Why are women being guilt tripped into looking after mens testicles?

Looking out for each others health is not a bad thing

Agreed. A campaign along the lines of “don’t just check yourself, check your partner too” “if you find a lump tell your other half” “boobs balls moles” would be very different. That’s not what this is, though.

I have seen similar posters in toilets before about men checking their partners breasts for lumps etc.

Let's see one then. You should be able to find most public health awareness posters online. Find me a public health awareness poster that places responsibility on male partners to check their female partners breasts for lumps and then to ensure they follow up with a GP. It doesn't matter if it's any of the ones you've seen or not. Any such public health campaign poster that's been put in men's spaces in the UK by any cancer prevention charity or government/local authority public health department.

Yes, Quentin, I know the ad was advising nagging. I wasnt clear in my post that I meant the pp was being approving about the suggestion. Which I thought was a weird thing, because obviously men love being nagged.

Can't say i have ever seen this advert in any toilets I have used. I am more then capable of checking my own balls and dare I say more qualified to detect any abnormalities. I sometimes help my wife (at her request) to check her boobs for anything untoward.

The advert is clumsy but I don't get the anger. My cousins wife detected a lump in his balls that thankfully turned out to be benign but it still required surgery. Looking out for each others health is not a bad thing

Ok just seen it seems to be from itsinthebag.org.uk which is some sort of awareness organisation/charity for men's health.

I definitely want to know who wrote it.

Where was this seen? I want to know so I can find out who commissioned it and complain.

Oh, and did a pp really suggest the ad was focused on getting women to nag their male partners? Because we all know how popular and positively received nagging is...

It is exclusionary.

What about the men who don't have a partner?

Is their mother supposed to do it for them?

And what about the men who don't have mothers?

Actually I have a go at my husband for being a selfish prat for not putting on sunscreen (live in a hot country). Note - not pretend to give him a massage with suncream. By the same token I am not going to pussy foot around him for testicular cancer. He is a father and he has responsibilities. He is not another child. So maybe the ad kind of works for our relationship. I won't do the ball checking, but I'll do the reminding yelling. I do definitely object to the tone though. Little woman make sure your proud husband is okay.

Btw an old boyfriend told me that men always go to the doctor's if they suspect their tackle is going to fall off. I wonder what research prompted this ad?

Sorry, but I don't think the end justifies the means. The fact is that you can put out messages with all sorts of unhelpful implications with that reasoning. West Yorkshire Police putting out posters warning girls that there are rape gangs about? Sound reasonable, until you read the thing calling girls 'animals' and warning them that having fun is a green light for rape gangs and placing the responsibility on the girls for their potential rape.

Same shitty nonsense going on here. Yeah, catching the signs of cancer early, good, important, indeed. Basing your messaging on ideas about men being stupid, lazy, reticent and reliant on their women folk to be responsible for checking their health is just feeding into all sorts of crap that will probably actively work against a reduction of deaths from cancer and might even add to those unnecessary psychological burdens of guilt mentioned upthread.

And honestly, I am so over this idea that we should smile indulgently, accept that men are a bit useless and keep mollycoddling them. It helps neither men nor women.

Obviously if i do feel something different i will tell him

I’m not gonna keep it a secret

I didn't take it as meaning get him to drop his pants once a week for a health check.

It literally says “check them monthly”. I don’t think it could be clearer.

It either means patronise your partner by telling him to drop his pants so you can do something he could do himself, or fake sexual arousal so that you can check his balls without him knowing. It doesn’t say “if you happen to notice anything...” it’s giving instructions for a deliberate check. I stand by my ew.

That's very common. It tends to happen during foreplay, though, not because men are deliberately looking for lumps

Exactly!!.

I know a couple women who only got themselves checked out because their partners had found a lump in their breasts.

That's very common. It tends to happen during foreplay, though, not because men are deliberately looking for lumps.

The point, surely, is that this insults men as well as guilt-tripping women. They're not children. They can check their own testicles.

I agree but I know a couple women who only got themselves checked out because their partners had found a lump in their breasts. Maybe there are ads in the men’s!

My dp has pointed out lumps on my boobs, isn't that normal ??

I actually think it's healthy to talk about health symptoms and worries within a relationship. If my dp points out something is different I'm likely to check myself and make an appointment if needed. I took the poster as meaning if you feel anything different when your face is in his bollocks, so to speak. Tell him.

I didn't take it as meaning get him to drop his pants once a week for a health check.

Yep it is ridiculous. Would there be a similar advert about women's breast examinations?!

*versa

Does anyone actually deliberately plan to do this? Or vice verse with men checking women’s breasts?

Because basically it’s implying that while your other half thinks you’re indulging in a sexual grope, you’re actually assessing bits of their body for potential cancer. Sexy.

I don’t want to do that. I don’t want my husband wondering if I’m feeling his balls because they might be lumpy. I especially don’t want either of us pondering that and trying to carry on with sexy time anyway. Just ew.

I think this sign can only be a positive thing, but it's not putting the responsibility onto women IMO, and definitely isn't encouraging you to do anything you wouldn't normally do anyway So putting up a poster in women's toilets instructing women to "check his balls" isn't putting the responsibility onto women? And I doubt checking said balls is something we would "normally do anyway". It's bad enough I feel obliged to remind my husband to take his multivitamin, to take a hat with him when he plays golf on a sunny day, and ask if he's remembered to put on sunscreen - I really don't appreciate any additional pressure to be responsible for a grown man!

@SimonJT I would love to see that poster.

I think there would be an outcry from feminist groups if that poster existed. We can check our own breasts and telling men to do it for us is downright creepy.

men are constantly fiddling with their testicles there's no need for us to pay any more attention to the things