Now that we’ve made it through another Pinktober, it’s time to take stock of what we’ve accomplished.
Most importantly, there is a new form of awareness in the public discourse. It has been bubbling up for a number of years, but this year people came forward in greater numbers to voice their concerns about the marketing of breast cancer, the exploitation of the illness for commercial gain, superficial messages of awareness, stereotypical advertising in the name of the cause, the lack of real progress, and the need for a wider lens. The pink ribbon can no longer ignore, marginalize, or co-opt these voices.
This is not about replacing the pink bandwagon with some other bandwagon. We’re beyond us/them scenarios. We need careful and considerate discourse that speaks to the many truths and experiences that surround this illness. Sure, we need social spaces to vent frustrations, but moving to another level necessarily involves productive criticism. Paying attention to the pink world around us. Looking closely. Examining the messages, the gaps, and the outcomes. Articulating them openly and constructively. Listening to one another. Being part of something bigger.
This month, we have seen numerous examples of the kinds of discourse that have the potential to change pink ribbon culture for the better:
- Anna Rachnel’s The Cancer Culture Chronicles and Pink Boob Award Nominees
- Ann Silberman’s Breast Cancer Awareness Carnival Round-Up
- The Accidental Amazon’s Pinksploitation
- A Thousand Days’ Retrieving the Pink
- Being Sarah
- Bioethics Forum’s Pretty in Pink: Is This Women’s Health Activism?
- Boo-Bee Trap’s Journey Through the Breast Cancer “Industry”
- Breast Cancer Action’s Think Before You Pink campaign
- Breast Cancer Fund and State of the Evidence 2010 on environmental links to breast cancer
- Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
- Change.org’s Pink Ribbon Hypocrisy
- Chemobabe
- Collaborative on Health and the Environment, Breast Cancer Working Group
- Common Health’s The Year of ‘Pink Fatigue’
- CTV News on Pinkwashing
- Dr. Susan Love’s Beyond the Pink, Beyond a Cure
- Ezine Article’s Does the Pink of Breast Cancer Awareness Month Make Women Feel Worse?
- Facebook’s Pinkwashing Hall of Shame
- Fashionista’s Seeing Pink: A Survivor’s Take on the Marketing Madness of Breast Cancer Awareness Month
- Fran Visco (NBCC) on Huffington Post
- How I Met Your Father’s When Did Breast Cancer Become So Trendy?
- It’s My Life’s How About Real Breast Cancer Awareness
- Lisa de Gruyter’s Not Thinking Pink
- National Breast Cancer Coalition
- National Women’s Health Network’s More Than Pretty In Pink
- No Family History
- Political Tarot’s Decorating the Darkness With a Pink Ribbon
- PR Watch: How “Breast Cancer Awareness” Campaigns Hurt
- Salon.com’s The Flirty Fight Against Breast Cancer
- Siena College’s Sociology of the Family
- Stacy Malkan’s Before You Kiss For The Cause, posted on Crazy Sexy Life
- The Scar Project
- The Wall Street Journal’s article on The Facebook ‘I Like It On’ Meme
- Toddler Planet’s Pink-tober
- University of California’s Breast Cancer Chemicals and Policy Project
- Uneasy Pink
- Women’s Cancer Action The Times They are a Changin’
Pink Ribbon Blues has also gotten some media attention.
It is heartening to see how many people have come together to support the cause of breast cancer. It is necessary to have thoughtful consideration about how to move beyond ribbons in a meaningful way. In the spirit of civic discourse, bioethics, and public health, let’s keep the conversation going and fix what is broken.
This list gives me such hope that sooner or later people will start listening and we will see meaningful change and action. Thanks for all that you do in moving this fight forward.