In honour of November:
Why do men get a whole month for a (granted: terrible) male-specific disease which they can openly and without shame promote their support for and all women get for one of many female-specific diseases are “save the boobies” and pink-washing?
May it be that breast cancer is the easiest to sexualize? I do have to wonder…
Well first off, women DO get an entire month dedicated to female-specific diseases. It’s called October. It literally just ended.
Secondly, don’t even complain about women not being able to raise awareness for diseases because you know that’s not true. Americans care WAY more about women’s health than they do men’s health. Here are some numbers to prove it:
About 1 in 7 men get prostate cancer while 1 in 8 women get breast cancer. Despite the difference in risk, breast cancer awareness still raises more than double the amount that prostate cancer awareness does.
In 2013, breast cancer awareness raised about 559 million dollars in donations, while prostate cancer awareness only raised 255 million in donations, and that’s just from funding from the National Cancer Institute. Non-profits like Susan G. Komen and other raised an additional 125 million for breast cancer awareness in 2013, while non profits for prostate cancer, like movember, only raised an additional 20 million.
Grants towards specific fields of research are also highly unequal. As of August 1, 2015, grants given in 2015 to fund breast cancer research totaled 110 million, while grants given to fund prostate cancer only totaled about 44 million.
Even after all that, we can just look at the plain obvious. Schools regularly have breast cancer awareness sports games, and many towns have breast cancer awareness run and walks. Ever heard of a prostate cancer awareness sports game? A prostate cancer run and walk? Neither have I.
So before you complain about men trying to raise awareness for prostate cancer, please do some research. Stop trying to stomp all over a month dedicated to men’s health, and stop trying to make it about women by playing victim. This is not about you, and this is not about feminism, so stay out of it.
This is the one time every year that anybody even pays attention to men’s health issues, meanwhile women’s health issues are a year round concern. So stop trying to hijack the month and make it about women’s issues. This isn’t about you. This month is for the men.
“women’s health issues are a year round concern” holy shit what planet do you live on and how can I get there?
We all know why breast cancer gets a month because female-breasts are so easy to market.
HMU when there is a month for any real female-specific disease, bearing that we all know men can get breast cancer as well? You know illnesses like PCOS and Endometriosis and all the cancers of the female reproductive system, etc. HMU when women who live with these diseases get the attention they deserve.
um ok also consider that Susan G Komen is an awful anti-choice charity and only spends 19% of it’s revenue on research? I mean if you’re going to say that capitalist joke of a charity pink-washing everything for it’s own benefit is somehow proof that people care more about women’s health than men’s….you’re severely mistaken
I am well aware that Susan G Komen is a shitty organization, but that doesn’t change the fact that prostate cancer research is still severely underfunded compared to breast cancer research.
Breast cancer awareness still gets double the amount of federal and grant funding than prostate cancer research does, as I’ve shown above, regardless of whether or not Susan G Komen is corrupt or not.
(Source: radicalfeminisms-blog, via thecrystalfems)
