Breast Cancer Awareness Games

I really do try to stay positive about things like breast cancer awareness, but for some reason these games disturb me. If you're a women and have a Facebook account, chances are you know what I'm talking about. Once again, my inbox has been bombarded with silly requests in "support of breast cancer awareness". Here is this year's game:

 Ok ladies it's that time of year again, in support of breast cancer awareness!! So we all remember last years game of writing a color as your status?.....or the way we like to have our handbag handy? Well this year, it's slightly different. You need to write your shoe size,( just the number) followed by the word 'inches' and how long it takes to do your hair... Remember last year so many people took part it made national news and, the constant updating of status reminded everyone why we're doing this and helped raise awareness!! Do NOT tell any males what the status' mean, keep them guessing!! And please copy and paste (in a message )this to all your female friends to see if we can make a bigger fuss this year than last year!!! I did my part... now YOUR turn ! Go on ladies...and let's have all the men guessing!!..........

Now...where do I begin? First off, how exactly does sharing my shoe size and how long it takes to do my hair make anyone aware that according to breastcancer.org:

"About 1 in 8 U.S. women (just under 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime."

or that:

 "For women in the U.S., breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer."

Now, lets talk about keeping the men guessing. Believe it or not, MEN can get breast cancer as well!

"About 2,140 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in men in 2011. A man’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000."

If you are trying to spread awareness, why would you hide something so important from someone who also could be affected?  Not to mention the fact that many men are supporting women who have breast cancer, my hubby included! If it were not for him, I am not sure I could have gotten through the last year.

Previously the game asked that you state your bra color. That request is quite insensitive given that fact that so many women with breast cancer no longer have need for a bra because they no longer have BREASTS! 

No, I don't see women rushing to the phone to schedule a mammogram after participating in one of these "games". So, if you truly want to spread awareness, educate yourself and share facts, not your shoe size.