(no subject)

[charliesmum]

Those of you on Facebook have probably seen this meme:

"Something fun is going on...........Just write the color of your bra in your status, just the color, NOTHING ELSE!!! and send this on to ONLY WOMEN , no men.....It will be neat to see if this will spread the wings of cancer awareness. It will be fun to see how long it takes before the men will wonder why all the women have a color in their status! .... ha ha"

It's one of the many, many things on Facebook that make a person feel like they're making a difference, when, really, they're not. I joined quite a few of those groups on FB myself, so I'm not pointing fingers here, but this one, for various reasons, is annoying me.

I think by this point we're pretty aware of breast cancer. It ahs a month dedicated to it, it has 3 day charity walks, it has various products being coloured pink. Numerous weepy books and Lifetime For Women movies have been made about the subject.

It doesn't need any more awareness.

It needs a cure.

Comments

[photodiva02.livejournal.com]

I agree. I got that message, but I was too busy to read it. I don't know. I kind of doubt people's sincerities on there, i.e. someone in the small town I work in died, and one lady that is ALL she posts about. NO one is that sad, NOT even the girlfriend's family, who I am friends with. I think it's "trying to win brownie points". Hate to say it, but what is, is.

Also, there are other cancers out there,i.e. my aunt, who is a woman, died from lung and liver cancer... Why aren't people crusading against that?

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

Also, there are other cancers out there,i.e. my aunt, who is a woman, died from lung and liver cancer... Why aren't people crusading against that?

My mom often wonders that herself.

[dorei.livejournal.com]

Because, as my mother said, shortly before she died from lung cancer -- people think they are now lying in the bed of their making. Just punishment and all that.

Fuckers.

[jfda.livejournal.com]

Because it doesn't affect boobs.

Look at all the "Save the boobies" type stuff. It's all about boobs, not about the women themselves.

[wolfgangmozart.livejournal.com]

Agreed. I think what's irritating me about this one is the titillation factor. "Oooh, look at us women, being all ~edgy~ and putting colors in our statuses! Men will never understand, tee hee!" Well, no, if they're like most of the men I know, they'll just go, "Ooh, bet she's wearing that color panties today," and the ultimate point of it all will be lost.

Annoyingly, though, boss of the night job sent it to me, and I'm sure she'll badger me about doing it when I get to work.

[drop-and-roll.livejournal.com]

Also how is it raising awareness of breast cancer when nobody is, you know, mentioning breast cancer in their statuses?

[nam-jai.livejournal.com]

I wondered that myself. "Let's make a point of making our awareness-raising a big secret!" Er, what?

[lietya.livejournal.com]

I'm honestly baffled - unless there's more to it that I don't get because I'm not on Facebook - about how the color of one's bra would raise breast cancer awareness to begin with, regardless of whether The Mens know what it means.

In short, I agree with you, and also about the fact that awareness is pretty well raised by now.

(I don't know if you've read _Bright-Sided_, Barbara Ehrenreich's latest book, but she herself had breast cancer, and she addresses quite thoroughly the ways in which all that Awareness Raising [tm] not only infantilizes women but drives home the debilitating message that if someone doesn't react to the diagnosis in the prescribed saccharinely pink way, they are told they are hastening their own demise.)

[placeboweek.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. We all know what breast cancer is -- we probably all know someone who had breast cancer. Funding for research and money for women who can't afford health care to get mammograms and treatment are really the most important things now.

The bra FB status thing is especially stupid because it doesn't even DO anything to raise breast cancer awareness.

I will note that it is great that we can openly talk about breast cancer and it isn't stigmatized like it use to be. So that's something.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

Oh, so that's what it was for. It was presented to me as a sort of practical joke, and I answered for no reason more significant than "Why not?"

[zelle999.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what I did.

[wrestlingdog.livejournal.com]

Amen. I hate stupid memes like that. Anyone who is old enough to use Facebook probably knows at least one person who has had breast cancer.

If you're going to make a Facebook meme about breast cancer, make it be about donating $5 to the American Cancer Society or honoring survivors or remembering those lost. Posting what color bra you have on seems sort of useless.

[drop-and-roll.livejournal.com]

Just changed my Facebook status to
pinky red. That's the colour of the tasty booze I'm currently drinking, not my bra. This link shows a better way of fighting (not just raising awareness of) all types of cancer than posting about your underwear without ever mentioning cancer.

The link being this
http://supportus.cancerresearchuk.org/home/

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

I think I love you.

(I put the name of my friend who is actually battling cancer in my FB. )

[drop-and-roll.livejournal.com]

My sister copied it. We're both getting positive responses so far.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_geekie_/]

See, I've been horrible with my facebook as of late, and I was wondering what all of the color nonsense was about. I almost put a random color in my own status and now I'm glad I didn't.

Yep yep

[lunarlake.livejournal.com]

Having just felt an overwhelming wave of opinion, it occurred to me wonder if my LJ was even still out there. It is, and it's been nearly 2 years since I've posted! =-o A few clicks after seeing how much I've changed from my profile since then, and here you are still posting all the time! Good for you!

Love the Dr. Horrible icon!

I heard of this meme before I encountered it. There's a mens version in response where we're supposed to put the initials of the last beer we drank in our status... I can't remember the last time I had a beer :) , but the idea pokes fun at the very aspect of this meme that you've put so much more eloquently -- this silliness won't help. In short, I couldn't agree more. Rock on!

Collecting Information

[(Anonymous)]

One of the things I learned recently in a class I am taking is that all those awareness campaigns and groups are used to collect information about you and your interests so that Facebook and their affiliates can target ads, applications and other campaigns directly to you. It is part of the information that Facebook collects about you and then sells/shares to various companies.