No I don’t like Pink Ribbons or the Pink Ribbon Campaign.
Yes I think big business and the medical community (and the doggone patriarchy, for that matter) are doing a great job of causing women to be afraid of a cancer that probably isn’t going to kill them. And, they’re doing an excellent job of using breast cancer to continue the attack on women through negative body image messaging.
No I don’t think all breast cancer research is worthless.
Yes I bought a pink roomba which did "sort of" support breast cancer research. But I bought it because it represented Hazel (the TV show you culturally illiterate people) and not because it supported breast cancer.
No I would never buy THESE and I cannot see why anyone WOULD buy these. THIS is an example of how we are being USED. If you buy these, you are allowing yourself to be USED.
Yes I would donate money to breast cancer research or breast cancer support groups. I have done so in the past and I am sure I will do so in the future.
No I don’t love the Red Dress campaign either. But as sassymonkey has recently pointed out, marketing seems to be the only way to reach women (why is that – I have my theories, do you have yours). At least the Red Dress campaign is helping to make women aware of a health condition that probably WILL kill them.
I prefer the red dress campaign for the same reason you stated…. it really is getting the word out about how serious heart disease can be for women. And, unlike the pink ribbon campaign, it encourages the wearing of red and is less about selling red dresses, at least from what I’ve seen.
We all, myself included, know women who had breast cancer and many of us knew someone who died from it. So I do take the illness seriously.
I don’t really have a problem with the *idea* of the pink ribbon campaign but its phenomenal success is, I think, at the expense of women who seem to think it’s their most serious (and seemingly only) health concern. And now companies are sticking a pink ribbon on to ANYthing, knowing women will buy it when they otherwise wouldn’t simply because it has a pink ribbon on it.
Because women will only talk about it if they can dress it up and make it look pretty??? Yes, I know that sounds bitchy but I can’t think of a non-bitchy way to say it. If it works, it works. But how long before we run out of pretty shiny wrapping paper for all of these issues?
The Pink Ribbon campaign did do a good job of getting people to come forward and tell their stories. They did raise awareness. They made it a women’s issue first and a health issue second (IMO). I don’t think there’s anything wrong with knowing the facts. And knowing what you can do to detect it and even try to help prevent it. And I don’t have issues with things like Run for the Cure – in my mind it’s really no different than the Terry Fox Run (although more pink) or the annual AIDS run they have each year during Pride here. But I’m tired of having pink merchandise shoved down my throat (like the pink Serta “special edition” sheep – give me a break) and being glared at when I don’t want to buy a $5 pink bracelet that I will never wear in a million years and would toss in the garbage immediately (had you not glared at me I would have just given you the money and not walked away).
I rarely hear women talk about heart disease or strokes. Strokes got about 15 seconds of air time when Sharon Stone had one (and how many people have since forgotten that she did have one???). Given my family medical history and the fact that I get migraines and I’m on hormonal birth control I personally should be more worried about having a stroke than breast cancer. I know my doctor is more worried about it. I should also be worried about arthritis. Arthitis may not kill me but it could make my life pretty miserable. I should worry about my thyroid seeing as we have a family history of thyroid issues. Breast cancer just isn’t on the top of my list.
I got a big kick out of this post.
For an interesting twist on the topic of the “pinking” of breast cancer awareness, there are two articles I link to from my website, http://www.honestmedicine.typepad.com, that I think you might like to read.
To access these two articles, please go to the links on the left side of my site, and look under “articles of importance.”
1)”Welcome to Cancerland: A Mammogram Leads to a Cult of Pink Kitsch,” by Barbara Ehrenreich. A classic.
2)”Chemo Concession” (contains some surprising information about the chemotherapy industry)
Both articles will give you another perspective on the “think pink†phenomenon. I hope you will find them informative. Thanks very much for giving them a look!
Sincerely,
Julia Schopick
http://www.honestmedicine.typepad.com
Thanks for all of the responses. Nobody even growled at me and I thought for sure someone would. Ah well, maybe next time. 😉
I actually hadn’t given this a lot of thought, but after reading some of your opinions and posts on it, I tend to agree with you. (What? I agreed with you about something???? Alert the media!) I think this, however, is a much more blatant misuse of any health awareness campaign: http://www.munchkin.com/projectpink/order_duck.php.
Now now LJ, we do not always disagree. I’m not even sure we disagree most of the time.
But yea, that’s an offensive campaign. Sigh.