Twitter.
I love it. I have a wealth of lovely followers, and those who I
choose to follow back are the best of the best. In times of crisis,
folks you have never even met are there for you, but in a totally
un-weird way. If that is such a word.
One
thing I HATE about twitter are some of the hashtags that go about, in
particular the “boobie Wednesday” one. On Wednesdays, female
tweeters are urged to change their avatar to one of them in their
underwear, thereby providing cleavage pics and a message to “remember
to check for lumps and bumps”. Now, I'm sure it is meant to help
people and was generated with the best of intentions, but I have
always disliked this idea. I have never taken part (and never will)
and I personally see it as a voyeuristic pleasure for the men on
twitter to make sleazy comments at the avatar they see. It happens
that way on my Timeline with those who participate anyway. Urgh!!! It
all seems fairly........weird. I don't mean to offend any of my
followers who DO take part, but that is just how I see it.
Several months ago I was nursing in a hospital ward where a group of
women who had breast cancer were staying. Most had had, or were
having, mastectomies. On faffing around the bay, I overheard them
swapping twitter addresses. One of them said “Oh but I don't go on
twitter on Wednesdays. It's all pictures of other people's perfect
boobs who haven't an idea what it is like to have had cancer or
disfiguring surgery to them”. There followed a conversation about
this, which made me realise that to people actually going through
breast cancer, this concept is very distasteful.
Many
of you know that I was diagnosed with breast cancer two days ago, a
complication that has arisen from the radiotherapy I got for my first
lot of Hodgkins 19 years ago. I thought I was coping fine. I am a
coper in life and a positive person. Until I went on Twitter today.
It's my fault, I should have remembered that it was “that” day,
but I didn't. First thing I see are cleavages on my timeline with
people doing the “check for lumps and bumps” thing. Suddenly I
know EXACTLY how that group of patients felt. I don't have any lumps
or bumps. I am feeling probably better than I have for years. But I
apparently have breast cancer and am now facing surgery –
complicated by the fact that I cannot have radiotherapy, as I have had
it before. I am going to be “disfigured”. I am feeling that these
posts on Twitter are “rubbing my face in it”, as the saying goes.
I don't want to have to boycott Twitter, as so many of my followers
are now good friends, and have given me so much encouragement and
support – something I am going to need over the next few weeks. I
simply feel there is a better way to promote checking for ALL
kinds of cancer – not using sleazy avatars of apparently “perfect”
chests, and “pretty” lingerie for a start. About 30% of females
presenting with breast cancer are asymptomatic anyway (cancer
research UK statistic) whose cancer is only spotted by screening (as
in my case). Maybe it would be more appropriate for those wishing to
highlight self-checks and cancers, to re-think how they "rebrand" this.
Just
a thought.
