Save the Tatas! From Breast Cancer and Domestic Violence
- Juanita Jones
- Oct 2, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 18, 2024
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. (BCAM)
Wanting more information, I went online, and the first result in a Bing search for BCAM was "Shop Breast Cancer Awareness" [emphasis was already added on the website].
Pink is everywhere. Water bottles, jewelry, hats. Sports teams wear pink shirts or helmets or shoes. Some years pink floodlights shine on the White House. And how much fun is it to wear a pink shirt that says I love boobies or Check the bumps for lumps.
As a cancer survivor I am fully supportive of efforts to create awareness and reduce the incidence of breast cancer. I make monetary contributions whenever I can. Yet I do so with some mild resentment.
Sometimes seeing so much pink makes me see red. I wish I would see more purple. Purple ribbons.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. (DVAM)
Before breast cancer awareness campaigns, October had been designated Domestic Violence Awareness Month. DVAM evolved from the 1981 “Day of Unity" conceived by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The intent was to connect advocates across the nation who were working to end violence against women and their children.
The Day of Unity soon became an entire week and then a month devoted to a range of activities conducted at the local, state, and national level with three common themes:
Mourning those who have died because of domestic violence;
Celebrating those who have survived;
Connecting those who work to end violence.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month was founded in October 1985 as a partnership between the American Cancer Society and a pharmaceutical division of AstraZeneca, producer of several anti-breast cancer drugs. The aim of the BCAM from the start has been to
promote mammography as the most effective weapon in the fight against breast cancer;
promote the breast cancer drugs that AstraZeneca produced in the fight against breast cancer.
Of course, we need breast cancer awareness and funding. According to the American Cancer Society, each year 240,000 women and men are diagnosed with cancer. That’s nearly 700 a day. Certainly we need awareness and funding. Fortunately, we get awareness and funding.
Millions of dollars are funneled annually into breast cancer research in spite of the many vendors who capitalize on the pink products but never share the profits with legitimate cancer-related research or treatment. In fact, breast cancer is better funded than any other type of cancer, and disproportionate to the number of deaths each year as this graph from the cancerhealth.com website illustrates.

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