TSA's Pink Gloves, Breast Cancer, And Pinksploitation
Lisa Simeone is right on with this at TSANewsBlog:
"It's always better to be sexually assaulted with pretty colors, don't you think?"
They're for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A lot of people like to see all these corporations and entities "pinking up."
BoingBoing's Xeni Jardin (@xeni), who has breast cancer and has courageously and movingly tweeted about what she's gone through, calls this "pinksploitation."
Some of her tweets on this are here.
More from today:
@xeni
For those of us with breast cancer, #pinknausea says: "Aww. You're dying, isn't that adorable?"@xeni
#Pinknausea is what you get when you combine condescending sexism with a lack of empathy, and ignorance around a fatal disease.@xeni
Don't talk pink to me.@xeni
The response to breast cancer should be more like response to AIDS in the 90s. Righteous fucking anger. Truth. This disease kills people.@xeni
Breast cancer is a disease, not an accessory, as @davidkroll said. #PinkNausea@xeni
Breast cancer is fear. Mutilation. Loss. Torture. pinksploitation transforms in public mind into a cute cartoon that clowns & kittens get.@xeni
Point of sale at a Vons Starbucks just prompted "WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE A DONATION TO BREAST CANCER?" Thanks, I donated a breast already.
I thought I was the only one who felt this way.
Shannon M. Howell at October 9, 2012 8:04 AM
People responded to AIDS in the '90s with ribbons as well...
LYT at October 9, 2012 9:55 AM
I'd always thought the pink was just to get awareness in the general public-short and catchy and simple is best for that.
I've never understood the big deal about breast cancer so much. Lots of other diseases, even other cancers, kill more women yearly. Is it just that it effects a part of us easily visible? That men like? That we use to define ourselves as women? What?
Of course, if I had one of the mutated genes, I'd cut all the reproductive parts out of me without a thought. I don't know why some women are so conflicted about it. Your boobs and plumbing, or your life. Doesn't seem like a hard choice to me.
momof4 at October 9, 2012 12:00 PM
Why all the fuss about Breast Cancer? Because breast cancer is marketable. It's easier to market pink ribbons and tata's than it is brown ribbons and colons. Susan G. Komen has made quite a profitable business of selling "breast cancer awareness" to the masses.
I am sympathetic to a woman with breast cancer, but just because someone has boobs doesn't make their cancer more important or deadly than someone with a penis's cancer. Cancer is cancer and cancer sucks.
Sabrina at October 9, 2012 12:12 PM
Except AIDS prevention had a certain amount of behavior modification built in. Short of getting them lopped off, there's not a lot a woman can do to prevent breast cancer. Xeni acts like she's the first person to ever go through this.
KateC at October 9, 2012 12:58 PM
One thing that gets me. All the pink is 1.)gender stereotyping and 2.)ignores the fact that MEN can also get breast cancer.
Personally, I find all the breast cancer radio ads to be nauseating. It's all about "your sisters" or "the women in your life" etc. I can't imagine how that would play out to a guy (or his family) who had breast cancer. That's all I can think of when I hear them, so I turn off the radio entirely when one comes on.
Shannon M. Howell at October 9, 2012 1:17 PM
(Thanks to Kate C for that perspective.)
Crid [Cridcomment at Gmail] at October 9, 2012 2:28 PM
While we're at it, how about No, don't order me to *share* your pink-ribbon Facebook post - or any other post - and No, I don't think your obsessive sharing of illiterate prefab graphics is doing anything to cure the disease.
carol at October 9, 2012 2:49 PM
Wow, all of the sympathy in here warms the cockles of my lil' ol' BC Survivors heart.
I've never understood the big deal about breast cancer so much. Lots of other diseases, even other cancers, kill more women yearly.
Maybe the fundraising and education are working? When I was diagnosed I was given an 85% chance to survive. That same year, survival rates in the UK were 45%.
Personally, I find all the breast cancer radio ads to be nauseating. It's all about "your sisters" or "the women in your life" etc. I can't imagine how that would play out to a guy (or his family) who had breast cancer. That's all I can think of when I hear them, so I turn off the radio entirely when one comes on.
You have every right to turn the dial. I'm glad you exercise that right. I just have to wonder at the amazing POV you have, where thousands of women who have BC seem to not matter to you, while the men, who make up about 1% of all BC patients, are what you obsess about http://www.cancercenter.com/breast-cancer/types/male-breast-cancer.cfm?source=GOOGLPPC&channel=paid%20search&c=paid%20search:Google:National%20Search:Exact:men+with+breast+cancer:Exact&OVMTC=Exact&site=&creative=8469639921&OVKEY=men%20with%20breast%20cancer&url_id=129175911&adpos=1t1&gclid=CNnT89TA9bICFWXhQgodhXMAjw
I am sympathetic to a woman with breast cancer, but just because someone has boobs doesn't make their cancer more important or deadly than someone with a penis's cancer. Cancer is cancer and cancer sucks.
yep, cancer sucks. you know what sucks more? people who have never stared down the barrel of that particular gun saying stupid shit like "I am sympathetic to a woman with breast cancer, but". everything before the 'but' is BS, as a friend of mine used to say.
Don't like pink? Cool, don't wear it, that's what is called freedom of choice. Want to point and laugh at people for wearing pink? Ok, that's cool too. Make a comment like "I don't know why some women are so conflicted about it. Your boobs and plumbing, or your life. Doesn't seem like a hard choice to me." or " Xeni acts like she's the first person to ever go through this." and I am within my rights to think you are kind of a jerk.
Tho carol has a point about the cutesy chain emails, those are a tad annoying....
Kat at October 9, 2012 8:41 PM
Every year Yoplait does this "Save the pink lids and send them in and we'll donate 10¢ per lid to the Susan G. Komen fund up to $###K amount."
So you buy Yoplait and eat two a day -- that is 20¢ x 30 day and comes out to $6.00. (We won't count the 47¢ you pay for. The Yoplait costs $1.27 a container. That is is about $76.20 you put out.
Now the store brand is going for about 74¢. Buy those and eat two a day. Then donate the difference. 74¢ * 2 * 30 = $44.40
So buying the store brand and sending that in would be $31.80 that you can give to the fund.
(1.27 * 2 * 30) - (.74 * 2 * 30) = $31.80
Which is more money for the fund? So what do people do -- send in the fucking Yoplait lids.
And they never consider if Yoplait gets 30 million lids. The $###K cap is still there.
The average consumer is sucker.
Jim P. at October 9, 2012 8:50 PM
I will admit that I do enjoy the humor in the "Save the tata's" shirts.
Jim P. at October 9, 2012 8:53 PM
Without giving away too many details, I work for a place that does this. We are public servants so I guess the argument can be made we're trying to put awareness out there (we work out in the public) but seriously, I do NOT need a drawer full of pink t-shirts. I'd rather just throw some cash at the problem and be done with it. We'd definitely give more if we just took the handed the cash over.
To follow on Jim P.'s yogurt example:
T-shirt cost = $7.50
Sold for = $15.00
Total to charity = $7.50
We won't work in the accounting time (my job) to figure out what was sold (I'm simplifying the math, because otherwise this post would be five miles long, but XXL shirts are more, so you have to work that out (to recover our cost) etc. Also, all the staff gets one for "free" so the company pays for those.
Seems like we'd be further ahead to put a jar by the door.
Daghain at October 9, 2012 9:08 PM
So, what price would you put on a woman's life? One who learned how to do a self-exam from a card handed to her by a volunteer in a pink T-shirt at an Art festival?
That self-exam helped save my life. Who knows how many others can say the same.
Kat at October 9, 2012 9:39 PM
Kat, there is a difference between handing out info cards in a pink t-shirt at a park and pink caps on my bottle of prescription meds or having the safeway clerk asking me all month if I want to top off my bill with a donation. Worse are pink gloves to remind you to donate to the titty cancer fund as you're getting your naughty bits fondled by the TSA facists.
I can't wait for the brown gloves for prostate cancer. Moon river...you using the whole fist agent?
Sio at October 9, 2012 10:04 PM
So, what price would you place on the life of any person?
Are women more valuable than men (or vice versa)?
I don't see any commentary in this post (or comments) that is arguing that cultivating awareness (of breast cancer or any other kind) is, in and of itself, a bad thing.
What I see is an indictment of the idea that this one particular type of cancer is somehow more worthy of publicity and fund raisers (and so on) than any other kind.
So, why *just* breast cancer?
I'm a guy. I like boobs (wotta thought).
I would be among the first on the street to celebrate if breast cancer were eradicated.
But what about lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, liver cancer, and all of the other forms of cancer out there?
Do those afflicted automatically become less interesting, and the people affected less valuable, because it isn't affecting a breast?
It's not just about cancer. It's about a clever marketing play that has traction because breasts are involved. Where's the blue ribbon for testicular cancer?
How about we fight (and promote equally) to eradicate cancer (without regard for the body part affected)?
Of course, that doesn't fit the narrative.
Darth Helvetica at October 9, 2012 10:11 PM
Where's the blue ribbon for testicular cancer?
http://www.choosehope.com/category/testicular-cancer-orchid
Kat at October 9, 2012 10:28 PM
And for all the others
http://www.choosehope.com/category/by-cancer-color-cancer-type
Kat at October 9, 2012 10:31 PM
Kat, there is a difference between handing out info cards in a pink t-shirt at a park and pink caps on my bottle of prescription meds or having the safeway clerk asking me all month if I want to top off my bill with a donation. Worse are pink gloves to remind you to donate to the titty cancer fund as you're getting your naughty bits fondled by the TSA facists.
I agree, anything the TSA touches turns to shit, including this.
And what pissed me off wasn't the "tsa has pink gloves to molest us with" comments, it was the "Oh, hey, they want to cut a huge chunk of my body off, so what?" type comments. I survived breast cancer. I beat it because my doctors said "Hey, you are young and reasonably healthy otherwise, so we are going to treat this thing aggressively. Translation "We are going to poison you to within an inch of your life, radiate you to just before you become a nightlight, subject you to multitudes of painful procedures and nasty meds with side effects you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. And you are going to pay us to do all this. Thanks for the BMW!"
I repeat, I found my cancer by doing a self-exam. I was 33, still in child-bearing range, and I had nursed both of my girls. My cancer was a type of fast growing, nasty stuff that from the time I found it til the day they cut it out it had gone from the size of a grape to the size of a golf ball.
You want to mock the TSA? I'm right there with you, but I probably owe my life to that little old lady in a pink Susan Koman t-shirt.
Kat at October 9, 2012 10:48 PM
Okay, that's cool (and I mean that).
But, in a way, it makes my point.
Where's the publicity for those?
Where are the marches or events for testicular cancer?
Where are the little slips you can buy in the checkout lane to donate to appendix cancer, or to brain cancer?
I consider myself to be relatively well informed about things, but this didn't reach my attention until now. So, do you think the average person, who is beset on all sides about breast cancer, really gets informed that this site exists at all, let alone figure out how to find it?
And, why does one kind of cancer get the full on press attention and marketing, and the others get entries on what appears to be a relatively obscure site? Boobs, of course.
You can't tell me that the site you linked has even a tenth of a percent of the awareness of the 'pink ribbon' and other breast cancer publicity.
And we're not talking about representation, we're talking about awareness (and a manufactured awareness, at that).
Why is one so much more important (in the view of the cognoscenti) than the others?
Why not publicize them all? Publicize the site you linked and spread awareness of them all, instead of just one kind.
I'm not against the attention given to breast cancer. I'm against the idea that is it somehow more important than all the others.
Darth Helvetica at October 9, 2012 10:52 PM
> I am within my rights to think you are
> kind of a jerk.
Put me down on that list. C-r-i etc.
There's a certain range of behaviors from public figures that extract from a certain set of their media consumers a very certain pattern of rhetoric. It is routine. It's mechanical. It's meaningless.
As an example, and I mean no particular disrespect to this particular woman, who certainly doesn't deserve to have her life threatened as it presently is:
Well, Seekers... We will always have disagreements about the components of a "moving" experience.But for "courageous," we ought to have a little more common ground, and I'm not standing on it yet.
Hitchens & Cockburn both died of the big C recently, at essentially the same hour. One went out wailing in every medium available, the other was silent. Courage doesn't seem like much of a factor in either choice.
And here's the thing: Those who seem most inclined to applaud and nod and mumble poetic things about the courageous sufferers of these terrors seem least inclined to recognize —or to be least intimately connected enough to realize– that these outcomes are, on the whole, mundane.
Today a dear person in my life learned that a loved one had died, in approach to the eleventh decade of a life of fitness, at a routine social engagement, while living independently... Collapsed and was gone. Like, Mouse Click / Goodnight.
You and I will not be that lucky. We're likely to suffer for a long and expensive time, losing all sorts of resources and clarity along the way, with many distracted hours to reflect on the virtues which did or did not make this planet worth visiting.
When that happens, you'll not want to have to have been too promiscuous in your selection of meanings for the word courageous.
I certainly and sincerely hope Ms. Jardin feels well.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at October 9, 2012 11:05 PM
Kat, I have nothing but sympathy for people going through cancer, breast or otherwise. While chemo, radiation, and removal of body parts are often the RIGHT choices for survival, I'm sure no one who's not been through them personally knows how brutally difficult they can be. Also, some people suffer more than others, and courage or strength of character have nothing to do with it. So yeah, it's pretty distasteful to make light of any deadly disease.
The whole pink ribbon campaign has led to many Good Things -- early detection promoted by awareness indeed saves precious lives like your own, and fundraising provides essential help to victims and researchers.
But (and what I wrote before that is not BS) as many have noted, there are some uses of the campaign that are obnoxiously commercial, cheesy, exploitative or just plain pointless. And I think people can point them out without also writing off the good and important aspects, if they use a bit of tact.
Debra at October 10, 2012 4:00 AM
Kat, I am sorry you lost a boob. I've had 3 LEEPs and will at some point, most likely sooner than later, be losing my plumbing in an effort to stop this before it does threaten my life. So I CAN say, a body part or your life doesn't seem a hard choice. I will admit I have my kids, but I'd make the same choice if I hadn't.
I buried a cousin a few years ago from brain cancer. Buried an Uncle 10 days ago from liver bile duct cancer. Had another cousin have brain cancer and survive. Another cousin with a rare form of cancer in his leg muscle-he's fine now but will be getting CAT scans year;y for quite some time (themselves likely to cause cancer). DH has an Aunt dying of lung cancer (which kills way more women a year than breast cancer). Why is your boob-or anyone's boob-more important than them?
momof4 at October 10, 2012 7:15 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2012/10/09/tsas_pink_glove.html#comment-3376131">comment from momof4he's fine now but will be getting CAT scans year;y for quite some time (themselves likely to cause cancer).
Try to find an EBT scanner near you. Mike and Mary Dan Eades bought one and there's one in Torrance. (The Eades are in Santa Barbara.) It gives WILDLY less radiation than a CAT scan but GE bought the company and put it out of business -- speculatively, because the CAT scan machines need tons of service and have loads of breaky parts and the others do not. It's disgusting, considering that they end up subjecting many people to far more radiation than they need to.
And sorry to hear about all that momof4.
Amy Alkon at October 10, 2012 8:35 AM
'Nor.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at October 10, 2012 11:24 AM
Regarding the yogurt thing.
My son's school does Box Tops for Education. They have about 760 students and a bunch of staff. Now, I can't say that none of them make a choice between products based on the boxtops, but I don't. I manage to send in about a hundred of them a year (binders, diapers, and tons of miscellaneous stuff have them). The school got over 2k from it last year. I understand the stupidity of buying FOR that reason, but if you're buying anyway, it's free money.
Shannon M. Howell at October 10, 2012 7:29 PM
General Mills® owns Yoplait, Betty Crocker, General Mills cereal, and many other brands. I haven't bought cereal for years but I faintly remember a $2 difference from the store brand rice squares to the Rice Chex cereal. But I have bought the store brand Hamburger Helper type meals instead of the actual GM® Betty Crocker® brand. I want to say that there is about $1.25 difference.
Again save the money and donate the direct cash and it will probably be about $25 bucks more per month that you could donate directly.
I'm not trying to say you are wrong -- just be honest about your choices. It also sounds like peer pressure can come in for your child.
If you go to a Wal-mart -- you can probably find the same thing in two different (nearly similar) versions for two different prices. My example is the gift/Xmas/holiday sections. The Wal-mart I go to often has a Hallmark section right near the front door. I almost bought my Xmas cards there last year. Luckily I had to buy cat food. Wal-mart had a separate Xmas card section in with the Xmas decorations that were 1/3 the price.
My point is that it isn't "free money". It's processed money from you to the recipient. Where if you said I'll buy the store brand and send the extra money directly you are a philanthropist.
Jim P. at October 10, 2012 8:35 PM
Jim,
I agree that, all else being equal, you can save/give more by buying generic or cheaper brands. However, if you prefer the brand with the "donation" scheme (for whatever reason), and would buy it anyway, why not use it? I'm sure plenty of people "buy up" because of them, I'm just saying that not ALL people who use them do.
For example, at a certain age, I found that only Huggies diapers fit my daughter well. So, I bought those - and tore the Box Top thinggy off and sent it to my son's school. Now that she's grown a bit, I buy Target brand because they fit just as well and are quite a bit cheaper.
Similarly, we keep a box of Cherrios around (I know, high carb, I'm working on it). When I get a new one, I'll send in that box top. I'd but the Cherrios regardless.
Shannon M. Howell at October 11, 2012 6:00 AM
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