Hey, Here’s An Idea! Let’s Sexualize A God-Awful Disease That Kills and Maims Thousands of Women!

Editor note: A recent Susan G. Komen San Diego study reports that “The shocking statistic of this particular report, is that while African-American women are less frequently diagnosed with breast cancer, in San Diego, they’re more frequently dying” …

(Article by  Abby Zimet)

Today we mark the low point of the breast cancer industrial complex’s already sketchy Pinktober – the month wherein insatiable capitalism touts spending money on all things pink “for the cure” – with National No Bra Day,the semi-pornographic, useless, entirely counter-intuitive “holiday” that calls for women to let their (blessedly healthy) breasts flow free in the name of ill women who are “scarred, radiated, burned, nauseated, and fighting for their lives.” No Bra Day, notes one observer, is “the latest way to do nothing about breast cancer.”

While the source of No Bra Day remains elusive – a semi-abandoned Facebook page maybe formed by horny guys? – its problem isn’t uncommon. Presenting a sexualized version of a notably unsexy disease, it mirrors other campaigns ostensibly for breast cancer awareness – from “Save the Boobies” to “Save the Ta-Tas” merchandise like t-shirts reading, “Save a life! Grope your wife!” – that focus on breasts, not the human beings who happen to be attached to them.

Happily, many people aren’t buying the inane idea that going braless will save lives, raise awareness or do fuck-all about cancer. One post on #NoBraDay: “Pert nipple selfies (are) not the reality of cancer.” To the creators of No Bra Day: This is bullshit. Women with breast cancer don’t need to see other women’s oblivious breasts. If you wanna help, donate to research efforts. Advocate for early detection. Offer support to women in treatment, or poor cancer patients, or families of patients. Work to build true awareness of what the disease is – God-awful, traumatic, poisonous, disfiguring, too often fatal – and what it is not – sexy. From Xeni Jardin: “The disease killsmany of us, slowly, brutally. #NoBraDay mocks the dead, dying, & the living.”

Read more at: sandiegofreepress.org