The town where I live is festooned with green ribbons. They are tied to trees in the shopping district, to streetlights, to parking meters and to signs. What does all this festivity signify? Ovarian cancer. The ribbons are part of a campaign to make us more sensitive to this terrible disease. They are the green counterpart to the familiar pink ribbons of breast cancer campaigns.

Cancer is evil. Everyone should contribute to the worthy battle against it. But, if we are going to express our concern for this grave matter with sentimental displays of ribbons, why not ribbons for all cancer?  If we must select one, let it be a childhood cancer.

These ribbons depress me. They depress me not simply because cancer kills. They are a sickly-sweet reminder of the boastful conceit of women. Power makes women selfish.

Rose writes:

I’ll never understand the breast cancer industry. Lung cancer kills more American women yearly, (after heart disease and stroke, both which should receive more attention than breast cancer). I think there’s a prurient aspect to the popularity of the cause.

Laura writes:

Do you mean the breast cancer campaigns are a form of sexual advertising? That’s an interesting idea although I think they are mostly a way of lording it over men: Look what we go through to gratify you!  Also they keep present the idea of victimization, which is so energizing, the intellectual equivalent of a double espresso. 

Rose writes:

I think that for, say, Time magazine, the fact that it provided them with an excuse to have a cover such as this probably influenced their decision to publish a prominent article on the topic.

Please follow and like us: