{"id":929821,"date":"2024-10-19T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-19T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=929821"},"modified":"2024-10-19T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-19T10:00:00","slug":"i-just-lost-someone-to-breast-cancer-your-pink-t-shirt-is-no-comfort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=929821","title":{"rendered":"I Just Lost Someone to Breast Cancer. Your Pink T-Shirt Is No Comfort."},"content":{"rendered":"
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I Just Lost Someone to Breast Cancer. Your Pink T-Shirt Is No Comfort.<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201dRegardless of people\u2019s good intentions about decking themselves out in pink for October, it feels to me that some are missing the point.\u201d<\/div>\n
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By <\/span>Alexandra Frost <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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My siblings and I lost my sweet stepmother to breast cancer, which she\u2019d dealt with on and off for 18 years, in August. Six weeks later, as it does every October, everything turned pink. At my gym, Wednesdays are even designated \u201cwear pink\u201d days. On that first Wednesday this month, I fought back tears as my boot camp class warmed up and we all watched the pink-outfitted instructor demonstrate weightlifting moves. Because this year, more so than ever, the phrases on every tank top and baby tee I\u2019ve seen there have hit me with a fresh wave of grief: \u201cSave the tatas.\u201d \u201cWarrior.\u201d \u201cI love boobies\u201d with pink ribbons curling into the shape of the O\u2019s.<\/p>\n

During that class, I flashed back to the last few minutes of Marilyn\u2019s 67 years; as her children and sisters cried around her, I didn\u2019t see pink. I saw red. My stepmom, Marilyn, hated the \u201cwarrior\u201d and \u201cbattle\u201d speak around breast cancer awareness. Is it really true if you \u201cfight\u201d cancer hard enough, you will win? She and the 42,000 other people whose lives are cut short each year would say no.<\/p>\n

Regardless of people\u2019s good intentions about decking themselves out in pink for October, it feels to me that some are missing the point. At the gym that same day, I encountered two women chatting happily about how great it feels to be out of jeans and wearing stretchy, colorful pink workout gear. I couldn\u2019t help but wonder if they cared more about fashion than cancer awareness.<\/p>\n

Yet they were participating in one of the largest and most successful women\u2019s health campaigns of all time; Breast Cancer Awareness Month was founded as a week-long event in 1985 by the American Cancer Society and Imperial Chemical Industries with the help of Betty Ford (who had breast cancer herself). Decades later, it\u2019s why pink is near-synonymous with breast cancer awareness during October. The amount of money pink merchandise has helped raise over the course of time undoubtedly contributed to the medical advancements that allowed Marilyn to live the 18 years that she did following her diagnosis.<\/p>\n

But because of that merchandise\u2019s lucrative powers, \u201cpinkwashing\u201d has become its own sneakily sinister problem. The term, coined by the organization Breast Cancer Action, refers to corporations that use pink merchandise purported to support breast cancer awareness while simultaneously selling or funding products that are harmful to women\u2019s health. \u201cThe pink ribbon is the most widely recognized symbol for breast cancer, but historically there\u2019s been a significant lack of accountability, a glaring absence of transparency, and widespread hypocrisy in pink ribbon marketing,\u201d Breast Cancer Action shares in an informational video. \u201cThese problems within pink ribbon culture allow for the exploitation of breast cancer patients.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More broadly, pinkwashing also refers to the everyday use of the color pink without real intention. For example, does my elementary-age son\u2019s sports team really know why their socks are pink in October? Do the socks actually support the cause in a tangible way, or do they just look cool?<\/p>\n

Of course, trying to raise awareness in this particular way has its positives. I just wish that enthusiasm didn\u2019t peak when everything goes pink. People may feel like activists when wearing pink merchandise through Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but on November 1st, the world goes back to their regular wardrobe. Things like \u201cWear Pink Wednesdays\u201d cease to exist, and those \u201cI love boobies\u201d tees often get tossed in a donation pile or shoved in the back of a closet. That\u2019s a luxury for the people who have not been affected by this disease. Others can\u2019t tuck the trauma neatly away as easily. Not only that; it has real repercussions on women\u2019s health: A 2022 study found that pink-themed awareness campaigns contributed to an increased number of screening mammograms performed in October, November, and December but did not impact screening statistics for the rest of the year\u2014in fact, screenings were below the monthly average for the other three quarters of the year.<\/p>\n

That pink eye shadow, shirt, or handbag might show solidarity to some, but for others it\u2019s a painful reminder of struggle and loss. Nicole Kagy, a social worker at Cedars-Sinai who often works with breast cancer patients and survivors, shared in the hospital\u2019s blog that the overwhelming majority of her patients are \u201ctriggered\u201d by seeing pink everywhere they turn in October. And I understand that feeling first-hand after having lost someone to the disease.<\/p>\n

When I see pink, I flashback to my stepmother first revealing her diagnosis to her kids, one of whom was only seven at the time. When I see pink, I remember being in the room when she died, where we all held our breath as hers slowed to a stop; we all expelled a sigh of mixed relief and grief when her suffering ended. When I see pink, I think about her young adult son walking her body out of her home instead of walking into his future wedding with his mom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Needless to say I\u2019ve been avoiding the gym on Wednesdays this month. And when the announcer at my son\u2019s football games\u2014which I can\u2019t avoid\u2014calls out the reason the team is wearing those pink socks, I\u2019m simultaneously glad he\u2019s connecting the dots for everyone while fighting back tears at the thought that it\u2019s just too damn late for some people, my stepmother included.<\/p>\n

No amount of pink fashion statements will help others know what living with and around breast cancer is like or understand how critical it is to donate to causes that actually make a difference. Marilyn participated in annual awareness walks that mattered to her. She saved all of the shirts, some of them pink, which hung in a row on the funeral home\u2019s mantel during her visitation. She didn\u2019t just wear the shirts; she walked the walk, quite literally, and gave to causes supporting research, including some of her organs in the end. My grief is too new for me to actively participate in breast cancer awareness the way she did, but I\u2019ll know when it\u2019s time. And when that time comes, I\u2019ll be trying to educate others on the tough realities of cancer as a way to remember the woman who, above all, sought peace in the midst of any challenge, even the one that took her life.<\/p>\n

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More on breast cancer and breast cancer awareness:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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  • Everything You Should Know About Breast Cancer Signs and Treatments<\/li>\n
  • Black Women with Metastatic Breast Cancer Face a Significant Disparity in Their Care<\/li>\n
  • You Don’t Have To\u00a0Look<\/em> Sick to Be Sick With Metastatic Breast Cancer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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    Now, a breast cancer patient’s story in photos:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Don’t forget to follow Allure on Instagram and TikTok.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

    Source URL: https:\/\/www.allure.com\/story\/breast-cancer-awareness-month-pink-triggering<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Body I Just Lost Someone to Breast Cancer. Your Pink T-Shirt Is No Comfort. \u201dRegardless of people\u2019s good intentions about decking themselves out in pink for October, it feels to me that some are missing the point.\u201d By Alexandra Frost October 19, 2024 Getty Images My siblings and I lost my sweet stepmother to breast […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":929822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[52],"class_list":["post-929821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-allure-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=929821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/929822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=929821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=929821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=929821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}