Komen Foundation’s Continued Funding of Planned Parenthood Discussion-Worthy

Susan G. Komen Logo
After an outcry from scores of angry women (my technology-challenged mother being one of them … she actually made me walk her through the steps of how to sign an online petition because she felt so strongly about it), the Susan G. Komen For the Cure foundation has done a 180 on its plan to sever ties with Planned Parenthood, and all is right with the world, right?

Not so fast …

Approximately $600,000 of the foundation’s money has been used each year to pray for breast cancer screening.  You don’t need me to tell you that screening leads to early detection, which leads to early treatment, which leads to a ridiculously high percentage of successful cures (if breast cancer is caught early enough, we are in fact talking cure, not remission).

What kind of highly public foundation makes a big thing about being “for the cure” (puts it into its very name, in fact) and then intentionally pulls money from the very demographic of women that need it most considering that they’re the least likely to get regular medical attention?

That’s got to be among the most asinine things I’ve ever heard.

And, yeah, it’s the A-word.

From The Atlantic:

Komen, the marketing juggernaut that brought the world the ubiquitous pink-ribbon campaign, says it cut off Planned Parenthood because of a newly adopted foundation rule prohibiting it from …

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Pink Ribbons Inc.: A Documentary Review on Where Cancer Research Money Ends Up

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Lea Pool is a Montreal filmmaker who was tapped to do a documentary about how money is raised for breast cancer research. Pool wasn’t sure there was  story there until she jumped into the backstory on breast cancer awareness. Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy, is a revealing book written in 2006 by Samantha King, a professor of kinesiology and health studies at Queen’s University. The next stop on the road to information was the autobiographical piece, Welcome to Cancerland, a scathing 2001 feature article in Harper’s magazine by feminist writer Barbara Ehrenreich. After reading that, it became the impetus for Pool to make Pink Ribbons, Inc., which is a 97 minute documentary that Pool explains: “I needed to find a way to make (the fundraising issue) more attractive to a large audience,” so she worked some filmmaking magic tricks, she interviews people against a digitally animated background and has them speak directly to the camera. “It’s not a new idea, but it works well – it engages the viewer,” said Pool.

Instead of normal narration facts are typed on the screen for the view to read, and she uses pink–a lot of pink. But it’s not all nice colors and scary facts – there’s also controversy and hypocrisy. Pool brings these facts …

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DC Comic’s Women Really Are Kicking Ass


DC Comics has a department called DC Women Kicking Ass, and that alone is pretty kick-ass. However, what they’re doing is even better: tdhe brilliant ladies over at DC Women Kicking Ass have posted a bunch of images from an ad campaign for a Mozambique breast cancer awareness organization. They feature Catwoman, She-Hulk, Wonder Woman and Storm giving themselves breast exams. Says DC Women Kicking Ass:

“The images are quite striking. The faces of the characters are only partially seen, but the characters are easy identifiable. And while we often see women feeling or touching their breasts n comics, the art here is not sexual or exploitative and has almost a solemn feel to it.”

There is something still really beautiful and striking about the images and it really helps to reach a new audience. Breast cancer awareness has always had a lot of fun with its publicity, and this is really just another branch on the tree, albeit a very innovative one. The images show only the comic heroine’s mouth, and the girls are fully clothed, so as DC Women Kicking Ass stated, it’s not sexual – there is no come-hither stare; the girls’ mouths are firm and serious.

I’m really glad comic are taking this approach, a lot of people have a lot to say about women roles in comics. Some say it’s anti-feminist and they set a bad body image. But these girls kick ass, and they look good doing it. I’m a comic fan, and a fan of any message that tells women or men that checking your breasts is an important thing to do. So, DC Women Kicking Ass, I salute you!



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Are You 100% Honest With Your Doctor?

Photo of a Doctor

If I had to guess, I’d bet that most people have lied to their doctor.  Speaking for myself, sometimes it’s just easier.  Now, I realize this is a stupid thing to do, but I guess I can take heart in recent news out of Dr. Barbara Korsch’s recent work out of the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine in knowing that I’m not alone.

In fact, Korsch, the author of The Intelligent Patient’s Guide to the Doctor-Patient Relationship, led Fox News to recently explore the greatest areas of whopperdom faced by physicians when trying to treat their patients.

1.         Not taking prescribed medication correctly, completely, or … at all.

As embarrassing as it might be to admit it, “If you don’t tell us you’re skipping pills, we’ll assume you’re taking them and they aren’t working, so we might change the dosage or the prescription”—which may put off your recovery and cause side effects, says Laura Knobel, MD, a family physician in Walpole, Massachusetts, and a member of the board of directors for the American Academy of Family Physicians.

And when you toss antibiotics before you’re done with the full course, you may not kill off all the infectious bacteria in your body, leaving them resistant to drugs and possibly causing the illness to come back with greater force.

There’s a real science to pharmaceuticals, and the balance is often a dicey one.  Doctors making sound medical decisions operate under …

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