I support the goals of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, access to free mammograms for women without insurance, more funding for breast cancer research and advances in treatment of the disease.This is what I do not support:
- A cult of pink ribbon kitsch that pretends to promote awareness by encouraging people to purchase products that generate more in corporate profit than charitable contribution
- Corporate influence over charitable foundations like Komen, in particular, pharmaceutical companies that produce the drugs many breast cancer patients are prescribed, while at the same time these corporations are releasing suspected carcinogens into our air and water
- The cult of “survivorship” that promotes the absolute best outcome for breast cancer patients as being the norm, without acknowledging the differences in survival rates for certain types of breast cancer and narrowing the definition of “cure” to a five year period
- The very idea that breast cancer can be “cured” without understanding or funding sufficient research into identifying the possible causes that underlie skyrocketing rates of breast cancer among women who fit a “low risk” profile
- Raising money by selling photos of breasts – disconnected from names, faces or the real lives of the women affected by this disease and the people who love them
The more I learn about this issue of funding and pink ribbons and corporate sponsorship and the possible, yet largely unexplored environmental issues connected to rising rates of breast cancer, the less comfortable I am with sending my donations to a group like Komen.
That is not the same as saying I would never give a donation to Komen. In fact, I have participated in their 5k runs, raised hundreds of dollars for them in the past, and I know first-hand from these experiences what a powerful and cohesive feeling it is to stand with thousands of other women to show support for breast cancer victims and survivors, no matter how you define that last category.
What I am saying is this: Read more about the underlying issues of marketing and funding for research. Ask more questions. Consider sending your donations to organizations that fund research into the possible environmental causes of breast cancer, not just those which focus on a “cure.”
And, for heaven’s sake, think twice about whether flashing a jpeg of your lovelies is the most appropriate way to raise money for this cause.
Call it a “celebration” if you like. Purveyors of pornography have been using that line for centuries.
Um, personally I’m looking forward to the companion site that raises money for testicular cancer.
Nothing to add except that I agree with you, 100%.
You say their hearts are in the right places. I think it’s The women’s Auxiliary idea of do-goodism without any real thought into what and why. Then, it can be forgotten because well, they did something, never mind it’s about 180 wrong from the direction it should be in.
Pony has an excellent post on this, though she doesn’t pimp it.
http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/2006/10/01/boobython/
I’m going to link to your post, AL, later this week, but I won’t say where.
I also agree 100%, I am a survivor of Vulvar cancer it is a cancer that is becoming more and more common amongst 40-50 year old woman due to HPV, although we have no support or organization to help with this type of cancer , so it is not that I dont support the Breast cancer fund I believe their should be assistance for other gyne cancers, not just cervical. I have no health insurance and can not get treatment other than at the county level.
I love how nude breasts = porn to you people. I love it.
Because all nudity is porn.
I’ll bet you guys are a lot of fun at art museums.
And instead of complaining about how they’re giving to the wrong people, why don’t you respectfully suggest more “worthy” charities? Or would that be too easy?
Alternative organizations are hyperlinked in the post. It’s surprisingly easy to find them once one brushes away all the pink distractions.
All nudity is not porn. But when sums of money are exchanged for access to nude images, the distinction get a bit too blurry for my comfort level.
You’d be lucky to have me with you at an art museum. I know something about art and I’m always happy to share my knowledge with those who obviously know so little.
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It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Memo to pink ribbon profiteers: some bloggers are very aware of breast cancer, thank you very much.
First Freedom First: Tyranny of the Majority. Also, the arrogance …
You rock. Thanks for the great post. You eased my guilt about not being in the cult of the pink ribbon. And you displayed grace when attacked. Very cool.
Also, Komen tests on animals. I’d rather support a charity that does good work without the inhumanity. Like Lance Armstrong’s.
Just for the record, our donors selected the charity they wished to donate to in 2002 — it was overwhelmingly Komen. We didn’t sit around topless in some super-secret pink group deciding how best to fund the next blush and bashful blender and mixer set.
And this year we gave equal-time to the charity and websites others have deemed more ‘worthy’. We would have been going against our advance announcement to have up and switched charities mid-event, but we did give the link-love — and added a category titled “hate the pink?” with that link our sidebar.
If it takes making someone pony up $50+ for a link (when they’d most likely have never given a second-thought to donating to that organization before), so be it. Everyone at our site is legally of age and must submit their own photograph of their own free will. Would it somehow be ‘better’ and more legit if we included the bare-breast shots on the free page and no one had incentive to do anything besides have a looky-loo? It’s called “marketing”.
(And if I may address a couple of the comments above…after the 5th event is almost in the record books…I’ve honestly never heard the testicular cancer or cervical cancer lines before… Never. So clever and original you are! Bravo!)
At least I can sleep at night knowing my “porn” — filled with survivor photos and tributes — has raised over $33K and counting for a disease I hope never claims another friend. I’ll have more than just words archived in Google indexing one day…
Wellc aptured I agree with ur arguements!
i tottally agree with you and i would like to draw attention to something ive noticed over the years.
as im lead to believe Red Dye is supposed to be a leading cause of BC, along with other things of course.
yet i have seen ads for BC awaereness/assistance campains that ask people to buy Red Dye in support! has any one else seen this happening?
i recall Avon and Yeves Saint Laurent both selling special edition red lips sticks for BC funding assistance programs!
and maybe im wrong but products such as these pink ribbons have Red Dye in them dont they? like those WalMart bandanas they were selling last year!
perhaps pink is the wrong color, i was thinking that white ones would be better cause they are Dye free, but if they are bleached with clorine then we have a dioxin problem on our hands instead and that means more or the chemical posioning that we need much less of.
besides all that, ribbons suck, they wont stop the industrial posioning of our planet any more than they will make bullets bounce off of our troops in iraq!
Nudity is not porn and it’s not all nudity.
Do something.
As the daughter of a breast cancer survivor, I think anyone who raises money for a cure is honorable. Whatever the means.
I’m happy my Mom is alive and that people like Robyn are willing to give their time, and she doesn’t have too much to give, to the cause.
Perhaps we should all stop to listen.
A wonderful post! For an interesting twist on the topic of the “pinking” of breast cancer awareness, please see the link on my website, http://www.honestmedicine.typepad.com, to the article “Welcome to Cancerland: A Mammogram Leads to a Cult of Pink Kitsch” by Barbara Ehrenreich. (You can access the article by going to the left side of my site, under “articles of importance.”)
This article will give you a different perspective on the topic! It is a classic.
Sincerely,
Julia Schopick
http://www.honestmedicine.typepad.com
[...] Update: As most but perhaps not all of you know, the “Anti-Boobie-Thon” was instigated in (negative) reaction to the “Fifth Annual Blogger Boobiethon for Breast Cancer,” the premise of which was that bloggers would send in photographs of their breasts, and the Boobiethon website would raise money by charging readers $50 to view these pictures. Twisty’s critique was awesome, but I have recently encountered another one that resonates with me at Threading Water called “Pink Porn, my favorite paragraph of which follows: And, for heaven’s sake, think twice about whether flashing a jpeg of your lovelies is the most appropriate way to raise money for this cause. Personally, I get a bit queasy thinking about someone paying fifty bucks to get a peek at mine, maybe even downloading them as a screen saver. What’s next? Can you imagine the companion website that raises money for cervical cancer? [...]