Enlightenment, Empowerment, and the Dangers of Exploitation: The Journey of Breast Cancer Awareness

By: Kayla Buchanan

Introduction

Breast cancer impacts millions of people each year, both those diagnosed and the ones that love them. In the United States, 1 out of 8 women and 1 out of 833 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer, which makes the efforts of the breast cancer awareness movement that much more important.1 As prevalent as breast cancer awareness is today, it took a long time for the campaign to receive this recognition. Breast cancer awareness campaigns beginning in the 1970s, laid the foundation of what this movement would inevitably become. Understanding the history of breast cancer awareness in the United States sheds light, both on women’s desire of personal control of their health, and how this health connects with the ongoing second-wave feminist movement by exposing aspects of women’s health that have been ignored and revealing how women pushed back against gender stereotypes during their recovery. It also reveals how corporate interests have co-opted this effort in troubling ways, a potential warning sign for the future of breast cancer awareness activism.

Historiography

The emergence of breast cancer awareness came around the same time as the second-wave feminist movement. The second-wave feminist movement, more popularly known as the women’s liberation movement, was a time during the 1960s to 1980s in which women fought for equality, the elimination of gender discrimination, and many more causes.2 In the 1970s, fueled by second-wave feminism, the Women’s Health Movement began as a way for women to take back control over their bodies sexually and reproductively, and encouraged women to demand further knowledge about their bodies.3 The intention was to change the womens health system to be more accustomed to women’s wants and concerns. Women’s activism in the United States was not a new concept and has a long history going back to the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the 1840s.

The Women’s Suffrage Movement began in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York with the Seneca Falls Convention. This convention intended to bring like-minded individuals together to express their ideas about injustices faced by women and their rights.4 At this point in United States history, this was the largest gathering of people to discuss women’s rights. The movement would last for over 70 years until the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.5 In the years following, women would shift their activism to focus on equal rights leading to the women’s liberation movement and eventually the Women’s Health Movement.

One objective in the Women’s Health Movement was the pursuit to politicize healthcare by campaigning around issues including breast cancer, abortion, and childbirth practices to criticize the current state of the medical system and start to create alternatives.6 While there have been sources that have discussed the politicization of breast cancer activism during the second-wave feminist movement, articles like Agnes Arnold-Forster’s “Medicine and the Body in Second-Wave Feminist,” tend to gloss over breast cancer or briefly mention it in the category of healthcare and medical activism. The lack of references to breast cancer campaigns in Arnold-Forster’s work is unsurprising, due to the fact that it is a common trend. An article tracking, “the relationships between one of the leading national Left-liberal philanthropies in the post–WWII era United States—the Field Foundation—and a variety of women’s and feminist issues and organizations,” fails to recognize breast cancer philanthropists or organizations, but succeeds in mentioning Planned Parenthood and The National Abortion Rights Action League.7 This omission is striking due to the fact that one of the First Ladies of the United States, Betty Ford, was a well-known activist and philanthropist on behalf of breast cancer research and awareness. The second-wave feminist movement inspired many women to speak up about their breast cancer experience and make change, yet it is not really mentioned in the history of the second-wave feminist movement. The historiography of breast cancer awareness is limited in the sense of a complete history, it discusses individual criticisms in the movement without examining the criticisms together as a whole. 

Although several articles explored bits and pieces of the breast cancer awareness movement, none combined these works to form one long report about the movement. Some of these pieces discuss certain issues within the movement like pinkwashing (taking advantage of the popularity of the breast cancer awareness movement for profitable or personal gain) or commercialization, as well as provide the perspectives of breast cancer survivors, their opinions on how they are represented, and their experiences. For example, Kimberly Taylor’s article, “Don’t Give us Pink Ribbons and Skinny Girls: Breast Cancer Survivors’ Evaluations of Cancer Advertising,” analyzes current breast cancer promotions and advertisements, then discusses their common themes with breast cancer survivors to get their opinions.8 She concludes that the survivors expressed a desire for cancer advertising to be representative, informative, hopeful, and transparent about the organizations, like the Susan G. Komen Foundation.9 Similarly, Sarah Mart and Norman Giesbrecht, in their article, “Red Flags on Pinkwashed Drinks: Contradictions and Dangers in Marketing Alcohol to Prevent Cancer,” examine the hypocrisy of corporations that use breast cancer in their marketing when their products cause cancer. Several alcohol corporations use pink ribbons and other breast cancer-related images, messages, and user-generated media to advertise their product, which is a known contributor to cancer and death.10 These articles both bring attention to the negatives of the growing popularity in the breast cancer awareness movement; however, they are each limited to only discussing one of the many issues within this movement and not the issues as a whole. The history of breast cancer awareness is extensive and has several flaws in it that have not been collectively addressed in prior literature.

With the increase of American women joining the second-wave feminist movement, the concerns of the movement became more prevalent. For a long time, second wave feminism was viewed as a place for middle-aged white women, and therefore, not inclusive to all women.11 In fact, a chapter in Manning Marble’s book, Let Nobody Turn Us Around (originally written by Gloria Jean Watkins) examines the relationship between Black feminists and mainstream feminists. Watkins claims that these gatherings of feminists would take place in conference rooms, classrooms, or the privacy of one’s home, and it was there that the lone Black women of the group were left to face racist hostility from white women.12 Manning explains that, “From the time the women’s liberation movement began, individual Black women went to groups. Many never returned after a first meeting.”13 It’s for these reasons, and many others, that Black feminism began to rise during the 1960s and 1970s, when many well-known Black feminists started to speak up.

Audre Lorde, born in 1934, was a writer, professor, activist, and a prominent Black feminist. Lorde is one of the feminists who criticized mainstream feminists of the 1960s and 1970s about their prejudice against those of a different race, age, and sexuality. While Lorde is recognized for her impacts in the Black and Queer activism, these historiographical sources tend to leave out the contributions she made to the breast cancer awareness movement.  In the book, A Brief History of Feminism, Lorde is recognized for her efforts in the history of Black feminism, but it fails to connect how she used similar themes in her breast cancer awareness efforts.14 By understanding Lorde’s involvement in the rise of Black feminism of the 1960s and 1970s, one can see how she used similar methods in her breast cancer awareness activism. From the history of breast cancer, to the second-wave feminist movement, and to the history of Black feminism, the historiography lacks the connection analyzing the evolution of breast cancer awareness would provide.

The History of Breast Cancer Awareness From 1970-2010

One of the first people to speak out about breast cancer in the 1970s was a woman named Babette Rosemond. As a journalist, Rosemond fully understood the power of the platform she had access to and would use it during and after her own battle with breast cancer. In 1970, Rosemond was working as an editor of Seventeen magazine when she first discovered a lump in her breast. When Rosemond refused the recommended surgery, her surgeon called her, “a very silly and stubborn woman,” later emphasizing that she may be dead in three weeks.15 She would then decide to use her voice and skills to write about her experience and advocate for a woman’s right to choose alternative surgery.16 Rosemond decided to write under the pseudonym, Rosamond Campion, and by doing this, she was able to freely express her thoughts in her 1972 book, The Invisible Worm. Rosemond is one of few women who challenged, in the public sphere, the breast cancer normatives and pushed for alternative treatments.

Another major milestone that drove breast cancer awareness into the public consciousness came two years after the publication of Campion’s book. On September 26, 1974, during a routine examination, doctors discovered a lump in Betty Ford’s breast and just two days later she underwent surgery and had a mastectomy.17 A mastectomy is a procedure where all of the tissue is removed from the breast, and at the time, was the most popular surgical treatment for breast cancer. This was important because Betty Ford was First Lady of the United States at the time of her diagnosis. Ford played an influential role in pushing the topic of breast cancer into the media in the 1970s by using her own diagnosis and treatment to encourage other women to take control of their own bodies and health. One instance of Ford’s contributions to the spread of breast cancer awareness is when the American Cancer Society asked her to speak at one of their dinners in November of 1975. She asserted that, “My experience and frank discussion of breast cancer did prompt many women to learn about self-examination, regular checkups and such detection techniques as mammography.”18 By recognizing and utilizing the role that she had as First Lady, she could use her platform to enlighten other women about the disease, use this outlet to come to terms with her own battle, and spread awareness to a larger audience. She told the audience, “how necessary it is for women to take an active interest in their own health and body,” which is why she agreed to be so vocal about a disease that most would have kept private.19

By the following year, Betty Ford would be recognized for her contributions, so much so that on December 1st, Mrs. Ford received the Communicator of Hope Award from the American Cancer Society in New York City. During her speech she challenged, “the media to use your talents to battle ignorance and fear about breast cancer.”20 By encouraging others with influence in the media to use their platforms, Betty Ford aided in bringing awareness to what some would refer to as a private disease. While Betty Ford would accomplish much when it comes to breast cancer awareness, even she knew that, “so much remains to be done.”21

Just three months before Betty Ford’s diagnosis, another woman named Rose Kushner also received the same diagnosis, but her story is much different and sheds light on how breast cancer awareness led to broader changes in medicine related to women. Kushner took an unorthodox approach for that time by deciding what to do after her diagnosis through researching what procedures had been done and coming up with her own plan about what she wanted for her body.

From as early as the beginning of the 1900s, breast cancer was often treated with a surgery called a radical mastectomy, which involved the removal of the breast, the chest wall muscles below the breast, and the underarm lymph nodes.22 While this procedure was extensive, it did take into account that cancer can travel outside of the breast and so the excessive removal had better odds of removing all of the cancer, if it was caught early enough. Another common breast cancer procedure of the time was referred to as the 1-step where the surgeons would first take a biopsy during the surgery to determine if it was cancer and then move forward with an immediate radical breast removal.23 Both of these procedures seemed very extreme for the women who had smaller, localized tumors often causing hesitation when deciding the best form of treatment. Kushner used her research skills as a journalist to determine what was best for her, and that would be the first step that led her to become one of the most well-known breast cancer activists by the next year. 

When Kushner’s doctor confirmed that she had breast cancer, he asked her if there was a surgeon in particular she had in mind to do her surgery and was surprised when Kushner replied that she wanted an oncologist.24 Her response to him was, “How can a person who knows a little bit about cutting everything know as much as someone who does only cancer surgery?”25 It may seem like a question with an obvious answer,  yet the fact that there was surprise when Kushner asked it goes to show how rare it was thought about. Kushner’s ambition to challenge the assumption of the surgeon and take control over her body was motivated by the changing cultural atmosphere stemming from second-wave feminism.

Kushner immediately refused the 1-step procedure, believing that the procedure was outdated, and later would also refuse a radical mastectomy.26 Building on women’s liberation ideas regarding female empowerment, Kushner wanted to construct her own plan for dealing with her cancer alongside her doctor, but the largest problem was the difficulty to find a doctor that would. Not many doctors were willing to look at other possible procedures and instead used ones that were well-known. However, this did not stop Kushner from receiving the type of procedure she desired. Kushner was able to convince her family surgeon to perform a biopsy, who would then criticize her for refusing to have the 1-step procedure.27 Even with all the negative reactions from doctors and surgeons that she encountered, Kushner continued fighting for what she knew was right for her. Eventually, Kushner decided to have a modified radical mastectomy that allowed her to keep her chest wall muscles, only removing the breast and underarm lymph nodes.28 By standing up for herself and fighting to have the control she needed over her body, Rose Kushner not only convinced a surgeon to perform her modified radical mastectomy, but would use that experience to inspire other women across the country.

While recovering from her surgery, Kushner immediately began utilizing her skills as a journalist to spread information about what she believed more women needed to know about breast cancer. In 1975, Kushner published a book called Breast Cancer: A Personal History & an Investigative Report, where she detailed her personal experience in her battle with breast cancer, but also other aspects of the journey that she believes more women should know about. Kushner would become one of the most well-known breast cancer awareness activists of the time. In 1980, former President Jimmy Carter appointed Kushner as the first member of the National Cancer Advisory Board and she served in that position until 1986.29 Kushner became an important figure in the history of breast cancer awareness by telling her story about advocating for what she knew was right for her and her body.

Another activist who channeled women’s liberation’s goals for bodily control for women was notable poet, feminist, and writer, Audre Lorde, one of the first recognized breast cancer activists to openly talk about how many women felt forced to wear a prosthesis after a mastectomy. Audre Lorde discovered her own breast cancer during a routine self-examination in 1978 and would go on to publish The Cancer Journals in 1980, which shifts between Lorde’s personal entries during her battle with breast cancer to criticisms of various aspects of the breast cancer industry. Her writings brought more attention to the idea of health, feminism, and being true to yourself, even when it comes to your health.

Lorde acknowledged that she didn’t want the fear and pain of a cancer diagnosis to keep her or anyone else silent. She hoped to reach every type of woman, no matter what age, color, or sexual identity, who were tired of feeling forced to conform to the societal representation of how a woman should be during and after her battle with breast cancer. She wrote, “I have tried to voice some of my feelings and thoughts about the travesty of prosthesis, the pain of amputation, the function of cancer in a profit economy, [and] my confrontation with mortality.”30 As noted prior, Lorde was especially passionate about the pressure that women faced about wearing a prosthesis after having their breast removed. In an entry in The Cancer Journals, Lorde references a moment after her mastectomy when she was leaving the hospital and a nurse questioned her partner as to why she wasn’t wearing a prosthesis.31 When Lorde’s partner responded that she didn’t want to wear it, the nurse claimed that she was, “just not persistent enough” and Lorde was too tired to fight the nurse on it.32 Even after going through a physically and mentally traumatic surgery, there was existing pressure from society and other women to wear a prosthesis to appear “normal.”

Aside from the discussion of prosthesis, Audre Lorde also called attention to the social and economic discrimination of women with breast cancer. Similar to a time where pregnant women faced discrimination in the work field, women with breast cancer faced judgment and some were even punished.33 An article published in PBS NewsHour reports that, according to a 2017 study, around 20 to 30 percent of women that were diagnosed with breast cancer will lose their job, especially if they are financially poor.34 Lorde noted that, “Women in public and private employment have reported the loss of jobs and promotions upon their return to work after a mastectomy, without regard to whether or not they wore prosthesis.”35 Lorde identified a common theme of refusal in regards to women with breast cancer, from refusing to accept the breast cannot be fully replaced after a mastectomy to refusing to acknowledge a woman is still a person after a mastectomy. She also spotlighted the harsh realities of economic inequality, that breast cancer impacted poorer women even more than those with better financial means. 

Just two years after the publication of Audre Lorde’s book, one of the largest breast cancer awareness organizations that would change the breast cancer industry, was founded. The Susan G. Komen Foundation is the most well-known breast cancer organization in the United States today and, since its founding, has raised nearly 1.1 billion dollars for breast cancer research.36 The organization was founded in 1982 by a woman named Nancy Brinker to honor her sister, Susan Komen. Susan Komen was diagnosed with breast cancer and during her treatment, she made her sister promise that when she got better they would do something more to talk about breast cancer like Betty Ford. Unfortunately, Komen lost her battle to breast cancer, but this didn’t stop Nancy Brinker from honoring her promise.37

Originally founded under the name The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Brinker created this organization to stay true to the promise she made to her sister. The goal of this organization was to eliminate the life-threatening aspect of breast cancer, “by advancing research, education, screening, and treatment.”38 Built on the premise of spreading information about breast cancer to more women, The Susan G. Komen Foundation has held countless events to spread awareness. One of the most recognizable events is called the Race for the Cure, which is a 3-day, 60-mile race held in different states several times a year. This race has been known to be successful in its advocacy efforts and awareness-raising campaigns.39 With its consistency in events and successful awareness and fundraising efforts, it’s not surprising that this organization is still running. While the organization is no stranger to criticisms, they are still essential when discussing the evolution of breast cancer awareness. 

October is an important time when it comes to breast cancer advocacy because for almost 40 years it’s been known as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer Awareness Month completely changed the game of breast cancer advocacy, as it is an entire month dedicated to educating people about breast cancer and raising money for research. It has grown beyond the original 1985 campaign founded by the American Cancer Society and pharmaceutical company, Imperial Chemical Industries, which was only a week long. This campaign as a whole, “aims to promote screening and prevention of the disease,” while also supporting smaller campaigns designed to support those diagnosed with breast cancer, educate the masses, raise funds for breast cancer research, or emphasize the importance of getting regular screenings.40 This month-long campaign took breast cancer awareness to another level of success. A study published in the Journal of Health Economics found that National Breast Cancer Awareness Month events, “were effective at increasing November diagnosis rates during the mid-1990s when the awareness movement was expanding rapidly.”41 As breast cancer awareness became more popular, so did the creation of breast cancer organizations. 

In 1991, the National Breast Cancer Foundation, or NBCF, was founded with the goal of being educational and providing people diagnosed with breast cancer the support that they need. This organization’s vision is, “that one day, no one will have to navigate breast cancer alone.”42 This organization differs from previous ones because it stresses the importance of being there every step of the way. Other organizations like Breast Cancer Action and The Women’s Community Cancer Project focus on making change in politics and the public, while NBCF puts its efforts into simply impacting individual people. On their website, NBCF has several free resources that anyone can access from healthy diet tips to guides to help cancer caregivers.43 The movement, as a whole, reached another level when policial breast cancer organizations developed at the end of the twentieth century.

Criticisms and Explorations of the Breast Cancer Awareness Industry

It can’t be stressed enough how monumental an impact the breast cancer awareness movement has had on breast cancer disease. More people are informed about what breast cancer is, how to do self-examinations, when they should get screened, and the different treatments that are available to them. According to the American Cancer Society, this has led to death rates from breast cancer decreasing steadily since 1989, going down 42% through 2021.44 Due to advancements in treatments and early detection, breast cancer has a higher survivability rate, and there are currently over 4 million breast cancer survivors in the United States.45 However, the breast cancer awareness movement is not perfect and has been subjected to criticisms over the years.

With the ever-growing campaigns of the 1970s and 80s, politics began to impact the breast cancer awareness industry. During the 1990s, in particular, the United States saw an influx of politically-charged breast cancer organizations. These organizations strived to create and pass various types of legislation intended to provide universal healthcare, prevent the environmental causes of breast cancer, and so much more. Some of these organizations include, but are not limited to, Breast Cancer Action and Women’s Community Cancer Project.46 

The Women’s Community Cancer Project, or what is now known as the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, aspires to eradicate the environmental causes of breast cancer through different methods like changes in public policy. Like other organizations, The Women’s Community Cancer Project utilizes educational techniques on both a local and global scale to spread information. One way that this organization educates is through the use of webinars and conferences. Not only are recordings of these webinars available on their website, but they are also posted to YouTube, in hopes to reach a larger audience.

The Women’s Community Cancer Project is very passionate about creating political change to lessen environmental causes of breast cancer and the removal of toxic chemicals in food packaging. The organization has submitted both written and oral testimonies to the Joint Committee on Public Health supporting bills meant to remove specific chemicals from consumer packages.47

Breast Cancer Action, an organization of only a small number of staff, was especially important because it criticized aspects of the breast cancer awareness movement and coined the term pinkwashing. Founded in 1990 by Elenore Pred, Breast Cancer Action was created in response to women that were diagnosed with breast cancer who found unresponsive government and private organizations. Breast Cancer Action, or BCA, intended to focus its efforts on, “systemic interventions that will address the root causes of the disease and produce broad public health benefits.”48 These systematic interventions include making changes in, “policies, institutions, and practices, and by centering people with the furthest relationships to power.”49 For example, in the past when discussions of chemical reform were brought up, BCA used the power of its members to contact their local representatives in support of stronger governmental control over the substances to better aid the American people.50 BCA asserts themselves to be on the side of the people and even calls out large corporations who they believe are taking advantage of breast cancer campaigns or who are guilty of pinkwashing.

Pinkwashing, in the terms of breast cancer, can be broadly described as taking advantage of the popularity of the breast cancer awareness movement for profitable or personal gain. This term was coined by BCA in 2002, during the launch of their Think Before You Pink campaign. BCA defines a pinkwasher as, “a company or organization that claims to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon product, but at the same time produces, manufactures and/or sells products containing chemicals that are linked to the disease.”51 Also, in many of their campaigns, similar to Think Before You Pink, BCA calls out many companies and even the government for making empty promises and wearing pink ribbons, but not making any change. Pinkwashing continues to be a problem to this day, however, with organizations like BCA prepared to speak up, it won’t go unnoticed.

The National Football League, or more commonly known as the NFL, began a breast cancer campaign in 2009 that elevated the level to which breast cancer awareness was seen. The campaign was named Crucial Catch. It was a partnership between the NFL and the American Cancer Society to spread breast cancer awareness in the month of October. During this month span, “players, coaches and referees wear pink apparel and gear and pink branding is displayed inside [stadiums] and on the field.”52

From the 2009 to 2016 NFL seasons, Crucial Catch was focused on breast cancer and would end up raising more than $6 million for the American Cancer Society.53 However, starting in the 2017 football season, the NFL made the decision to expand Crucial Catch to spread awareness for other cancers alongside breast cancer. With the expansion, NFL teams would be able to pick their own cancer charities.54 Many encouraged this change, but some were suspicious of the reasoning to do so. With breast cancer awareness being more prevalent than any other cancer awareness in the United States, people often accused the NFL of pinkwashing through this campaign and say that is why it came to an end.

In addition to the NFL, other companies that have been accused of pinkwashing are clothing manufacturers H&M and Levi’s, as a result of pink collections that they have released.55 General retailers such as Walmart and Amazon have also faced criticism.56  Yet an organization that has been accused of pinkwashing on numerous occasions may surprise some people: the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

The largest breast cancer organization, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, has been the topic of criticism since 2010 for accusations of pinkwashing and the allocation of funds. Former executive director of Breast Cancer Action, Barbara Brenner, has been one of these critics claiming how the organization represents the “right wing of the breast cancer movement” and the “status quo” of breast cancer awareness.57 These comments came after the foundation made the decision to stop providing funds to Planned Parenthood for breast care and education.58 Articles dating back to as far as the 1980s have made the claim that having an abortion puts women at a higher chance of getting breast cancer. A 1994 study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute states that women above 18, who have had an abortion, have an increased 50% risk of getting breast cancer, while those under 18 have an increased risk of 150%.59 The “relation” between breast cancer and abortions have been debunked by countless studies over the years, yet this hasn’t stopped its growing popularity. A 2020 study about the connection between breast cancer and abortions determined that, “current evidence based on epidemiological studies showed no association between abortion and risk of breast cancer among nulliparous women.”60 So, when the Susan G. Komen Foundation pulled its funds from Planned Parenthood, many claimed it was to distance itself from a pro-choice organization that supports abortions. This action resulted in many pro-abortion individuals turning their back on the breast cancer organization. A former supporter of the partnership, Mary Gauvin, said tha, after the decision, “if a friend asked for a sponsorship in a Race for the Cure event, she would offer to give money instead to the American Cancer Society.”61 No matter what the reason was to stop allocating funds to Planned Parenthood, the choice would turn many, like Mary Gauvin, against the organization.

In addition, the Susan G. Komen Foundation has made many questionable decisions about which companies to partner with and these partnerships are the main reason behind the pinkwashing allegations. One of these partnerships, and what some refer to as the worst example of pinkwashing, was with a company called Baker Hughes, known for their usage of fracking. The process of drilling and fracking for oil and gas uses over 700 chemicals and, in a previous study, researchers have found that a significant number of the chemicals can increase the risk of cancer.62 Komen is enabling Baker Hughes to hide behind breast cancer awareness, using their partnership as a “pink shield,” despite engaging in practices that increase the risk of cancer.

While Pinkwashing is a large criticism of the breast cancer awareness movement, it is not the only one. For instance, there is often a lack of representation of men with breast cancer in the media. Each year, around 2,100 men in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer, and 500 men die each year from the disease.63 If one were to compare these numbers to the diagnosis and deaths to women’s breast cancer, there would be a significant difference. However, just because men are less likely to get breast cancer, doesn’t  mean they won’t get it at all. 

Under-representation & Misrepresentation of Breast Cancer in the Media

For a long time, breast cancer awareness campaigns often excluded men from their ads and strictly only addressed women. It’s not often that a story of the average man’s battle with breast cancer is told in the media, and in the beginning it was only men of higher influence that got their stories told. An example of this is how several media outlets all reported about former Senator Edward W. Brooke’s breast cancer diagnosis. In 2003, Brooke went public with his diagnosis to inform men that they were not immune to this cancer and to encourage them to be aware.64 Booke being open about his diagnosis of what was considered a “women’s disease,” was intended to be educational for other men who thought that this could never be them. Not only is male breast cancer underrepresented in media coverage or campaigns, but in medical aspects and research as well. 

Like any disease, in order for a treatment to be proven effective it needs to be tested with male and female subjects because their bodies likely react differently. The problem with breast cancer research is that the majority of it really only focuses on women, since they are more likely to get it. In an article published by The World Journal of Men’s Health, a 2020 study said that, “due to its rarity, men with breast cancer have been largely underrepresented in clinical trials and population studies.”65 Arguably, if men would be recognized next to women in breast cancer awareness campaigns or even make a slight appearance, more men could get diagnosed earlier. Breast cancer in the media plays an essential role in breast cancer awareness because it is the best form of communication from breast cancer activists to the average American citizen. A 2011 study analyzing, “how the use of cancer-related health communications is patterned by race, ethnicity, language, and social class” found that, “providing greater access to and enhancing the quality of health media by taking into account factors associated with social determinants may contribute to addressing social disparities in health.”66 With the importance of representation having been addressed, the question now is: what has breast cancer representation looked like in the past and how has that affected people.

As media coverage of the breast cancer awareness movement grew over the years, so did the notice of their advertisements, who was represented in it, and who was not.  In the past, breast cancer advertisements in magazines followed mainstream media’s appeal and lacked diverse representation in the ads and essential information that people should know.67 Many breast cancer survivors think that some of these advertisements are not representative. In a 2019 study about breast cancer advertisements, participants found that there was a notable lack of representation of Black women in mainstream breast cancer media.68 This absence is detrimental to promoting breast cancer awareness in the Black community and can negatively impact Black women or men who are at risk.69 The missing presence of Black women or even women of color in breast cancer advertisements could be an explanation as to why the mortality rates for women with breast cancer vary. 

While mortality rates have decreased as a whole, there are still noticeable disparities in different groups of women regarding breast cancer. For example, in recent years more Black Women and Hispanic women died from breast cancer than lung cancer.70 However the same could not be said for white women, whose leading cause of cancer-related death was lung cancer.71 According to the American Cancer Society, “Black women have the lowest 5-year relative breast cancer survival rate compared to all other racial/ethnic groups for every stage of diagnosis and every breast cancer subtype.”72 By not having diverse breast cancer awareness advertisements, there comes the risk of misinforming people of their chance of getting breast cancer or unintentionally making them think they can’t get it at all. 

The lack of representation, or more so misinformation, does not just end with men and women of color, but survivors of different body types. There are several breast cancer advertisements that showcase what can be described as “perfect breasts,” and have an inspirational message along with them. A participant from the 2019 study about breast cancer advertisements states, “Don’t show me these beautiful boobs and say, well breast cancer, because that’s not what breast cancer is.”73 Others in the study agreed with this sentiment. If advertisements about breast cancer show breasts, then they should also show the scars.74 Another participant claimed that, “these ads are making it glitzy, but there’s nothing glitzy about what we went through.”75 The importance of this message is that not only do breast cancer advertisements need to be representative of the potential person that could be diagnosed, but also the ones that survived it. Prior to 21st century modern media, many people gained their knowledge of breast cancer from newspapers, even if the information wasn’t always correct.

When analyzing newspaper trends over the last few decades there are several noticeable differences that evolve overtime. During the 1970s, one notable trend is the type of language that is used. In many cases when the articles are referring to a person diagnosed with breast cancer, they tend to use the word victim. 

Even one of the rare stories published about male breast cancer refers to the man as a victim in the title stating, “Male breast cancer victim describes narrow escape.”76 The word victim has a negative connotation, as it implies the person diagnosed has already lost the battle with breast cancer. For example, when looking at recent newspaper articles, they only really use the phrase “breast cancer victim” to describe someone who lost their life to the disease. The use of the word victim in news articles and awareness campaigns of the 1970’s could make people think that they are fighting a losing battle.

Along with use of the word victim, breast cancer is often referred to as a virus, as if there is a medication that will cure it. An article published in the Lexington Herald-Leader in June of 1970 makes the claim that the breast cancer “virus” can be passed from mother to daughter through breastfeeding.77 This need for answers can likely be attributed to the drive to solve all of the mysteries of the world, with the cause of breast cancer being one of them. Even the next year, researchers were claiming in a study that a virus in breast milk was the cause of breast cancer.78 Towards the end of the decade, this need to place blame began to subside and other explanations for why some get the disease and others don’t began to emerge. An article published in the Columbia Daily Tribune in 1979, explored the idea of how some women may be more susceptible to the disease and pushed for the discovery of alternative methods of treatment.79 While this push for alternative treatments would begin circulating in the late 1970s, it  gained most of its popularity in the 1980s. It is not surprising to learn that women wanted to make sure they received all the available information regarding breast cancer as a result of activism from individuals like Rose Kushner and Audre Lorde. An article published in The Baltimore Sun examines a bill that was being considered in Annapolis, Maryland that would mandate specific information about alternative treatments be provided at the same time as an examination.80 Not only were patients voicing their needs to have more information, but this was recognized by the media. The Philadelphia Inquirer published an article in 1987 that explained the known procedures, like a mastectomy, and alternative treatments, such as a modified radical mastectomy.81 Women utilized the confidence that second-wave feminist and Women’s Health Movements gave them to express what they want for their health to the point where they couldn’t be ignored.

In the 1990s, media coverage about breast cancer would start to shift towards a desired increase of political intervention. An example of this is seen in a 1991 article published in the Rocky Mount Telegram, reported on how an area task force lobbied Congress for more breast cancer research.82 Sue Moore, the leader of this task force stated that, “in the 10 years of the AIDS Epidemic, 120,000 Americans have died from AIDS, but, in the same period of time, more than 500,000 women have died of breast cancer.”83 Moore’s intention by providing these statistics is to make readers aware of the impacts that breast cancer has on the lives of the American women and get others to understand the need for further research. While further development in access to research and treatment is a necessity for the breast cancer industry, incorporating politics into anything runs the risk of dividing people. An article published in The San Francisco Examiner looks at breast cancer politics and the division between liberal and conservatives.84 This article claims that conservatives are more likely to favor the treatment choice of a Mastectomy, while liberals prefer a Lumpectomy, which puts doctors in the position of not advocating for one of these treatments over the other.85 The perception of breast cancer was changed as a result of newspaper trends, the development of politicized breast cancer organizations, and the presence of politics in the 1990s breast cancer industry. The good and bad moments in the history of the revolution of breast cancer awareness shaped the movement to become what it is today.

Being able to better comprehend the history of breast cancer awareness in the United States brings necessary attention to women’s aspiration for one’s own control of their health and how this aspiration connects with the ongoing second-wave feminist movement, exposes women’s health aspects that have been ignored, and unveils how women pushed back against gender stereotypes during their recovery. It also reveals how corporate interests have encompassed this effort in troubling ways, a potential warning sign for the future of breast cancer awareness activism. Nonetheless, the evidence shows that breast cancer awareness grew considerable after 1970, leading to many earlier diagnoses and advances in life-saving care. The breast cancer awareness movement has come a long way since the 1970s and continues to evolve as time goes by. While the movement itself is not perfect, with the right individuals leading the charge, breast cancer awareness can continue to grow to new heights never thought before.

Footnotes

  1. American Cancer Society, “Breast Cancer Statistics | How Common Is Breast Cancer?” Last Revised January 12, 2023, https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/breast-cancer/about/how-common-is-breast-cancer.html. ↩︎
  2. Dennis A. Deslippe,  “Organized Labor, National Politics, and Second-Wave Feminism in the United States, 1965–1975,” International Labor and Working-Class History 49 (1996): 143–65, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0147547900001745. ↩︎
  3. Sascha Cohen, “This is What Breast Cancer Activism Looked like Before the Pink Ribbon,” Time, October 17, 2016, https://time.com/4531239/breast-cancer-activism-history/. ↩︎
  4. Ellen Carol DuBois, “Women’s Rights before the Civil War,” In Feminism and Suffrage: The Emergence of an Independent Women’s Movement in America, 1848–1869, 21–52, Cornell University Press, 1999, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctvv411tt.7. ↩︎
  5. Nancy Hayward, “A Short History of Activism,” National Women’s History Museum, Last Revised 2018, https://www.womenshistory.org/resources/general/short-history-activism. ↩︎
  6. Agnes Arnold‐Forster, “Medicine and the Body in Second‐Wave Feminist Histories of the Nineteenth Century,” History (London) 106, no. 372 (2021): 668-686. ↩︎
  7.  Jennifer Mittelstadt,”Philanthropy, Feminism, and Left Liberalism, 1960–1985,” Journal of Women’s History 20, no. 4 (2008): 105-131. ↩︎
  8. Kimberly Taylor, “Don’t Give us Pink Ribbons and Skinny Girls: Breast Cancer Survivors’ Evaluations of Cancer Advertising,” Health marketing quarterly vol. 36,3 (2019): 186-202. doi:10.1080/07359683.2019.1618007. ↩︎
  9. Kimberly Taylor, “Don’t Give us Pink Ribbons and Skinny Girls: Breast Cancer Survivors’ Evaluations of Cancer Advertising,” 186-202. ↩︎
  10. Sarah Mart and Norman Giesbrecht, “Red Flags on Pinkwashed Drinks: Contradictions and Dangers in Marketing Alcohol to Prevent Cancer,” Addiction, vol. 110,10 (2015): 1541-8. doi:10.1111/add.13035. ↩︎
  11. Benita Roth, “Second Wave Black Feminism in the African Diaspora: News from New Scholarship,” Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity, no. 58 (2003): 46–58, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4548095. ↩︎
  12. Manning Marable, Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal : an African American Anthology, (United Kingdom: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003). ↩︎
  13. Marable, Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal : an African American Anthology, p.548. ↩︎
  14. Antje Schrupp Patu and Sophie Lewis, “A Brief History of Feminism,” 1st ed. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2017, doi:10.7551/mitpress/11328.001.0001. ↩︎
  15. Janet R. Osuch, “A Historical Perspective on Breast Cancer Activism in the United States: From Education and Support to Partnership in Scientific Research,” Journal of Women’s Health 21,3 (2012): 355-62. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2011.2862. ↩︎
  16. Rosamond Campion, “The Invisible Worm,” (New York, Macmillan, 1972). ↩︎
  17. Kerri Lawrence, “Archives Exhibit Honors Betty Ford,” National Archives, April 5, 2018, https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/archives-exhibit-honors-betty-ford. ↩︎
  18. First Lady Betty Ford’s Remarks at an American Cancer Society Dinner (Excerpts), GRFordLibraryMuseum, August 28, 2017, Video, https://youtu.be/J024QPXyf2U?si=3GudSUv1X38F9pe3. ↩︎
  19. First Lady Betty Ford’s Remarks at an American Cancer Society Dinner (Excerpts). ↩︎
  20. Betty Ford, “Text of Mrs. Ford’s Remarks on Receipt of the Communicator of Hope Award of the American Cancer Society” (Speech, New York City, December 1, 1976). ↩︎
  21. Ford, “Text of Mrs. Ford’s Remarks on Receipt of the Communicator of Hope Award of the American Cancer Society,” December 1, 1976, https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/library/document/0126/1489676.pdf. ↩︎
  22. Barron H. Lerner, “No shrinking violet: Rose Kushner and the rise of American breast cancer activism,” The Western Journal of Medicine 174, 5 (2001): 362-5, doi:10.1136/ewjm.174.5.362. ↩︎
  23. Lerner, “No shrinking violet,” 362-5. ↩︎
  24. Rose Kushner, Breast Cancer: A Personal History and Investigative Report, (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975). ↩︎
  25. Kushner, Breast Cancer: A Personal History and Investigative Report, p.5. ↩︎
  26. Lerner, “No shrinking violet,” 362-5. ↩︎
  27. Kushner, “Breast Cancer: A Personal History and Investigative Report,” 1975. ↩︎
  28. Lerner, “No shrinking violet,” 362-5. ↩︎
  29. Gina Kolata, “Rose Kushner, 60, Leader in Breast Cancer Fight,” The New York Times, January 10, 1990, https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/10/obituaries/rose-kushner-60-leader-in-breast-cancer-fight.html. ↩︎
  30. Audre Lorde and Tracy K. Smith, The Cancer Journals (New York: Penguin Books, 2020). ↩︎
  31. Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals, p.42. ↩︎
  32. Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals, p.42. ↩︎
  33. Rafia Zakaria, “The Cancer Journals Record a New Way for Women to Face Ill-Health; Audre Lorde’s Courageous Account of Her Breast Cancer Defies how Women are Expected to Deal with Sickness, Accepting Pain and a Transformed Sense of Self,” The Guardian, December, 30 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/dec/30/the-cancer-journals-record-a-new-way-for-women-to-face-ill-health. ↩︎
  34. Kate Sheridan, “Poor Women More Likely to Lose Jobs during Breast Cancer Treatment, Study Finds,” PBS NewsHour, February 8, 2017. ↩︎
  35. Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals, p.59. ↩︎
  36. “The Impact,” Drive Research, Susan G. Komen, accessed March 25, 2024, https://www.komen.org. ↩︎
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  39. Laurie Gilmore Selleck, “Pretty in pink: The Susan G. Komen network and the branding of the breast cancer cause,” Nordic Journal of English Studies 9, no. 3 (2010): 119-138. ↩︎
  40. “Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” n.d. breastcancer.org, https://www.breastcancer.org/about-breast-cancer/breast-cancer-awareness-month. ↩︎
  41. Grant D. Jacobsen, and Kathryn H. Jacobsen, “Health awareness campaigns and diagnosis rates: evidence from National Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” Journal of health economics 30, no. 1 (2011): 55-61. ↩︎
  42. National Breast Cancer Foundation, “Our Impact,” accessed April 8, 2024, https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/other/our-impact/. ↩︎
  43. National Breast Cancer Foundation, “Free Educational Guides,” Accessed April 8, 2024, https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/educational-guides/. ↩︎
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  49. “History & Accomplishments,” Breast Cancer Action, https://www.bcaction.org/history-accomplishments/. ↩︎
  50. “Breast Cancer and The Environment,” History & Accomplishments, Breast Cancer Action, accessed April 9, 2024, https://www.bcaction.org/history-accomplishments/. ↩︎
  51. “What Is Pinkwashing?”  Breast Cancer Action, Accessed April 3, 2024, https://www.bcaction.org/pink-ribbon-marketing-culture/what-is-pinkwashing/. ↩︎
  52. Dae Hee Kwak, Joon Sung Lee, Youngbum Kwon, and Katherine Babiak, “Exploring Consumer Responses to a Nationwide Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign: The Case of the National Football League’s Crucial Catch Campaign,” Int. J. Sport Management and Marketing, March 4, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSMM.2019.099784. ↩︎
  53. Hee Kwak,  “Exploring Consumer Responses to a Nationwide Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign: The Case of the National Football League’s Crucial Catch Campaign,” https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSMM.2019.099784. ↩︎
  54. Cameron DaSilva, “NFL to End Pink October, Allow Teams to Choose Their Own Cancer Charity,” December 14, 2016, https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/nfl-to-end-pink-october-allow-teams-to-choose-their-own-cancer-charity. ↩︎
  55. Perrine Melen-Lamalle, “Purplewashing and its Analogues as a Strategy of Marketing Manipulation: How Brands Use Feminism for Promotional Purposes,” Université de Liège, Liège, Belgique, 2023, https://matheo.uliege.be/handle/2268.2/18968. ↩︎
  56. Rosie Walters, “Varieties of Gender Wash: Towards a Framework for Critiquing Corporate Social Responsibility in Feminist IPE,” Review of International Political Economy 29, no. 5 (2022): 1577–1600, doi:10.1080/09692290.2021.1935295. ↩︎
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  58. Brenner, “So Much To Be Done: The Writings of Breast Cancer Activist Barbara Brenner,” p.222. ↩︎
  59. Daniel Costello, “Breast Cancer and Abortion: Are they related?,” The Los Angeles Times, March 10, 2003, Newspapers.com. ↩︎
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  74. Taylor, “Don’t Give US Pink Ribbons and Skinny Girls: Breast Cancer Survivors’ Evaluations of Cancer Advertising,” p.193. ↩︎
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