breast cancer awareness month

[merchimerch]

Since October is almost over, and I haven't really said anything about breast cancer awareness month, I thought I'd post an article that I thought was really powerful on the subject of the pink ribbon campaign, and the saccharine quality of many of the mainstream ribbon campaigns. This article is from Harpers, by Barbara Ehrenreich, and is long, but really thought provoking.

I think she is right in her point that while all the pink items that encourage us to shop for a cure may raise awareness (which is good), they still haven't broken down a flawed medical system (and arguably society) which still has a very skewed manner of dealing with women and their gender specific diseases.

This is one of my favorite quotes from the article, which is her writing about her reaction to a gift bag that she received after treatments: "The infantilizing trope is perplexing. Centrainly men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not receive gifts of matchbox cars"

http://www.bcaction.org/PDF/Harpers.pdf

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

wow. That was quite an article. I hadn't thought about it that much... I had no idea that mammograms are not as effective as I'd been given to believe. And it's such a good point that the whole culture wipes away the dealing with mortality aspect of it... and truthfully, we're all going to die anyway. The question is how much horriffic treatments would extend your life and whether or not it's worth it.

Thanks for sharing!

[elissali.livejournal.com]

sorry, that was me.

[merchimerch.livejournal.com]

heh - LJ has started anonymizing me every once in a while as well ;)

I'm really interested in the whole anti-ribbon campaign thing. I really wonder how much good all of it does. I guess it is the debate between raising awareness vs. creating complacency. I see such a connection between this kind of "shop for a cure" type consumer action through spending and Bush's advice for everyone to go shopping after 9-11. It is as if we as people now only have value as consumers and the only way we can effectively get our voices heard is through our purchasing power. You might look at www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org - they have some interesting points on the whole thing.

The other thing that really struck me about the article was how women aren't allowed to be angry. Part of it resonated, because I don't think that women are allowed to be angry in our culture in general, but also that there is this focus on being a "survivor." Perhaps it is all connected with our cultures drive for immortality.

Anyway, I'm glad you liked the article.