I don't usually rant, but something has me steaming. Today the following exact message appeared in my Facebook inbox:
So here is the time of year again when we try to raise awareness for breast cancer through a game. It's very easy and I would like all of you to participate. Two years ago we had to write the color of our underwear on our wall. Men wondered for days at what was going on with random colors on our walls. This year we make references to your love life status. Do not answer to this message just post the corresponding word on your wall AND send this message privately to all the girls in your contact list!!!!!! BLUEBERRY = single; PINEAPPLE = it's complicated; RASPBERRY = I can't / don't want to commit; APPLE= engaged; CHERRY= in a relationship; BANANA=married; AVOCADO= I'm the better half; STRAWBERRY= can't find Mr. Right; LEMON = want to be single RAISIN = want to get married to my partner. Last time the underwear game was mentioned on tv, let's see if we get there with this one !!!!!Copy and paste this message into a new one and send to all your girly friends and update your status with your answer. DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS CONVO, just leave and participate.
I'm going to keep my reaction short. I'm hoping writing something down like this will allow people who are as infuriated as I am with these silly requests will have something to react with.
First, I give you permission to ignore this crap. Better yet, write back to the people who have shared it. Let's do some real awareness here.
The above instructions are not awareness. This is offensive. Breast cancer is not a joke, awareness does not come from sharing the color of your underwear or your marital status (the whole "tee-hee, wink-wink" attitude adds to my disgust). Even if it ended up on TV, that still would not be educating people about breast cancer they didn't know before. All it does is show the world that lots of people are willing to post silly things as their status updates.
Let's do a piece of education right here. The status update says "only send this to your girly friends." Um, hello... men get breast cancer too. Men are also the husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, and some of the friends, coworkers, nurses, and doctors who care for and are left grieving for people (men and women) who die of breast cancer. We should not exclude them from ANY discussion of cancer.
Just because it says it's about "breast cancer awareness" doesn't mean you have to agree. Go ahead. Ignore it. Or write back and tell them why you don't want to be included in these things anymore. Another blogger, Susan Niebur, wrote about her take here. She was an astrophysicist, by the way. She died of metastatic breast cancer.
Anyone who has breast cancer and uses your FB status update as an indicator of whether you support their cause is not very enlightened. When I rank "how to help those of us with cancer," sharing one of these paragraphs as a status update is the lowest possible method of showing support. There are endless ways to do that. I think it actually is the opposite; sharing these status updates makes people feel they are doing something real for breast cancer causes when they aren't.
I've also had it with the "I'll bet most of my friends won't share this post" attempt to guilt me in to sharing something like "share this if you think domestic abuse is awful." "Share this if you think autistic kids are special." Well yes, actually, I believe both of those things. And just because I didn't share them as my status update doesn't mean I do NOT agree with the statements.
Education underlies awareness. To even call something a "game" and honestly believe it's doing anything to help any aspect of this disease is delusional.
I also think that those of us who have had breast cancer have an obligation to speak out if we disagree with these posts. People look to us to see how we react. If we not only read these updates but share them, it does constitute endorsement. It says we agree. It says it's okay to think of breast cancer awareness this way.
I say: count me out of these Facebook games.
I have stage 4 breast cancer and it is no game to me.