October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and there have been pink ribbons, pink t-shirts and products-gone-pink everywhere. But does painting the disease pink take away from the seriousness of breast cancer? Is it too cutesy? We know that the color pink is associated with femininity, but we also know that breast cancer not only affects women, but both the men in female patients lives AND the 1% percent of breast cancer suffers who are male. Also, breast cancer is not a little girl’s disease, but a serious cancer that ravages the bodies of women across the globe (and causes many to lose their breasts all together). However, seeing pink products and apparel may remind folks to go get potentially lifesaving exams and/or to donate money to worthy breast cancer causes.
Is ‘going pink’ a good way of spreading awareness about breast cancer? Weigh in!
The only way PINK trivializes breast cancer is IF people think pink is automatically “trivial” since the colour is attributed to women/girls. By stating that pink reduces something, you are already stating that the colour indicates reduction automatically.
The campaign has to have some colour and if people are less likely to support something because it concerns women, that speaks more than any colour can. Even using the phrase “little girl” in the way it is used signifies reduction, as if something concerning little girls is no longer important. There are diseases that little girls have that are just as important as breast cancer is to women. Thus, anything with such a connection is not an automatic reduction unless someone is conceding that pink or women’s issues are less important.
Everything Trudy said!
I like seeing various organizations show their support for breast cancer awareness. That being said, I don’t care for the recent inundation of pink products. The reason being that a sizable portion of them do not distinguish where the proceeds (however minimal they are) will be donated. So they profit off of the “raising awareness” trend. That bothers me. The organizations that raise awareness (promoting checks and drs. visits, etc) and donate proceeds of merchandise to a reputable organization are few are far in between. However when they do, it is much appreciated.
Pink has always been associate with softness. It also is an unusual color for an adult to wear, such that it get your mind gear to “is there a reason this person has on something pink?”. I feel it, therefore, is an excellent choice of colors to associate breast cancer with.