Facebook and Bras and Hair

Late to the game as always, I wasn't going to post about the latest Facebook bra 'game', because brighter minds than my own have already gone through it, and Feministe is only one of them. I received the message from a friends mother, containing the part about breast cancer (though mostly focusing on confusing 'the boys'), and didn't post my bra colour. Mostly because that is just creepy, but on another level, I wondered what it meant to accomplish - there was no mention of breast cancer and there were no further plans of a reveal campaign that would draw all of these colours together to raise 'awareness' of breast cancer.

This morning, I found a second message in my inbox, this time from my aunt, about a second 'game':

The Bras got them thinking!! Heres game 2! This one will really get the guys thinking (again), to see if they got dirty minds or not! This one is about "how u have your hair now". if its up, write "ON TOP", if its down put "all the way down", if its down but to the side or flipped, write SIDE BY SIDE, if its just a complete mess, write EVERYWHERE N MESSY! You get The point......use your imagination with your sayings..make em good and get them thinking.......we are talking about your HAIR STYLE!!! Lets see if they get this one! but ONLY SEND to GIRLSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!"" NO MEN!!! Here we go [I'm hoping my aunt added the 'Here we go' part]

Now completely abandoning the breast cancer portion of the 'game', it is instead all about double entendres and confusing men.

The first few things that come to my mind:

1) With the fact the both men AND women can get breast cancer, this is not helping unifying people for a cause! It instead alienates people, especially when it comes to gender identity.

2) As mentioned many time in mulitple sources, there isn't a link or anything to actually help breast cancer awareness. Yes, it gets people thinking - for a short time. Spend ten minutes thinking about breast cancer, or just boobs, and then move on. With all the causes, charities, etc., existing in the world, there is always something vying for you attention - take a walk through the Student's Union Building on the University of Alberta campus any time and you're bombarded with multiple causes - almost all worthy and deserving my attention. With the controversy surrounding this 'bra colour thingy' (my official name for it), that may have increased the awareness that was actually out there, but there's no quantifiable way of finding out.

3) Is it really about breast cancer? I just talked to my sister about it - she put her bra status up, but didn't receive the e-mail about it. She was adamant at my criticism, that it was for a good cause. Until I told her that quite a bit of the emails sent out had no mention of breast cancer. And read out the email about the 'hair game'. Then she said that she felt kind of duped, cheated. That she revealed something personal for what she thought was a good cause, when really, it was a 'game'.

4) The latest reincarnation? According to the comments in the Feministe article, there is another email going around, to release the date that you lost your virginity. If I was a really optimistic person, I could see the three being linked together: Bra = breast cancer. Virginity thingy = cervical cancer. Hair = results of chemotherapy treatment. However, I'm much more cynical than that, and the virginity one is just way way way too much information.

Now, since this whole kerfuffle, there has a response that is akin to that of evolution vs. creationism debates - emotional attachment that results in people being insulted, such as breast cancer survivors commenting on those critical of the 'game', that they think it's a great idea and that those critical are taking things far too seriously. Maybe we are.

I've never had breast cancer, I've never had anyone close to me have breast cancer, and honestly, I don't donate to breast cancer nearly as much as I do for environmental or human rights based causes. That shouldn't make my arguments any less legitimate, and I'm further removed from the situation, removing any emotional bias. In terms of 'months' of awareness, January is Cervical Cancer Awareness month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month is in October. It's a system used to allow equal opportunity for causes to try and gain funding.

And just to avoid the "just buy pink products" argument, I would urge you to go to Think Before You Pink, a site detailing some problems with 'Pink' campaigns, such as money caps, percentage donations, and other falsehoods that exist in using breast cancer as a marketing tool. The website also highlights companies that are doing good by pink campaigns.