Whoever dreams up "breast cancer awareness" memes for Facebook is just messing with us now. Women are listing fruits like strawberry, banana, apple or grape, in their "status update" to correspond with what their relationship status is ... and, uh, "raise awareness" about breast cancer?The message reads:
We are playing a game. Someone proposed that we WOMEN do something special on Facebook to help with Breast Cancer Awareness. It's easy and I'd like you to join us to help it spread. Last year it was about writing the color of the bra that your were wearing in your FB status and it left men wondering for days why the women had random colors as their status. This year it has to do with your relationship status. You will state where you are, by posting one of the codes below. Remember, don't reply to this message. Just type your one word response in your status box on your profile. Then cut and paste this whole message into a new message and send it along to your female friends:
Blueberry: I'm single
Pineapple: It's complicated
Raspberry: I'm a touch and go woman
Apple: Engaged
Cherry: In a relationship
Banana: I'm married
Avocado: I'm the "other one"
Strawberry: Can't find the right one
Lemon: Wish I was single
Grape: Wants to get married.
The bra game reached TV. Let's get this one to do the same and show everyone how powerful women are.
As I wrote last year when women were listing their bra color in their Facebook status to "raise awareness," sometimes people get wrapped up in the idea of "doing something" for breast cancer that could be just anything, instead of doing something that is actually useful. Games like this are benign - i.e., no companies are profiting off the sale of "pinkwashed" products while giving only pennies to actual breast cancer research - but isn't being benign the problem? Don't those of us affected by cancer, especially breast cancer, want more funding going into research, more resources for patients and survivors, more real education for women and girls about how to protect themselves?