Breast Cancer
Growing up as a girl in England, manners and etiquette were drummed into me. My mother wore white gloves to go to the shops and we were never allowed to eat in the streets.
Our private thoughts and concerns would never be discussed in public. So not surprisingly then, never ever would a lady discuss her ‘bits down there’ - not even with the people closest to her or her doctor.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Yesterday, Tory Shepherd wrote a Punch piece on how breast cancer was beating bowel cancer in the cancer wars. Here, Anita Tang looks at why bowel cancer has an image problem and what should be done about it.
It’s not surprising bowel cancer has an image problem. What’s our emotional response to the word ‘bowel’? The bowel conjures images of the body’s secret inner workings; internal systems we would rather ignore. It connotes words we would rather not hear: colorectal, anus, intestine, canal and colon.
The bowel is not sexy. People don’t want to talk about it. However, bowel cancer is our second biggest cancer killer. It claims more than 4000 Australian lives each year, second only to lung cancer, which causes about 7600 deaths.
Continue reading "The cancer that dare not speak its name" »
Latest 2 of 34 comments
View all comments-
Elizabeth says:
Womens’ cancer screening is highly political with lots of vested interests and thus gets most of the money. Cervical cancer screening sends 77% of Aussie women at some stage for colposcopy/biopsies (almost all are false positives) to cover a 0.65% lifetime risk of cervical cancer - huge over-detection and potentially… Read more »
-
Geoffo says:
Terrific contemporary look at a long time killer Anita . I am 50, long time Iover of all meats and seafood… and I participated in the recent Fed Government Bowel Cancer Kit mailouts. I did the test and , sort of embarrassing as it might be to some , waited… Read more »
People are dying because breast cancer awareness has eclipsed the dangers of bowel cancer, and other ‘less sexy’ cancers.
If that sounds melodramatic, consider this: A national Cancer Council study released today confirms most people think that breast cancer is Australia’s biggest killer. It also found the awareness of breast cancer screening is double that for bowel cancer, although both yield similarly life-saving results.
They have highlighted bowel cancer’s ‘tragic anonymity’ despite it being more common and more deadly than breast cancer. Compare this then, to the ‘hyper awareness’ around breast cancer.
Continue reading "Breast is beating bowel in the battle of the cancers" »
Latest 2 of 116 comments
View all comments-
Elizabeth says:
I don’t think cancer screening is a must-have and that coming from a woman is totally unacceptable in most countries. It shouldn’t be… I’ve never understood why our cancer screening is so emotive, dishonest, irrational and political - and loaded with vested interests. Informed consent is a joke in our… Read more »
-
Eliz52 says:
Angel, HPV related oral and head cancer occurs more frequently than cervical cancer and gets very little air time. More lives could have been saved focusing on that cancer. Cervical cancer has always been rare and was in decline before screening started and there are no random controlled trials -… Read more »
Last night three of my female friends posted unusual updates on Facebook about where they “like it”.
I wanted to know what was going on, so I Googled it (I often find this approach less stressful than talking to women). i-It turns out it’s a campaign to draw attention to October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
It’s an idea along similar lines to last year’s effort which centred on posting your preferred bra colour on your favourite online social network.
Continue reading "I like it on the floor too, but not for an entire month" »
Latest 2 of 106 comments
View all comments-
Tanzeel says:
Sir/Madam:I had a mastectomy in January 2010 at the age of almsot 82 (Feb. 1.) I had been healthy most of my life. I only missed two days of teaching school over a 20 year period. We only ate sweets away from home. I didn;t make a practice of pie… Read more »
-
Paul says:
Contraceptive pill as the cause of breast naeccr is very possible yet it is not a a concrete rule. I would say, it is the same situation as in saying Smoking causes lung naeccr , yet not all smokers get lung naeccr and not all non-smokers was ever safe from… Read more »
Facebook Recommendations
Read all about it
Punch live
Up to the minute Twitter chatter
It's a Sydney thing, but 95.3FM... Why? It used to be all Bohemian Rhapsody and Walk this Way; now it's Father to Son and Country Road. Wah.
Recent posts
The latest and greatest
We don’t deserve this huge, exciting scientific project
I’d like to be able to say that sharing the world’s largest radio telescope with South Africa…
Mining money talks the loudest in Australian politics
When North Queensland Liberal MP George Christensen got the idea of launching a new political organisation…
Please enter your password
Help! I’ve succumbed to a crippling modern illness that can strike at any moment. Symptoms include:…
Nosebleed Section
choice ringside rantings
From: They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments
Michael S says:
"A teacher at Geelong Grammar had criticised her for using words that were too long, which had left her confused and had made her doubt her ability to write essays. She became ''quite distressed'' when her English marks began to fall." I can sympathise. My scholastic mentors conveyed to me a causal relationship… [read more]From: Welfare for breeders is a bonus for everyone
Change Up! says:
I have no problem paying my taxes. As a single, childless person on a very decent income, I can afford it and not have my life severely altered. Plus I understand that my taxes paying for things like schools, childcare and infrastructure is ultimately a good thing. A better community is better for me… [read more]Gentle jabs to the ribs
They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments
A private school girl’s family is sueing her elite, extremely expensive private school for not… Read more
Latest 2 of 107 comments
View all commentsAdd your comment