Today, breast cancer has been reconfigured from a stigmatized disease to an epidemic worthy of research (King, 2004). Due to the prevalence of the disease in society, this shift has resulted in the formation of a breast-cancer culture, and a re-framing of the experience of the disease from a subjective experience into a war metaphor. Women with breast cancer are rarely seen as ‘patients’ and more as ‘survivors’ (King, 2004). The further cultural re-framing of the disease has given rise to ‘pink culture.’ Described by Ehrenreich (2001) as “the infantilizing theme in breast-cancer culture [as] represented by the teddy bears, the crayons, and the prevailing pinkness” (p. 52), ‘pink culture’ is the pervasive mechanism by which the discourse and …show more content…
Today, the prevailing image of a breast cancer patient is overwhelmingly one of a survivor who is happy, cheerful, and thriving. As Ehrenreich (2001) explains, feminizing the disease with the color pink has reinforced gendered expectations about how women are supposed to experience breast cancer (p. 48). Breast cancer discourse presents women with the disease as militants in an army ready to fight breast cancer (Din, 2011). The extension of this framing, then, is that women who chose not to fight the disease are seen as weak (Din, 2011). In this cultural framing of the breast cancer experience, the choice presented to women is one of either individual responsibility or social isolation from the breast cancer movement, alienating any woman whose subjective experience of breast cancer is not an optimistic one that aligns with the normative feminine expectations as represented by the pink …show more content…
52). All other experiences of the disease not only do not find expression in social constructions of the disease, but are also stigmatized. This moralizing apparatus is also reflected through the celebration of breast cancer survivors (Din, 2011). As ‘pink culture’ celebrates survivors, this, in turn, results in those who are in the process of dying from stage IV cancer to suffer from the widespread belief that they are ‘losers’ in the ‘battle’ with cancer (Din, 2011). As a result, the various nuanced and individual experiences of the disease and its possible terminal end are regulated through this militant metaphor with little to no room for the cultural expression of any other experience including the subjective experience of death (Ehrenreich, 2001, p.
While women continue to be ranked as the weaker sex by popular opinion, feminists have bright hopes in a change towards their liberation. As Rebecca Solnit stated, “feminism has just started and it’s not stopping now. We are witnessing a full-fledged war, not of the sexes but of gender roles”(Solnit). Feminism and the right to equality has been a long and arduous struggle for women before the Civil Rights Act. The Feminine Mystique sparked a change, questioning society, which continues today as women fight for equal treatment regardless of laws that claim for their protection. Feminists will continue to fight for the day where women will be treated as equals, where there will be no gender bias, and for the day when a woman can state her mind, just as her male counterpart, without being called an uptight
By alluding to popular activists in today’s society and the use of inspirational photos, the article shows support to women’s rights and inspiration for other women to fight for their rights. Quoting Madeleine Albright with “there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other,” it helps integrate the idea that, no matter how hard a few people work to change something, it takes a larger group to highlight the
Throughout history, women were challenged with inequality and discrimination within a patriarchal society such voting in presidential elections, owning property and having job opportunities. During the last century, there have been many achievements that guarantee women rights and equality. For example, the Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote in 1920 and the Equal Employment Opportunities Law prohibited employers from discriminating against gender in 1988.1 In her essay, “Pink Think”, Lynn Peril argues about the pressure on women that follow the rules of femininity.2 She describes the word “Pink Think”, as ideas and attitudes of proper women behavior.2 Although there are still some aspects of “Pink Think” culture that is still recognized today, the shifts in cultural and political events in recent centuries have increased attention to women’s issues against social injustice. Nevertheless, Peril neglects the fact that women today are living in a totally different time than how she pictures it because of the newly evolved cultural attitudes of gender roles and identity, labor, and living the American Dream.
Sadly, life is a terminal illness, and dying is a natural part of life. Deits pulls no punches as he introduces the topic of grief with the reminder that life’s not fair. This is a concept that most of us come to understand early in life, but when we’re confronted by great loss directly, this lesson is easily forgotten. Deits compassionately acknowledges that grief hurts and that to deny the pain is to postpone the inevitable. He continues that loss and grief can be big or small and that the period of mourning afterward can be an unknowable factor early on. This early assessment of grief reminded me of Prochaska and DiClemente’s stages of change, and how the process of change generally follows a specific path.
Lynn Peril writes a fascinating study of pink color and its historical connection to ideas and beliefs about femininity. Peril translates and defines Pink Think as a collection of specific ideas, beliefs, and approaches to how and when feminine behavior is considered proper. Throughout her book, Peril points out various fundamental approaches and attitudes that are considered to be crucial for women's achievements and accomplishments. Peril's Pink Think also advocates how greatest concern of femininity is related to women's physical appearance (fashion and beauty) and their marriage (motherhood and housekeeping). Furthermore, Peril is demonstrating an evolution of femininity, and the constant and intense impact of its norms and rules on women's lives.
Courage is not simply about how well you deal with fear, how many noble deeds you accomplish, or how you overcome life threatening situations. Courage is the practice of determination and perseverance. Something like, an unwillingness to abandon a dream even when the pressures of society weigh down on your shoulders; society will make you feel tired, humiliated, broken, and confused. Actually, it can be effortlessly said that daily courage is more significant than bouts of great deeds. Since everybody undergoes demanding circumstances on a daily basis, and most of us will not be called to perform a great deed, courage comes from those daily struggles and successes. However, Kate Bornstein is one person who has been able to transform her everyday life into a brilliant deed of courage. She threw herself into an unknown abyss to discover truth that many others would never dare tread. Ingeniously combining criticism of socially defined boundaries, an intense sense of language, and a candid autobiography, Bornstein is able to change cultural attitudes about gender, insisting that it is a social construct rather than a regular occurrence, through here courageous writing.
It amazes me how a few decades ago can seem like a whole different world. A course of time can impact our lives more than we know it. In the article, A Day Without Feminism by Jennifer Boumgoidnei and Amy Richntds, both of these authors created this piece to inform their audience that although women have gained more rights over time, there was still more progress to be made. These authors gave many examples of how life for women had been, the obstacles they had to overcome, and the laws women had to break for equality.
For example, to make people aware that breast cancer can affect even young women, thefaceofbreastcancer.com printed a poster portraying the faces of fifty different women all under the age of 41 who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. The words “Your sister,” “You,” “Your friend,” are highlighted sporadically throughout the poster. The phrase “Have a lump or pain? Regardless of age, CHECK IT OUT NOW!” is also highlighted in the midst of all the women’s ...
As of today, there are many programs and efforts being made that have either already decreased the gap or are attempting to bring change to the problem of increased deaths of African American women from breast cancer. One example is a study that was done in Massachusetts that gave low-income African American women aged 50-70 resources and education for six years, and it was “concluded that the Massachusetts program appeared to mitigate the disadvantages of living in high-poverty neighborhoods” for the incidence of breast cancer in that specific area (Cunningham 595). This study shows that these women need help that has not been previously provided to them in order to reduce the disparity. In this regard, the role of affordable health care needs to be available in order to decrease this problem. The same study showed that “among women without health insurance, disproportionately large numbers are [older African Americans], providing an explanation for high rates of advanced stage cancers at presentation among [African American] women in general” (Cunningham 594). If women are to be able to access affordable screenings, affordable health care must also be provided. Once again, this brings in the role of government in the lives of African American women. Federally qualified health centers offer preventative health care and screenings for a reduced or free cost to women of low socio-economic status, many of which happened to be African American women at a particular clinic, and it was found that the incidence of breast cancer in that community was reduced from the rates that were established previously (Adams 640). Therefore, if low-income women are to be able to access quality health care, then there must be more federally qualified ...
Thus, Sick Woman Theory is born: "Sick Woman Theory is an insistence that most modes of political protest are internalized, lived, embodied, suffering, and no doubt invisible. Sick Woman Theory redefines existence in a body as something that is primarily and always vulnerable”
About 12% of women in the United States will develop breast cancer in their lifetime, more than any other type of cancer (www.breastcancer.org, 2015). Many people lack the knowledge of how breast cancer is developed. Some people think they will not get cancer because they do not smoke cigarettes, but this is not the only cause of cancer developing in the breast. Anyone can get cancer. Everyone is potentially at risk for developing some form of Cancer (American Cancer Society, 2015).
But when the “Women’s Movement,” is referred to, one would most likely think about the strides taken during the 1960’s for equal treatment of women. The sixties started off with a bang for women, as the Food and Drug Administration approved birth control pills, President John F. Kennedy established the President's Commission on the Status of Women and appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as chairwoman, and Betty Friedan published her famous and groundbreaking book, “The Feminine Mystique” (Imbornoni). The Women’s Movement of the 1960’s was a ground-breaking part of American history because along with African-Americans another minority group stood up for equality, women were finished with being complacent, and it changed women’s lives today.
In today’s society, the pink ribbon has become one of the most widely recognized symbols of breast cancer research. “It can symbolize strength, hope, responsibility, empathy, and permission to discuss breast cancer,” (Harvey, 1) but that’s not all the pink ribbon campaign does. The pink ribbon is one of the most widely-used tools of cause-related marketing, with pink items available of almost anything. As such in addition to the tenfold increase in awareness surrounding breast cancer within our society, many major corporations have increased their bottom-lines as a result of the breast cancer industry. In order to truly understand “pink culture” (Sulik, XIV) we must examine the advanced levels of marketing strategies that have worked to develop this campaign and the effects that they not only have on breast cancer research but also the effects they hold on a social and corporate level as well. Therefore, this essay will provide an outline of how the breast cancer research movement utilizes the pink ribbon campaign paired with other promotional devices including cause-related marketing and mass media consolidation to saturate the market with their mandate. In addition to this, this essay will also provide an analysis of both the positive and negative reactions the campaign has garnered within the public eye, and the effects it has had on breast cancer awareness and research as a whole.
In just a few decades The Women’s Liberation Movement has changed typical gender roles that once were never challenged or questioned. As women, those of us who identified as feminist have rebelled against the status quo and redefined what it means to be a strong and powerful woman. But at...
Breast cancer affects nearly fifty thousand women each year in the UK. Breast cancer in women is more common over the age of fifty however in recent years there has seen a spike in younger women falling victim to breast cancer (Macmillan.org, 2012). Cancer Research (2012) states that there are a large mixture of emotions for someone being diagnosed with Breast Cancer and this also may directly impact the families and friends of those diagnosed. Furthermore Macmillian (2012) said that the feelings and emotions that come with a diagnosis of ...