If you are on FB, you may have recently posted your bra color as your status update as part of a breast cancer awareness initiative. You may not have if you are a guy. Or, like some women, you may have taken some offense to the idea of taking part in the breast cancer awareness activity.
A couple of days after I posted my color (black, it's almost always black), I saw a couple of articles that wrote about the entire campaign with disdain. The one article that I remember talked about the idea of more breast cancer awareness as offensive because there are so many other types of cancer. I am certainly aware of this. I have intense fear of bladder cancer because my father worked at chemical plant for more than thirty years.
Here's the thing, I'm proud to promote breast cancer awareness. I'm proud to wear my old Widener Women's Law Caucus tshirt that says Check 'Em Out. I am not trying to belittle awareness of other cancers or diseases.
I believe there is a reason to raise awareness of breast cancer. Breast cancer needs to be in your face. Breast cancer, if detected early enough, can be a much easier fight than if it is detected later. If we keep awareness up and in people's faces, people may go home (and I'll admit that I did) and do a self exam that night. They might talk to their doctor about doing their mammogram. Awareness leads to detection. There is no way in hell that I am ever going to stop preaching awareness because there are other types of diseases that don't get an equal voice.
This is a disease that my maternal grandmother had. I have ginormous boobs and I had issues that sent me to a breast specialist when I was 19. You better believe that I'm going be aware, stay aware and promote awareness. If you don't want to participate in something, that's fine. Block it out. (Just like I've blocked Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc.) It lasted for a day and a half and the Susan Komen Foundation was even moved by the outcome. There was an impact from something so simple. Even if it was just me - one woman who went home and remembered to do her self exam that night. That's the importance of awareness.
Now, what sort of status update can we come up with to remind women to get a pap smear each year and why it's important?
