Lack of Feminism in Cancerland

In “Welcome to Cancerland,” Barbara Ehrenreich has many concerns over the “pink-ribbon marketplace” and the “cult of the breast cancer survivor,” some of which include a shift away from feminist concerns and the view that early detection of breast cancer is key in becoming a survivor.

Most of Ehrenreich’s complaints deal largely with the fact that the breast cancer movement has moved away from feminist concerns. She argues that today, one can find little feminism in the movement. Initially, in the 1970s and 80s, the movement sought more “user-friendly approaches to treatments,” that gave women more of a voice in how they wanted to fight breast cancer (FF 41, p 461). Feminists in the breast cancer world in the 1990s not only wanted a cure but also wanted to find the causes of the disease: studies have shown that environmental factors, rather than genetics or an unhealthy diet, are the root cause of breast cancer.

Since then though, Ehrenreich notes the movement has taken a sentimental and good cheer direction. There is little mention of environmental causes and barely any criticism of the existing treatments that are available to women. Ehrenreich believes this sentimentality has caused a somewhat positive attitude toward the life-threatening disease: many survivors now believe that breast cancer has made them stronger, more thoughtful and caring, and less concerned with material things and more focused on family and friends. Ehrenreich suggests that the good cheer now associated with the movement has transformed breast cancer into a rite of passage for women, just as menopause and greying hair are. She notes that “first there is the selection of the initiates… by mammogram or palpation here. Then comes the requisite ordeals… surgery and chemotherapy for the cancer patient. Finally the initiate emerges into a new and higher status… a ‘survivor’” (FF 41 p 463). All of these things diverge from the feminist aspects that were initially included in the movement.

Ehrenreich also takes issue with the prevailing view in our society that early detection is the key to fighting a battle with breast cancer. She notes that the entire breast cancer enterprise focuses much attention to early detection, when studies have shown that early detection has only had a “vanishingly small impact on overall breast-cancer mortality” (FF 41, p 464). She notes that first, there are no foolproof methods for early detection: that false positives happen all the time. Ehrenreich also says that even if there were a foolproof method, it only serves as a “portal to treatments that cause damage to the patient” (FF 41, p 465). She notes that not only does this force women to live a life revolving around a threat of death and debilitating treatments, but also promotes the obedience of women to medical procedures with limited efficacy, the suspension of their critical judgment, and acceptance of whatever measures doctors wish to use to fight the cancer. Once again, this shows how the breast cancer movement has diverges from its feminist roots and is not concerned much at all with women making their own decisions about what is the best way for them to cope with their diagnosis.

Although I am concerned about what the “pink- ribbon marketplace” and “cult of the breast cancer survivor” focuses on and promotes to women with breast cancer and society as a whole, I believe that a positive attitude is important when faced with a life-threatening disease. There are aspects of the movement that really are helpful to those who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and need the support of others that have gone through it. For example, I have participated in the Relay for Life several times and although the focus is on survivors of cancer and not much respect and tribute are given to those who have died from cancer, the event gathers together those who are in remission and those who are still receiving treatments for cancer, which I would think would important aspect of being able to get through treatments. I believe that keeping this aspect of the movement (the connection of breast-cancer patients with each other), as well as regaining the feminist aspects that were part of the movement initially, would be a great way to change the “pink-ribbon marketplace” and the “cult of the breast cancer survivor” into a movement that both supports women in their struggles with the disease and fights for the rights of women to make the critical decisions that come with having breast cancer.