Breast cancer awareness

[moonwise]

Hello everyone, it's National Breast Cancer Awareness month, and there's pink everywhere. Pink ribbons, pink drinks, pink bags, pink sweatbands for football players. Doesn't everyone love pink? And you can Shop for the Cure and get fun pink things for your kitchen at the same time. It's great, right? Right?

Great, except for the part where the research societies don't get a whole lot of the money you just spent on your new KitchenAid. A lot of this pink stuff is a gimmick, another way to separate you from your money using your good wish to do something for someone else and get that blender at the same time. So here's what Aunty Arafel is here to tell you today:

If you really want to help with breast cancer education, prevention, and cure efforts, GIVE MONEY DIRECTLY to places like the American Cancer Society or the National Breast Cancer Foundation. That way, 100% of your money goes where you want it to, as opposed to a few percent (and that goes for any charitable organization, by the way.) And while you're at it, check your own health - not just the boobs, but also cholesterol and blood glucose levels and things like that, because heart disease and diabetes kill far more women than breast cancer.

There's nothing wrong with buying something pink - if that shade of pink is what you want in your kitchen, go crazy - but separate consumerism and philanthropy. You'll be a better person for it.

Comments

[skurtchasor.livejournal.com]

And, once you've Shopped for the Cure, you can rub that swanky new pink KitchenAid in your friends faces, because now you're a Better Person than those who don't have one.

I'll keep my charitable donations anonymous, thank you very much.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Exactly! It's a button to pin on your lapel, a feather for your hat.

[skurtchasor.livejournal.com]

On a similar note, I totally want this product:

http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=AU11948

[arafel.livejournal.com]

I like the one that reads, "I usually leave this bag in my car." XD

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

It's funny because it's true.

[spinner-atropos.livejournal.com]

I've also learned that holy cow there are OTHER kinds of cancer that kill people! Who knew?

Besides, the 90th Anniversary red-and-glass mixer is way prettier than Pepto-Bismol pink.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Waaaah, that is pretty! Won't the glass bowl get scratched easily, though?

[spinner-atropos.livejournal.com]

My Pyrex bowls are fairly scratched up, though only on the very bottom where beaters and other utensils hit, and they're almost ten years old, so I'd assume it'd hold up okay.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Knowing me, I'd drop that bowl on the floor, and it would shatter into a million tiny bits. XD But the candy color is irresistable!

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Holy smokes that is gorgeous. If I didn't love my Old Faithful so, I might think about straying. (Mine's blue.)

[spinner-atropos.livejournal.com]

So's mine, it matches my hand mixer. :)

Also stand mixers are damned expensive. :P

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Hell yes. Fortunately for me, a Kitchen-Aid mixer was the Wedding Present of Choice from my grandparents.

[sideburnpower.livejournal.com]

I bought a Tostino's pizza for $1.25 that had a pink band on it for breast cancer research!

However I bought it because it's dirt cheap, not because of the pink ribbon.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Did you enjoy your socially aware pizza? :)

[sideburnpower.livejournal.com]

It tastes exactly the same as it did before it became socially aware.

So yes, I enjoyed it as it was 1.25 and it filled my tummy and it didn't taste bad.

I've got really low expectations for pizza that comes 4 for $5.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Tostino's vs. Ellio's: WHO YA GOT?

[sideburnpower.livejournal.com]

4-days-later-remembers-to-check-this-comment

I don't even know what Ellio's is.

Ergo I have Tostino's

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Ellio's is another brand of inexpensive pizza, highly favored by college students. :)

[roserevolution.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! Would you mind terribly if I repost this? Seriously, how much of that $1 you spent on a magnet for your car really goes to cancer research?

(That said, I love my pink kitchenaid stand mixer! It was a wedding shower gift from my mom)

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Go right ahead and repost, I'm flattered that you would! :)

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

I don't need another pink anything. Seriously.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Have you checked out Think Before You Pink? Excellent website.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I greatly appreciate that the site is asking people to think critically about where their money is going, but I also see a high potential for tinhattery. Nevertheless, they seem to be well-researched and effective in their efforts.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

The current flashing banner seems tinny, but they generally seem pretty on-- and I do think they have a good point that a lot more research dollars go into treatment than investigating causes and prevention.