Two days ago, two wonderful women of the blogosphere died from metastatic breast cancer. Rachel, at Cancer Culture Chronicles, and Susan (@whymommy), at Toddler Planet , were not the cute, retiring, fluffy, demure Care Bear types. Neither in life, nor in death were they anything like the abomination there to the left.
I'm not even sure what to say about that. The whole image is so damn insulting. For starters, Care Bears are a child's toy. And annoying ones at that. Breast cancer is not child's play.
The body language...awww shucks, look at me, ain't I cute? Shy? Demure? What in the hell? The cute little pink ribbon on its chest. Nothing like the matching scars on my chest. On each breast, six inches vertically bisecting a 7-8 inch scar going horizontally on each side. On "breasts" that aren't breasts. With one topped by the ever so attractive scar from my port. Many of us do have chunky arms like the bear, though. Only instead of looking babyish and cute, ours are due to lymphedema, a chronic condition we have to deal with for the rest of our lives.
ADULT women and men get breast cancer. Again, who in the HELL thought a breast cancer Care Bear was anything but insulting? Imagine being the ONE man who has to go for breast cancer treatment and seeing this in the surgeon''s office, or the onco suite or in some well meaning literature.
What emotion is this stupid bear even supposed to evoke? What is the thinking behind it? I can't even imagine. I mean, "Here...you've had your breasts cut off, you are in loads of pain, you have been poisoned, burned, scared, scarred, mutilated. Have a child's toy. A retro one at that."
Do you see anything resembling a fricking Care Bear here? Or something cute and demure here? Or something cuddly here?
What do you think? What would make a better mascot?
1 comment:
dawn...from the moment I was diagnosed, I was offended by the shit surrounding me...I felt infantalized by the breast cancer/chemo suite/cancer center culture....it was so *cheerful*! I'll write more tomorrow, but that *bear* you depict is...offensive...but you know that ;)...I bought a Rosie the Riveter poster for the women's radiation waiting room (We Can Do It!), and the hospital didn't allow them to hang it up...wtf is up with that??? will write more tomorrow...
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