The pink-branded products that do more harm to women’s bodies than good (Fried chicken, anyone?) are ridiculous. And companies are making more money off of these pink products by getting free advertising, which makes me uncomfortable; it’s difficult when charity gets capitalized on. But even still, the humanist in me says better some money donated than none, even if the circumstances are distasteful. I’m a bottom line kind of girl.

When the breast cancer awareness started, people mumbled the word “breast” and didn’t talk about it. Women suffered silently. The pink was to make it disarming, to make it ok to say “breast”. At this point, it’s dated marketing that’s making people offended and angry, but at the time, it was empowering.

I had read a number of years ago about the disparity between money raised under the guise of the pink ribbon and how much of it actually goes towards research for a cure, and ever since then I’ve been irritated by all the pink crap each October. (And ditto for similar fundraising efforts for a host of other diseases…) I’ve never understood why people fail to understand the basic economics – especially with fundraising races – those events have to be coordinated by someone! A lot of someones. Who are doing it as a full-time job. In other words, a really big chunk of the money you raise for the cause ends up going into the event administration and logistics. Why not just give directly and help more?

And you make a very good point – a more effective cure is prevention – and your efforts to make sure your loved ones are taking care of themselves are more valuable than either the money or effort put into these things.

Thank you for SAYING SOMETHING. A brave thing to do.

The issue of cancer and cancer awareness is dear to me because my father was diagnosed at 47 with colon cancer and died in 2009. I miss him! During his 5 year battle he participated in Lance Armstrong’s bike for cancer awareness and I think it is similarly hyped and may not always equate to funds being allocated to medical research and finding a cure. Yet I do find that it is helpful to the community to raise awareness. Although in the case of breast cancer I do feel like it has gotten out of control because people are very aware of it now, there is much less of a stigma than there used to be, and we must now ask, what can we do to get more of those funds to cancer research and hopefully a cure?

On a different note, I’m reading Jerry Sittser’s book called A Grief Disguised and it has been really helpful for me to process my loss. I recommend it to anyone even if the loss isn’t necessarily a death.

I’m not sure what organizations there are to donate to besides Komen… would you suggest American Cancer Society?

As for colors go…. I have to seriously disagree. There are colors that represent all kinds of cancer (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awareness_ribbons). And while pink may not be “serious” it is at least designated for Breast Cancer unlike almost every other cancer. I found the color system very helpful in my grief and was happy to learn that Etsy sellers and others are beginning to sell items for colon cancer awareness. I’m very much into the idea that some of our products can tell stories to strangers and friends and let them know us more (like my Lance Armstrong pin from my dad’s last ride before his death).