Do any other women find some breast cancer shirts offensive?

Question

in case you havent seen them, there are shirts that say 'i love boobies!' and 'save the tatas!' that are out. they are promoting the awareness of breast cancer. but....why dont they say 'save the women!' or 'i love women!' or something like that. i mean...yeah, its BREAST cancer, but still....there is more to women than b***s! breast cancer is serious and not meant to be funny!

dont get me wrong though, if i see someone wear a shirt with an offensive slogan, i dont say anything. but deep down it bothers me. i know people who have both suffered, but lived, and who have died from breast cancer. its no laughing matter. and i find those shirts offensive. it also makes women who have to get their b*****s cut off (i forgot what its called! sorry!) more self conscious because you have people wearing shirts saying 'i love boobies!' and they dont have any. idk...what do you guys think?

Answer 1

I answered your other question about this when you asked it in a somewhat different way, so my answer is pretty much a repeat of what I said then, although thanks to your links I've seen the shirts no.

I think that at best they trivialise breast cancer and at worst are offensive.

Breast cancer is a deadly disease, with disfiguring surgery, grueling treatments and no cure. Sexualising b*****s in this way, and calling b*****s by childish names, just adds to the popular notion of breast cancer as a trivial and somehow 's**y' disease. There aren't similar shirts for bowel cancer, or lung cancer. Nobody is walking around in 'I love bollocks' shirts for testicular cancer.

We shouldn't be campaigning for more breast cancer awareness and research because we  love 'boobies'. We should be doing it because it's a deadly disease - it kills an average of 112 women in the US every day, and an average of 33 women in the UK every day.

And I'm not saying we should be completely humuorless about cancer; I've had breast cancer and I've had a mastectomy, and dark humour - what I and my friends who've had cancer refer to as 'tumour humour' - kept me going sometimes in those hideous days of treatment.

But there's no denying that breast cancer is trivialised by all the pink fluffy nonsense that surrounds breast cancer awareness and fund raising, and this trivialisation gives the impression that breast cancer is a less serious disease than it is. And T shirts and slogans like this play their part.

Answer 2

I agree completely...it is extremely tasteless. I get angry when I see those shirts, too. We are human beings with lives and souls, not just a pair of b*****s.

Answer 3

As someone who has fought and beat cancer, I like the light-hearted, humorous tees. Cancer is a horrible thing, but to dwell on it like it's some death sentence is not helpful in any way. To get a laugh out of something so bad is helpful to someone sick. Why should we have to take it so seriously?

I'm not easily offended. I think laughing at cancer is necessary.

Answer 4

I had a double mastectomy at a pretty young age and I don't find those kinds of shirts or that kind of humor offensive.

Right after my surgery, I received lots of Get well cards, most all were unbearably serious...doom and gloom. Ugh. I received a few unbelievably funny, ear to ear grinning cards and I have to say I LOVED the people who sent them! Loved em!

I may have had my breast tissue and nipples removed(as opposed to b*****s cut off--not accurate at all) but I am still a s**y, living, loving, laughing woman and those light hearted shirts remind us of that fact.