Hello Pat. I agree. I find it encouraging how much backlash is quickly developing. I subscribe to Dr. Susan Love's Research Foundation newsletter and right after I wrote my Pinked Out blog, I received a newsletter from her titled "The Pink Explosion: A Message from Dr. Susan Love." She says this:
"As I told a reporter for the Los Angeles Times last week, I really do think that National Breast Cancer Awareness Month was helpful when it was first established. But at this point I believe it has outlived its usefulness. For one thing, how much more "aware" do we think women can be? It's gotten to the point where awareness campaigns are now being targeted at teenagers. Do we really think that telling teens about breast cancer is going to do anything to reduce the number of deaths we have each year from breast cancer? Secondly, all of the awareness campaigns seem to reiterate the same message: the best prevention is early detection. But early detection is not prevention. It's finding a cancer that's already there. And while the idea of finding breast cancer early might make you feel like you have some control over breast cancer, it doesn't address what we now know about how cancer develops."
I'm really encouraged by such a voice. As the Pink movement shows us, as long as we women unite our voices, minds and hearts, we are the leaders of the movement and ideally, we will determine its direction.
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Hello Pat. I agree. I find it encouraging how much backlash is quickly developing. I subscribe to Dr. Susan Love's Research Foundation newsletter and right after I wrote my Pinked Out blog, I received a newsletter from her titled "The Pink Explosion: A Message from Dr. Susan Love." She says this:
"As I told a reporter for the Los Angeles Times last week, I really do think that National Breast Cancer Awareness Month was helpful when it was first established. But at this point I believe it has outlived its usefulness. For one thing, how much more "aware" do we think women can be? It's gotten to the point where awareness campaigns are now being targeted at teenagers. Do we really think that telling teens about breast cancer is going to do anything to reduce the number of deaths we have each year from breast cancer? Secondly, all of the awareness campaigns seem to reiterate the same message: the best prevention is early detection. But early detection is not prevention. It's finding a cancer that's already there. And while the idea of finding breast cancer early might make you feel like you have some control over breast cancer, it doesn't address what we now know about how cancer develops."
I'm really encouraged by such a voice. As the Pink movement shows us, as long as we women unite our voices, minds and hearts, we are the leaders of the movement and ideally, we will determine its direction.
October 7, 2010 - 6:17amThis Comment
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