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Do Sexy Breast Cancer Campaigns Demean Women?
Yes. Here’s how.
November 21, 2012
When the pink ribbon was created in 1992 it quickly became an icon for breast cancer awareness and
advocacy. As the focal point of a burgeoning health social movement, the pink ribbon promoted solidarity
and visibility of the Cause even as the pretty, pink, and non-threatening symbol evoked traditional
gendered qualities such as nurturance, emotional connection, and feminine appearance. Public interest in
the Cause gave way to commercialization and an excessive array of feminine product placements—
anything from jewelry, clothing and cosmetics to figurines, toilet paper, and pink appliances. Primarily
functioning as a logo for the breast cancer brand, the pink ribbon helped to transform breast cancer
activism into pink ribbon consumption.
Trending perfectly with a culture that commodifies almost everything, from the most intimate aspects of
social life to the war on breast cancer itself, breast cancer advertising and a new genre of trendy
awareness campaigns use sexual appeals as a way to get attention and raise money.
A sparse and simple ad for breast reconstruction positions a nude woman on a white background, with
her body in the shape of a ribbon. The woman’s upper body resembles the ribbon’s loop, while her
outstretched arms and legs cross to give the impression of its tails. An ad for breast cancer research
features a statuesque nude model from behind, loosely draped in enough red satin to cover her legs and
gluteal cleft. News stories about breast cancer show women in bras, women who are nude and standing
near mammography machines, women with arms crossed gently over their naked breasts, or women
holding one of their breasts as if to simulate breast self-exam.
Playing upon the erotic notion of the breast as an object of desire, sexual appeals of this type are often
used in advertising to draw people’s attention and increase interest. Some even claim to be educational,
vital in the pursuit of a breast cancer cure, and instrumental in helping to save lives. “It doesn't matter if
you're into itty-bitty-titties, the perfect handful, jumbo fun-bags or low-swinging flapjacks, what matters
most,” says Pornhub, “is that your kind and selfless gesture will go a long way towards helping our sisters
to find a cure.” A video from the American Cancer Society argues that women are “glad their chest has
our undivided attention” because they are “living proof that breast cancer can be defeated.” Boobstagram
makes awareness claims by saying, “showing your breasts on the Internet is good, showing them to your
doctor is better.” A Feel Your Boobies campaign uses sexual innuendo to try to persuade women to feel
their breasts as a way to increase their survival potential. Awareness campaigns like these use sex and
women’s bodies to sell products, ideas, and a way of life.
Sexual Objectification of Women
Sexual objectification refers to the practice of regarding or treating another person merely as an
instrument (object) towards one’s sexual pleasure, and a sex object is a person who is regarded simply
as an object of sexual gratification. It is a type of objectification, which portrays people as objects (to be
looked at, ogled, or touched), commodities to be purchased, used, discarded, or replaced, or any way
that dehumanizes a person.
Sexy breast cancer awareness campaigns use a variety of objectifying techniques.
Use women’s bodies as literal objects. The Breast Cancer Awareness Body Paint Project involves the
painting of breast cancer survivors’ nude bodies so they appear as animals, landscapes, superheroes,
and other scenes. A portion of the proceeds is used for fundraising. The Breast Cancer Foundation series
in Singapore takes a similar approach, featuring painted bodies that highlight exposed nipples as a key
feature. An advertisement that uses paint to transform a woman’s breasts into a large buttocks in a pair of
jeans, features her nipples prominently as the buttons of its pockets. This particular ad objectifies both the
breasts and the buttocks simultaneously.
Hone in on the breasts. Boobstagram compiles photos of women’s cleavage to raise awareness. A porn
site offers to donate a penny to charity for every 30 "boob-themed videos" watched. An American Cancer
Society (ACS) video frames women at chest-level (www.MakingStridesWalk/boobs). Jingle Jugs for life
sells adult novelties (i.e., animatronic boobs) that jiggle to music.
Use objects in place of breasts. Cupcakes, hooters, ribbons, and any manner of items stand in for actual
breasts in awareness campaigns and fundraisers. Several “Bowling for Boobs” fundraisers uses bowling
balls to represent breasts, either showing them in a bra, using them to in place of the letter “o” in boobs,
or featuring women holding them in front of their chests.
Objectify breasts with language. Sexually objectifying imagery is reinforced with trivializing language
that further sexually objectifies women. Here is a list of 138 slang words for breasts. How many of them
are used in breast cancer awareness campaigns? Jugs, rack, melons, hooters, coconuts, funbags,
headlights, cans, knockers, tatas, boobies, second base. A “Save the Cupcakes” fundraiser for Susan G.
Komen for the Cure sells gourmet cupcakes such as the Tatas Sampler with Java Jugs, Honeynut
Hooters, Coconut Milkshakes, Mango Melons, Tangerine Tatas, and Rocker Knockers – “cupcakes
created to look like all types of breasts from various ethnicities to sizes.”
Depict breasts as things to be touched or groped. Numerous awareness campaigns position hands on
breasts. Spice Girl Mel B and her husband Stephen Belafonte recently shot a new breast cancer
awareness campaign reminiscent of Janet Jackson’s iconic ROLLING STONE cover. The campaign is for
the UK-based organization CoppaFeel!, which targets women and men between 18-30 with messages
about checking themselves for breast cancer. "Feel Your Boobies" campaigns use similar strategies
along with slang and chest-oriented objectification.
Show women to be objects of the male gaze. “Boobfest” features sleek women in black cocktail dresses.
Las Vegas restaurant promises to "Save 2nd base" while providing an open bar to guests in pink bathing
suits. The Real Housewives of Miami stage a lingerie party to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the
Cure. A popular “Save the Boobs” public service announcement from the Canadian group Rethink Breast
Cancer features an MTV host in a white bathing suit promenading in front of ogling young men. The video
frames the woman’s bouncing breasts as she walks around a pool, flashes an awareness message, and
then turns to a woman in the pool wearing a transparent wet tank top that she is about to pull off. Her
nude breasts are covered with a black and white “boobyball” label.
Sexy breast cancer campaigns are an extension of the broader context that already sexually objectifies
women. They just do it in the name of awareness and fundraising. Beyond immediate distraction,
however, sexy imagery has not been found to stimulate thinking. Advertising targets the subconscious,
not the conscious. Jeane Kilbourne, author of Can’t Buy My Love argues that women have been
conditioned early on to believe that their physical attractiveness is the most important thing about them.
Advertising reinforces the message that sexual appeal and physical perfection can and must be attained
thereby playing upon an inner critic that incessantly desires approval.
Sexy campaigns support the notion that women – even those who experience bodily damage and trauma
due to treatment for breast cancer)—are less important than their sexual appeal. These and other
implications will be discussed in the next post.
--Ends and Means. If the end in mind is to raise money for some breast cancer group how much is raised,
where does it go, and what has it achieved? If the end in mind is to find a cure, are the organizations
getting the funds allocating them in ways that will increase this probability? What is the organization’s
track record in funding actions that will reduce the incidence of, and deaths from, breast cancer? If the
end in mind is to increase women’s chances for early detection, are the recommended “actions” likely to
do that?
The flurry of discussion that erupted when USA Today published an article on the topic ranged from fury
about the commercialization of breast cancer and the increasingly common use of "sleazy, gratuitous,
and shameful" marketing strategies, to anger about the supposed humorlessness of anyone who would
be offended by the tactics, to complacency about raising funds or awareness by any means necessary.
At its root "awareness" (or consciousness raising) is an activist-oriented first step to creating social
change. It is a two-step process of informing the public about social problems and empowering them to
influence the social and political systems that impact those problems.
Awareness raising was a cornerstone of the 1970s women's health movement. Heightening women's
collective awareness that they could play a key role in their own health while simultaneously creating
ways to expand their involvement and informed decision-making led to significant improvements in
women's health care. The breast cancer movement that grew from the broader women’s health
movement similarly …
Part 2: Sexy Breast Cancer Campaigns
Do the ends justify the means?
Ranging from porn sites to charities and professional associations, the simple suggestion is that the ends
justify the means. Yet neither the ends nor the means are held to any scrutiny. What if they were?
Early Detection, Lives Saved
We used to think that breast cancer was one disease and that finding it “early” was the answer. We now
know that all breast cancers are not the same. There are important differences in subtypes and biological
markers that make some breast cancers fast and aggressive, others slow and manageable, and still
others unable to spread or become symptomatic. The statistics for terminal breast cancers that spread to
bones, lungs, liver, or brain have remained virtually unchanged for decades, killing some 40 thousand
women and men every year. Awareness campaigns often go with the simplified message that “early
detection saves lives,” early is not a useful descriptor for these and many breast cancers. Some 20 to 30
percent of people treated for breast cancer have recurrences (when the cancer comes back or a new one
develops) regardless of the stage of the initial diagnosis.
We’ve learned from clinical trials that screening mammograms are useful to some people but they also
have limitations. Mammograms, if they are successful, detect breast cancers that already exist; they do
not prevent breast cancer, as some people believe. An article in the British Medical Journal explains that
a growing and increasingly accepted body of evidence shows that although screening may reduce a
woman’s chance of dying from breast cancer by a small amount (0.07 percent for a woman over age 50),
it also causes major harms such as “overdiagnosis” (when cancers are detected that would never have
been life threatening or caused symptoms in a person’s lifetime) and “overtreatment” (when those types
of cancers are treated anyway) (p. e5132). Mammograms also miss cancers for a number of reasons,
such as the ability of the X-ray to clearly capture the image, the lack of certainty about how to interpret
“suspicious” areas, differences in the ability of radiologists to assess images accurately, and the rate of
tumor growth. Alongside the simple but flawed mantra of early detection is the misleading message that
screening is “the key to survival.” A reduction in a 50-year-old woman’s chances of dying from breast
cancer that is less than one percent suggests that screening may not be the key factor for most women.
In addition to early detection and population screening, many campaigns stress the importance of breast
self-exam (BSE) or the less formalized practice of breast self-awareness (BSA), both of which involve
checking your breasts regularly to look for changes. In 2002 there was insufficient evidence, according to
the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, to recommend for or against BSE as a detection modality.
Since then the body of evidence argues that BSE is insufficient to find breast cancers early or reduce
breast cancer deaths. A large randomized, controlled study of more than 260 thousand women found that
after 10 to 11 years of follow-up the women in the BSE instruction group had more benign biopsies than
the control group though BSE did not lead to a reduction in mortality. The boobies campaigns present
breast self-examination (or awareness) as something women can do to protect themselves from breast
cancer. It is something women can do, and for those without access to quality health care it may be one
of few options. But presenting BSE or BSA as potentially life-saving gives these actions more weight than
the evidence permits.
Simple awareness messages distract from the evidence people need to make truly informed decisions
not only about their own health but also the health of their communities and the society at large. While
there have been marked improvements in breast cancer treatments that have contributed to an overall
decrease in deaths, we still do not know what causes breast cancer, how to prevent it, how to keep it from
coming back post-treatment, or how to keep people from dying from it. More complete and balanced
messages based on the body of evidence would encourage more informed decision making, and
therefore greater awareness.
Billions of dollars are raised and spent every year as football fields and other venues are filled with ta-tas
tee shirts, pink-colored paraphernalia, and enthusiastic fans hoping that the end of breast cancer is
somewhere in sight.