OMG, yes, totally agree. >_< I actually haven't been on Facebook in the past few weeks, but I got an e-mail notification from my cousin that was about this bullshit "awareness". I get annoyed that breast cancer awareness gets treated like this fad. Like it's fashionable and trendy to wear pink shit and it's funny to wear something with "boob", "tatas", etc. on it. I understand that people who have any kind of cancer have a hard time of it, but I think you lose the real purpose of awareness and people taking it seriously when you make it so silly. I mean, would you see this for prostate cancer or any other kind of cancer, for that matter? How about kids w/leukemia! There's gotta be some kind of marketing ploy there, right?
Ugh... Just... SO glad to know I'm not alone in my annoyance of all this. >_< Like you said, the bullshit last yr. was bad enough, but this new one is just TOTALLY pointless.
To be fair, the proceeds from the "boobs" and "tatas" shirts actually do go to cancer research organizations. The women's center at my school at my school sells shirts like that every year, and let's face it, in college, humor like that is what sells. However, during October, we do have several information sessions about breast cancer and we pass out info on how to do a self-exam, so it's not like we're just dealing with the fun stuff and not taking the issue seriously. And to tell the truth, we sold the spare breast cancer t-shirts at a Relay for Life a few years ago and some cancer survivors came up to us and thought they were a riot. You should never take something so seriously that you can't laugh about it.
I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade here, but having been on the other side of it all (being the party responsible for raising both money and awareness), I understand where things like this come from.
I think it's great to raise money, but again, would you see shirts like this for prostate cancer? I seriously doubt it. And even if there are people out there who make them for the shits and giggles and charity, (b/c I'm sure there are some out there somewhere) I doubt they sell well. But why is it ok to do that w/breasts? Women's breasts are often made silly. It's so easy to make fun of big or small boobs or whatever and, to me, the silliness surrounding breast cancer just sends the wrong message. Why is it ok to poke fun at women's boobs like this, but not other things? Women's boobs are silly, "fun bags" and therefore we don't take it seriously when they have to be removed to save someone's life
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Don't get me wrong, I completely understand where you're coming from (and I mean no offense either). But I guess I'm looking at it from a pragmatic standpoint: if I had a charity that needed money, I'd sure as hell appeal to the lowest common denominator so I could get as much money as possible. Boobs are easy, and people like pink (also, I think the whole pink thing is just the color the cause has adopted, like AIDS has red, and cervical cancer is teal. Testicular cancer is actually lavender. Yes, the color was motivated primarily by women, but factually speaking, women get breast cancer more than men). Is it a little out of hand? Sure. But if that's what it takes to raise money to try and develop new cancer treatments, analysis, or even a cure? I can live with that
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I think part of it (breast cancer awareness vs lung cancer and such) is just that breast cancer is something you can detect yourself more often than not, if you keep up on self exams and whatnot. (Of course, heart disease can often be avoided by keeping a healthy lifestyle, but you know what I mean. :P)
Oh, I totally understand that. But I think we've gotten to the point where we can start including other cancers in these awareness campaigns, you know?
Yeah, I don't have problems with the shirts and things. My issue is with this stupid game that does absolutely nothing to raise real awareness. The sad thing is I'm sure there are plenty of boneheads on facebook who actually think participating in the game is going to really do something. Even if it makes the news (which I suspect is their real goal) how does that raise awareness? There has to be a better way, I'd rather have all those people buying t-shits even if they are silly, at least that raises money for research.
Oh yeah, I have issues with that, too. I mean, I love the idea of a secret game that makes boys go crazy, but it shouldn't be anything more than that--a fun Facebook game. If half the people on Facebook have NO idea what the statuses mean, then how does THAT raise awareness? To get it on the news? In my area, that's kind of a moot point. St. Louis hosts the biggest Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in the COUNTRY. I think we know about Breast Cancer here. What about a status linking to a helpful self-exam video? Or info about how guys can detect and prevent breast cancer? You're right, being secretive here really isn't helping anyone. There are about a million other ways on Facebook to raise awareness about a serious issue.
I get annoyed that breast cancer awareness gets treated like this fad. Like it's fashionable and trendy to wear pink shit and it's funny to wear something with "boob", "tatas", etc. on it. I understand that people who have any kind of cancer have a hard time of it, but I think you lose the real purpose of awareness and people taking it seriously when you make it so silly. I mean, would you see this for prostate cancer or any other kind of cancer, for that matter? How about kids w/leukemia! There's gotta be some kind of marketing ploy there, right?
Ugh... Just... SO glad to know I'm not alone in my annoyance of all this. >_< Like you said, the bullshit last yr. was bad enough, but this new one is just TOTALLY pointless.
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I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade here, but having been on the other side of it all (being the party responsible for raising both money and awareness), I understand where things like this come from.
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