There was a viral trend on Facebook last week. Specifically, women were posting the color or the bra they were wearing. Nobody seems to know where it started. Most people seem to think that this was done to increase breast cancer awareness. I’m not sure if it did that. I would say it was a step forward in bra awareness, and bra awareness goes hand in hand with breast awareness. Generally I try to avoid putting words into other people’s mouths, but this time I’m going to go out on a limb and speak for men everywhere and say “Ladies, we are aware”. We are aware of bras, the fact that they come in a wide array of colors, and, above all, we are aware of their contents. I am not sure this did anything to increase cancer awareness. But it did get men thinking about breasts, although to be fair, some portion of the men who read this were thinking of breasts already.
Breast cancer is a horrible disease. I am not only aware of it, but as a married man I worry about it from time to time. Its not the kind of thing you like to think about. There are numerous campaigns to increase breast cancer awareness. One seems to be to color things pink. Normal things, things we need (or at least use) on a day to day basis. The following are actual items that have been colored pink, and then made available to the world for sale. Some are merely colored pink to increase awareness, others donate a portion of their proceeds to a research foundation:
- The Snuggie, the blanket with sleeves, which I will eventually write about. Not the pink one specifically, just the success of a blanket with sleeves is enough to address. I want to wait another couple of years to be sure I am on the cutting edge of pop culture.
- An 18 Volt Cordless drill. I want to stress this, it isn’t worth going with less than 18 volts. If you come across a pink 12 volt drill, avoid it, spend the extra money on the 18 volt model.
- An Air Purifier. Why Not? It would be more ironic if it were a smokeless ashtray (I’m shocked they still make these).
I’m not making light of this, and I actually applaud their efforts. I do wonder if they might not do better just to sell a special version of the product where they donate some portion of the proceeds to a cancer research foundation, without actually coloring the item pink. Personally, if I’m shopping for a drill, I would probably be happy to give a few bucks to a cancer research foundation at the same time. I don’t want a pink drill.
My favorite campaign is Save the Ta-tas. I have no idea how effective these people are. I don’t know if they raise much money. But I appreciate their candor. Just come right out and say it, Save the Ta-tas. I would like to have been a fly on the wall for the argument where they chose “Ta-Tas” over “boobs”.
I cannot cure cancer. I am not making light of it, but there is another disturbing trend involving the breast that really gets no attention at all, and it is completely curable. So I’d like to talk about that for a minute. This other situation, I am going to make light of. And that is breast tattoos (I try to stay family friendly, and that is going to keep me from posting a link for this).
Ladies, before you consider this sort of thing, I want to give you a clear analog for breast tattoos. It is as though you are standing in front of the Mona Lisa with a package of Sharpies thinking “I want to liven this up a little”. There are works of beauty in the world that nobody should draw on top of, because there is simply no way you will make it any better.
It seems appropriate to include a link to a breast cancer foundation. There are a lot of them, so I will just go with the one that seems most popular right now, Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
If you thought this was funny, please tell a friend. If you thought it wasn’t please tell me (just post a comment).
