I think about this every fall when the breast cancer awareness campaigns kick into gear: What about the people who die from other forms of cancer, especially prostate cancer?
First, some statistics from the Center for Disease Control:
In 2004 (the most recent year numbers are available),
- 186,772 women and 1,815 men were diagnosed with breast cancer
- 40,954 women and 362 men died from breast cancer
(http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/statistics/)
In 2003 (the most recent year for which statistics are currently available):
- 185,891 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer
- 29,554 men died from prostate cancer
(http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/prostate/statistics/)
The difference in the number of cases of breast cancer in women versus the number of cases of prostate cancer is .0047 percent. That's a difference of less than half a percent; the difference is statistically insignificant. Therefore, we can say that there are, essentially, the same number of cases of each kind of cancer per year.
So, given that information, why so much emphasis on breast cancer awareness? Why is there not an equal emphasis on prostate cancer awareness? My very smart wife says it's because breasts are more obvious and prettier than prostates, and breasts are sex objects and we are a sex-oriented (obsessed?) society.
Although she may be right, I think it's got more to do with the power of the feminist agenda. The media, corporations and organizations are so afraid of offending feminists that they ignore the suffering of other demographic groups. They have bought into the feminist agenda so much that the issue is no longer human suffering, it is feminine suffering, masculine suffering is callously ignored. Or, on the other hand, it is an acknowledgment that women are weak and need the help of the rest of society to deal with their health problems. If equality between the sexes is the goal, then they have failed. (On another hand, if the feminist agenda is about dominating men, then they are wrong and are just creating another repressed minority.)
Aside from that, not all breast cancer patients are women (yes, men can get breast cancer, too), but the emphasis is on women (notice all the pink stuff: ribbons, bags, packaging, etc.). To me, this is further evidence that it isn't so much about cancer as it is about feminism.
Now, to clarify: I don't mind feminism, I've been told that I am a feminist, and I am in favor of equal opportunities and rights for women. I believe that all people, regardless of gender, should be allowed to do what they want with their lives, whether it's the spouse-homemaker-parent option, or the career option. Although I also believe that the wife-homemaker-mother option is the best one for most women, and has the potential for a much more positive influence on the world, and that mixing career, family and home-making is a challenge that very few people are up to.
Here is a more recent article that reflects my point of view: "The politics behind the pink ribbon"
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
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2 comments:
I don't doubt that the feminist agenda could be the culprit. It's possible that it's starts out as a sisterhood thing but it's reinforced by men because, to them, women need protecting. I think it's a natural male instinct to want to protect women from harm. Men probably don't want to focus on the statistics of their own terrible cancer because men are supposed to be tough. They can deal with their own problem, they'll be fine. The problem there is that a lack of awareness might lead to a lack of funding for research.
So it could be a feminist thing, but from my perspective it doesn't seem that way.
I just read your blog on breast cancer vs. prostate cancer awareness.
I think that being an object of sex has little to do with breast cancer being more widely supported. Doesn't prostate ca cause a problem with "gettin' it up!!"
How many times have you heard or known about a 25 year old guy getting prostate cancer?
Prostate cancer is one of those aliments that if a man lives long enough he will get it... therefore it is often (I am not saying that all sufferers are old men) old men that have lived a long and full life. The men that die from prostate ca often have other morbities that contribute to their demise.
When a mother, sister or friend dies young of breast ca she is often otherwise healthy. Breast ca has a genetic competent, a famililair history that prostate ca doesn't have.
Women are also more apt to fight for their heath than men. If there is something threatening a women she will fight it anyway she can. When that old man dies of prostate ca we say that he had a great, long life and rally around his wife... if she hasn't already succumbed to Breast cancer!!
How many men do you think would admit openly to having breast cancer? Hence, Pink!
My best friends husband has Prostate Ca. and they are doing nothing for it, he has only one leg due to the grapefruit size cancer tumor removed some 30 years ago. He is also 72 Years old.
My step-father in law also had prostate ca when he died. It was never dealt with, as it was the least of this problems.
Masculine suffering is not "callously ignored". Men don't got to the Doctor. They wait or just refuse to go. Do you? and when you do who made your appointment? If you did...that is rare.
I did a paper in school on the health options and stats of men that seek health care regularly. No solution was stated in any of my research as to why or how to get men to the dr.
To purpose that women are week is out there! Women have babies thru a hole 10 centimeters across with heads that measure 33-35 cm circumference and the shoulders and chest are even bigger!!
Sorry, I just must disagree and say that I support all efforts to cure Breast cancer and several other diseases.
When was your wife's last Mamogram? After forty she should have one EVERY year.
By the way, Womens health is one of my platform issues!! Something I plan to work with as a nurse
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