“…Women’s Health Specialists promotes positive images of women and provides clients with a new perspective on their bodies and health. We give women the tools to evaluate their real health care needs and regard their bodies and life stages as normal. Our goal is to empower women through support, education, self-help and services to be able to make the best health care decisions for themselves. We put women’s health in women’s hands…”
Let’s talk about it!
I’ve been a health educator with Women’s Health Specialists for more than six years, and fundamentally, my experiences sharing reproductive health information with women and men all over the North State all back up a simple truth: The more we decide to know and love our bodies, the healthier we will all be.
Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, let’s talk about breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women aside from cancers of the skin. More than 2 million women are living with the disease. In 2007, breast cancer accounted for nearly one out of every four cancer diagnoses in women. For more information, visit The Facts and Nothing But The Facts.
Women’s Health Specialists, The Feminist Women’s Health Centers of California, focuses on women’s true health needs and concerns, looking beyond fads and health-care industry hype. As feminist health care providers, we apply a comprehensive approach to current health issues. Through our work locally and nationally, we’re connected to gold-standard health information and dynamic organizations that may be overlooked by the media spotlight but are causing revolutions in their fields.
One such group is the San Francisco-based Breast Cancer Action. During Breast Cancer Awareness Month, this grassroots nonprofit expands on the traditional “Think Pink” slogan with its provocative “Think Before You Pink” campaign.
Breast Cancer Action isn’t anti-pink. Instead, this campaign offers another analysis of the pink ribbons you see on so many products on your supermarket shelves. Breast Cancer Action is the only breast cancer organization that urges the public to examine what’s called “cause marketing.”
The point is simple: We all enjoy the great feeling of contributing to a worthy cause while we’re shopping — but let’s make sure our money goes directly to the cause at hand –– not the corporate pocketbook. So next time you’re shopping at your local market, Think Before You Pink asks you to consider these five questions:
1. How much money from your purchase actually goes toward breast cancer? Is the amount clearly stated on the package?
2. What is the maximum amount that will be donated?
3. How are the funds being raised?
4. To what breast cancer organization does the money go, and what types of programs does it support?
5. What is the company doing to ensure its products are not actually contributing to the breast cancer epidemic?
That last question gets to the root of Breast Cancer Action’s target point: looking beyond the concept of cure to the earlier and more vital goal of prevention.
Why do women keep getting breast cancer? What is in our environment, our food, our cosmetics, our cleaning products — all the things we consume — that is propelling this epidemic? Breast Cancer Action asks the tough questions and demands answers. In fact, last year’s campaign was the pivotal factor in persuading Yoplait to drop ingredients that are proven carcinogens. For more essential information about environmental effects on your health, go to BCA’s website.
Breast Cancer Action isn’t just asking provocative questions; it’s creating solutions to make a better world for all women. While you’re checking out their website, be sure to catch the actual History of the Pink Ribbon, where a 68-year-old breast cancer survivor passes out peach ribbons in her community and gets usurped by Self magazine.
Stay tuned for more health information sharing; next month: cervical self exam.
Talk to you then.
Rowan O’Connell-Barger is a feminist living in Northern California. She coordinates the outreach and education programs at Women’s Health Specialists, the Feminist Women’s Health Centers of California. Learn more about their work at cawhs.org , or visit them on Facebook and MySpace.
