5 inspirational men worth following this International Men’s Day

This week we celebrated International Men’s Day.

Here are ten brilliant, inspirational men who are worth your follow.

Matt Haig

Suicide is the single biggest killer of men under 45.

41% of men who contemplated suicide felt they couldn’t talk about their feelings.

This is why we shouldn’t mock men for being emotional.

We need to be encouraged to open up. Not man up.

- Matt Haig (@matthaig1) November 18, 2019

As well as several novels, Haig is most famous for his best-sellers Reasons to Stay Alive, which chronicles his battle with anxiety and depression, and Notes on a Nervous Planet, a pick-and-mix which is equal parts a treatise on our crazy, Black Mirror: Nosedive-esque society, as well as a mini bible of inspirational self-help for anyone who needs the verbal equivalent of a cuddle. A lot of society is still stuck on the idiotic belief that “real men” are strong and stoic, never expressing their emotions and never sharing vulnerability-so it’s nice that we’ve got people like Haig giving this kind of sexism the middle finger.

Aaron Gillies

Loneliness kills and silence can be devastating. For #InternationalMensDay just message a man in your life who could be going through a shitty time, or just let them know that you are there. Knowing you aren’t alone is vital, feeling isolated has almost taken me a few times.

- TechnicallyRon (@TechnicallyRon) November 19, 2019

As well as being a stand-up comedian, Gillies-someone else who got the anxiety/depression double whammy-is the bestselling author of How to Survive the End of the World (When it’s in Your Own Head), a.k.a. one of the best and almost definitely the funniest anxiety survival guide you will ever read.

Hasan Minhaj

The Daily Show alumnus is enjoying a wildly successful career in comedy, including headlining the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where he called Trump “the liar-in-chief”, and took this shot at Jeff Sessions: “On his R.S.V.P. he just wrote, “no.” Just no! Which happens to be his second favourite n-word.” These days, however, he’s best known for his Netflix show Patriot Act with Hassan Minhaj, which he’s used to firing off hard-hitting but still funny takes on everything from so-called hype culture to the volatile political situation in Sudan. When the world sucks this much the least we can do is laugh about it, right?

Qasim Rashid

45 is gaslighting about undocumented immigrants (probably to distract from the devastating impeachment inquiry). Don’t fall for it.

Immigrants AND Undocumented immigrants commit far less crime than born Citizens.

Lies from 45 won’t fix our broken immigration system. pic.twitter.com/IIqWwO7piL

- Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@QasimRashid) November 12, 2019

He might not have won his bid to enter the Virginia state senate this year, but Rashid’s tireless campaigning was undoubtedly a big help in the Democrats winning a majority and ensuring that the state flipped blue. He’s a lawyer, human rights advocate and author, and regularly uses his Twitter feed to call out the insanity of the Trump administration, as well as fact-checking, exposing racists and busting myths about Islam and Muslims.

And even if you don’t care about any of that, you can always follow him for the dad jokes.

Trevor Noah

He’s the current host of The Daily Show, has released nine comedy specials-the most recent one, Afraid of the Dark, debuted on Netflix in February this year-and in 2016 took a step back from roasting politicians with Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood, a New York Times bestselling autobiography about growing up in a biracial family during apartheid. According to his website, the stories are “sometimes dark, occasionally bizarre, frequently tender, and always hilarious.”

Obviously, having five people barely scratches the surface, so let us know if you think any other men deserve a shout-out, then let us know in the comments below.

Originally published at https://uni.news on November 21, 2019.