Sick of pink?

[sabotabby]

Oh teh nooes. I'm being Not Very Nice about Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

For the most part, I'm against wearing awareness ribbons of any sort. I used to wear a red ribbon, for AIDS awareness, back when people weren't that aware about AIDS. But there's a good argument to be made for awareness when you're talking about a stigmatized disease with a lot of bizarre myths around it. I was also wearing a ribbon, I might add, in the days before those annoying rubber bracelets came into fashion. I have one in my pocket that someone gave to me at a demo. It's a white one. Make Poverty History. I fling it at people when I'm bored. As if some rubber bracelet made in a sweatshop is going to do a damned thing for poverty.

The worst awareness campaign I can think of is the one where Republican chickenhawks slap Support Our Troops ribbons on their Hummers. But a close second is the pink ribbon campaign. I can't stand it. Some people are very emotionally invested in it, and I understand. Cancer is horrible, overwhelmingly, mindbogglingly horrible. You feel helpless, and you want to do something. Along come the corporate shills, trying to get you to buy something pink, promising that you'll be helping to cure breast cancer if you buy their stuff.


Breast Cancer Barbie, courtesy of Feministe

Cancer is natural. The massive increase in cancer rates that we're seeing is not. It is more common in industrialized countries than in non-industrialized countries. Very few people ask why. Very few people have much to say about these seemingly altruistic companies that donate a sliver of the massive profits that they make to "awareness" campaigns (or, on occasion, to a legitimate research foundation).

Breast Cancer Action singles out BMW as one of the participating companies that makes a product that gives people cancer. But the same point could likely be made for many of the companies involved with pink ribbon marketing campaigns.

If one honestly wishes to stop people from dying of cancer—and this is a laudable goal; there's nothing I want more—then one, of course, wants a cure. But prevention is also important. And particularly in the U.S., the cost of treatment is important. I might not be quite as hostile to the pink ribbon if more money went to helping women without health insurance pay for treatment. But helping poor women who have cancer now survive long enough to get the mythical cure doesn't seem to be a high priority for the pink brigade. If the cost of treatment was factored into this campaign of awareness, we'd forced to examine some uncomfortable questions. A white American woman is more likely to get breast cancer than a black American woman, but the latter is more likely to die of it. A cure is meaningless if no one can afford it.

The pink ribbon campaign, as Ehrenreich points out in her article, also normalizes cancer. Breast cancer becomes a natural part of life, a right of passage for every woman. There is a danger in normalizing disease, in joking around that, "well, everything causes cancer; we're all going to die of it eventually." We become passive, placid, when what we need is action and advocacy.

Some of this money is going to research, and that's good, but the money also funds massive PR campaigns, which is why companies agree to participate in the first place. It foists the duty to maintain good health upon the individual ("Get squished!") and on the private sector. You buy the products, the companies belch out carcinogens, and if you're lucky, one day, someone will sell you a cure. Ultimately, we can't spew so many toxins into the air. We can't consume so much. The pink ribbon campaign asks us to consume more.

The reaction to the original post in metaquotes (which I believe was from a cancer survivor) was mixed; many people could relate, many more were hostile. I wonder at the hostility, because these are basic questions: Where is the money going? Which organizations are being supported, and what are they doing? Are they concentrating on finding a cure or improving treatment? Are they assisting uninsured or low-income women?* Is a single pink cent directed at lobbying for pollution reduction initiatives, clean energy, the banning of growth hormones in livestock?

Of course, you ask these sorts of questions and you're immediately attacking cancer patients, non-profit groups, and kittens and puppies. Which I'm not. By all means, give to legitimate organizations directly—they need it—but medical research should not rely on individual charity for funding. And we owe it to everyone who's ever sat in a doctor's office and heard, "I'm afraid I have some bad news" to ask if these pink teddy bears, pink bracelets, pink golf clubs, pink cancer Barbies (hair and boobs included, of course) are doing any good.

* And this isn't just an issue in the U.S. Even in countries with relatively sane health care systems, your treatment may be covered, but how many people can afford to take time off work?

Comments

[dobrovolets.livejournal.com]

One of the largest funding sources for breast cancer research in the world, if not the largest, is the U.S. Department of Defense. I've yet to read a plausible explanation of why.

[lokilokust.livejournal.com]

there's something a bit discomforting about that.

[sabotabby]

Considering that depleted uranium is probably not great for people's boobs, yeah.

[forunlawfulck.livejournal.com]

My boyfriend has a Support Absolutely Nothing ribbon on his car. I want one.

[sabotabby]

http://www.nataliedee.com/051306/unless-you-just-buy-them-to-prove-you-think-of-stuff.jpg

I like that, in Chinatown, people are selling these ugly rubber bracelets with nothing written on them whatsoever.

[lemur-man.livejournal.com]

I think it's shmivejournal who sells ones that say 'I support the guy in China who makes these magnets'.

[princessrugger.livejournal.com]

ok, this comment makes me so enraged i can't even think straight. because really, the reason people don't spend several hundred dollars per month on health insurance is because they're irresponsibly wasting it on hookers and blow, not because, ya know, *that several hundred dollars a month doesn't actually exist*. fuck OFF. this is exactly the situation my parents are in--my mom will never be able to retire because she's shelling out mucho bucks for health insurance premiums and the stuff health insurance and medicaid/medicare don't cover (about $20,000/year, last i checked) just to keep my dad alive. and you can bet my brother and i are inheriting all of their debts when they go--they may not be health-related debts per se, but if they racked up those debts because they were spending all of their money on health care, what's the difference? so mynuet can kiss my sweet taupe ass.

that said, in much agreement with all you've said. i hate the ribbon campaigns and the pink campaigns and all that crap. i especially hate the goddamned yellow bracelets since they became the accessory of choice for every obnoxious preppy asshole in the country. "lance armstrong had cancer so it must be cool!"

[sabotabby]

Oh, God. "Well, they should have gotten health insurance" has to be my #1 least favourite thing to read on the internet. Because lots of people have that much money lying around, and y'know, health insurance pays for everything that can go wrong and they never try to argue with you about what's covered and isn't.

At first, I was a bit thankful for the yellow bracelets, because most of the people wearing them had some personal connection to someone who had cancer, and I was looking for solidarity. I'm now fairly sick of it. "Lance Armstrong survived cancer because he tried really hard and beat it and won. If you don't survive, you're not trying hard enough."

[99catsaway.livejournal.com]

If one honestly wishes to stop people from dying of cancer—and this is a laudable goal; there's nothing I want more—then one, of course, wants a cure. But prevention is also important. And particularly in the U.S., the cost of treatment is important. I might not be quite as hostile to the pink ribbon if more money went to helping women without health insurance pay for treatment. But helping poor women who have cancer now survive long enough to get the mythical cure doesn't seem to be a high priority for the pink brigade. If the cost of treatment was factored into this campaign of awareness, we'd forced to examine some uncomfortable questions. A white American woman is more likely to get breast cancer than a black American woman, but the latter is more likely to die of it. A cure is meaningless if no one can afford it.

The most common inquiry/concern on the ACS Cancer hotline is people who cannot pay and are asking the ACS for help with paying for cancer treatments. While the ACS obviously wants everyone to be able to afford cancer treatments, if they simply gave money to each person who could not pay for their cancer treatments, it would average out to less that $50 per person. The ACS is actualy great about directing people to possible governmental loopholes and arrangements and social workers that can help pay for treatments, though they cannot pay for each one through the organization. We have a governmental lobbyist in major offices who lobbies for insurance, etc. There are lots of things that the ACS can and does do to help cancer patients afford their healthcare more easily, but it can't do everything. It's a multimillion dollar organization, but there are always limits. There are always oil companies and pharma companies that simply have more money and power.

The ACS has launched massive prevention campaigns through TV, the internet, etc. The Great American Smoke Out, for example is a huge, national event, as is our 24 hour Quit Line, along with other programs regarding food, exercize, sunscreen, and, yes colonoscopies.

many more were hostile.

I disagree, because I worked at the ACS, with cancer survivors, and I know how much that organization does, both for the affluent and for the needy.

[sabotabby]

My problem isn't with the ACS, though. They're one of the beneficiaries of the campaign, and they deserve money (which is why people should donate directly), but I think if one does the math, they benefit less than most of the corporate sponsors. Nor did they initiate the pink ribbon thing—that was Estée Lauder and Self magazine. My beef is with companies that use this as a marketing opportunity and with a culture that regards passive individual consumer choices as a legitimate alternative to having functional prevention strategies, health care systems, and research funding.

[schramm.livejournal.com]

Cancer is natural. The massive increase in cancer rates that we're seeing is not.

i'm with you on your points and opposition to wearing ribbons.

most of these organizations aren't making the hard, true suggestions that they should. to be ethical about the matter, they should be promoting prevention, most notablly in the form of diet, e.g. advocating vegetarian and vegan diets, advocating organic etc.... but they don't. additionally a lot of anti-cancer funding that these organizations raise is being mis-allocated into scientifically irrelevant animal research, which has provided very few insights into HUMAN pathology.

returning to your cancer is natural thesis. our world is overpopulated, as a result we have poluted it to an obscene level. we will reap the benefits: polluted water, polluted food, polluted air, and these things will all have obvious consequences on human health. if you want to increase your odds of survival, you'd better start taking action.... and that doesn't mean buying stock in BMS or Merck :p

[sabotabby]

Although GE soy is deadly, cancer-wise. And I concur with frandroid; we need to be making the broadest environmental changes first (which we should be doing anyway) rather than placing the emphasis on individual lifestyle decisions.

[threeliesforone.livejournal.com]

oh, fuck that buying organic/vegan fundamentalism shit. does that mean that people who can't afford to buy organic deserve to get cancer? why should there be a class divide in what we eat as opposed to forcing change in agribusiness?

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

advocating vegetarian and vegan diets

Best way to lose 80% of your supporters.

And I say that as a vegan. While there are good health arguments for going veg*n, I think the emphasis for cancer prevention should be on our toxic environment, which could be easily regulated with regulation without affecting much cultural change, rather than trying to change the way people think of themselves.

[threeliesforone.livejournal.com]

i agree. emphasizing "cancer prevention" in the individual is like blaming the victim.

[xturtle.livejournal.com]

I've gotten into it with one of my best friends for not mindlessly buying anything that supports the Susan Whoever Foundation, but really, I'm big on looking at the meaning of what I'm doing. I'm not willing to buy things made by underpaid people in undeveloped countries in order to support breast cancer treatments that will only save those who have supportive work environments in the richest nations in the world. It's like pulling a reverse robin hood, and frankly, I'd rather pay my bills.

[sabotabby]

I can't really find anything on where this shit is made. Which is, of course, a huge issue.

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

Wow, I never really thought about it that before even though it's blatantly obvious if you think outside the box. Once again your critique is right on the spot.

*applauds*

[sabotabby]

I can't really take credit for much; I've been reading a lot about this lately. But thanks!

[collie13.livejournal.com]

Ugh. That perky pink Barbie just makes my skin crawl.

[sabotabby]

Barbie generally makes my skin crawl.

[goodlookinout.livejournal.com]

This was really interesting, thanks for writing/posting.

[sabotabby]

Thanks for reading.

[lopukhov.livejournal.com]

There's a conference next week at my school called Against Health: Resisting the Invisible Morality, hosted by the Institute for Research on Women and Gender. There's a speaker on the second day, after lunch, who is going to (supposed to) talk about marketing diseases. It's free and open to the public, so if you happen to be in town...

[sabotabby]

That looks like all kinds of awesome. It's a bit of a commute, though.