Pinktober Revolution
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Bumping this thread because it’s less than two weeks until Pinktober.
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Already started a couple weeks ago with ads online at on the hospital campus. It's like Halloween, ads go up sooner every year except it's pink crap that they're selling.
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Yes, Pinktober has arrived with pink crap and ribbons everywhere for us to buy.
I posted this on Patty’s thread because the owl and the hoot hoot remind me of Patty’s Hootie-hoo.
I did NOT buy it because I didn’t like the message. I’m not trying to save hooters, I want to save lives. I’ve lost too many people to breast cancer.
My breast surgeon has a pink office and waiting room. I hate it. There was a man who checked in next to me at my last check up. (He was not a spouse, he was the patient.)How out of place he must have felt. I wanted to offer the bco website to him, but he spent his time in the waiting room on the phone. He was still on the phone when I was called into my appointment.
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My bf does kickboxing. She posts saving lives with the pink ribbon like kickboxing money is going to save lives. Lol
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Here's my Pinktober rant for this year:
http://malebc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Gende...Each year I think some progress is being made, but it's a slow process.
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Good rant and so very true, Traveltext.
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Well, Pinktober has kicked off. If anyone comes across some outrageous pink products, feel free to post them here.
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One of my friends has just posted that she is walking the Komen race and is raising money for them. Trying to keep from posting that Komen only gives a minimal amount of the money raised to research
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I had a friend recommend some really pricey line of shoes (can't remember the name) that donated a portion of proceeds to BC research (or something). She thought I might be interested. (1) The shoes were *way* out of my price range. (2) My first thought was wouldn't it make more sense to donate that money directly to research?
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Really can’t stand it when salons jump on the BC bandwagon in October by trying to get someone to put pink streaks in their hair. Like that is going to help get rid of breast cancer!
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I am not one to jump on the Pink band wagon, but I didn't want to do nothing either. I did purchase a sweatshirt-PLUM color:
That's about all I have to say, so I'll wear it this fall.
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I was running in my local park over the summer and came across a giant pink dumpster, complete with ribbon. What message does that send? Just gross! Is that where they put those of us non-survivors? Even my kids were offended!
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I was not so thrilled to see a post on my Facebook page from the salon I go to with some woman who had a huge pink streak put in her hair today. That doesn’t raise awareness or help find a cure
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I’m cross-posting because my original was in the stage iv only forum. My thoughts this October 1:
The pink celebrations and marketing are inappropriate. We are talking about a disease. Pink parties and merchandise usually raise very little money that actually goes to research or to help cancer patients deal with the disruption of their lives and the financial devastation. Often most of the money just goes back into the awareness machine or to company profits.
The pink celebration perpetuates the trivialization and often sexualization of breast cancer. It marginalizes the people who will die from this disease (through no fault of their own), because they do not fit the narrative of the victorious survivor, the image that brings in the dollars.
What does "awareness" mean when people are not aware that 25-30% of early stagers (I-III) will have a metastatic recurrence, the incurable, lethal form of the disease? What does awareness mean when people are not aware that only around 7% of money raised goes toward research for a cure or normal lifespan? What does awareness mean when men are not aware they can get breast cancer and so will be diagnosed later and have poorer survival? What does awareness mean when women are not aware that mammograms are not a cure, and do not always "catch it early"? What does awareness mean when people think reconstruction is a great free boob job and do not understand the pain and complications reconstruction can entail, and when some surgeons still refuse to give a woman a smooth flat chest if she asks for that? What does awareness mean when our friends, coworkers and even family do not realize we are forever changed and often forever suffering side-effects of treatment even though we "look good"?
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Spot on Shetland.
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Exactly Shetland!
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spot on shetland
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Thank you.
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Well said ShetlandPony
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ShetlandPony:
Your post deserves a very wide audience: national and international forums, PSA spots in all media.
Sometimes I hide with my head down in October because I can't explain what you just so eloquently did.
XOXOX
Madelyn
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Shetland, soooo well said. I agree with Mominator that what you wrote needs a wider audience.
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I feel less annoyed by the pumpkin spice hysteria than the pinktober craziness
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maybe now male bc will be put out there better. Just heard beyonce's father has bc!
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Dogmom, kath, and Mominator, thank you. Sometimes I get inspired and write a post here on BCO that I would like to share more widely, but I am not sure how as I am not on social media and I’m not a very “out there” person, especially when I am tired.My inner activist struggles with my inner Hobbit who just wants to stay home and drink tea by the fire.
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I'm not sure if this belongs on this thread, or the steam room for anger. This was delivered to my work email in our company newsletter to bring awareness to breast cancer. While I applaud these women for sharing their story, I'm shocked and seething about the inaccurate and/or partial information portrayed in this article, and the unrealistic expectations it has likely created for future BC patients at my place of employment.
I'm reaching out here because everyone here is so incredibly knowledgeable and willing to share their insight & perspective. My question is - Am I out of line for being seething mad, and am I wrong for wanting to speak up and share "the rest of the story"? I have a 2 1/2 page reply typed up, but I'm not sure if it's appropriate to share it. If I did, I'm not sure who I would even share it with.
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Annabelle, I just read what your fellow employees posted and my mouth dropped open. So no, you are not alone in your reaction.
Seriously, "Missed Work 2 days"? That sets a realistic expectation, doesn't it? "Your chances of survival are 3 times better if you have a strong emotional path". What? Where did they get that? I've been reading here and reading breast cancer research for 14 years and have never run across anything that suggests that this is even remotely true. "Post treatment, more than 2 drinks per week increases your chances of return by 30?" Not true. All the studies say something different but the overall consensus is that 2 drinks a week is harmless. 2 drinks a day, more of a problem.
They mention about taking "chemo drugs" (absolutely the wrong term to use) for an extended period. Good that they explain that treatment doesn't end when the surgery or chemo is over, but honestly, will someone who had Stage 0 or even Stage I be taking endocrine therapy for the rest of their lives? Not based on any current research or guidelines. So even this is wrong.
Yeah, if this came out at my place of work, I would be seething too.
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How about those damned pink surgical bras after mx?
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Annabelle2 that is just the most awful trite crap I've read in a long time. I'd be puking too if my employer had published something like that. And I'd also not be exactly sure what (if anything) I could do to combat that w/o jeopardizing my career.
What a load of shit.
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Thanks Beesie. I've taken 2 days to think this through, and I just get more upset the more I think about it.
I think I'm going to email HR and say that while I appreciate the sentiment, the incomplete and inaccurate information could lead to some pretty serious consequences for other women at our company? Mainly the presumption that Mammography is a lifesaver, that it's always an effective tool, the myth that cancer doesn't hurt, and the unrealistic expectations this may have created in our workplace.
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Annabelle I'd be furious too! Beesie pointed out all of the incorrect information so I won't repeat that. The thing that really sets me off, even more than all of the bad info, is the "I had breast cancer and only missed two days of work" thing, and mentioning that some scheduled rads for the end of the day so it didn't interfere with their work schedule. Makes me wonder if HR had a hand in putting it together. You are right that their letter could set unrealistic expectations on several levels.
If their letter was shared in the company newsletter, I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect that yours would be too.
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