A Little More Straightforward, a Lot Less Silly

The title of this post expresses what I'd like to see change about "Breast Cancer Awareness."

I never liked some of the silly breast cancer awareness stuff out there, and I like it even less now that breast cancer is personal for me.

A good example is "Save the Ta-tas." Really? 

How about "Save the life even if it means sacrificing the ta-tas?"

Or "You might be able to save the ta-tas, but after lumpectomy, one of them may be a little misshapen and smaller than the other, but after all, you survived cancer."

Not nearly as cute or catchy, is it? I realize that the aforementioned company donates five percent of the price of each item sold to breast cancer research, which is significant, but they are still a for-profit company that is in the business of selling stuff. The owner/ founder is a clothing designer who "has family members who've been diagnosed with breast cancer." I don't mean to be cynical, but nowadays, who doesn't? One in eight women is likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. 

The founder of "Save the Ta-tas" said in an interview in 2011:

“When a person faces cancer it takes some time to laugh again. Our goal is to help them find that laughter.”

Apparently women whose ta-tas can't be saved will need to find their laughter elsewhere. 

As a breast cancer patient, I find laughter joking with friends about shared experiences like radiation tattoos, the possibility of picking up radio stations during wire localization for lumpectomy, and the ridiculously undignified experience of a breast MRI. Of course, like everyone else, my best sources of  laughter are the family and friends who share my life. "Save the Ta-tas" products are more likely to make me cringe than laugh. At least "Save the Ta-tas" is probably more transparent and well meaning than many other businesses that have jumped on the breast cancer bandwagon.

 To be successful in business today, a company must do more than just sell a good product.  According to a recent study, 80 percent of Americans are likely to switch brands, if comparable in price and quality, to one that supports a social cause. - Shopping for a Better World, Sariki Bansal, NY Times, May 9, 2012

Unfortunately, the commercial sector saw a window of opportunity to capitalize and "sexify" breast cancer. When a corporation wants to attract female customers, they strategically place a pink ribbon on the product and claim that a portion (usually an unnamed amount) will be donated to breast cancer research. And women everywhere endure a month focused on our ta-tas...

 Breast cancer is typically presented as a "sexy" disease, one that affects young women's bodies, even though 95% of new breast cancer cases occur in women 40 years or older, and the median age of a breast cancer diagnosis is 61...

 No organization would dare make heart disease or lung cancer into a sexy disease.

- Jessica S. Holmes, breast cancer researcher. Click here for the full context of her remarks.

Then there are the annual Facebook status games where women post cute, cryptic, often sexually suggestive statuses, (wink, wink, don't let the boys in on our secret, while we girls have a little fun for a good cause.) Here's this year's game, copied from Facebook:

 Hello Ladies! So its that time of year again when we try to raise awareness for breast cancer through a game. It's very easy and I would like all of you to participate. Two years ago we had to write the color of our underwear on our wall. Men wondered for days at what was going on with random colors on our walls. This year we will make references to our love life status. See below. For example, if you are "single," post "Blueberry" on your wall. There's no need to respond to this message; just post your corresponding answer on your wall.  Feel free to copy and paste this message privately to all the girls in your contact list to keep the game going!

BLUEBERRY = single;
PINEAPPLE = it's complicated;
RASPBERRY = I can't / don't want to commit;
APPLE= engaged;
CHERRY= in a relationship;
BANANA=married;
AVOCADO= I'm the better half;
STRAWBERRY= can't find Mr. Right;
LEMON = want to be single
RAISIN = want to get married to my partner.

I've never understood what these games have to do with breast cancer or how they help anyone, but I do know that for some people they can be hurtful. Click here for one example.

There may be a whole host of breast cancer patients and survivors out there who love this stuff, but I know now that a lot of them don't. Click for another example.

 Breast cancer is not a game or a joke, it's not fun and it's not sexy. I guess people want to feel good about themselves for "supporting a good cause" while they do things they like to do anyway and a lot of people just seem to like adolescent fun and games.

 
The cause of breast cancer awareness might be better served if this guy went home and called his mom to remind her to have her annual mammogram, since she's probably at higher risk than the sweet young thing he's ogling in the bar. Less than 7% of breast cancers occur in women under the age of forty. Of course, the women at highest risk for breast cancer don't have quite the same commercial appeal as the sexy young models featured in some of the "awareness" campaigns. But then, for many of these campaigns, it never really was about us, was it?

If the goal is really to increase awareness among women most at risk, we'd see more straightforward, but boring, slogans and Facebook posts like:

Reduce Your Weight, Reduce Your Risk

Increase Your Exercise, Decrease Your Risk

Got Family History? (...of Breast Cancer?)

Over Forty?  Had Your Mammogram This Year? 

Booze Is Not a Girl's Breasts' Friend  (Now, that one's almost cute and catchy, don't you think?)


There are a lot of good, worthwhile breast cancer awareness and fund raising efforts out there. So go ahead, Race for the Cure and donate toward research. Remind the women over forty in your life, and younger women with a family history of breast cancer, to get their mammograms. Wear pink ribbons if you want to.

Just please don't insult breast cancer patients by using a disease as an excuse for gratuitous silliness. 

REFLECTIONS ON PINK RIBBONS

If I were superstitious, I'd say that I've brought this on myself by my critical thoughts and comments about all the "hype" about breast cancer awareness. I've criticized what seem like gratuitous promotions: sexual innuendos posted as Facebook statuses and campaigns based on images of busty young women in tight pink T-shirts. After all, the median age of breast cancer diagnosis is 61 and median age of death by breast cancer is 68. Who isn't aware of breast cancer? Why sexualize a disease? Because sex sells, I guess. I've suspected some of this has to do with the American obsession with female breasts. And I've been skeptical of corporations jumping on the breast cancer bandwagon, selling all things pink and promising to give a portion of profits for research. I've wondered if some of this is just good PR and a way to capitalize on a popular cause.

I've never minimized the seriousness of the disease or the need for fund-raising and research. I've had one friend who died tragically, painfully and fairly young from breast cancer. I've had other friends who've had miserable experiences with aggressive breast cancers, but who are now considered survivors. I have participated in the Race for the Cure a few times, twice with friends who've survived particularly rough battles with the disease.

But I think there are other diseases that the public should be just as aware of. I've known people who died young from other cancers and diseases that were every bit as heartbreaking. So I've often wondered, and too often wondered aloud, why breast cancer seems to get so much more attention and funding than other serious diseases. I've wished and hoped that those other diseases would get their fair share of research funding too, at least proportionate to the number of people affected. It would be hard, I guess, to use sex to promote awareness of colon cancer, for example.

Well, a couple days ago, I was diagnosed with a malignant breast tumor and I will be consulting with a surgeon next week. I'll know much more after that, but what I think I know now that it is small, non-aggressive, but invasive ductal carcinoma "grade 1," and has been caught early. That will probably only mean anything to people with breast cancer experience. My gynecologist thinks the most likely best treatment scenario will be lumpectomy followed by radiation.

So now I am going to benefit from all that money raised for breast cancer research and I am truly thankful for it. I am already finding the Susan G. Komen Foundation to be a great source of information. I am thankful for the medical technology that allowed for early detection and makes my prognosis so much more positive than it might have been a few decades ago. But I still hope people, especially children, suffering from other serious diseases can benefit  just as much from fund-raising and research. And right now, I feel anything but sexy.
 
More than public awareness campaigns, pink ribbons and Facebook posts daring people to re-post to prove they care about cancer patients, I am thankful for friends and family who pray for me. I'm thankful for friends who have walked this road before me and are available to talk to. I'm especially thankful for my supportive, loving husband and children.

Although I'll joke about bringing this on myself, I've tasted enough of God's grace to know He's not punishing me for anything, but that He will use this experience to bring about His own good purposes. I thank Him that my cancer was caught early, my tumor is small, and this didn't occur earlier in my life while I was raising my children. I know God's love and care for me are steadfast, no less and no more than they are for my friends whose experiences have been harder than I expect mine to be. And He'll be with me if this experience brings unpleasant surprises. None of it will surprise Him. I thank Him for His abiding presence through the good times and the hard ones and I will trust Him.