Here are two takes – both by breast cancer survivors – on the recent Facebook bra colour status update:
Post it!
Found out the hues represent bra colors. So, like every good Facebooker, I played along by peeking in my shirt and updating my status: Beige.
[...]
Just re-updated my status after my “beige” remark and wrote this:
So, while you’re peeking inside your shirt to see what color bra you are wearing so you can post it in your status update, go ahead and feel around in there, make sure there are no lumps. And if there are, call your doc for a clinical exam!
- Bra Colours take over Facebook, Well, Kind of, my Breast Cancer blog
But how does this little ‘game’ raise awareness?
In a comment to the above blog post, great says:
For everyone asking how it raises awareness, how many people googled it today and heard about the issue of breast cancer? You’re here talking about it, so clearly you read or heard about it. Would breast cancer have ocurred to you out of the blue today? Likely not. But it’s been brought to your attention now, hasn’t it? Silly? Yes. Effective? Of course.
- great, 1/8/2010 at 4:53 am
But perhaps playing along isn’t what we want.
If you know me, you don’t have to ask. But if you’re new here, I couldn’t play along by posting the color of my bra because I don’t have one. I don’t own one.
Two years ago this month, I underwent surgery, you see. I had a double mastectomy to remove the cancer that was trying to kill me.
[...]
Clothes that fit just a few months previously don’t fit anymore, you see. Every. single. shirt. is stretched out over the chest, and most new ones don’t fit right either. Princess seams, sewn to flatter the big-busted and small-busted alike only serve to remind us, the no-busted, that we are no longer princesses. V-necks are flattering, but only if they are not too deep, cut to show no cleavage, as our cleavage has been taken from us as well.
And, for a while, the reminders are everywhere. Every TV commercial with the Victoria’s Secret angels rankles. Every low-cut shirt sparks the tears. Every nightgown cut to flatter falls — flat — and we cry into our pillow.
We are aware, you see. We are all too aware, and we work to escape the reminders.
- In the name of awareness, Toddler Planet
Think:
Having read both opinions, what is your stand? Should women play along and spread the word about breast cancer by posting their bra colour on their Facebook status?
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