Breast cancer fight is now a national rallying cry
That wasn’t always the case, but the cause has come a long way
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, when the search for a cure turns into the nation’s neon pink rallying cry. But it wasn’t that long ago that women with the disease faced debilitating stigmas.
“I remember in the ’80s when I couldn’t say the word ‘breast’ in a public meeting,” said breast cancer specialist Larry Norton of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “If there were men in the audience, I had to say ‘mammary gland.’ ”
Some women struggled to access treatment options other than radical mastectomies, while others battled with insensitive surgeons.
When Julia Louis-Dreyfus announced last week that she had breast cancer, she received an outpouring of support, and her bravery was swiftly praised. It shows just how far the nation has come.
Here are some big moments that took breast cancer out of the dark and into the pink:
An ordinary woman: “The very first true activist, not a fundraiser, but someone who bumped against the system, was Terese Lasser,” said Janet Osuch, founder of Michigan State University’s Comprehensive Breast Health Clinic and co-author of A Historical Perspective on Breast Cancer Activism in the United States.” Lasser was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a radical mastectomy in 1952. What Lasser took issue with was not the procedure but what she saw as her surgeon’s indifference. She formed the Reach to Recovery program to help women cope with breast cancer.
Title IX: Before Title IX — the 1972 law that outlaws sex discrimination in education — few women were doctors. “That law not only made a huge difference for women in medical schools but also for women in law schools. The women in law schools became policymakers, and the women who went to medical school took a great interest in
women’s health,” Osuch said.
A first lady speaks out: In 1974, former first lady Betty Ford told the country she had breast cancer and made it part of the national conversation. Susan G. Komen: In 1982, Nancy Brinker founded Susan G. Komen in honor of her sister Suzy, who died of breast cancer at 36. It’s now one of the world’s leading breast cancer organizations. The nation goes pink: In 1991, Susan G. Komen says it distributed pink ribbons at the Komen Greater New York City Race for the Cure. The next year, Self magazine created a pink ribbon to honor its second annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Now each October the ribbons — and the color — are everywhere. Professional sports: As breast cancer awareness continued to rise, professional sports got on board. Since 2006, Major League Baseball has used pink Louisville Sluggers on Mother’s Day, and in 2009 the NFL launched its A Crucial Catch campaign to help raise money to fight the disease. The Angelina Jolie effect:
In 2013, Jolie published an op-ed in the The New York Times disclosing she had chosen to get a prophylactic double mastectomy to reduce her high risk of developing breast cancer. She was applauded by cancer experts who say she switched a spotlight on the disease that few others could provide.
In the United States, breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women, no matter your race or ethnicity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But it’s no longer a disease women suffer in silence.