1. Self-check your breasts or have a mammogram if you are in the free screening age group. (http://www.bsnsw.org.au)
2. Volunteer to help women with breast cancer or donate to an organisation that does. (http://www.bcna.org.au).
3. Donate to reputable organisations that fund breast cancer research. (http://www.breastcanceraustralia.org or http://cancercouncil.com.au).
NB: Wearing pink, buying pink products and posting cryptic memes to your facebook status are not listed above. I’d say sorry for being a grumpy bitch, but I’m not really.
NB2: Links are Australia-centric because that’s where I am. But I am sure similar organisations exist in the US and other countries.
Ah the politics of pink… these days I am curmudgeonly enough not to donate to breast cancer, even when asked nicely. Not that it’s not a hideous disease. But it is extremely well funded and has a high profile, and the amount of pressure to donate to it or care about it now feels like emotional blackmail.
Breast cancer sufferers are given tremendous support, from special nurses, to women who come in and advise them on their changing appearance, to automatic brochures and booklets on how to cope. None of that is available to sufferers of other cancers. We are just expected to grit our teeth and deal with our falling hair. Lung cancer, which is a ferocious killer of women, gets no research funding and no public recognition at all, possibly because it’s a disease that people are thought to have brought upon themselves. Ovarian and cervical cancers are filthy diseases that barely attract any money.
I don’t begrudge breast cancer sufferers getting lots of support, by the way. It’s a horrible disease. But it’s time that other diseases that affect women got the same level of care.