Breast Cancer Awareness

Started by Bounsweet October 12th, 2012 6:45 AM
  • 614 views
  • 6 replies

Bounsweet

Fruit Pokémon

Seen September 17th, 2018
Posted October 11th, 2017
2,102 posts
15.6 Years
This is something that's bugged me for a while, but it's getting a little more out in the open with it being October (breast cancer awareness month) and all.

Let me just start by saying I understand cancer and its severity. I had an aunt battle lung cancer for five years before passing, and I know how serious it is. I support awareness and can empathize with people who have lost loved ones from it.

But what's the deal with breast cancer, specifically? NFL supports it, I see "save the tatas" t-shirts, bumper stickers, wrist bands, etc. everywhere. I bought pink tennis balls last year thinking they were cute, and found on the tube that the purchase helps support breast cancer awareness.

What about prostate cancer? Lung cancer? Brain cancer? Colon cancer? Skin cancer? Leukemia?

Is breast cancer really only so popular because a lot of people want to just "save the boobies?" I know a lot of it is because it's so commonly diagnosed in women who have had family histories of it, but it really bothers me when they try to shove it down my throat.

Last month was Children's Cancer Awareness month. All forms of cancer that affect children are acknowledged. Why can't there be a general cancer awareness month that's not only acknowledged as much as breast cancer, but covers every form of it?

I like how I'm ranting about this while wearing a breast cancer awareness wrist band that came free with my purchase of a backpack yesterday.

gimmepie

Age 27
Male
Australia
Seen 10 Hours Ago
Posted 13 Hours Ago
24,970 posts
11.1 Years
I agree with how you feel for the most part, although "movember" exists for Prostate cancer so that one is out. I do sometimes feel that other forms that are just a serious are often overlooked but I can also see the logic. Cancer comes in so many varieties, there are thousands of different diseases all labelled as "cancer" and in order to produce good treatment, or even maybe a cure, for each lots of research etc... has to be done into each variety individually. It's not about "Save the boobs" it's just a coincidence that Breast Cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer.
RPWLA&MVGGaming Journal

LividZephyr

Oxymoron, not a moron, thanks

Male
Wisconsin, USA
Seen September 21st, 2017
Posted May 10th, 2015
445 posts
10.6 Years
I don't really know. I know of all kinds of cancers, and have had multiple people in my life infected with different kinds. Some have survived, some haven't, and it's unfortunate. Breast cancer is a big deal and might be the most common - or has the support for that one increased its apparency as the biggest?

I just support finding a cure for cancer in general. One will lead to another... hopefully.

Nihilego

[color=#95b4d4]ユービーゼロイチ パラサイト[/color]

Male
scotland
Seen September 28th, 2018
Posted March 16th, 2018
8,874 posts
12.1 Years
Well... breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and occasionally - although rarely - occurs in men too, making it a pretty big deal for a lot of people. So that's probably why that cancer specifically gets so much attention in this month. So no it's not just something as simple and shallow as, uh, "save the boobies" as you'd put it. The world doesn't care that much about tits lol. It's because it's a really big deal.

I'm not saying that other cancer types aren't a a big deal but look at is this way - how would we have an awareness month for those? Would we, instead of picking the most common one, pick the most serious one? That's like saying "my cancer is worse than your cancer so I should get all the awareness". No. Any cancer is horrible for the person who has it, so that'd fall flat on its face. Should we really go to town and give every month a cancer type? I'll name twelve now - breast, brain, lung, heart, stomach, throat, skin, blood, colon, bladder, bowel, pancreas. Now you've got people with lymphoma, ovarian, etc. cancer being left out of it all. That's definitely a worse solution than just spotlighting one type of cancer.

And regarding the "why can't there be a general cancer awareness month?" question, well, do you honestly not think that people are aware of cancer enough anyway? I think I saw a statistic a while back saying that one in three of us will either get cancer or have a close family member or friend with cancer. With 33% of the population being affected by cancer I definitely feel like people are pretty aware of it. Adding to that, there's stuff about cancer everywhere. All over TV I see cancer charities asking for money. I see Cancer Research UK posters at train stations and I see their shops on lots of streets. I don't know if it's quite as big as it is here in America and other countries but the point is that it's definitely not something which people don't know about and it's probably not something which, on the whole, needs an awareness raise. Isolating one single type of cancer is a much more effective solution than giving us all a month where we see what we normally see but much more of it.

So yeah basically I... don't think it's really a problem. It just makes sense to me.
s͎̭̚ ̪ͭͩy͔͚̰̻̗̩̺ͣ́ͨ̌͡ ̩̳̙̖̖̺͡m̷̱̘͎̝̘̣͒͌͒̚ ͇͖̔̐̔b̝̪͚̞̦ͬ ̢͔̱̟̞̝͙̮͌̅̈̓̿̿i͐̈̃͊ͯ̎҉̟̠͓ ͕̥̣̪̠̃͑͞ỏ̵͕̠̱̬̬̞͛̋ ̨͈̻̱̟̱͓̪n͒̒͂͊̀ ̻̰̰̜̅̃͒̂͞tͭ̍̈́ ͙͇̘͕͍̜̖ͫ̌̊̿ͫ̂̀:̵̾͒̔͂ ̟͉̜̽͒͌͜p͎͇͎̦̺̙͒͆͋́ͅ ̨̠̠̘͚͖̺ͫ͛̎̉a̲͍̫͖͗̄ ͓͖͍̯̤̼͙̿̆̂̂̄r̬̟̮͖̥̼̆̓͑̃̾ͬ̉͟ͅ ̬̼̗͊͛a̛̯̮ ̮̬͍̙̮̤́ͪŝ͊ͬ̒̎̃ ̧̝̮͎͙͆̓ì͈̹̻̱̾͝ ̘͉͕̭̊ͤ̉̓tͩͯ̉̐ͨͬ̚͏̻̺̖̮ ̞̘͂̋̋ͯ͑ͦ͗e̞͔̎̇ͫ͊͗

Kura

twitter.com/puccarts

Age 33
Female
London, UK (orig. Toronto, Canada)
Seen August 30th, 2021
Posted August 24th, 2021
10,993 posts
18.7 Years
I don't see anything wrong with raising awareness for breast cancer. It's a great thing and it definitely doesn't "detract" from awareness for other cancers either- like RL said, it's so common so obviously it is gonna be a big issue. If anything it makes people more aware that others are just as prevalent too. It is nice that they've gotten a theme and are running with it to help support cancer research.
~Yuugiou Fan~
~Kamen Rider Fan~
♡(´・ω・`)LOVE! ☆

Esper

California
Seen June 30th, 2018
Posted June 30th, 2018
Breast cancer awareness has one very powerful organization promoting it: the Susan G. Komen Foundation. They've been really good about making their case to all kinds of people to get money in order to get more of their message out to get more money, etc. Not saying they're all about money, but the people behind this group have sued (or threated to sue) other charities, like ones promoting lung cancer awareness for instance, who use "for the cure" or even "cure" in their advertising. Or the color pink.

Livewire

Male
Sunnyshore City
Seen December 3rd, 2022
Posted August 2nd, 2019
14,091 posts
13.8 Years
Breast cancer awareness has one very powerful organization promoting it: the Susan G. Komen Foundation. They've been really good about making their case to all kinds of people to get money in order to get more of their message out to get more money, etc. Not saying they're all about money, but the people behind this group have sued (or threated to sue) other charities, like ones promoting lung cancer awareness for instance, who use "for the cure" or even "cure" in their advertising. Or the color pink.
Don't forget the Planned Parenthood funding debacle on top of that.