So this may sound weird, I’m sure. I don’t mean that I don’t support breast cancer awareness in general or campaigns to gain money to help cure the cancer that affects 1 in 8 women in the US. And about 39,000 women will die this year alone from breast cancer which is the second most deadly cancer behind lung cancer. [cancer.org] Men are also at risk for breast cancer, but that’s often ignored because breasts=woman, apparently. While it is not as common(100 times less likely in a man), it does still happen. 410 men will die from breast cancer alone this year. [cancer.org] Sure, a very small amount in the grand scheme of things, but that’s still lives lost and people suffering.
Cancer is a serious matter. Lives are changed when someone is diagnosed. I have been fortunate enough that no one close to me has been diagnosed with any sort of cancer, but many aren’t that lucky. When it comes to breast cancer, people think of women. And some of those people don’t even think of women as a whole, but the parts the cancer affects, the breasts.
And this is where it all hits the fan for me.
Save the Tatas!
Don’t let cancer steal second base
Boobs: They need your support!
Big or small, save them all!
And those are the only ones I would dare put on my blog for the rest irritate me so much. Don’t understand why?
Were you aware that boobs belong to a person? That a person has cancer? That the cancer may reside mainly in their breasts, but a person has the cancer cells destroying their body?
I will admit to not knowing about cancer or how it affects people, but any ignorant fool knows that it’s a hard process to go through, both for the one affected and those closest. A breast cancer treatment entails all sorts of pain and frustration and things that I don’t understand myself because I haven’t experienced it and pray to the lord that I won’t anytime soon.
So again, why do these campaign slogans bother me?
Because they focus on not the person but a part of the person that is so oversexualized that a single mention of a bosom will get you comments or attention that isn’t warranted. And I sit here, writing for a blog that is for large busts and carry one myself, that does not mean I want attention to be focused on that solely when it comes to me as a person. So why when a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer is her chest the only thing people consider?
I had a friend whose mother survived breast cancer. I can tell you that my first question wasn’t about her breasts now or before, but of how she feels as a person, how she is doing without the topic being focused on her chest.
Now, let’s look at another campaign meant to raise aware for breast cancer.
So would someone like to explain to me how not wearing a bra is beneficial for breast cancer awareness? There isn’t much else to say about this terrible campaign meant to exploit women and benefit men. I had someone post this on my facebook page and I was so shocked.
Where do I even start with this?
How about when a message is sent to twitter each time a bra clasp is undone?
Would you like to explain to me how this raises breast cancer? It doesn’t!
It raises attention to breasts. Because something protruding from the body isn’t noticeable any other time of the year when there aren’t campaigns to worn people. And there’s no way people will think of breast cancer unless a woman is waving her bare breasts in front of them.
Want to know why it’s ‘save the tatas’ or ‘no bra day’ or whatever shit people will come up with next year? It’s because most/some men must sexualize everything, including cancer. They don’t care about the person and people who suffer because of it. Then if a woman chooses to get a mastectomy to save her life, god forbid that it be accepted!
Breast cancer is terrible. Cancer is terrible. But not wearing a bra or randomly groping a boob does nothing to help any of it. The way you can help is give yourself regular exams and get mammograms when you hit the proper age. This will increase your chance of catching it early to reduce the risk of death in the end.
Wear a bra for as long as you want. Don’t wear a bra for as long as you want. Let whoever you want grab your breast for whatever reason you sit fit. But don’t do it for the sake of breast cancer awareness because none of those things help. And they won’t in a million years.
[Here lies the end of my rant about this stupid awareness month that benefits no one in the end except perverts who desire to benefit from as many braless women as they can manage. Thank you for your time.]
Voluptuous and Beautiful 
I was pretty sick of pinkwashing to begin with, and the overtly sexual ‘campaigns’ of recent years have been even more disgusting. At least it looks like many people are starting to speak out against both.
Yep, totally agreed. “Everything about breast cancer is pink because girls like pink” is mildly annoying. The increasing oversexualization is infuriating. And I think “save the boobies” and the like is downright dangerous. Because hey, maybe you can’t save the boobies. Maybe the boobies have to go to SAVE THE WOMAN!!
“Maybe the boobies have to go to SAVE THE WOMAN!!” And I support that completely! As should all people.
I adore the color pink because pink and red look amazing on my skintone so I take advantage of that, and I don’t wear it because I’m a woman. I’d wear blue if I thought that I rocked it half as well as I did pink. I never understood how it related to breast cancer, though.
When it was announced that Angelina Jolie had had a double mastectomy due to her heightened risk of breast cancer, I think i broke a desk by the number of times I hit my head against it while reading all the comments calling her selfish for denying Brad Pitt her boobs or asking if she even considered his feelings in all this. There were even a few “someone think of the children” comments it was all very painful.
The only ‘sexualised’ aspect of the breast cancer fight that I can get on board with is by Rodene Jones & her husband Duncan Jones who call for you to ‘feel up’ the person you love because it can save a life
You’re so right. As if she wouldn’t have taken good medical advice (she can afford it, can’t she?). And as if she wouldn’t have discussed such a big decision with her husband and children. And as if, having done all of that, it wasn’t still entirely her decision what to do with her body. The assumption here is always the same: women’s bodies don’t belong to them, but in some nebulous way to the men that are allowed to touch them. Fuck. That.
Unfortunately, that is how women are treated. In regards to their breasts, their bodies, their uterus and in whole, their minds. Every part of a woman is supposedly meant to be dictated by a man and we see proof of that every day. It’s sickening and needs to be stopped, especially when women out-populate men.
I was applauding her. It was such a good choice and it was better for her than not to actually do a double. She saved her family the pain of going through the suffering if she were to contract the illness and more power to her for taking charge of her body and definitely power to her kids and husband(?) for supporting her in this decision. No one should say that it is easy because I assume that for a sexually appealing woman who has used that to her advantage over the years, it was a hard decision to begin with. But she didn’t let that dictate her health, and that’s what mattered.
And the other thing you mention, I think is bullshit. While I do agree that men should also be taught to feel for lumps because of the amount of time they may spend groping a woman’s chest and even their own, it shouldn’t be used to that context. I would slap my fiance upside the head if he started groping me under the guise of ‘feeling for lumps’ instead of just groping what’s rightfully his. It shouldn’t be used in that sort of context and they could campaign it more so it doesn’t just give men an excuse.
It could be worse. There was a horrifying campaign in the US where men ‘motorboated’ (i.e. stuck their faces between women’s breasts and made some kind of gross sputtering sound), and in exchange for this gave a derisory sum of money to some charity or other. I completely agree with you: cancer changes lives. It kills women. Women are people. That is all.
Motorboating got men money? I don’t..what the hell? What does motorboating have to do with detecting or even curing breast cancer? I think if people are going to donate to cancer research then they just should, not pay to see or be or do motorboating.
See for yourself. It’s utterly baffling: http://jezebel.com/motorboating-for-breast-cancer-campaign-promotes-douc-1446379649. And yes, quite: either you want to cure cancer, or you don’t.
Yes, yes, yes. I can’t stand the “Save the boobies” angle for breast cancer campaigns. Don’t save the boobs, save the goddamn person. Women’s worth is not in their breasts. My boobs are not the most important thing about me. Having a mastectomy could save a life, but it wouldn’t “save the boobs”, and apparently the latter is all we should care about.
Exactly! I’m sure that if my risk for breast cancer was incredibly high, I would rather have a masectomy to save myself and everyone around me from all that pain. And who cares about implants/reconstruction anyways? I’m sick of hearing how gross “fake” breasts are. I think they can be just as beautiful as natural breasts and you can certainly get your money’s worth if done right.
I’m also ridiculously tired of the pinkwashing every year – and somehow, when November 1st rolls around, its like breast cancer no longer exists.
I’m also very tired of the fact that breast cancer has so much money raised that researchers are saying they have enough money for years – but if found early, it’s treatable. However, there is almost no money raised for melanoma, and the mortality rate of this cancer once it spreads is very high. My father-in-law had a melanoma removed, then a few years later he discovered that it had come back…and spread with a vengeance. He died in the spring of 2011. If you’re going to set aside certain months to raise money for assorted cancer research, then use the rest of the year for all the other parts of the body and help everyone – not just women, not just breasts.
After the whole Komen / Planned Parenthood debacle, I won’t support anything that just has a pink ribbon slapped on it. I don’t give my money to Komen. I will, however, donate to local cancer centers who work with a multitude of patients and situations.
I’ve always wondered that, too. Can’t we just have cancer and everything else awareness? Most people aren’t even aware that October is also Domestic Violence awareness month, too. We’re so focused on breasts that no one can give a damn about anything else.
I have no desire to buy anything with a pink ribbon on it. Coincidentally enough, half the things that I buy on a monthly, even weekly basis have had those ribbons on it and it’s not like I can just refuse to buy my water or my canned vegetables for a month if that’s what I use in my household. It becomes bothersome.
Well said!
Pinkwashing is utterly stupid. It’s high time North America realised that Europe is way ahead of us…breasts aren’t such a big, sexualised thing over there! Cancer is awful (grandma died of pancreatic cancer), but let’s get the message out without spouting patriarchal bullshit. Good read, Izzy.