While the “I Heart Boobies,” “Save the Ta-Tas,” and “Save Second Base,” movements certainly mean well, as the saying goes, the road to hell is often paved with good intentions. These campaigns not only hypersexualize breast cancer, they also completely ignore victims outside of the gender binary. The implication of “saving the boobies”, and the entire breast cancer awareness movement, is highly focused on women and creates the idea that men can’t have ‘boobies’ and the cis men can’t get breast cancer. It excludes anyone who is not female.
Breast cancer is seen as a brave struggle that women face and especially in the month of October, our online and offline lives are full of breast cancer awareness posts that seem to neglect the harsh reality.
Tumblr user pushinginthepin recently posted a photo of her breast after 35 days of radiation. The picture shows her inflamed breast along with burns from the chemotherapy. The caption reads: “Here’s your f*cking breast cancer awareness. This was during my 35 day radiation treatment back in 2013. Breast cancer is not sexy. It’s not about saving the boobies.”
According to Jenn, the owner of pushinginthepin, she has received an abundance of positive feedback after posting the picture.
Haley Dougherty of the United Breast Cancer Foundation conducted a survey asking people, “What comes to mind when you hear ‘breast cancer’?” One telling answer came from a 16-year-old high school student who responded: “the I-LOVE-BOOBIES bracelets everyone used to wear,” and while that is certainly a good thing for the campaign, as the goal is to spread awareness about breast cancer, the message being presented is that breast cancer survivors’ “boobies” are valued far more than their lives.
“The SCAR Project: Breast Cancer is Not a Pink Ribbon” provides hundreds of autobiographies in which breast cancer survivors describe their experiences without reinforcing unrealistic stereotypes of femininity. The national campaign helps women cope with the disease and helps to provide support for survivors who have one, or both of their breasts removed.
Drawing a parallel between femininity and breast cancer creates a stigma around women’s health and despite the vast amounts of attention these campaigns get, they “raise awareness” in a way that perpetuates gender-based stereotypes and oversexualizes women.
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