campaign Against Living Miserably on International Men’s Day.

Here’s how it’s going so far.

Throughout the day, he gives updates on the fundraising, like this.

If you were wondering why he chose CALM for International Men’s Day, this is the explanation – which comes with a mental health trigger warning. Men are particularly susceptible to depression and suicide, with mental health professionals believing that men’s discomfort at communicating their feelings plays a huge part in causing this problem. CALM offers a helpline for those who recognise a need to talk, as well as running outreach programmes for people with mental health problems, and for their family, friends and colleagues.

CALM also runs campaigns aimed at men, including this one in partnership with the Dave TV Channel.

If you want to make International Men’s Day count for something more than Richard Herring getting a monitor headache, you could donate, share his link, or try using ALAN.

Source: Richard Herring, DAVE, Image: Richard Herring, @ann_van on Unsplash

Read more: Richard Herring owning trolls who ask ‘When’s it International Men’s Day?’ is today’s best thing