Breast cancer awareness month malarkey.....

As many of you may know, October is breast cancer awareness month. Cue the saturation of the world with all things pink for four weeks.  But for what purpose? I mean, everyone knows about breast cancer right? It’s the most common cancer in the UK. Around 55,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their life time. The openness and honestly of celebrities like Kylie Minogue have ensured that breast cancer has appeared on the public’s antennae and stayed there.

I know that breast cancer awareness month provides excellent opportunities for charities to raise awareness about their services, to increase donations, gather support for campaigning work and to reach out to those who may be in need and I fully support that. I can’t help feel however, that sometimes the real, important messages about breast cancer get lost in the plethora of pink and tits. The amount of times I've heard 'well, its not that big a deal now a days is it?' scares me. And breast cancer is often sexualised like no other cancer – I refer to The Sun's Check 'Em Tuesday and the Playboy Club London's #bunniesinpink as examples.  I don’t even want to think about the photo of the ‘save second base’ t-shirt I recently saw on Twitter…

So, in the midst of all things pink, I want to provide you with some information and facts about breast cancer, some taken from brilliant websites like Breast Cancer Care and Cancer Research UK but also personal, from the heart stories. I want you to hear from young women who have been personally affected by breast cancer – about the signs they spotted, how they were diagnosed and their treatment.  I want to raise awareness that no one is too young to get breast cancer and that every young woman should be vigilant regarding any changes to her body.  I want you to hear from the heart what it means to be diagnosed with this disease and the effect that it has on your life. How all of a sudden you are plunged in to a whirlwind of tests, scans, results, hospital appointments and gruelling treatment that leaves you feeling like you no longer recognise yourself anymore and that the person you once were has been lost forever.  That breast cancer is not all ribbons, fluffy teddies and pink tea towels. 

But I also want you to share in the pride and awe that I feel regarding my wonderful friends from the Younger Breast Cancer Network. Many of these women I have never met in person but yet every day I know they are just a keyboard away, willing to take the time to respond to any fears, concerns or rants despite battling through diagnosis, treatment and the aftermath of breast cancer themselves.

So, during the month of October, as my contribution to breast cancer awareness month, I will be featuring a number of personal stories written by some of these wonderful women on my blog. I hope you find them as bloody fantastic as I do.

Open letter to The Sun

Dear David Dinsmore,

I am writing this letter as follow up to one that my incredibly brave friend Sarah Perry sent to you. As yet, I don’t believe she has had a response from you.

I met Sarah through on online forum for younger women with breast cancer. I am 32 years old and I was diagnosed with breast cancer almost eight weeks ago. In fact, Sarah and I were diagnosed on the same day.

Today is Check ‘em Tuesday. It is also the day of my second chemotherapy session. I will spend over two hours having a combination of drugs injected into my body that will hopefully kill off my cancer. However, the drugs will kill off other fast growing cells within my body, and side effects include digestive problems. nausea, vomiting, hair loss, possible loss of fertility and increased risk of infection to name just a few. My months of chemotherapy sessions will be followed by surgery to remove part or all of my breast.

I have always been a supporter of the No More Page 3 campaign and feel that such an outdated, sexist feature has no place within a family newspaper. It tells women that their place and value in society depends on their age and looks and sends the message to men that women’s bodies are readily available for their consumption.

However, as a young woman whose body is about to undergo significant changes, of which some are temporary and some are permanent, due to the cancer in my body, I feel all the more strongly about your use of this disease as a way of justifying the continued existence of Page 3. I feel it is an insult to all women currently fighting the disease and those who have survived it to use this feature that has so long been there purely for the sexual titillation of men to promote ‘breast cancer awareness’. You have effectively sexualised this disease, which is as far from the reality as possible. It is a life changing, terrifying experience which involves gruelling treatment - a very long way from being ‘sexy’.

We know you understand the arguments against Page 3, Dave Dinsmore, and at heart you realise that it is an out dated institution. The No More Page 3 petition now has over 200,000 signatures and the campaign has support from an overwhelming amount of organisations and individuals. From the perspective of those who support the campaign, and are suffering through breast cancer treatment, it seems that linking Page 3 with breast cancer awareness is a last ditch attempt to try and justify its existence. After all, in theory who could argue with the promotion of breast cancer awareness? However, the use of topless models and the sexualisation of the disease is something that many others and I strongly disagree with. I find it abhorrent.

Let me make very clear that I have no issue at all with the charity Coppafeel and nothing written here is aimed at them. I was aware of Coppafeel long before your association with them, and I think Kristin Hallenga is an incredibly inspiring young woman. It was actually her story that persuaded me to go back to the doctors for the third time with the lump that I had found in my breast.

So perhaps instead of using topless models to promote breast cancer awareness, why not run stories on some of the incredibly brave women who are currently fighting breast cancer or who have survived it?  I can give you suggestions on where to start. The forum that I met Sarah Perry on has introduced me to some of the most wonderful, strongest young women I could ever have hoped to meet.

Raising awareness of breast cancer – how to check yourself, what to look for and not to be fobbed off by doctors when you find something concerning you is invaluable. All women need to learn this. I have learnt this the hard way.

I can’t help but feel that if you really cared about raising awareness of breast cancer, you would do it as a separate feature, without the involvement of Page 3. With this association, it feels that you have reduced breast cancer to a fluffy, sexy gimmick.

So please do carry on with your work with Coppafeel, however out of respect for the thousands of strong, brave women who have and have had breast cancer, please lift yourself and your publication out of the gutter, and leave the topless models out of it.

 Rebecca Swift


You can sign the No More Page 3 petition here.