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108-451: Breast cancer awareness is an effort to raise awareness and reduce the stigma of breast cancer through education about screening , symptoms , and treatment . Supporters hope that greater knowledge will lead to earlier detection of breast cancer, which is associated with higher long-term survival rates , and that money raised for breast cancer will produce a reliable, permanent cure . Breast cancer advocacy and awareness efforts are

216-450: A taboo subject. The breast cancer movement, which developed in the 1980s and 1990s out of 20th century feminist movements and the women's health movement, has mostly removed those taboos through its modern advocacy and awareness campaigns. At the beginning and middle of the 20th century, breast cancer was usually discussed in hushed tones, as if it were shameful. As an example, The New York Times refused to publish an advertisement for

324-405: A "cancer personality" that was depressed, repressed, and self-loathing. Psychotherapy was therefore considered an adjunct treatment used to produce a cheerful, self-affirming identity. This theory was predominant among psychiatrists through the 1970s, but has since been discredited. In a process called benefit finding , the she-ro uses the emotional trauma of being diagnosed with breast cancer and

432-407: A "symbol-using, symbol making, and symbol misusing animal" to suggest that a person creates symbols as well as misuses them. One example he uses to indicate what he means by the misuse of the symbol is the story of a man who, when told that a particular food item was whale blubber, could barely keep from throwing it up. Later, his friend discovered it was actually just a dumpling. But the man's reaction

540-463: A bare, bald head if treatment causes temporary hair loss—transgresses the approved, upper-class style of pink femininity and provokes shaming comments from strangers. Programs such as Reach to Recovery and Look Good, Feel Better inform breast cancer patients of this cultural standard and help them conform to it. This standard is not universally adhered to in every detail. Ehrenreich says that "[t]he question of wigs versus baldness ... defines one of

648-408: A breast cancer support group in the early 1950s, stating that it would not print either the word breast or the word cancer . Later, however, several celebrities publicly disclosed their own health challenges, and the resulting publicity reduced the stigma. One of the first was Shirley Temple Black , the former child star, who announced her diagnosis in 1972. In October 1974, Betty Ford , the wife of

756-440: A chosen charity. Medical institutions may run advertisements for mammogram or other breast-related services. Non-profit organizations often benefit from public service announcements , which are free advertisements provided by newspapers, radio and television stations, and other media. Some marketing blurs the line between advertisements and events, such as flash mobs as a form of guerrilla marketing . The typical participant in

864-409: A consciousness-raising tactic by consciousness-raising groups. Activist and writer Audre Lorde was noted to have been one of many scholars who wrote of poetry as a means of communication for women of color activist and resistance groups. This focus has also been studied by other feminist scholars as a new approach to women's literary writing experience, and the usage of critical consciousness through

972-429: A disease, with pink ribbon culture honoring the suffering of its she-roes by selecting them based on the amount of misery they have experienced, and leading women whose treatment is less painful or debilitating to feel excluded and devalued. The suffering, particularly the extended suffering of months of chemotherapy and radiation treatment, forms a metaphorical type of ordeal or rite of passage that initiates women into

1080-443: A donation to a breast cancer organization. Some of these products are produced and/or sold by breast cancer survivors or charities for fundraising purposes, while others are for profits in addition to fundraising. Manufacturers also produce products with pink labels or pink ribbon logos to donate a sum of money to support the cause. The donation is typically capped so that it is reached after a fixed level of sales, although in some cases

1188-414: A donation was being made). Many corporate and charitable organizations run advertisements related to breast cancer, especially during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, in the hope of increasing sales by aligning themselves with a positive, helpful message. In addition to selling pink products, corporate advertisements may promote the company's progressive policies, or may provide free advertising for

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1296-490: A form of therapy", but that it was, in fact, in its time and context, "the primary method of understanding women's condition" and constituted "the movement's most successful organizing tool." At the same time, she saw the lack of theory and emphasis on personal experience as concealing "prior political and philosophical assumptions". However, some in the feminist movement criticised consciousness raising groups as "trivial" and apolitical . Historically, poetry has been used as

1404-437: A market that is already highly aware of breast cancer. This message trivializes women and reflects a belief that breast cancer is important because cancer and its treatment makes women feel less sexually desirable and interferes with men's sexual access to women's breasts, instead of because cancer and its treatment kill and disable women. These sexualized campaigns tend to attract a younger audience than traditional campaigns. At

1512-686: A means of complex communication that often can have multiple levels of meaning. Symbols are the basis of all human understanding and serve as vehicles of conception for all human knowledge. Symbols facilitate understanding of the world in which we live, thus serving as the grounds upon which we make judgments. In this way, people use symbols not only to make sense of the world around them but also to identify and cooperate in society through constitutive rhetoric . Human cultures use symbols to express specific ideologies and social structures and to represent aspects of their specific culture. Thus, symbols carry meanings that depend upon one's cultural background. As

1620-511: A means of raising awareness in the wider society. In The God Delusion , anti-religion activist Richard Dawkins uses the term "consciousness raising" for several other things, explicitly describing these as analogous to the feminist case. These include replacing references to children as Catholic, Muslim, etc. with references to children of the adults who are members of these religions (which he compares to our using non-sexist terminology) and Darwin as "raising our consciousness" in biology to

1728-552: A particular symbol's apparent meaning. Consequently, symbols with emotive power carry problems analogous to false etymologies . The context of a symbol may change its meaning. Similar five-pointed stars might signify a law enforcement officer or a member of the armed services , depending upon the uniform . Symbols are used in cartography to communicate geographical information (generally as point, line, or area features). As with other symbols, visual variables such as size, shape, orientation, texture, and pattern provide meaning to

1836-511: A pink ribbon on a product and [expecting that] people will buy more". Pink products have also been condemned as promoting consumerism , materialism , and environmental degradation . Critics are also concerned that the ubiquity of pink products may mislead people into thinking that significant progress has been made, and that small, individual actions, like buying a breast cancer-themed product, are sufficient. Responding to criticism, Komen CEO Nancy G. Brinker said that corporate promotions enabled

1944-420: A pink ribbon without making other, more concrete efforts to prevent or cure breast cancer has been described as a kind of slacktivism due to its lack of real effects, and has been compared to equally simple yet ineffective "awareness" practices like the drive for women to post the colors of their bras on Facebook . Critics say that the feel-good nature of pink ribbons and "pink consumption" distracts society from

2052-476: A result of awareness, breast cancers are being detected at an earlier, more treatable stage. Awareness efforts have successfully utilized marketing approaches to reduce the stigma associated with the disease. Generally speaking, breast cancer awareness campaigns have been highly effective in getting attention for the disease. Breast cancer receives significantly more media coverage than other prevalent cancers, such as prostate cancer . Breast cancer advocacy uses

2160-481: A result, the meaning of a symbol is not inherent in the symbol itself but is culturally learned. Heinrich Zimmer gives a concise overview of the nature, and perennial relevance, of symbols. Concepts and words are symbols, just as visions, rituals, and images are; so too are the manners and customs of daily life. Through all of these, a transcendent reality is mirrored. There are so many metaphors reflecting and implying something which, though thus variously expressed,

2268-438: A symbol always "points beyond itself" to something that is unquantifiable and mysterious; symbols open up the "depth dimension of reality itself". Symbols are complex, and their meanings can evolve as the individual or culture evolves. When a symbol loses its meaning and power for an individual or culture, it becomes a dead symbol. When a symbol becomes identified with the deeper reality to which it refers, it becomes idolatrous as

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2376-440: A type of health advocacy . Breast cancer advocates raise funds and lobby for better care, more knowledge, and more patient empowerment . They may conduct educational campaigns or provide free or low-cost services. Breast cancer culture , sometimes called pink ribbon culture , is the cultural outgrowth of breast cancer advocacy, the social movement that supports it, and the larger women's health movement. The pink ribbon

2484-422: A visible reminder of breast cancer, and public events, such as American football games, may use pink equipment or supplies. In 2010, all King Features Syndicate comic strips on one Sunday were printed in shades of red and pink, with a pink ribbon logo appearing prominently in one panel. Private companies may arrange a "pink day", in which employees wear pink clothes in support of breast cancer patients, or pay for

2592-404: Is a "dirty little secret" that others want to make invisible. Similarly, the culture is also ill-equipped to deal with the news that a previously hyped treatment or screening procedure has been determined to be ineffective, with women advocating for the acceptance and promotion of inexpedient activities and inefficient or even sometimes harmful drugs. Breast cancer culture, or pink ribbon culture,

2700-405: Is an unhealthy response to breast cancer. The breast cancer wars were a series of conflicts between advocates and others about the causes, treatments, and societal responses to breast cancer. Women in the late 1980s and 1990s followed the successful approach used by ACT-UP and other AIDS awareness groups, of staging media-friendly protests to increase political pressure. Prominent women who made

2808-400: Is associated with individual generosity , faith in scientific progress, and an optimistic "can-do" attitude. It encourages individuals to focus on the emotionally appealing ultimate vision of a cure for breast cancer, rather than the reality that there is neither any certain cure for breast cancer nor any guarantee there will ever be such a cure. The practice of blindly wearing or displaying

2916-517: Is called semiotics . In the arts, symbolism is the use of a concrete element to represent a more abstract idea. In cartography , an organized collection of symbols forms a legend for a map. The word symbol derives from the late Middle French masculine noun symbole , which appeared around 1380 in a theological sense signifying a formula used in the Roman Catholic Church as a sort of synonym for 'the credo'; by extension in

3024-477: Is due to this positive attitude and fighting spirit. While cheerfulness, hope, and good social support can be advantageous to health outcomes, it cannot determine survival rates. Women who reject the she-ro model may find themselves socially isolated by the breast cancer support groups that are nominally supposed to help them. Support from "the sisterhood" favors the "passionately pink", and tends to overlook women whose response to being diagnosed with breast cancer

3132-403: Is going or if the research industry is making progress in finding the "cure". The emphasis on cheerfulness allows society to blame women for developing breast cancer and limits their responses to certain culturally determined scripts . The requirement of cheerful optimism arose from the then-popular theory that cancer had a psychosomatic origin and that people who were diagnosed with cancer had

3240-409: Is incompatible with the pink ribbon culture, because they feel angry, unhappy, or afraid. The breast cancer culture is ill-equipped to deal with women who are dying or who have died, and their experiences may not be memorialized, validated or represented as part of the movement, instead being ignored or shunned as failures and as hope-destroying examples of reality. They may feel like treatment failure

3348-401: Is ineffable, though thus rendered multiform, remains inscrutable. Symbols hold the mind to truth but are not themselves the truth, hence it is delusory to borrow them. Each civilisation, every age, must bring forth its own." In the book Signs and Symbols , it is stated that A symbol   ... is a visual image or sign representing an idea – a deeper indicator of universal truth. Semiotics

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3456-832: Is not a voluntary act of charity, but an effort to increase sales. The regulated drug and medical device industry uses the color pink, positive images, and other themes of the pink ribbon culture in direct-to-consumer advertising to associate their breast cancer products with the fear, hope, and wholesome goodness of the breast cancer movement. This is particularly evident in advertisements designed to sell screening mammograms. The marketing of breast cancer awareness allows people to incorporate support for awareness into their personal identity or lifestyle . Socially aware, pro-woman individuals, businesses, politicians, and organizations use pink ribbons and other trappings of breast cancer awareness to signal their support for women, health, and mainstream medicine. The term she-ro , derived from hero ,

3564-412: Is special because of its status as a largely female disease, society's response to it is an ongoing indication of the status of women and the existence of sexism . Breast cancer activist Virginia Soffa wrote that "[a]s long as it is not a national priority, the breast cancer epidemic will remain a metaphor for how society treats women". Barbara Ehrenreich writes that, before the feminist movement "medicine

3672-477: Is spent on screening programs, education and treatment. Most breast cancer research is funded by government agencies. The high level of awareness and organized political lobbying has resulted in a disproportionate level of funding and resources given to breast cancer research and care. Favoring breast cancer with disproportionate research may have the unintended consequence of costing lives elsewhere. In 2001 UK MP Ian Gibson said, "The treatment has been skewed by

3780-597: Is substituted for another in order to change the meaning. In other words, if one person does not understand a certain word or phrase, another person may substitute a synonym or symbol in order to get the meaning across. However, upon learning the new way of interpreting a specific symbol, the person may change his or her already-formed ideas to incorporate the new information. Jean Dalby Clift says that people not only add their own interpretations to symbols, but they also create personal symbols that represent their own understanding of their lives: what she calls "core images" of

3888-470: Is the most prominent symbol of breast cancer awareness, and in many countries, the month of October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month . Some national breast cancer organizations receive substantial financial support from corporate sponsorships . Breast cancer awareness campaigns have been criticized for minimizing the risks of screening programs , conflicts of interest , and a narrow focus of research funding on screening and existing treatments at

3996-428: Is the set of activities, attitudes, and values that surround and shape breast cancer in public. The dominant values are selflessness, cheerfulness, unity, and optimism. It is pro-doctor, pro-medicine, and pro-mammogram. Health care professionals are sources of information, but the rightness of their advice is not to be seriously questioned by women with breast cancer. Patients are not encouraged to ask where research money

4104-513: Is the study of signs, symbols, and signification as communicative behavior. Semiotics studies focus on the relationship of the signifier and the signified, also taking into account the interpretation of visual cues, body language, sound, and other contextual clues. Semiotics is linked with linguistics and psychology. Semioticians not only study what a symbol implies but also how it got its meaning and how it functions to make meaning in society. For example, symbols can cause confusion in translation when

4212-476: Is towards a radical, natural or cosmetically enhanced appearance, treatment is always "a makeover opportunity". Since the beginning of the 21st century, breast cancer culture has become more sexualized, and many awareness campaigns now reflect the old advertising truism that sex sells . The "booby campaigns", such as "Save the Tatas" and the "I ♥ Boobies" gel bracelets, rely on a cultural obsession with breasts and

4320-614: Is understood as representing an idea , object , or relationship . Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise different concepts and experiences. All communication is achieved through the use of symbols: for example, a red octagon is a common symbol for " STOP "; on maps , blue lines often represent rivers; and a red rose often symbolizes love and compassion. Numerals are symbols for numbers ; letters of an alphabet may be symbols for certain phonemes ; and personal names are symbols representing individuals. The academic study of symbols

4428-438: Is used in discussions of breast cancer to refer to women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, and sometimes to those who have survived breast cancer. The term describes an "idealized" patient who combines assertiveness, optimism, femininity and sexuality, despite the effects of treatment, and as a "paragon [who] uses a diagnosis of breast cancer as a catalyst for a personal transformation". Sociologist Gayle Sulik analyzed

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4536-545: The National Breast Cancer Coalition 's "Not Just Ribbons" campaign, and Breast Cancer Action's "Think Before You Pink" campaign. NBCC's "Not Just Ribbons" campaign sought to focus awareness efforts onto substantive issues such as genetic discrimination , access to cancer treatment, patient rights , and environmental breast cancer research. "Think Before You Pink" encouraged consumers to ask questions about pink products (e.g., to find out how much of

4644-615: The Old Left , they used to say that the workers don't know they're oppressed, so we have to raise their consciousness. One night at a meeting I said, 'Would everybody please give me an example from their own life on how they experienced oppression as a woman? I need to hear it to raise my own consciousness.' Kathie was sitting behind me and the words rang in her mind. From then on she sort of made it an institution and called it consciousness-raising. On Thanksgiving 1968, Kathie Sarachild presented A Program for Feminist Consciousness Raising , at

4752-424: The closet among welcoming, tolerant individuals and share personal stories about coming out. The idea of coming out as a tool of consciousness-raising had been preceded by even earlier opinions from German theorists such as Magnus Hirschfeld , Iwan Bloch and Karl Heinrich Ulrichs , all of whom saw self-disclosure as a means of self-emancipation, the raising of consciousness among fellow un-closeted individuals and

4860-525: The femininity and female gender role of the she-ro, offsetting the masculine characteristics of assertiveness, selfishness and "fighting" cancer by cultivating a feminine appearance and concern for others. During and after treatment, the she-ro regains her femininity by using breast reconstruction, prosthetic devices, wigs, cosmetics, and clothing to present an aesthetically appealing, upper-class, heterosexual feminine appearance and by maintaining relationships in which she can nurture other people. Following

4968-452: The market size for breast cancer organizations, medical establishments, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and the makers of mammography equipment. Raising awareness However, in practice, raising awareness is often combined with other activities, such as fundraising , membership drives or advocacy , in order to harness and/or sustain the motivation of new supporters which may be at its highest just after they have learned and digested

5076-435: The moral goodness of women with breast cancer and anyone who visibly identifies themselves with breast cancer patients. This brand permits and even encourages people to substitute conscientious consumption and individual symbolic actions , like buying or wearing a pink ribbon, for concrete, practical results, such as collective political action aimed at discovering non-genetic causes of breast cancer. The establishment of

5184-529: The pink ribbon and the color pink as a concept brand to raise money and increase screening. The breast cancer brand is strong: people who support the "pink brand" are members of the socially aware niche market , who are in favor of improved lives for women, believe in positive thinking , trust biomedical science to be able to solve any problem if given enough money, and prefer curative treatments to prevention. The brand ties together fear of cancer, hope for early identification and successful treatment, and

5292-411: The "symbol is taken for reality." The symbol itself is substituted for the deeper meaning it intends to convey. The unique nature of a symbol is that it gives access to deeper layers of reality that are otherwise inaccessible. A symbol's meaning may be modified by various factors including popular usage, history , and contextual intent . The history of a symbol is one of many factors in determining

5400-464: The "wrong" choice were publicly excoriated, as when Nancy Reagan chose mastectomy over lumpectomy followed by six weeks of radiation therapy . The abortion–breast cancer hypothesis was formulated when an early study showed a connection between voluntary abortions and the development of breast cancer in premenopausal women, which pitted breast cancer advocates against abortion rights advocates. Advocates for women's issues have said that breast cancer

5508-476: The Cure , do little more than support the marketing machines that produce them. Komen says that corporate sponsorships are necessary to pay for the organization's efforts: in the 2010 fiscal year it spent $ 175 million on public health education and awareness campaigns, $ 75 million on medical research and about $ 67 million on treatment and screenings for patients. Two significant campaigns against pink consumption are

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5616-953: The First National Women's Liberation Conference near Chicago, Illinois, in which she explained the principles behind consciousness-raising and outlined a program for the process that the New York groups had developed over the past year. Groups founded by former members of New York Radical Women—in particular Redstockings , founded out of the breakup of the NYRW in 1969, and New York Radical Feminists —promoted consciousness raising and distributed mimeographed sheets of suggesting topics for consciousness raising group meetings. New York Radical Feminists organized neighborhood-based c.r. groups in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, involving as many as four hundred women in c.r. groups at its peak. Over

5724-537: The United States. In November 1967, a group including Shulamith Firestone , Anne Koedt , Kathie Sarachild (originally Kathie Amatniek), and Carol Hanisch began meeting in Koedt's apartment. Meetings often involved "going around the room and talking" about issues in their own lives. The phrase "consciousness raising" was coined to describe the process when Kathie Sarachild took up the phrase from Anne Forer: In

5832-607: The appearance that society is "doing something" effective about breast cancer, and to sustain and expand the social, political, and financial power of breast cancer activists . The breast cancer culture tells women with breast cancer that their participation in fundraising, social support of other women with breast cancer, and appearance at public events are critical activities that promote their own emotional recovery. Because of this message, some women begin to believe that refusing to raise money for breast cancer organizations or to become mentors for newly diagnosed women with breast cancer

5940-552: The brand and the entrenchment of the breast cancer movement has been uniquely successful because no countermovement opposes the breast cancer movement or believes that breast cancer is desirable. A pink ribbon is a symbol of breast cancer awareness. It may be worn to honor those who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, or to identify products that a manufacturer would like to sell to consumers that are interested in breast cancer. Pink ribbons are sometimes sold as fundraisers , much like poppies on Remembrance Day . The pink ribbon

6048-517: The breast cancer movement, and therefore the advertisers' target audience , is a white, middle-aged, middle-class, well-educated woman. Some corporate sponsors are criticized for having a conflict of interest . For example, some of the prominent sponsors of these advertisements include businesses that sell the expensive equipment needed to perform screening mammography; an increase in the number of women seeking mammograms means an increase in their sales, which has led critics to say that their sponsorship

6156-467: The cancer patient. Finally, the initiate emerges into a new and higher status—an adult and a warrior—or in the case of breast cancer, a "survivor". Mainstream pink ribbon culture has aspects that are trivializing, silencing, and infantilizing . Women with breast cancer are surrounded by childish kitsch such as pink teddy bears and crayons, but there is no equivalent gift of toy cars for men diagnosed with prostate cancer . Women who choose not to conform to

6264-560: The company expected, but the campaign resulted in a $ 300,000 donation. Advertisers and retail consultants have said that because of consumer cynicism, a company can benefit from marketing its support for a cause such as breast cancer awareness only when the company treats that support as "a commitment and not a marketing opportunity". Andrew Benett, an executive at Euro RSCG said that because consumers "have become more mindful, more thoughtful, about how they consume, where they consume, why they consume", companies cannot succeed by "just slapping

6372-427: The company is providing only free advertising for a selected charity. Although advertising costs are rarely disclosed, some companies have been found to spend far more money advertising "pink products" and tie-ins than they donate to charitable organizations supporting research or patients. For example, in 2005, 3M spent US$ 500,000 advertising post-it notes printed with a pink ribbon logo. Sales were nearly double what

6480-435: The creation of art as a liberatory praxis. Art as a liberatory praxis has also been explored through a radical queer lens through a number of publications and journals such as Sinister Wisdom and Conditions , online publications with an emphasis on lesbian writing. In the 1960s, consciousness-raising caught on with gay liberation activists, who formed the first "coming-out groups" which helped participants come out of

6588-443: The culture may feel excluded and isolated; those who cannot conform to the prescribed triumphant script report feeling unable to share their stories honestly. Anger, negativity and fatalism transgress the feeling rules, and women with breast cancer who express anger or negativity are corrected by other women with breast cancer and members of the breast cancer support organizations. Appearing unattractive—such as going out in public with

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6696-565: The development of breast cancer, such as alcohol, high-fat foods, some pesticides, or the parabens and phthalates used by most cosmetic companies, have been condemned as pinkwashing (a portmanteau of pink ribbon and whitewash ). Such promotions generally result in a token donation to a breast cancer-related charity by taking advantage of the consumers' fear of cancer and grief for people who have died to drive sales. Critics say that these promotions, which net more than US$ 30 million each year just for fundraising powerhouse Susan G. Komen for

6804-627: The early Renaissance it came to mean 'a maxim' or 'the external sign of a sacrament'; these meanings were lost in secular contexts. It was during the Renaissance in the mid-16th century that the word took on the meaning that is dominant today, that of 'a natural fact or object evoking by its form or its nature an association of ideas with something abstract or absent'; this appears, for example, in François Rabelais , Le Quart Livre , in 1552. This French word derives from Latin, where both

6912-479: The event. Through mass-participation events, breast cancer survivors form a single, united group that speaks and acts consistently and shares a coherent set of beliefs. They also reinforce the cultural connection between each individual's physical fitness and moral fitness . Events organized by Avon or Komen are known to allocate around 25%-33% of donations to the funds needed to organize the event and advertise it. Various landmarks are illuminated in pink lights as

7020-419: The expense of prevention and new treatments . The goal of breast cancer awareness campaigns is to raise the public's brand awareness for breast cancer, its detection , its treatment , and the need for a reliable, permanent cure. Increased awareness has increased the number of women receiving mammograms , the number of breast cancers detected, and the number of women receiving breast biopsies . Overall, as

7128-408: The few real disagreements in breast-cancer culture." Some women have avant garde aesthetic tastes: "One decorates her scalp with temporary tattoos of peace signs, panthers, and frogs; another expresses herself with a shocking purple wig; a third reports that unadorned baldness makes her feel 'sensual, powerful, able to recreate myself with every new day ' ". Regardless of whether the transformation

7236-413: The have-it-all superwoman , cultivating a normal appearance and activity level and minimizing the disruption that breast cancer causes to people around her. The effort of maintaining the role of a she-ro can be stressful. The role encourages women with breast cancer to care for others rather than themselves. Some of them find this comforting, but it may lead to them feeling reluctant or unable to ask for

7344-444: The help they need or want, and this can lead to bitterness that their friends and family did not offer these services unbidden. The success of their efforts to look and act normally may paradoxically increase their dissatisfaction, as their apparent ability to handle it all discourages people from offering help. The breast cancer culture celebrates women who display the attitude deemed correct, which implies that their continued survival

7452-438: The inner circle of breast cancer culture. Barbara Ehrenreich describes it this way: Understood as a rite of passage, breast cancer resembles the initiation rites so exhaustively studied by Mircea Eliade: First there is the selection of the initiates—by age in the tribal situation, by mammogram or palpation here. Then come the requisite ordeals—scarification or circumcision within traditional cultures, surgery and chemotherapy for

7560-446: The issue significantly. In one study, when a survey of women was taken following Jolie's announcement, awareness rose by 4% among those women surveyed. The media reported these women's health and their treatment choices, and even invited some to appear on talk shows to discuss breast cancer frankly. The breast cancer movement has resulted in widespread acceptance of second opinions , the development of less invasive surgical procedures,

7668-488: The lack of progress in curing breast cancer. It is also criticized for reinforcing gender stereotypes and objectifying women and their breasts. Each year, the month of October is recognized as Breast Cancer Awareness Month by many governments, the media, and cancer survivors . The month-long campaign has been called Pinktober because of the increased production of pink goods for sale, and National Breast Cancer Industry Month by critics like Breast Cancer Action . BCAM

7776-422: The lobbying, there is no doubt about that. Breast cancer sufferers get better treatment in terms of bed spaces, facilities and doctors and nurses". Causes of death among women : Breast cancer is the cause of death of 2% of women. Source: WHO (2004) Awareness has also led to increased anxiety for women. Early detection efforts result in overdiagnosis of precancerous and cancerous tumors that would never risk

7884-491: The masculine noun symbolus and the neuter noun symbolum refer to "a mark or sign as a means of recognition." The Latin word derives from Ancient Greek : σύμβολον symbolon , from a verb meaning 'put together', 'compare', alluding to the Classical practice of breaking a piece of ceramic in two and giving one half to the person who would receive a future message, and one half to the person who would send it: when

7992-439: The movement's most successful form of female bonding , and the source of most of its creative thinking. Some of the small groups stayed together for more than a decade". "In 1973, probably the height of CR, 100,000 women in the United States belonged to CR groups." Early mid-century feminists argued that women were isolated from each other, and as a result many problems in women's lives were misunderstood as "personal," or as

8100-897: The new information. The term awareness raising is used in the Yogyakarta Principles against discriminatory attitudes and LGBT stereotypes as well as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to combat stereotypes , prejudices and harmful practices toward people with disabilities . Until the early-17th century, English speakers used the word "consciousness" in the sense of "moral knowledge of right or wrong"—a concept today referred to as " conscience ". Consciousness raising groups were formed by New York Radical Women , an early Women's Liberation group in New York City, and quickly spread throughout

8208-690: The next few years, small-group consciousness raising spread rapidly in cities and suburbs throughout the United States. By 1971, the Chicago Women's Liberation Union , which had already organized several consciousness raising groups in Chicago, described small consciousness raising groups as "the backbone of the Women's Liberation Movement ". Susan Brownmiller , a member of the West Village would later write that small-group consciousness raising "was

8316-477: The now-regretted decision to use the word carcinoma in these relatively common conditions (almost a quarter of "breast cancer" diagnoses in the US), they are not life-threatening cancers . Women with these conditions are promoted as breast cancer survivors due to the fear they experienced before they became educated about their condition, rather than in respect of any real threat to their lives. This effectively increases

8424-436: The organization to reach new audiences and that "America is built on consumerism. To say we shouldn't use it to solve the social ills that confront us doesn't make sense to me". The first breast cancer awareness stamp in the U.S., featuring a pink ribbon, was issued in 1996. As it did not sell well, a semi-postal stamp without a pink ribbon, the breast cancer research stamp , was designed in 1998. Products like these emphasize

8532-423: The original sources, both historic and personal, going to people—women themselves, and going to experience for theory and strategy". However, most consciousness raising groups did follow a similar pattern for meeting and discussion. Meetings would usually be held about once a week, with a small group of women, often in the living room of one of the members. Meetings were women-only , and usually involved going around

8640-431: The patient's health care. Since the end of the breast cancer wars, feminists have again objected to the breast cancer culture's treatment of women with breast cancer as little girls who need to be obedient to authority figures, cooperative, pleasant and pretty. Breast cancer has been known to educated women and caregivers throughout history, but modesty and horror at the consequences of a largely untreatable disease made it

8748-852: The person. Clift argues that symbolic work with these personal symbols or core images can be as useful as working with dream symbols in psychoanalysis or counseling. William Indick suggests that the symbols that are commonly found in myth, legend, and fantasy fulfill psychological functions and hence are why archetypes such as "the hero", "the princess" and "the witch" have remained popular for centuries. Symbols can carry symbolic value in three primary forms: Ideological, comparative, and isomorphic. Ideological symbols such as religious and state symbols convey complex sets of beliefs and ideas that indicate "the right thing to do". Comparative symbols such as prestigious office addresses, fine art, and prominent awards indicate answers to questions of "better or worse" and "superior or inferior". Isomorphic symbols blend in with

8856-410: The physicians who provided breast cancer treatments were generally men. Love said that some male physicians tended to impose their own values on women, such as recommending mastectomy to older women because, being past the age of child bearing and breastfeeding, they no longer "needed" their breasts. The women's health movement promoted mutual aid, self-help, networking , and an active, informed role in

8964-428: The possibility of explaining complexity naturalistically and, in principle, raising our consciousness to the possibility of doing such things elsewhere (especially in physics). Earlier in the book, he uses the term (without explicitly referring to feminism) to refer to making people aware that leaving their parents' faith is an option. Symbol A symbol is a mark, sign , or word that indicates, signifies, or

9072-474: The potential to increase breast cancer awareness in older women, over a sustained period of time. Supporting breast cancer detection and treatment was seen as a distinctively pro-woman stance popular among public official. This has resulted in better access to care. For example, in much of the United States, low-income women with breast cancer may qualify for taxpayer-funded health care benefits, such as screening mammography, biopsies, or treatment, while women with

9180-578: The privilege of a relaxed dress code , such as Lee National Denim Day . Some events are directed at people in specific communities, such as the Global Pink Hijab Day , which was started in America to encourage appropriate medical care and reduce the stigma of breast cancer among Muslim women, and Male Breast Cancer Awareness Week, which some organizations highlight during the third week of October. Most events are well-received, but some, like

9288-406: The proper feeling rules of the breast cancer culture is encouraged, including remaining optimistic of a full cure, rationalizing the selfishness of treatment as a temporary measure, and feeling guilty that it forces her to put her needs momentarily above the needs of others or due to her perceived inadequacy in caring for her family or other women with cancer. Also included in the role is a form of

9396-579: The relationship between being a consumer and supporting women with breast cancer. In Canada, the Royal Canadian Mint produced 30 million 25-cent coins with pink ribbons during 2006 for normal circulation. Designed by the mint's director of engraving, Cosme Saffioti (reverse), and Susanna Blunt (obverse), this colored coin is the second in history to be put into regular circulation. Business marketing campaigns, particularly sales promotions for products that increase pollution or have been linked to

9504-439: The results of conflicts between the personalities of individual men and women, rather than systematic forms of oppression. Raising consciousness meant helping oneself and helping others to become politically conscious . Consciousness raising groups aimed to get a better understanding of women's oppression by bringing women together to discuss and analyze their lives, without interference from the presence of men. While explaining

9612-432: The room for each woman to talk about a predetermined subject—for example, "When you think about having a child, would you rather have a boy or a girl?" —speaking from her own experience, with no formal leader for the discussion and few rules for directing or limiting discussion. (Some c.r. groups did implement rules designed to give every woman a chance to speak, to prevent interruptions, etc.) Speaking from personal experience

9720-416: The same income, but another form of cancer or a medical condition other than cancer, do not. Breast cancer advocates have successfully increased the amount of public money being spent on cancer research and shifted the research focus away from other diseases and towards breast cancer. Breast cancer advocates also raise millions of dollars for research into cures each year, although most of the funds they raise

9828-600: The same symbol means different things in the source and target languages. A potential error documented in survey translation is the symbol of "x" used to denote "yes" when marking a response in the English language surveys, but "x" usually means "no" in the Chinese convention. Symbols allow the human brain continuously to create meaning using sensory input and decode symbols through both denotation and connotation . An alternative definition of symbol , distinguishing it from

9936-420: The same time, breast cancer culture tends to overlook men with breast cancer and women who do not fit the white, middle-class archetype. African-Americans involved with breast cancer organizations often feel like their role is to be the token minority . The primary purposes or goals of the breast cancer culture itself are to maintain breast cancer's dominance as the preëminent women's health issue, to promote

10044-486: The she-ro's social role and ascribes it qualities that include being an educated medical consumer with a brave, pleasant and optimistic public appearance and demeanor, who aggressively fights breast cancer through compliance with screening guidelines and "disciplined practice of 'breast health ' ". In America the she-ro is diagnosed early due to adherence to early screening recommendations, and, by definition, she survives her diagnosis and treatment. The role emphasizes

10152-409: The spread of support groups , and other advances in patient care. The movement successfully separated diagnostic biopsy from mastectomy surgery; before about 1980, it was common to perform the biopsy and, if a quick review of tissues indicated a probable need, a mastectomy in the same surgery. The one-step surgery prevented women from seeking different opinions about their treatment, and sent them into

10260-409: The suffering of extended treatment to transform herself into a stronger, happier and more sensitive person who is grateful for the opportunity to become a better person. In particular, she sees breast cancer as an opportunity to give herself permission for necessary personal growth that she felt she was prohibited from or unable to make before. Breast cancer thereby becomes a rite of passage rather than

10368-868: The surgery without knowing whether their breasts would be removed that day. In response to women's concerns over lymphedema after routine removal of lymph nodes during mastectomy, the more limited approach of sentinel node biopsy was developed. Advocacy efforts also led to the formal recommendation against the routine use of the Halsted radical mastectomy in favor of simple mastectomies and lumpectomies. The breast cancer movement has supported practical, educational, emotional, and financial care for women with breast cancer. Support groups, individual counseling opportunities, and other resources are made available to patients. Educational interventions using written material and brief one-to-one interaction about breast checking behaviour, breast cancer symptoms and age-related risk have

10476-829: The surrounding cultural environment such that they enable individuals and organizations to conform to their surroundings and evade social and political scrutiny. Examples of symbols with isomorphic value include wearing a professional dress during business meetings, shaking hands to greet others in the West, or bowing to greet others in the East. A single symbol can carry multiple distinct meanings such that it provides multiple types of symbolic value. Paul Tillich argued that, while signs are invented and forgotten, symbols are born and die. There are, therefore, dead and living symbols. A living symbol can reveal to an individual hidden levels of meaning and transcendent or religious realities. For Tillich

10584-454: The symbol. According to semiotics , map symbols are "read" by map users when they make a connection between the graphic mark on the map (the sign ), a general concept (the interpretant ), and a particular feature of the real world (the referent ). Map symbols can thus be categorized by how they suggest this connection: A symbolic action is an action that symbolizes or signals what the actor wants or believes. The action conveys meaning to

10692-448: The term sign was proposed by Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung . In his studies on what is now called Jungian archetypes , a sign stands for something known, as a word stands for its referent. He contrasted a sign with a symbol : something that is unknown and that cannot be made clear or precise. An example of a symbol in this sense is Christ as a symbol of the archetype called self . Kenneth Burke described Homo sapiens as

10800-565: The then-President of the United States, openly discussed her breast cancer diagnosis and mastectomy. Two weeks later, the wife of the then-Vice President also had a mastectomy for breast cancer. The next year, journalist Rose Kushner published her book, Breast Cancer: A Personal History and Investigative Report , which she had written while recovering from a modified radical mastectomy . More recently, Angelina Jolie has also come forward publicly regarding her experience surrounding her diagnosis and treatment, which managed to raise public awareness of

10908-401: The theory behind consciousness raising in a 1973 talk, Kathie Sarachild remarked that "From the beginning of consciousness-raising ... there has been no one method of raising consciousness. What really counts in consciousness-raising are not methods, but results. The only 'methods' of consciousness raising are essentially principles. They are the basic radical political principles of going to

11016-525: The two fit perfectly together, the receiver could be sure that the messenger bearing it did indeed also carry a genuine message from the intended person. A literary or artistic symbol as an "outward sign" of something else is a metaphorical extension of this notion of a message from a sender to a recipient. In English, the meaning "something which stands for something else" was first recorded in 1590, in Edmund Spenser 's Faerie Queene . Symbols are

11124-785: The unauthorized painting of the Pink Bridge in Huntington, West Virginia , are controversial. Many cancer survivors find that BCAM is an emotionally difficult time, as it reminds them of a distressing time and because the cheerful marketing images do not match their experiences. Thousands of breast cancer-themed products are developed and sold each year. Some of these items are everyday products that have been repackaged or repositioned to take advantage of cause-related marketing , such as teddy bears, clothing, jewelry, candles, and coffee mugs. These blended value objects offer consumers an opportunity to simultaneously buy an object and make

11232-442: The woman's life (about one-third of breast cancers diagnosed through screening programs), and result in her being subjected to invasive and sometimes dangerous radiological and surgical procedures. In recent years, the definition of breast cancer has expanded to include non-invasive, non-cancerous conditions like lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) and pre-cancerous or "stage 0" conditions like ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Despite

11340-514: Was a direct consequence of the symbol of "blubber" representing something inedible in his mind. In addition, the symbol of "blubber" was created by the man through various kinds of learning . Burke goes on to describe symbols as also being derived from Sigmund Freud 's work on condensation and displacement , further stating that symbols are not just relevant to the theory of dreams but also to "normal symbol systems". He says they are related through "substitution", where one word, phrase, or symbol

11448-556: Was a solid patriarchy", and women with breast cancer were often treated as passive, dependent objects, incapable of making appropriate choices, whose role was to accept whatever treatment was decreed by the physicians and surgeons, who held all of the power. Because of sexism in education, female surgeons were far outnumbered by their male counterparts, and until the 1990s, when Susan Love of the University of California, Los Angeles Breast Center published Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book ,

11556-542: Was begun in 1985 by the American Cancer Society and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca . The organization that runs the official BCAM aims to promote mammography and other forms of early detection as the most effective means of fighting breast cancer. Typical BCAM events include fundraising-based foot races , walk-a-thons , and bicycle rides . Participants solicit donations to a breast cancer-related charity in return for running, walking, or riding in

11664-1114: Was used as a basis for further discussion and analysis based on the first-hand knowledge that was shared. Some feminist advocates of consciousness raising argued that the process allowed women to analyze the conditions of their own lives, and to discover ways in which what had seemed like isolated, individual problems (such as needing an abortion , surviving rape , conflicts between husbands and wives over housework, etc.) actually reflected common conditions faced by all women. As Sarachild wrote in 1969, "We assume that our feelings are telling us something from which we can learn... that our feelings mean something worth analyzing... that our feelings are saying something political , something reflecting fear that something bad will happen to us or hope, desire, knowledge that something good will happen to us. ... In our groups, let's share our feelings and pool them. Let's let ourselves go and see where our feelings lead us. Our feelings will lead us to ideas and then to actions". Ellen Willis wrote in 1984 that consciousness raising has often been "misunderstood and disparaged as

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