#BoobieWed and a kick ass kid who says "I ♥ boobies"

Look at me...I might be actually writing in my blog again. Who would have thought?

Today's topic...is some let's call it alternative or different ways of promoting Breast Cancer Awareness.

First one is something that is done on Twitter. It's called Boobie Wednesday. Many women...and even some men...on the twitter change their profile picture to a picture of breasts on Wednesday. The point...is to bring up the issue of Breast Cancer Awareness and early detection. It's been going on...actually, I don't know how long, but it's at least been a couple of months.

Last night, there got to be a little spat on my twitter feed of those who support and many participate in Boobie Wed and those who think it is inappropriate and that awareness about cancer should be done in a different way.

I can see many of their points of view....since not everyone wants to see pics of women in their bras on their twitter feed all day on Wednesday. And almost everyone (except one person aka King of Obnoxious...with a dash of hypocrit)...expressed their opinion with intelligence and respect. Some people expressed they thought it was less about the cause and more about attention seeking and self-expression.

And then there is a local story which has very similar tones. There is a kid at a school not far from me...where a 15 year old freshman was wearing one of the black, "I heart boobies" bracelets to school. The bracelets are sold by the organization, Keep-a-breast.org which is an anti-breast cancer group aimed at teenagers and young people. It's goal is to raise awareness and money in order to combat the disease. He has a great aunt who has breast cancer, so he bought the bracelet for her. He wore it to Science class...the teacher saw it, took offense to it and said that he had to take it off. He said he didn't want to take it off, but he would turn it inside out so that the saying was not visible to her. Not good enough...so she sent him out of the classroom and gave him detention. It made the local news...and since then, there has been a lot of discussion about it.

My take on both of these situations. I think anything that brings attention to the cause of Breast Cancer Awareness...or cancer of any kind, I support. I have participated in Boobie Wednesday for the past few weeks and each and every Wednesday, I end up having a discussion with someone about breast cancer and prevention. That's the point...in my opinion.

The first week, I posted a pic of my breasts...with a bra on. And yeah, I immediately felt uncomfortable. It didn't stay up very long. To me (and this is only my opinion), I felt like I wasn't sure if the pic was more about me or the cause. Now, I know some people probably post the boobies pics to promote themselves and get attention, but that is a HUGE MINORITY...at least of the people on my twitter feed. It's about the issue. This week, I decided to still participate, but instead I posted a pic that I snagged from a Breast Cancer Awareness site. It was a pic of someone else's breasts...and the pink ribbon in the middle. That to me...felt much much better.

And as for the local kid. Good for him. How many 15 year olds do we know who not only support a cause, but are willing to stand up for themselves and the cause when they face some resistance??? Not all that many that I know of. And...as a result in my community people are talking about breast cancer. All because of this kid and his controversial boobie loving bracelet. In my local newspaper there is an article about the event and in the online version there are 132 comments on the article.

If it isn't your cup of tea...well, the ignore button is real easy to use. I know many people on twitter who turned off their yesterday because they didn't want to see pics of women in their bras. However, they still heard the message. That teacher...she could have been a grown up and accepted the student turning his bracelet inside out, so that it was no longer visible to her. However, in both cases...the issue is out there. Words sometime..they are cheap. They are real easy to ignore or to completely miss. However, campaigns like this...well...just the past two examples, they work.

P.S. For any women reading this...wait...men too...because men DO get breast cancer. anyways...think back to the last time you did a breast self exam...if it was more than a month ago. You are overdue. If you are unsure how to do an exam correctly, this link should help you out.