Pink ribbon blues : how breast cancer culture undermines women's health / Gayle A. Sulik.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. What is Pink Ribbon culture? -- 2. The development of Pink Ribbon culture. The breast cancer movement -- Medical consumerism -- Aesthetics and normalization -- A cause of epidemic proportions, and the rise of Pink October -- Solidarity, fundraising, and publicity -- Unintended consequences -- 3. Mixed metaphors: war, gender, and the mass circulation of cancer culture. LIVESTRONG and the masculine ethos -- Gilda's Club and the feminine ethos -- Pink femininity -- Pink femininity in breast cancer culture -- The She-ro -- 4. Consuming pink: mass media and the conscientious consumer. The special role of women's magazines -- The breast cancer audience -- Branding and the niche market of the socially aware -- Warriors in pink -- The breast cancer brand -- Fear and the pink menace -- Hope and faith in breast cancer awareness -- Goodness, fundraising, and the pink lifestyle -- Komen's new logo -- 5. Consuming medicine, selling survivorship. The breast cancer industry -- Disease classification -- Medical technology -- The benefits of mammography -- The risks of mammography -- Cost/benefit analysis -- Screening programs and the makers of the machines -- Big Pharma -- Industry ties to advocacy -- 6. Under the pink: optimism, selfishness, and guilt. Ruby's story -- "Becoming" a breast cancer survivor: learning the rules -- Feeling rule I: optimism -- Incorporation of the She-ro -- Rejecting the She-ro -- Feeling rule 2: selfishness -- She-roic selfishness (i.e., rational coping strategy) -- Selfishness as confessional -- Feeling rule 3: guilt -- The inadequate She-ro -- Embodied social stigma -- Family disruption -- 7. The balancing act. Taking care of myself -- The balancing act -- Setting boundaries -- Accepting help -- Asking for help -- Balancing the sisterhood -- Final thoughts -- 8. Shades of pink. The limiting nature of words -- Narrating one's illness -- Realism and transcendent subversion -- The picture outside the frame -- The terrible stories -- 9. Rethinking Pink Ribbon culture. "Not just ribbons" -- "Think before you pink."

The author discuses how the pink ribbon campaign raised awareness of breast cancer, argues that women's health has not improved with the campaign, and examines alternative organizations that tackle breast cancer issues differently.

Print version record.

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