A few days ago I noticed the appearance of the seemingly provocative "I like it on..." facebook statuses. The general idea is that women post where they like to place their purse as their facebook status in an effort to confuse men and to raise awareness for breast cancer. As an alternative to changing my status, I am authoring this blogpost.
Excuse me if I seem harsh, but this campaign is relatively useless. What does a seemingly provocative status do to raise awareness for breast cancer? For one, the sexual connotation behind the status is not empowering to women. Not at the very least. "Please allow me to openly use sex to lure men into asking what my status means." Does this not diminish the value of a women's body during a month that is supposed to raise awareness in order to promote the healthy and well-being of women's bodies?
Furthermore, let's say someone asks what your seemingly provocative status means... you say "it's for breast cancer awareness". I think "wow, that's strange" not "oh, let me encourage women I know to get regular breast exams" or "maybe I should make a donation towards cancer research". If I google the content of the status, I see articles about how ability of a status to go viral, not links that give me more information about cancer prevention.
Any way you look at it, nothing about this campaign makes sense. It just proves that humans are virtual lemmings and is rather concerning because of the viral nature of social media. People don't think about what they are posting before they post it. (And yes, I am pondering the consequences of this post as I am writing it.) As one Wallstreet Journal blogger puts it, "But at some point, it seems even worse to use the cover of breast-cancer awareness to make flirtatious, joking statements on Facebook. And why is it only a women’s health issue that seems to come in for this sort of treatment?"
It all seems rather fruitless, if not counterproductive. If you want to support the cause, do something that actually supports the cause:
"Q: What is breast cancer?Find out more at the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month website or the Susan Komen foundation or the American Cancer Society or the American Breast Cancer Foundation.
A: Breast cancer is cancer that forms in tissues of the breast, usually the ducts (tubes that carry milk to the nipple) and lobules (glands that make milk). It occurs in both men and women, although male breast cancer is rare.
Q: How many new cases of breast cancer were estimated in the United States in 2009?
A: According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), an estimated 192,370 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed among women in the United States last year. Approximately 1,910 new cases are expected in men. The ACS also reports that an estimated 40,610 breast cancer deaths are expected in 2009 (40,170 women, 440 men).
Q: How common is breast cancer in the United States?
A: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, aside from skin cancer. "
Praying for a cure to cancer, praying for patients undergoing treatment, praying for cancer survivors, praying for families who have lost loved ones... praying that God will wipe cancer from the face of the earth and praying that until then we all can be more informed, more supportive, and more dedicated to aiding our brothers and sisters affected by cancer.
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