Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy
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List Price: $18.95
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Manufacturer: Univ Of Minnesota Press
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 361
EAN: 9780816648993
ISBN: 0816648999
Label: Univ Of Minnesota Press
Manufacturer: Univ Of Minnesota Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 208
Publication Date: 2008-05-19
Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press
Studio: Univ Of Minnesota Press
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Editorial Reviews:
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“Samantha King explains how, beyond being an all-too-frequent and still-too-lethal disease for many women, breast cancer is a corporate dream come true.” —Herizons “Fascinating. King’s deft and thoughtful interpretation of the pink ribbon phenomenon is an important wake-up call. Going against the grain, she takes a clear-eyed look at a trend that often seems to outshine the disease that put it on the map.” —Women’s Review of Books “King’s criticisms of breast-cancer philanthropy provide a new means of looking at one of our culture’s most celebrated causes. For anyone who has ever squirreled away yogurt lids for the cause, Pink Ribbons, Inc. is food for thought.” —Bitch “A fascinating read for anyone whose life has been touched by breast cancer.” —Curve “Breast cancer advocacy is being transformed from meaningful civic participation into purchasing products. To understand the personal, social, and political costs, read this book.” —Barbara Brenner, Executive Director of Breast Cancer Action In Pink Ribbons, Inc., Samantha King traces how breast cancer has been transformed from a stigmatized disease and individual tragedy to a market-driven industry of survivorship. Here, for the first time, King questions the effectiveness and legitimacy of privately funded efforts to stop the epidemic among American women. Highly revelatory-at times shocking-Pink Ribbons, Inc. challenges the commercialization of the breast cancer movement. Samantha King is associate professor of physical and health education and women’s studies at Queen’s University, in Kingston, Ontario
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent academic overview of current breast cancer funding
Comment: Pink Ribbons, Inc. is an excellent overview of breast cancer philanthrophy's relationship to breast cancer research politics. As an epidemiology graduate student, most of the people I know with criticisms of current breast cancer research agendas are medical researchers. This book gave me valuable insights into why we have such a difficult time obtaining grants to research the correlation between environmental toxins and breast cancer.
However, because it appears to be written for academics who specialize in breast cancer history, it glosses over the social and political context that these changes are occurring in. Anyone interested in this book should read Barron H. Lerner's The Breast Cancer Wars: Hope, Fear, and the Pursuit of a Cure in Twentieth-Century America or Robert Aronowitz's Unnatural History: Breast Cancer and American Society (Cambridge Studies in the History of Medicine) before reading this.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Premise is good, writing not so much
Comment: The previous two reviews I don't think really touch upon the book itself, but are more of a personal opinion in regard to the "pink ribbon phenomenon" in general.
While I think the author of the book had some important things to say and did her research, the writing really leaves something to be desired. Many of the pages could have been omitted as King tends to refer back to previous chapters and outlines what is to come far too much. I really felt as if I was reading the same thing over and over just so that the author could fill a few more pages.
The message itself is a good one, but it could have been written in a much more reader-friendly manner. A 30-page introduction by the author and another 30 pages of notes at the end, let you know it is going to be a wordy one.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Women's breast health is making a healthy profit
Comment: She seemed to be saying people stick pink ribbons on their products to be 'current', 'trendy' and ultimately to get consumers to purchase their product. And, this is true to some extent. Savvy marketers understand that these events translate into big bucks.
This is a far cry from the 1970's when it was still scandalous to talk about breast cancer in public. Traveling back in time, we would not find any ribbons anywhere. People apparently must have held to a policy that talking about breast cancer ultimately spread it.
However, because breast cancer does strike anybody anywhere, raising that public awareness has become an important public action. Where it differs from the AIDS awareness (which also became trendy) and why more conservative organizations feel free to join their feminist counterparts in this cause is because cancer is not a condition which is transmitted around through the public population through a transmission of bodily fluids.
So while I do think that those other people promoting pink ribbon-themed materials also want a cancer-free world, I doubt they precisely share the same politics of feminist health care activists. In the 1970's, these women envisioned low-cost, multicultural, and high-quality healthcare models which placed women themselves as equal partners in the decision-making process about their own bodies.
To some extent, the current pink ribbon market flooding could be a re-co modification of women by the status quo according to the author. Women's breast health is being reduced to a symbol as opposed to the more substantive and ultimately three-dimensional reality which would be required when dealing with a person attached to the breast.
But since cancer does not discriminate, splitting hairs over the source of political support and current marketing strategies seems like a ridiculous quibble. Let's instead close ranks and just work together to say that cancer is bad and should be eradicated, while working towards an agreeable compromise in strategy.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The other side of awareness ...
Comment: I do think that the awareness of preventative screening and making women conscious of their health is a positive testament to many runs and galas dedicated to a cure for breast cancer. Treatment options are still evolving but overall, the pink ribbon phenomenon has created the awareness of the disease like never before. What this book does examine is what happens beyond the gala fundraisers ... how does the money raised translate into actual cure outcomes? This is similar to the commens made when AIDS fundraising crossed into a showbiz opportunity. However, despite the pinkwash of breast cancer awareness month ... one thing really seems to be clear ... the condition is top of mind, women are more likely to mind their health, and more money is raised than before towards treatment. Like the saying ... all roads lead eventually lead to Rome .... all efforts eventually lead to a cure in some way, shape, or form. Nothing is ever wasted especially when the intent of many individual fundraisers really is true and comes from the heart.
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