Pinktober Revolution
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That one's a classic Freya.
It's getting around to that time of the year when we crank up:
http//www.PinktoberSucks.com
Please post new material here for inclusion in the official BCO Pinktober Revolution website.
Let's see how outrageous, inconsiderate, and repeatitive this year's awareness-raising campaigns are and how little attention is given to Stage 4 people, while pinkness and light is celebrated in the name of fundraising for yet more awareness campaigns.
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Travel, the full article can be found in Tampa Bay Times, Aug 23. I don't know how to do links.
Geeze, it's only August. Must gonna be a bad year for this.
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All men should be taught BSE, and perhaps at least get an ultrasound for baseline in case they can’t find a lump. How many more lives could we save—or prolong with as little suffering as possible?
Is there ANYONE not living in a cave who isn’t “aware” of breast cancer? What people outside the bc community need to be made aware of is that men are not immune, and that Stage IV ab initio or mets are eventually terminal—it isn’t pink and it isn’t pretty. Bone pain, ascites, brain symptoms, lung issues, etc., and the treatment itself—often a reboot of all the trauma of early-stage active treatment. And saving and prolonging lives doesn’t always mean saving "the girls”—it often requires sacrificing the girls to save the women (and men).
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I was in a store a few months back. A woman had on a pinkt-shirt that said "Save the Boobs". That just so irritated me that when our paths crossed I leaned toward her and said, "It's more important to save the woman."
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Kath, good for you. I want to stand and cheer!
I get annoyed that so much about breast cancer is sexualised and trivialised. Fight like a girl - this is not a girls disease!
Save a life, grope your wife!, Booze for Boobs! Save the Ta-Ta's! It's all about the boobs! - We are more than our breasts.
You can buy a pink bucket of KFC or perhaps pink tacos for dinner. Then wash it all down with pink vodka and throw the rubbish away in your pretty new pink bin.
Jingle jugs won an award for something like being the most crass pinkwashed item.
I really should have bought this outfit and worn it to chemo, perfect.
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good for you Kath. Hope she tossed the shirt. Freyathat's disgusting.
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Moffitt is in Tampa. I'd rather see them take whatever funds are raised and given to moffitt for the patients who can't afford a wig. Or transportation. Or food.
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Spookie, I am with you on that. So much money is raised and yet none makes it to the women who do need help. I know people who have called our BC organisations asking for help, they are given budgeting advice. When there is no money to cover the basics, let alone a wig or childcare help when having treatment, all the advice in the world doesn't fix that. I am lucky in that we have the resources to get through this, so far. The added stress of financial problems certainly can't help anyone recover.
I only donate to local organisations where the money does go to actually help those in need, not to pay some CEO an outrageous salary or spent on celebrity functions that no one with BC gets invited to.
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Like the response of save the woman in response to the idiot wearing that save the boobs shirt. I'll be on the attack if I see such shit out there. Also, I hate the color pink thankfully.
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Traveltext, I found your Pinktober outfit, add a blue scarf and you are set to go
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Pinktober AGAIN. This will be my lucky 13th. I thought it was bad years ago but now it leaves me speechless. The pink football shoe, the pink police caps. The people who do this may mean well but the only ones really profiting are the companies who make that junk.
I have friends (not so many now) who thought it would be great to make me a poster girl and walk the very touching Survivor candlelight trail. I was not interested. I hate the word survivor because it trivializes all those who didn't make it on their first outing with the beast. I don't know anyone who isn't aware of bc. Instead of buying junk , send the money to the NIH or a University research center. Oh I still get furious about pinktober. I am surprising myself.
At least the jingle jugs are more red than pink. Ahhhh
Maire
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Holey moley Freya, you're coming up with some great pics so early in the pink season. I'll get them and any others online here asap: PinktoberSucks.com
Particularly like that guy's Pinktober outfit, teamed with a blue scarf; priceless.
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and you can't have toilets without -
Hope for a cure in every bag!!
Pink handcuffs, I feel so much safer already.
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grrrrrrrrrr
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Help fight breast cancer? - I didn't realise pepper spray killed cancer cells.
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Freya ~ OMD......Are those burger buns? And the pink porta-potties with matching toilet paper..... ugh! I can think of some uses for that pepper spray 😠
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Back in Oct. 2003 I bought a pink Kyser guitar capo (I think Melissa Etheridge was endorsing them). It is the worst capo I own—pulls strings way out of tune. So I use it to clip lyrics to the mic stand.
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bump
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A cure is certainly the holy grail of all the Pinktober shenanigans. Unfortunately, the focus is on continued awareness of the disease among women (but not as something a man might get) and so little of the money raised goes to research on Stage 4 folks who are the ones who need to be cured.
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Traveltext, it must be very strange to be a man with breast cancer. I read that breast cancer is about 100 times less common among men than among women so I wonder if lumps are often ignored in their early stages because men don't automatically think of cancer as we ladies do?
I think the Komen organization has done a great job of increasing breast cancer awareness, helping women feel more comfortable talking about breast cancer and helping encouraging women to get regular mammograms. It's definitely time for them to shift their considerable resources from awareness to a cure. There's an implication that catching a lump early is a guarantee that you're cured. Especially for those of us with triple-negative cancer, we know that's far from the truth. Indeed, the first person I met at my infusion center was a lovely woman with triple negative who'd progressed from stage 1A to stage 4. I think they are moving toward that shift.
As for companies milking our horrific disease for tiny contributions (no pun intended), shame on them! I was annoyed when a local car dealership said one sentence about breast cancer awareness, then indicated a contribution (no amount stated...$5? $5,000? X%?) would be made to some unnamed women's charity for each car sold. I'm sorry, but don't exploit our disease to highlight your charitable contributions when you're not even supporting a breast cancer research organization.
I don't get offended by "Save the Tatas" shirts. I understand some thinking it's a cavalier attitude toward a serious illness, but I believe it speaks to being more candid about a disease that used to be talked about in whispers in the ladies' room. People, including me, often diffuse awkward situations with humor. McDonald's is very generous to charities so neither do the pink arches bother me. They might remind a woman to see a doctor about that tiny lump she found in the shower a week ago, but hasn't taken action because kids, grandkids, work, volunteering, life distracted her.
I will reach out to Facebook Friends next month to suggest they be judicious in purchasing products adorned n pink and, as with the Hurricane Harvey tragedy, will recommend they check Charity Navigator to help them find groups that will benefit breast cancer research, not just a business's pocketbook.
Lyn
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BosomBlues, excellent point that an atypical presentation could delay diagnosis and treatment. I discovered my lump by accident and my general physician immediately referred me for a diagnostic mammogram. That, in turn, led to a biopsy and the radiologist warned me before I ever left the clinic that she thought the lump was likely cancer.
Lyn
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VLH, I respectfully disagree with you about "Save the Tatas" and the like. I'm stage IV, I get through it with a dark sense of humour. What I don't appreciate is MBC being sexualised and trivialised to make other people feel better. It's no wonder the majority of people believe it can be cured, it is not taken seriously.
Have you ever researched the Komen Foundation?
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I totally get where many are coming from and pink washing sucks. In 2012, we called out Lucy Activewear on pink washing and were successful in getting them to stop: Topic: Lucy Activewear STOP Pinkwashing!
Here in the UK, Pinktober is different. It's pretty low key across the board country-wide, and a big push for £ comes from the biggest breast cancer research charity, Breast Cancer Now, with their wear it pink campaign (one day, October 20th), where all monies raised goes to breast cancer research. https://wearitpink.org/about It's not completely horrible everywhere regarding Pinktober, just saying.
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I understand and respect your perspective, Freya, and am so very sorry about your diagnosis.
I think that the Komen organization has focused on early discovery via mammograms with a lesser focus on research, especially for advanced cancer. I am disturbed by how they sometimes promote images of beautifully made up women who still look lovely without hair while ignoring women dealing with the brutal realities of Stage IV cancer. I also find it disconcerting that Ms. Brinker is paid $500,000 annually in a non-CEO role. It seems that a quarter million dollars would provide an exceptionally comfortable lifestyle while the other $250,000 could be devoted to the disease that killed her sister. I'm interested in hearing what you dislike about Komen. What groups do you think are more deserving and why?
People affected by this horrible disease should certainly be frank in opining about how charitable organizations use their donations. Still, if we harshly criticize those making corporate donations, should we be surprised if they send their charitable dollars elsewhere? I am NOT defending companies that exploit breast cancer in advertising while not supporting the cause.
Lyn
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For more on Komen, click the video link top left here: http://pinktobersucks.com/
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Perhaps the configuration is different on my phone, but I can't tell which video you mean, TravelText. I have viewed most of the videos on the site and read many of the articles.
Lyn
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OK, Lyn, scroll down on a mobile device and the first video you come to is the Komen one.
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