Breast Cancer Awareness Satire

If only raising awareness about breast cancer wasn't so much work.

Image taken from The Onion

This satire of breast cancer awareness from The Onion isn't a far stretch from the reality, plus it notes some typical features of pink and objectifying breast cancer campaigns:

Gender Issues of Pinktober and Movember

With pinktober and Movember behind us, I've been reflecting on some interesting similarities, correlations and themes between them. Most of these revolve around gender.

While researching both of these, I noticed many argue that Movember was the time to focus on men's health, as October was all about women: "You have pinktober; we have Movember." When women complained that Movember was exclusionary because women can't grow moustaches, male defenders of Movember argued: "We didn't protest against pinktober."

There's this idea that if you are against either campaign, you are against the gender it purports to serve and all for the other campaign. Kind of ironic when you consider that many people against Movember are socially conscious and hate pinktober for similar reasons they hate Movember.

A Barbie with Cancer?

If I told you there was a mass-produced Barbie with cancer, what would you imagine it looks like?

There are campaigns online to encourage Barbie manufacturer Mattel to make this happen. I'm picturing a regular Barbie wearing a pink gown, not a bald Barbie with one breast. I'm picturing a Barbie "not letting cancer defeat me" by wearing lots of make up and high heels.