Krislee - I think Created to be HIS may have found us...

[Katiebug]

A growing number of actual breast cancer patients and survivors are against the Facebook slacktivism, the "save the tatas" shirts and wristbands, and the general pink ribbon crap that pops up every year. It's called "pinkwashing". However, that's not what Created to be HIS is ranting about - she seems opposed to the mere mention of breasts, bras, or anything related being mentioned where a man might read or hear about it.

I'm a nursing mom and a breastfeeding advocate, so I'm pretty comfortable with throwing the "b" word around in conversation and having a breastfeeding button pinned to my purse for the world to see. :lol: I nurse in public although that's rare now that my kiddo is a toddler. I am also a woman who had surgery to remove a fairly sizable breast tumor a number of years ago, and while it was benign I still have the scar and know that I'm fortunate.

So does Created to be HIS have an issue with a mom nursing her baby in public because *gasp* a man might see her and know that she's feeding her child the way God/nature/evolution intended? Scandalous!

[Patsy]

Completely agree. I actually think the reason breast cancer get sso much attention is because breast are sexual, ie the "save 2nd base" shirts.

There has been a lot of activism to get breast cancer into the public consciousness, but the 'save the tatas' crap is just an extension of that, I think. So it's not that the attention is on it because of sexual stuff, it's just that that's what people have started to focus on, a bit?

[NurseNell]

A growing number of actual breast cancer patients and survivors are against the Facebook slacktivism, the "save the tatas" shirts and wristbands, and the general pink ribbon crap that pops up every year. It's called "pinkwashing".

Yes, yes, yes.

[browngrl]

I thought breast cancer awareness was about making money? :think: How is it about sex and lust?

In my experience the only people who have treated breast cancer like it was a sex/lust thing was fundies. One husband refused to let his wife get a mastectomy (lumpectomy was not an option for her ) because she "wouldn't be womanly anymore". One kept saying that breast cancer was for heathens who hadn't followed God's orders to have lots of babies and breast feed or who had used birth control pills. Seriously that's the sort of thing I have heard from some fundies. I just can't believe what they say sometimes.

[Hane]

I thought immortal meant living forever. :geek: So what word does she mean here?

And she meant "faze," not "phase." [/geek]

[BoomerLynn]

closing, let me say SUPPORT cancer awareness. Give money. Visit the sick and the hurting. Do the work of a Christian. But above all, PRAY. The cure is here and that cure is Jesus. Start spending more time on your knees than lacing up your walking shoes. Wrestle in prayer for the sick, the hurting, the dying and, more so, the LOST. THAT, Christians, is our calling. Playing silly games that damage your testimony and the name of Christ do nothing but hurt our Savior and His work.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with praying if that is what you feel you need to do. But telling people to do that more than to walk to raise money is ridiculous. That money funds the research to find the cure. And really , Jesus is the cure for cancer? Let me just pass along that info to my aunt who is currently suffering from colon cancer and will probably die within the next few months because she is too sick at this point to even continue with her chemo treatments. For people that call themselves Christians some of these people sure seem to be lacking in the compassion department.

[starfish]

Completely agree. I actually think the reason breast cancer get sso much attention is because breast are sexual, ie the "save 2nd base" shirts. I mean you don't see people out there wearing shirts for pancreatic cancer, it is not nearly as sexy (although much more deadly). But yeah, I just meant she was horrified at the thought of the mere mention of boobies and how defrauding that must be for men.

Dev83, thanks for the shout-out for pancreatic cancer. Lost a relative to that one, and it's a scourge. The survival rate is the same (sucky) as it was when they started tracking it back in the 1950s.

Chalk me up on the big board as one who is not crazy about all the pink stuff and stupid FB stuff for breast cancer, but who's grateful for the all the money raised and progress made in its treatment. And happy Friday everybody.

[changemanagement]

Tatas make me remember the song, "I Wanna Tata Ya'" by Johnny Guitar Watson. So yeah, I've never associated tatas with breasts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkClHqtD ... re=related

But why get offended, if the message gets out who cares how? Tatas may attract the notice of some, lumps of some and breasts of others. I don't care what you call them, if it helps the cause.

"Test for lumps, save the lumps" :clap:

[kayray]

In my experience the only people who have treated breast cancer like it was a sex/lust thing was fundies. One husband refused to let his wife get a mastectomy (lumpectomy was not an option for her ) because she "wouldn't be womanly anymore". One kept saying that breast cancer was for heathens who hadn't followed God's orders to have lots of babies and breast feed or who had used birth control pills. Seriously that's the sort of thing I have heard from some fundies. I just can't believe what they say sometimes.

That pisses me off. Breast cancer runs in my family. My maternal great-grandmother and grandmother both died of it in their early 50's. My mother was diagnosed at 47 with Stage III. A double mastectomy, chemo and so on saved her life. Sure, she had scars and had to get a reconstruction, AND she is beautiful. My stepfather, and her children, are all so fortunate to have her alive and doing well. My stepfather, who had been her common-law husband for 25-ish years, married her scars and all.

Oh, and my great-grandmother had 6 living babies, my grandmother had 5 living babies, and my mother had 3 living babies, all breast fed and none used BC pills. I could have 20 babies (I am not going to!) and I am likely to still get breast cancer.

I don't get all into the "pink stuff" for breast cancer (but pink clashes with my hair anyway!), but I also know that bonding over "pink stuff" with other women with cancer helped my mum greatly get through her own experience. Raising money and running along with her in Run for the Cure and other such things helped her feel supported. She felt like she had some control over her life while rowing in a pink dragonboat with other women dressed in pink all going through their own battles (some no longer with us). And I am all for ANY cancer awareness and getting the message out there as in the end it will benefit us all. I know young 20-something men who have lost their testicles and parts of their stomach and other organs to testicular cancer, friends whose fathers died of pancreatic cancer, women living with leukemia or who have lost limbs to bone cancer, my paternal grandfather has colon cancer, my maternal grandfather died of lung cancer, an uncle has recurring skin cancer....I want a cure for all of it however it comes and in whatever form.

That being said, I am not a fan of the FB "campaigning" but I am not a fan of FB really at all ;)

[Dev83]

I can totally see how the pink stuff could be a bonding factor among survivors, I never thought of that.

I don't care for all the pink stuff personally, but hell, if selling that stuff makes more money for research, more power to them! Certainly think that if it works to get funds, they should promote the hell out of it.

The FB statuses, on the other hand, do jack but make people feel like they are doing something. When they are not. Hence the slacktivism. Posting a bra color or where you leave your purse does not raise awarness about when women shoudl get mamograms, nor does it raise money for research.

[BoomerLynn]

That pisses me off. Breast cancer runs in my family. My maternal great-grandmother and grandmother both died of it in their early 50's. My mother was diagnosed at 47 with Stage III. A double mastectomy, chemo and so on saved her life. Sure, she had scars and had to get a reconstruction, AND she is beautiful. My stepfather, and her children, are all so fortunate to have her alive and doing well. My stepfather, who had been her common-law husband for 25-ish years, married her scars and all.

Oh, and my great-grandmother had 6 living babies, my grandmother had 5 living babies, and my mother had 3 living babies, all breast fed and none used BC pills. I could have 20 babies (I am not going to!) and I am likely to still get breast cancer.

I don't get all into the "pink stuff" for breast cancer (but pink clashes with my hair anyway!), but I also know that bonding over "pink stuff" with other women with cancer helped my mum greatly get through her own experience. Raising money and running along with her in Run for the Cure and other such things helped her feel supported. She felt like she had some control over her life while rowing in a pink dragonboat with other women dressed in pink all going through their own battles (some no longer with us). And I am all for ANY cancer awareness and getting the message out there as in the end it will benefit us all. I know young 20-something men who have lost their testicles and parts of their stomach and other organs to testicular cancer, friends whose fathers died of pancreatic cancer, women living with leukemia or who have lost limbs to bone cancer, my paternal grandfather has colon cancer, my maternal grandfather died of lung cancer, an uncle has recurring skin cancer....I want a cure for all of it however it comes and in whatever form.

That being said, I am not a fan of the FB "campaigning" but I am not a fan of FB really at all ;)

I am so sorry your family has had to go through all of that.

[sea_gale]

In my experience the only people who have treated breast cancer like it was a sex/lust thing was fundies. One husband refused to let his wife get a mastectomy (lumpectomy was not an option for her ) because she "wouldn't be womanly anymore".

WHAT. I hope something happens to that utter COCK to make him not be manly anymore.

[Lainey]

WHAT. I hope something happens to that utter COCK to make him not be manly anymore.

^That wasn't me who said what you quoted.

[sea_gale]

^That wasn't me who said what you quoted.

Oops! Fixed.

[MerryHappy]

Her life appears to be one big Jesus Juke.

[ems]

Yes, Kristen, you are human.

As a human being, I believing that you should be treated with kindness, b/c that's the just the kind of person I try to be. (And yet, here I am on a snark board.)

BUT. But, my point is, that you ARE HUMAN. You get hurt feelings like every human being, but like every other human being, you are fallible. That is, you DO NOT know everything. You don't have any more direct a line to God than anyone else. I would have you consider that your beliefs, though you hold them passionately, are just your own human beliefs. It is when you claim to speak of "God's truth" when it's really just your belief or opinion that you seem arrogant.

[ems]

I'm going to have to go see her breast cancer awareness rant. Lord only know why, because it's just going to piss me off, but....

She said something about modesty. Surely she isn't implying that self breast exams=immodesty...surely...right?

Her breast cancer awareness rant was about this "thing" that went around facebook a couple years ago (or was it more recent?). Basically it was women posting their bra colors in the name of breast cancer awareness. Pretty stupid, and I had no idea what it was about at first because it was just a bunch of random color statuses. But I remember it because I read one article posted by my most fundie-ish Catholic fb friend that talked about the "immodesty" of it. I remember being annoyed and like, really, just knowing the color of a girl's bra (uuuh, men know we wear bras...) is going to make a man fall into uncontrollable lust?? Sounds like the ridiculousness we talk about on here.

After I thought about it, though, I think the article (which unfortunately I don't have a link to) made some good points. The whole fb "event" did seem like it was created for women to be a "tease," and it was pretty ineffective as far as breast cancer awareness goes. There are perhaps better approaches to breast cancer awareness than the "oooh, boobies." So I have mixed feelings about those type of campaigns (Save the Ta Tas, etc.). But I'd really like to know how one is going to raise awareness about breast cancer without talking about....breasts...men know we have them, people. If they can't handle that, that's their problem.

[ems]

Actually I'm totally with her on the breast cancer campaign thing. I mean, sure it's cute! and funny! and harmless and a lot of people like to giggle at them, but I think those signs like "save the ta-tas!" are really demeaning. (a) Women (and the men who get BC) are entire people, and it's their lives that deserve saving, not one body part that happens to be interesting sexually to others*, and (b) Society, including men, should want to save women's lives because they are human beings, not because they have hot boobs. For those reasons those stickers/signs/etc. do offend me.

As for the alcohol and the dancing and the dating and and and - well, I'm Episcopalian. Our primary young adults' group activity is Happy Hour.

And we do still love Jesus! Even though we drink the devil's grape juice wine.

*obviously there are a lot of psychological issues that arise when a woman needs to have a mastectomy, etc., and I don't mean to disparage those or women who have experienced that.

Yeah, as a fellow Episcopalian :) -- that's pretty much how I feel about those types of breast cancer awareness campaigns.

[ems]

Tatas make me remember the song, "I Wanna Tata Ya'" by Johnny Guitar Watson. So yeah, I've never associated tatas with breasts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkClHqtD ... re=related

But why get offended, if the message gets out who cares how? Tatas may attract the notice of some, lumps of some and breasts of others. I don't care what you call them, if it helps the cause.

"Test for lumps, save the lumps" :clap:

So, if I have the story correct, my cousin's Cuban-American mother-in-law suggested that my cousin have any grandchildren refer to her as "ta ta." My cousin, given the use of the word ta ta in American English slang, understandably pretty much reacted "Awww hell no!". Now it's a running joke with her family. Last time I went to visit my aunt, we came across a "Save the Ta-Tas" sticker and had to send it to her - but not so much for the breast cancer awareness.

[Hane]

So, if I have the story correct, my cousin's Cuban-American mother-in-law suggested that my cousin have any grandchildren refer to her as "ta ta." My cousin, given the use of the word ta ta in American English slang, understandably pretty much reacted "Awww hell no!". Now it's a running joke with her family. Last time I went to visit my aunt, we came across a "Save the Ta-Tas" sticker and had to send it to her - but not so much for the breast cancer awareness.

[OT]One of my Polish ESL students works at a hospital with several Puerto Rican nurses' aides. One day, she told them, "I got such wonderful news from my niece! She called and told me, 'Chocha [i'm not sure of the spelling], I'm pregnant!'" And the Puerto Rican ladies were horrified--what means "auntie" in Polish means "ladybits" to them![/OT]