This year the celebration is themed “Making a Difference for Men and Boys” – focusing on the need to value men across the globe, while pledging to make practical improvements in their mental health and well-being.
Incidentally, International Men’s Day falls on the same day as World Toilet Day.
Netizens were quick to mock this and inundated Twitter with hilarious reactions and rib-tickling memes.
“International Men's Day” was first coined back in 1999 by a West Indies-based professor called Dr Jerome Teelucksingh.
Later, Indian Men’s advocate Uma Challa played a significant role in promoting the day to a global level, trying to associate the occasion as an awareness programme.
Unfortunately today, men themselves have fallen prey to what has widely been perceived as the toxicity of patriarchy at many levels. For instance, even today, section 375 of the Indian Penal Code states that rape is a crime that only a man can commit against a woman.
For adults, current rape laws in India have no room for male victims who fear to come forward because of a lack of legal aid and stigma shadowing the idea of masculinity
Citizens from around the world took to social networking platforms to celebrate and shower love on fathers, brothers, friends, boyfriends, and husbands on #InternationalMensDay.