Going Pink For October

Matthew Oliphant is inviting anyone and everyone to turn their Web sites pink during October, which is National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Nearly 150 sites have done so as of this writing. And by the way, guys can get breast cancer too.

I dont see slashdot doing it!

[Anonymous Coward]

IT's funny how Slashdot will post the story, but not do the deed...

makes ya think...

First post?

Re:OMG Ponies!!!

[LiquidCoooled]

Oh god, the nightmares had almost stopped.

Unfortunately beyond the jokes, breast cancer is bad.
Noone is immune, it knows no boundaries, rich and poor, famous or not it could hit.

I saw this checkoutmybreasts [checkoutmybreasts.com] site recently which apart from featuring nice graphics was very informative.
(As most of us are blokes it won't affect us directly, but spare a thought for your partners and get them to check)

Re:Strangely unfamous cancer

[Hahnsoo]

Apparently, it's light blue for Prostate Cancer, and Prostate Cancer awareness month is September (at least it was last year).
 
Breast Cancer strikes fear in the heart of many women despite being one of the most treatable cancers. I'm sure TFA has his/her heart in the right place, even though I can't see how making pink websites would make a difference.

Re:I'm in what else can I do?

[Anonymous Coward]

BTW: guys, get your selves checked for prostate cancer!

And check yourself for testicular cancer. It only takes a minute and it might save your life.

--A Survivor

Why the focus on breast cancer?

[windowpain]

I lost a dear friend to breast cancer in 1998 but I think it's screwy to focus so much on it. Look at this PDF table [cancer.gov] from the National Cancer Institute. It shows that estimated deaths from digestive system cancers (136,180) will be more than triple the number of deaths from breast cancer (41,430) this year. Both figures are for both male and female deaths. Even when you look at just female deaths, digestive system cancers will kill half again as many women as breast cancer will (60,970 vs. 40,970).

Another example of misplaced public health priorities due to the publicity machine.

Re:Strangely unfamous cancer

[Anonymous Coward]

but it is for the simple fact that there is an overwhelming lack of effort out there on the part of men's health issues.

I strongly agree that breast cancer receives far more attention then prostate cancer. However, in most cases the bias is the opposite. There are numerous health issues where men receive most of the attention.

For example, heart disease and lung cancer are overwhelmingly associated with men, although they are just as likely to kill women. Heart disease it is the number one killer of woman, although women are less likely to receive proper treatment of a heart attack, and 75% of heart disease research patients are men. See http://www.womenheart.org/information/women_and_he art_disease_fact_sheet.asp [womenheart.org]

Re:I'm in what else can I do?

[Speare]

If you are somehow GIMP-challenged to the point of not understanding the eyedropper tool, here are a few I snagged from graphics on a breast cancer site:

• #ff99cc
• #eeaac3
• #f594cb
• #f197c0
• #fbd9e1
• #f50f95

The first one is a "safe 216" color, which I threw in as a bonus for the really ancient websites and video cards stuck in 256-color modes.

Re:Guys???

[BLKMGK]

I never knew guys could get breast cancer until a few years ago when I met someone who not only had it but had hasd a masectome (sp?). One nipple was kind of weird when he had his shirt off and yeah he had some scarring. He got lucky in that it was caught early enough that they were able to get it all.

Want unfair? Testicular cancer. I'll never forget being told about that in school during the last bit of senior year. They seperated out the boys and girls and then told each group about it. We guys were told that the rate of incidence was as high for men as breast cancer was for women and OBTW we had been susceptible for it for a year or two but the school district wouldn't allow them to teach us about it till we were nearing graduation. One guy actually turned GREEN and passed out. Never seen someone actually turn green but this guy sure did. The doctor will check you for this and mine always seems amazed that I'm actually aware of it as few men apparently are and he was even more amazed the school had actually told us something about it...

Re:Color me confused

[arth1]

You can go pink, but don't be surprised if someone thinks it's for National Coming Out Day.

This comment makes more sense if you know that in much of the industrialised world, colours do not have the same symbolism as in the US:

US: pink = breast cancer, rainbow = gay, red = liberals, blue = democrats
Europe: pink = gay, rainbow = anti-racism, red = socialists, blue = conservatives

I'm sure there's plenty of other examples too, but keep in mind that not everyone sees a pink (or other coloured) ribbon (or other symbols) the same way.

Regards,
--
*Art

Re:Guys???

[jc42]

Actually, men can not only get breast cancer, but they can also produce milk. Google for "witch's milk" [google.com] for some descriptions of this in newborns. This happens in around 5% of newborns of both sexes, and normally stops within a week or two. But most of us no longer believe that it's caused by witches. It's now usually attributed to the mother's hormones that cross the placenta and affect the almost-born fetus.

Re:Guys???

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm currently undergoing radiation therapy for testicular cancer, and while it's certainly not a barrel of laughs, I can tell you that it responds very well to treatment and has a >90% cure rate. I'm very fortunate because mine was caught early and hadn't spread, so all I needed was basic surgery and a pediatric dose of radiation to be on the safe side. But none of this means anything if you aren't doing self-exams or you don't get treated if you find something. Left untreated, testicular cancer spreads to your brain, and that's no joke.