This is in reference to a discussion that got started on Facebook wherein I said I thought the idea of posting your bra color as a way to raise breast cancer awareness was stupid.
First, my response to “Peter’s” comment:
PETER: You are right it won’t help cure it but for the last couple days I bet alot of people who without the color status would not have been thinking about breast cancer. That is what the goal is to make people aware.
4 hours ago
You are right, Peter. As misguided as I think it is, the bra color thing is having an impact. In some ways, that impact is positive, such as that which is outlined at the end of this article in the Washington Post.
My problem with the Facebook bra color meme is that I don’t think it’s raising breast cancer awareness so much as raising breast awareness. I agree that over the past 24 hours, a lot of Facebook users have probably been thinking a great deal more about breasts, as well as bras, but a much smaller portion of those people have been thinking about breast cancer. To wit, a friend of mine on FB posted this status update, with a following comment:
BOB SMITH: Is sitting on the couch and hundreds of women are telling me about their undergarments(one told me nothing)…….I didn’t even have to buy any drinks…..Thank You Facebook!!!!!!!!
JIM BROWN:I’m right there with you man! I cant hit the like button fast enough!
Yesterday at 5:16pm
And here’s another one:
JOHN BROWN: why do people keep posting the word “black” as their status update? Am I missing something?
Yesterday at 2:58pm
TOM SMITH: somehow posting the color of your bra on facebook supports breast cancer.
Yesterday at 3:08pm
JANE LANE: is that true?
Yesterday at 3:10pm
BARBARA QUO:Seriously? Purported bra colors ate distracting?
Yesterday at 3:10pm
TOM SMITH: yes, it’s true and yes, it’s distracting. the mind does wander…
Yesterday at 3:11pm
Why do I think this is raising more breast awareness than breast cancer awareness? Because it’s arbitrarily drawing people’s attention to women’s breasts without correlating it to breast cancer. Sure, there’s a gradual association, and the mind can make the small leap, when instructed, to consider the color of a woman’s bra as a relation to breast cancer. Without the direct hand-holding, or statement of correlation, however, all the mission really does is conjure up a lot of direct images of women’s bras, that are being worn *right now* on women’s breasts… who the Facebook user reading the status update knows in some way.
Ironically, if there was a random Facebook meme where women suddenly started posting their bra color for no underlying reason, I’d see the humor in it. The thing that irks me about this cheeky little fad is that it spread in popularity so quickly because of a thin association with breast cancer support. The main version of the email that went around reads:
Some fun is going on … just write the color of your bra in your status. Just the color, nothing else. It will be neat to see if this will spread the wings of breast cancer awareness. It will be fun to see how long it takes before people wonder why all the girls have a color in their status Haha.
I have a problem with the idea of women blithely sharing the color of the bras with the world as some show of support because, frankly, it’s trite. Cancer is serious. Popping off a bra color in a status update is giggly and, for some people, salacious. Those two items don’t connect.
I find the show of solidarity to be very heartening, and would love to see that kind of unity among women directed at really accomplishing something. The bra color fad would have far greater gravitas and impact if it were directly linked with breast cancer, not just “boobies.” Here are a few examples of more meritorious and effective versions:
STATUS UPDATE: 186,467 / blue
first comment under update: 186,467 = the number of women diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005
STATUS UPDATE: 7th / red
first comment under update: breast cancer is the seventh leading cause of death for women in the United States
STATUS UPDATE: 22% / black
first comment under update: 22% = the percentage of women with breast cancer who died in 2005
Better yet, why not get rid of the bra color altogether? Just stick to the facts.
STATUS UPDATE: 4
first comment under update: the number of breast cancer survivors I know.
STATUS UPDATE: 34
first comment under update: The age of my friend when she died of breast cancer.
STATUS UPDATE: 2
first comment under update: The number of children my friend had when she died of breast cancer.
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