In reading a post today from Suzanne at BlogHer, I both agreed, and was a little alarmed (can you do that?):

So why do we have corporations jumping all over each other to show that they support women by donating to breast cancer charities when they can really do more good by working to prevent heart disease and strokes? The sick truth is that breast cancer is a sexy illness to exploit for fun and profit. Do women want to look at pictures of fatty hearts and clogged arteries when they shop for soup, yogurt, make-up, umbrellas, BMWs, Cartier watches, gym shoes, umbrellas or any other of the many fine products that donate during October to breast cancer causes if you buy it? Does anyone? Not so much. Is it easy to fit “Help fight chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the #3 illness killing women every year” into a marketing campaign? Not so much. However, the words “breast” and “cancer” sure catch the eye quickly, especially when marketers can add a curvy silhouette next to it. (Subliminal message: “Don’t let hot women die!”)

I certainly have noticed, this year above all prior years, the massive marketing campaign for pink products. And, well, I am a sucker for pink stuff, and if I can use that little voice in my head to rationalize buying that little thing - well, I will. This year, I have bought pink labelled Campbell’s Tomato Soup (which I buy and eat regularly anyway), some pink handled Kitchen Aid kitchen shears (which I was in the market for anyway - darned kitchen gremlins always stealing my shears), and some pink hot rollers and a pink straightening iron (was in the market as well - after all, I am a beauty writer). I somehow have managed not to toss my perfectly good Kitchen Aid mixer and go out and buy that precious pink one - but I have thought about devious ways to get away with it, I will admit. So anyway, back to the original topic - Suzanne has a good point there - the corporations are definitely increasing their visibility and their bottom lines by offering a percentage of profits towards breast cancer whatever (research, support, blah, blah, blah). However, breast cancer is one of the few cancers that does not seem to reflect someone’s lifestyle, and therefore those people who are victimized it are not much more than that - unknowing, unwilling victims. Fatty hearts and clogged arteries are things that are a direct result of ones lifestyle, and are preventable (for the most part). Lung cancer, a HUGE killer, is mostly related to your lifestyle as well (not always, I know this). Breast cancer appears to be a genetic problem - it runs in families, and if your mother had it, you are darned likely to have it too. Breast cancer kills - it is not just a little lump that you can lop off and you are all good. For these reasons, breast cancer deserves some support. I do not believe, as Suzanne apparently does, that it all boils down to “not letting hot women die.”

Besides my (yeah, maybe unhealthy) fetish for pink stuff, one of my dearest friends is a breast cancer survivor. She got sick right after my husband starting to mend from his battle with MRSA, and due to the fact that he needed so much care, I was unable to help Selina out as much as I would have normally. She has been through a long and painful, stressful, and emotional battle with her cancer, and 2 years later she is weaker in many ways (although stronger in others) and flatter chested (a staph infection ruined her chances of reconstruction), but she is a champion with a sunny disposition that you would be hard pressed to find in the healthiest person around. She and her husband were role models for my husband and I before she got sick (you have never met kinder, more helpful people in your life), and they are still the same people today. Weaker people would have let their problems defeat them, but not her. I offer my support of breast cancer research and support in honor of Selina, and in hopes that I can help repay her for the kindnesses that she continues to show to me and my family day after day.

So, it is with that spirit that I will continue to support and promote companies that support breast cancer causes, as I truly believe, that for me, it is the right thing to do. Pink out!