The other horrific aspect of Lourde's experience was the lack of support and understanding she received from her doctor when she choose to not have a live biopsy. This parallels the experience that the parents' of intersex children went through. I feel that Lourde brought up the very important point of listening to one's body. This is a concept that is often not respected the way it should be in modern medicine, but it is the key to staying healthy.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Dealing With the Challenges of Breast Cancer
After reading the two pieces by Lorde I was extremely moved by her strength and spirit. She is clearly a woman who is comfortable with who she is and wants to share her passions and insights. Before reading her article I was not aware of the social stigma surrounding breast cancer survivors. I thought that surviving the cancer was the battle, but now I know that the battle really begins after the cancer. I was shocked by the attitudes of her doctors and other authority figures towards her choice not to wear a fake breast. Even though I was shocked I shouldn't have been because this is exactly the type of attitude to expect from a society that only views women as objects. Only a culture in which a woman's worth is determined by her outward appearance would the loss of breast equate the loss of her femininity. Femininity in our culture is our culture is defined by looks, sex appeal, and the role of motherhood and breasts play a major role in each one of these. We have seen this objectification of women before when discussing sexuality in Western cultures. The idea that woman's only purpose is to please the man and be a mother is still not behind us!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I agree about the fact I should have realized how stuck our society is on the fact females are the child-bearers for the continued existence of the populace and how that view would affect how babies potentially being born with disabilities may be aborted. Our society discourages being outside of the norm and limits the information given to suggest alternatives. The article made me want to learn about how people with disabilities accommodate in a society that works against them. How does one handle their disability to live a relatively functional everyday life? I remember spending six weeks at a program where one of the participants was blind. She had some of the most thought provoking ideas of the whole group because she had a different perspective of the world. I learned how to trust people without really knowing them from her when she trusted me to lead her through a crowd of people. I dread thinking that people like her might not exist in the world if technology could detect her disability before birth in the fetus. The world would be losing some of the most amazing people on earth.
I totally agree with both of you that most of the people or even everyone in our society is trying to ignore humans like Lourde which were victims of breast cancer. It is really sad that she could not receive any support and understanding from no one even from her doctors . I was disappointed reading her story, because I think that women like Lourde who had breast cancer should accept just more help from society, not to be disregard. The part in which her doctor was almost "dismay" from her, because she desided to not have a live biopsy shocked me! It is not acceptable that women are determined only as figures whose role is to be mothers and housewifes. I think that in every developed society they have to be treated equal to men and have the opportunity to use their skills not only their appearance.
Post a Comment