We’ve been discussing breast cancer in class recently and THIS ARTICLE caught my eye. Typically, younger generations seem to be more resilient than their elder counterparts. It’s interesting that in the case of cancer, a disease full of questions, the younger victims seem to face the higher fatalities.
As a young person myself, I feel that it’s common to disregard a lot of symptoms because death or serious illnesses aren’t much of a reality. Most exposure is either to those born with them, or those too old to fight anything off. Many people don’t take action to investigate matters unless they have both time and money to do so, alongside increasingly serious symptoms.
For poorer, minority women, it should be obvious that breast cancer would be more deadly. The amount of single moms across the nation goes up, especially in more populated cities. They really don’t have the means to investigate any irregularities in their breasts. It’s a shame because this population already has the shorter end of the stick in many situations.
I think the purpose of this study is not only to point this fact out but it could add to science in less of a technical way as more of a social awareness factor. Instead of focusing on helping those who are able to help themselves in a health care system, we need to start focusing on those who have been helping others at the expense of themselves.
I give kudos to ScienceDaily and Wiley for sharing an article about a group of people that is too often ignored. Despite ending legal oppression of minorities and poorer groups of people, oppression still exists in the forms of means toward social and economic growth within these populations. With a boost in awareness in regards to disasters that not only strike once, but in disasters that are ongoing in our societal structure, we can give help to others in becoming more resilient to their own troubles. In this sense, sustainability is not only about conserving resources, but conserving the means for others to get resources. Ultimately, directing the power of science to the hope of disestablishing unfavorable social forces would help to push our country from not only the land of the free, but to the land of the happy as well.
Picture Source: ( http://atlantablackstar.com/2013/10/15/things-may-cause-breast-cancer/)
Like you said in your blog, more people are aware of cancer now than before, but after a conversation I had with a friend, I learned that our awareness and contribution may not be going to where we think it is.
In October, everything goes pink it seems! Pink for breast cancer awareness! People wear the pink ribbons, athletes wear pink gloves, and just everything is pink!
But besides everyone knowing that it’s for cancer, is the money that people spend on pink merchandize going to the cause?
Sports Illustrated wrote an article about where the funds go and shockingly, only 8% of pink merchandize goes towards cancer research as by Business Insider they said.
That is such a small percentage that has truly discouraged me from ever buying anything that will help the cause. It looks like most of my money would be going to other corporations rather than where I would like it to go to.
http://tracking.si.com/2013/10/16/pink-nfl-merchandise-breast-cancer-research/
Rebecca, I started it off with an opinion and after the study it was proven that my way of thinking was wrong. I’m curious how was that paragraph offensive? I am talking from personally experience and people I have grown up with because that’s the hard cold reality of where I’m from, coming from the inner-city of Philadelphia. I respect your point of view but I feel like you might have taken what I said out of context, that paragraph was simply trying to state that these mothers didn’t have the resources(money) to go get checked-out because coming from the inner-city and being a single mother can be very challenging because you have to worry about paying bills, feeding your child or children, paying rent or house mortgage, transportation fees, or gas for your car, babysitting fees, and etc. I just stated the economical disadvantages that some mothers face on daily basis where I am from and that breaks my heart every time because it’s not like these mothers don’t care about their health it’s just due to circumstances they don’t have sufficient funds to do so.
Your blog starts off confusing when you state that younger generations are more resilient than older generations, in regards to cancer, and then go on to say that younger people face “higher fatalities”.
Also, I found your paragraph about single mothers to be offensive. I’m sure there was a better way to get across your ideas other than summarizing that “poorer, minority women” and “single moms” don’t have the means to investigate any irregularities with their breasts. This is stereotypical and plenty of non-minority women, whatever that means, who are well-off in terms of money and health insurance, are diagnosed with and die from breast cancer each year. Breast cancer is equally “deadly” for everyone. Usually marital status and whether or not a woman has children does not affect the chances of her dying from breast cancer.
I’m also somewhat disappointed that you didn’t mention males in your blog. Did you know that men can get breast cancer as well? It makes sense to include them in the “minority” group who apparently don’t check for irregularities in their breast area. Check out this article by the American Cancer Society about males with breast cancer.
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancerinmen/detailedguide/breast-cancer-in-men-what-is-breast-cancer-in-men
Your blog starts off confusing when you state that younger generations are more resilient than older generations, in regards to cancer, and then go on to say that younger people face “higher fatalities”.
Also, I found your paragraph about single mothers to be offensive. I’m sure there was a better way to get across your ideas other than summarizing that “poorer, minority women” and “single moms” don’t have the means to investigate any irregularities with their breasts. This is stereotypical and plenty of non-minority women, whatever that means, who are well-off in terms of money and health insurance, are diagnosed with and die from breast cancer each year. Breast cancer is equally “deadly” for everyone. Usually marital status and whether or not a woman has children does not affect the chances of her dying from breast cancer.
I’m also somewhat disappointed that you didn’t mention males in your blog. Did you know that men can get breast cancer as well? It makes sense to include them in the “minority” group who apparently don’t check for irregularities in their breast area. Check out this article by the American Cancer Society about males with breast cancer.
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancerinmen/detailedguide/breast-cancer-in-men-what-is-breast-cancer-in-men