# i pit a certain fac\[e\]book womens group and thier "awareness campaign"..... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 9, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243 "2010-01-09T03:20:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/21 "2010-01-09T13:24:49Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > I’m beginning to think that **ivn1188** is on to something. Welcome to the club. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/22 "2010-01-09T13:33:08Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > I’m beginning to think that **ivn1188** is on to something. Huh? He didn’t post in this thread, did he? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/23 "2010-01-09T13:40:05Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > 1. It’s not revealing the secret that breast cancer exists. Everybody knows it exists, men and women alike. The point here is remind you of it, bring it a little more forward in your mind for a bit, maybe make you think about it. Yeah, like I don’t think of it every time I go in a store. Pink pink pink pink pink all over. Yes, it’s a serious, awful disease. I have a sister-in-law who’s a survivor. I’m a woman who’ll need her first mammogram in not too long. I applaud previous efforts to make people think about its existence. I also am not pleased with those who’ve made it a “woman thing” or “girls’ club”, as men with breast cancer are marginalized, even laughed at, and ignored. (I have a male friend who recovered from a severe Toxic Shock Syndrome infection; I know it happens.) Frankly, these days, I think there’s a little too much awareness about it. Ask women around you what’s the number one killer of women in the US. They’ll very likely say “breast cancer.” Wrong. [**Heart disease.**](http://www.cdc.gov/features/heartmonth/) Worse yet, symptoms in women present somewhat differently than they do in men, so both women and their doctors may be likely to dismiss what is going on. Raise some awareness on that - there’s a “Go Red for Women” campaign that’s almost criminally ignored in favor of pink ribbons and pink everything. Besides, I sure as hell don’t need to know what color bra various relatives are - or **aren’t** - wearing, and thank all that’s good and holy that I still avoid Facebook. (And if my husband starts seeing “color updates” from his sisters and nieces on his account, I’m going to try to shield his poor little brain.) ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/24 "2010-01-09T17:54:19Z")
What you note, Ferret Herder, bothers me a great deal. I believe it was someone on this board who lamented that his wife got another form of cancer and was very bitter that she didn’t get the “good cancer” or “popular cancer,” or however they termed it. Of course breast cancer is serious and this is not meant to remove any awareness and urgency of treatment (I know three women who’ve had it, myself). But it just bugs me that someone suffering with another real and very serious form of cancer is just shit out of luck because all the awareness and research dollars are flowing to breast cancer. That said, I didn’t forward the message when I received it and put “black lacy and naughty” in my subject line, just because the whole idea of bras struck me as so stupid. I mean, isn’t that what the ‘campaign’ wants you to think? About my boobs and how they’re displayed? It’s just not a very medically serious campaign. So, here ya go. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/25 "2010-01-09T18:06:17Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Yeah, like I don’t think of it every time I go in a store. Pink pink pink pink pink all over. > > Yes, it’s a serious, awful disease. I have a sister-in-law who’s a survivor. I’m a woman who’ll need her first mammogram in not too long. I applaud previous efforts to make people think about its existence. I also am not pleased with those who’ve made it a “woman thing” or “girls’ club”, as men with breast cancer are marginalized, even laughed at, and ignored. (I have a male friend who recovered from a severe Toxic Shock Syndrome infection; I know it happens.) > > Frankly, these days, I think there’s a little too much awareness about it. Ask women around you what’s the number one killer of women in the US. They’ll very likely say “breast cancer.” Wrong. [**Heart disease.**](http://www.cdc.gov/features/heartmonth/) Worse yet, symptoms in women present somewhat differently than they do in men, so both women and their doctors may be likely to dismiss what is going on. Raise some awareness on that - there’s a “Go Red for Women” campaign that’s almost criminally ignored in favor of pink ribbons and pink everything. > > Besides, I sure as hell don’t need to know what color bra various relatives are - or **aren’t** - wearing, and thank all that’s good and holy that I still avoid Facebook. (And if my husband starts seeing “color updates” from his sisters and nieces on his account, I’m going to try to shield his poor little brain.) I never thought I’d actually see someone try to argue that raising awarenes for breast cancer was a _bad thing!_ Man, you see some freaky stuff on the internet. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/26 "2010-01-09T18:23:29Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Look, ladies, posting your bra color to promote breast cancer awareness is just lame. I’m aware of it. Now I’m more aware of it. Will breast cancer go seek out breasts that are less aware? Also, you are only making me picture you in your bra, which, btw, I’m doing anyway, but now I’m doing it more accurately. I had the exact same thought. It was a very stupid Facebook meme (even by stupid Facebook meme standards) and the only thing it raised awareness of was me being able to picture whole bunches of female friends in their bras. ---
**Author:** ![enigmatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@enigmatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enigmatic)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/27 "2010-01-09T18:23:30Z")
Well… I did some project work at one point at the CRC research labs in Birmingham and was left with the impression that I shouldn’t donate to cancer research. The people there were awesome and highly skilled and doing exceptional work. However looking at the literature around my project and in the areas that the group was looking at there seemed to be a lot of overlap in research and the funding was exceptionally good by the standards of everything I’ve seen since. I’m not going to say that they were over-funded, cause I’m pretty sure that there is no such thing in scientific research :D, I was just left with the impression that any money I could donate would go further and help more people in a different field or even just on research into more common or less funded cancer types. Obviously a couple of months is a pretty short time to form an impression like that, I’d be genuinely interested in hearing the views of anyone with more experience in the field ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/28 "2010-01-09T18:43:59Z")
I also thought it was especially stupid. Especially since the version I got tied it into promoting self-exams. Recent research finds basically no benefit to self-exams [Breast Self-Examinations: What's Wrong With Them? - WSJ](http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/11/16/breast-self-examinations-whats-wrong-with-them/). If you have the energy to promote something that will help human health, or even help address breast cancer, promoting self exams is not a good use of that energy. Maybe it’s viral marketing from the mammogram/ biopsy industry who fear a drop in revenue if self-exams decrease. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/29 "2010-01-09T19:24:17Z")
> [@straykat23](#): > > Well, the women who had mastectomies most likely aren’t wearing bras… My grandmother disagrees; according to her a bra is the only way to hold a fake boob in place. This is one of the stupider memes I’ve seen; I think things like this are particularly bad because they tend to make people think that making an actual difference (in anything) is as easy as omg change ur facebook status!!1. If I were to come up with a list of ways to make a significant difference in anything, “mysterious Facebook status updates” probably wouldn’t even make the list anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/30 "2010-01-09T19:45:47Z")
Oh, for crying out loud: it is just a silly game. Chill the fuck out. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/31 "2010-01-09T20:13:08Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Oh, for crying out loud: it is just a silly game. Chill the fuck out. Really? So how do you win this “game”? ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/32 "2010-01-09T20:17:11Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Really? > So how do you win this “game”? Game does not necessarily mean an event with a winner- a game can also just be a fun pastime. Sometimes people act silly just for fun. Not everything is a serious, life or death or intellectual matter. That is clearly hard for some of you to believe, but I promise it’s really nothing serious. And no one was trying to hurt anyones widdle feelers by leaving them out- it was just a silly game. ---
**Author:** ![Xan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ac8455/32.png) [@Xan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/33 "2010-01-09T20:20:14Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > You’re completely missing the point. > > 1. The “don’t tell the men” part is just a bit of fun, and it makes the campaign even more noticeable due to the men wandering around asking what’s going on. They all find out eventually. It’s not a _real_ secret. It takes 2 seconds to find out, and by doing so you become slightly more aware of the subject matter. That’s a pretty lame idea of fun. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/34 "2010-01-09T20:22:56Z")
> [@Xan](#): > > That’s a pretty lame idea of fun. I’m sure you’re the pinnacle of cool, so I’ll defer to you on this one. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/35 "2010-01-09T20:23:18Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Game does not necessarily mean an event with a winner- a game can also just be a fun pastime. And there are rules and a goal to this game? Besides letting people believe that they can do something about a very real problem without any cost in time, money or effort on their part, that is? ---
**Author:** ![Xan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ac8455/32.png) [@Xan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/36 "2010-01-09T20:25:07Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Game does not necessarily mean an event with a winner- a game can also just be a fun pastime. > > Sometimes people act silly just for fun. Not everything is a serious, life or death or intellectual matter. That is clearly hard for some of you to believe, but I promise it’s really nothing serious. And no one was trying to hurt anyones widdle feelers by leaving them out- it was just a silly game. Stuff like this trivializes breast cancer. Breast cancer, hell cancer in general, IS a serious life or death matter. ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/37 "2010-01-09T20:26:35Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > And there are rules and a goal to this game? Besides letting people believe that they can do something about a very real problem without any cost in time, money or effort on their part, that is? People are talking about it, aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/38 "2010-01-09T20:27:14Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > I never thought I’d actually see someone try to argue that raising awarenes for breast cancer was a _bad thing!_ Man, you see some freaky stuff on the internet. It’s not “raising awareness” in any meaningful sense of the word. It’s a silly little “girls’ secret” Facebook game that says “think about my bra color, _giggle_, it’s for a good cause!” Except that it’s not for a good cause. It doesn’t **do** anything about breast cancer. It’s not like there’s someone in the Western world above the age of 10 who doesn’t know that it kills women. There’s no “now click here to donate to the Susan G. Komen Foundation” link. No new eyebrow-raising statistics. No “holy crap, my 20-year-old friend got diagnosed with seriously malignant breast cancer; even college students should be doing self exams!” anecdotes. Nothing meaningful. Just a pointless little giggly game that convinces people that they’re Doing Something when they’re not. Go raise some money and be an advocate if you want to do something. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/39 "2010-01-09T20:27:26Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > I never thought I’d actually see someone try to argue that raising awarenes for breast cancer was a _bad thing!_ Man, you see some freaky stuff on the internet. This isn’t a new argument, fwiw. I have heard complaints from before the internet’s popularity that other, more serious forms of cancer are overshadowed in the popular dialogue and as a result they lose out on research funding because of the excess attention paid to tit cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Xan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ac8455/32.png) [@Xan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243/40 "2010-01-09T20:27:33Z")
> [@torie](#): > > People are talking about it, aren’t they? Yeah we’re talking about how stupid an idea that facebook meme was. Not sure if that was their point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-a-certain-fac-e-book-womens-group-and-thier-awareness-campaign/524243.md?page=3)