pink october

it's october, which means those awful pink ribbons for breast cancer are everywhere. i know that saying i hate those pink ribbons out loud is tantamount to me sharing my kitten pie recipe on-line, but i can't help it. i hate the pink ribbon. the pink ribbon can go fuck itself. everytime i see it i feel sick to my stomach and more than a little angry. i hate the plethora of items that are branded in the same sickly shade. buy a pink toaster/toothbrush/cheap plastic bracelet and we'll cure this thing! i hate that people think that by purchasing this stuff somehow the pittance that goes toward breast cancer research will actually do something. what i hate most of all, though, is how that awful pink color essentially infantilizes and trivializes a disease that mainly kills women (if i hate pink being the color for breast cancer, imagine how the poor men who get it feel). pink is the color of little girls, of immaturity, of frivolous women. it's a color most men don't want to be identified with. it reduces breast cancer as a concern for only women, not taking into account the men who love those women; the sons and husbands and uncles and fathers. pink is the color of mary kay, tupperware parties, pepto bismol, tea sandwiches and lipsticks. pink is not the color of tumors and mastectomies and radiation and chemotherapy. pink isn't a color that expresses the pain that cancer patients go through. pink paints cancer in a pretty light and cancer is anything but pretty. pink is cheerful! and perky! and a color we don't identify with strength or struggle.

my favorite aunt died of breast cancer, one of my father's sisters died of it, and one of my other favorite aunts lost a breast to it. in general the people in my family seem to be fond of rogue cells multiplying, but breast cancer has shown up the most. it's something i worry about getting. just because i hate that pink ribbon doesn't mean i'm all for breast cancer. breast cancer is shitty and horrible and painful to deal with. i hope we find a cure. i don't think it will happen until people take it seriously, however, and i don't think the pink color is helping. it might have been an effective marketing tool in the beginning, but i don't think it's doing much for the cause now. let's find another way to show our support, like volunteering for or actually giving real money to foundations working on cures, working to raise awareness, or working to help real women with the disease. stop buying pretty pink kitchen appliances and anything with a pink ribbon on it. i don't think those things are helping.