Comments on: When Did Cancer Become a Judy Blume Novel?

By: Mary Heather

Mary Heather — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 06:40:38 +0000

Thanks so much for your comment, Carolyn! I will definitely look you up on Facebook. Cheers, MHN

By: Carolyn O'Neal

Carolyn O'Neal — Tue, 23 Dec 2014 04:57:07 +0000

Actually, I’m a bit jealous of all the attention Breast Cancer receives. I’m a uterine cancer survivor and we get no press at all. I don’t know if I would have been offended by all the pink or not, had I been a breast cancer survivor. But you bring up a good point about moneymaking. How much of all of the profit from this hype actually goes to treatment and research. I wish there were more public accounting of charitable contributions. Regarding prevention. Whew, that’s a big issue. Especially for an environmentalist!

Speaking of environmentalism, congratulations on the Siskiyou Prize. I’m an eco-fiction writer (actually submitted to Ashland Creek contest, too, alas) so I want to encourage the expansion of environmental writing, both fiction and nonfiction. You can facebook friend me at https://www.facebook.com/Auntie.Carolyn.ONeal if you’d like to keep in touch. Thanks!

By: Marianne Miro

Marianne Miro — Wed, 29 Oct 2014 08:59:33 +0000

Thank you for eloquently articulating what I have felt over the pay several years since I was diagnosed with breast cancer. When I have tried to express similar views (not as well as you did), I have been met with odd stares and a quick end to the conversation as if I have said something terrible.

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 21:20:33 +0000

Very well said. I’ve had very similar thoughts…always been uncomfortable with ‘commercialization’ of the brand.

By: Emily

Emily — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 18:10:44 +0000

Thank you for writing this. I don’t want to be reminded for the whole month of October how sick my mother was for an entire year. I don’t want to remember cancer. I want to forget it ever existed. I’ll donate money to places like Beth Israel (87% goes to research) where my husband died from cancer and to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital where children are treated for free. But I don’t need to be reminded for thirty one days straight that cancer ripped my family apart, no thank you. I check my breasts at least once a week not because the world has been pinkwashed but because I don’t want to leave my children without a mother. Be responsible and don’t drink the pink.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 16:16:58 +0000

This is so great. I find the pinkification of cancer so demeaning and trivializing. And don’t get me started on the conflicts of interest of the chemical manufacturers with pharmaceutical branches, profiting off cancer at both ends of the spectrum. You have probably read Barbara Ehrenreich’s essay about the infantalizing nature of the whole pink culture http://barbaraehrenreich.com/website/cancerland.htm, but it’s always a good one to go back and read again.