My favorite Post Secrets of the week.
YEEEEE. <3
What is the quintessential embodiment of male desire? I’ll give you a hint. It has been overly commodified and has it’s own month. Ok, you got me, it’s breast cancer.
I wanted to list the different ways sex is selling this serious issue…
1. Breast cancer is pink, thus labeling it a women’s issue
2. Slogans emphasize the breast, not the women.
3. “save the ta-tas”
4. “I love boobies”
5. The sexy facebook campaign
6. above photo
Not all campaigns for this cause are wrought with the commoditization of women. And I certainly don’t want funding to cease in the least. It’s just that we must be aware of hor breast cancer is being sexualized for the sake of consumerism. It only reinforces the patriarchal stereotypes of gender. It then works to subvert women.
Recently on facebook I received the “rule guide for pretty ladies raising breast cancer awareness” via message. The message was troubling not only due to the slacktivism I previously mentioned with the inane statuses, but also due to the way they conveyed the message. The lines that troubled me the most were, “Do NOT tell any males what the status’ mean, keep them guessing!! It’s time to confuse the men again (not that its really that hard to do :)) Everyone knows it makes their brains work wonders on what we’re talkin about!! “
Ok, here’s what’s troubling. The females that are participating in this obviously don’t view breast cancer as a disease that affects men in the least. I even went so far as to ask one of them why that is. She answered by asking me when “the last time I saw a man with breast (emphasis on the breast) cancer was.” Well, although less common, there’s still a visible percentage of men who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. (Not to mention trans people affected by breast cancer.)
But let’s play the devil’s advocate. Let’s pretend breast cancer is only a cancer cisgendered heterosexual women get. They still would NOT be the only gender affected by breast cancer. Q: Who else could be affected? A: children (both boys and girls), husband/boyfriend, mother, father, sister, brother and friends.
Personally, I think anyone who wants to purposefully alienate men from the breast cancer cause are ignorant of the blast radius, so to speak. Please, please don’t alienate men from any so-called “women’s cause.” It’s not beneficial for them and it is not beneficial for us. Remember the point of all of this: Progress.
Every year during breast cancer awareness month we have “mysterious” statuses popping up on facebook.
Last year was “I like it on…” and the year before was a color- the color of your bra, specifically. This year the status is supposed to grab people’s attention and fool them into thinking the poster is pregnant with a status of “I’m 12 weeks and craving…”Ok, fine. I know a lot of stupid statuses go up on facebook. The thing that bothers me is that I get all these messages from people saying “I did my part, now it’s your turn!” Really? Somehow the notion that a Facebook status equates activism came about. Note: I like to call this “slacktivism.”
We all know about breast cancer, so an (unrelated) status is not going to make people cognisant of something they already know. I have a better idea. How about you go out and walk with Susan G. Comen. Last year I ran the 10k and spent the day out there with my mother. It’s really a good thing you can do with someone you know- or by yourself for that matter.
Another idea if you don’t have the day off is to donate to this this or this.But really, the least you could do is change your status to something a little bit more useful.
Perhaps…
“I touch myself here”
I don’t want to change a thing about what she wrote, so I’m just going to post this so you all can see. She is very correct on this one. I love it.
