Breast Cancer: Focus on the Disease

Paper Summary:

The author of this paper relates that the author of this paper was prompted to reasearch the topic of breast cancer further after her friend had what is termed a 'breast cancer scare'. The paper then defines breast cancer as a gendered disease in which women are led to believe the fallacy that medicine is winning the fight against breast cancer. However being a female gendered disease being investigated by a male dominant medical field prompts the writer to argue that this may not be correct. The paper deals with the approach of cosmetic surgery with the intention of appearing more attractive and quotes examples and experiences of women. The paper states that it is essential for women to be positive and to fight the disease, not to be laid back and accept defeat, nor conceal the fact that breast cancer exists and realize that to hide it under beauty concepts may be fatal.

From the Paper:

"Recently, a close friend of mine had what is termed a "breast cancer scare". Following a routine mammogram, she was scheduled to have a suspicious lump removed from one of her breasts. During the wait for the surgery, and then the wait for the pathology report, we all reassured her as much as we could. We told her the things we have read and heard in the media, such as "Breast cancer's not such a big deal any more;" "Providing they catch it early, they can cure it;" "Almost no women die from breast cancer any more." And so on. And I, for one, believed it. It turned out that her lumps were not malignant, for which we are all deeply grateful. However, the incident caused me to wonder whether what we were saying was really true. Has the situation with regard to breast cancer really changed? Is it no longer the killer scourge that women used to fear so much? I did some research - and was shocked by the answers I found. As Batt (2002) puts it, "the overall mortality rate from carcinoma of the breast remains static" (p. 110). This of course begs the question: why are we being encouraged to believe that science is winning the fight against breast cancer, if this is not in fact true? As I will argue in this essay, the answer seems to have much to do with the fact that breast cancer is a gendered disease."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Batt, Sharon. (2002). "Perfect people": Cancer charities. Women and Health: Power, Technology, Inequality and Conflict in a Gendered World. K.S. Ratcliff (Ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 110-118.
• Blackwell, Tom. (15 Aug. 2007) Hospital errors. National Post, A1.
• Dickersin, Kay and Lauren Schnaper. (1996). Reinventing medical research. In Man-Made Medicine: Women's Health, Public Policy, and Reform. Moss, K. L. (Ed.). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
• Loren, J. A. and P. McCarthy. (1997). Breast cancer? Let Me Check My Schedule. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
• Marcus, A. and H. Cravens. (Eds.). (1997). Health Care Policy in Contemporary America. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.

More papers on Breast Cancer: Focus on the Disease:

• Term Paper # 149285 : "Breast Cancer Issues"
• Research Paper # 113059 : "Screening and Treatment for Breast Cancer"
• Essay # 23731 : "Strategies for the Prevention of Breast Cancer"

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