The Politics of Breast Cancer

Risky Business: Medical Discourse, Breast Cancer, and Narrative

“…Naming a disease is not simply a by-product of the disease process; the name also "constructs the disease and helps make it intelligible" (Treichler, 1988, p. 31). Current health consciousness, combined with American individualism, has led to an image of the average citizen as healthy and able to conquer any problem individually, whether physical, emotional, social, or economic (Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler, & Tipton, 1985;DiGiacomo, 1992;Solomon, 1992). Illness denies this identity of the robust individual and forces people to construct an identity that encompasses or accounts for the illness.…”

“…Sexuality has long been medicalized, and thus politicized, as a result of the development of reproductive medical technologies (DiGiacomo, 1992;Ehrenreich & English, 1978;Gifford, 1986;Martin, 1992;Rapp, 1988;Whatley & Worcester, 1989;Yalom, 1997). Breast cancer has joined these public conversations primarily as a result of the efforts of feminist activists (Carter, 2003;Solomon, 1992). Issues of reproductive sexuality have been couched publicly in discussions of motherhood; however, the breast with its various social and cultural implications has no socially acceptable euphemism within public discourse.…”

“…At the very least, medical practitioners and staff assume that women will want to wear a breast prosthesis to "look normal" in public. This assumption reflects the privatization of breast cancer (Solomon, 1992), a privatization that not all women may wish to choose at all times. Black, lesbian, feminist poet Audre Lorde chose not to wear her breast prosthesis on a postmastectomy visit to her surgeon's office and was chided by the surgeon's nurse for decreasing the morale of other patients in the office (Lorde, 1980).…”

Women and health checks: Making sense of differential uptake

“…Paradoxically, this may be a counterproductive stratagem: women may decline invitations to attend because of the anxiety which attending invokes (Stewart-Brown & Farmer, 1997) or by the experience of 'false positive' results. There may be a growing realization that screening does not prevent cancer but is merely designed to detect abnormalities and treat them (DHSS, 1986); screening to prevent cancer is not an option (Solomon, 1990). Indeed, in the case of breast screening the efficacy of the procedure is debated (Roberts, 1989).…”

Making work visible in a breast cancer support business

“…The meanings of the care provided by wig stylists and post-surgical garment fitters are especially complex because the work takes place against a backdrop of cultural understandings of cancer as well as dominant discourses of gender and wellness. In the course of providing products and services in a nonclinical setting, staff members of mastectomy supply businesses are helping patients make sense of harsh and disturbing changes to their bodies, thus playing a potentially significant role in framing clients' illness experience (Kendrick, 2008;Solomon, 1992). Some critics characterize the businesses as essentially a type of "image program," comparing them to other makeover programs like the American Cancer Society's Look Good -Feel Better program.…”