Objectifying women through breast cancer campaigns

There have been countless campaigns to raise money for breast cancer and to educate people more about the disease, but some organisations are taking it too far.
It’s all well and good to come up with new ways and ideas, to raise money and make people aware of  breast cancer, but to have a cleavage competition and a ‘No Bra Day’ is just insensitive and sexist. Thinking out of the box they say, I think not. Objectifying women has been done for ages now, it is not a new phenomenon. These campaigns are sexing up breast cancer, but we are more than our breasts.
My mother had a double mastectomy operation three years back and she had to go for chemotherapy treatment during that time. Luckily for us it was detected in its early stages, and the best decision she made was to have the double mastectomy. That time was a very difficult time for my family but by supporting her and each other we overcame all the hardships and trying times. Now my mom is cancer free. “YES MY MOTHER IS A CANCER SURVIVOR.” Breast cancer is not a glamorous disease, it is very painful to see a loved one suffer like that and you know there nothing you can do about it. But you adapt and get through it and give the person all the love and support they need.
Therefore it really offends me to see how women are being objectified through these campaigns. We already see the objectifying of women a lot in the media. Don’t get me wrong, if a woman wants to show off her body and flaunt the ‘assets’ that she was born with, good for her and more power to her. She can do what ever she wants to with her body. But these campaigns are hiding behind the breast cancer curtain. Who is actually behind these types of campaigns? Probably some men sitting in their big offices thinking of more ways to objectify women and portray them as sex objects. Yes I said it, men are behind all of this.  Women are already only being valued for their outwards appearance, then someone comes and say show your breasts, its for a good cause. Yeah right! Do we as a society only get involved in raising money for the awareness of breast cancer because we see half naked women or we see women with no bras on? We get it, sex sells, but do not degrade the good work that some organisations have done to fight this disease. Yes breast cancer is related to breast, but you do not have to take yours out to show your support. Imagine setting up a campaign for Testicular cancer which says that all men should expose their testis for a day, there would be an uproar for sure, the double standards of society. There are other ways to raise money or make people aware of breast cancer. I don’t have to participate in these degrading campaigns to show my support for the cause. I would rather put on my gym outfit, cap and takkies and go walk/run to support and get involved in the cause to fight breast cancer . At least then I’m killing two birds with one stone, supporting the cause and getting some exercise done at the same time. Bake cup cakes, make fudge and give it to my nieces/nephews to go sell at school and donate the money to the Cancer Association, buy lots of apples and bandanna and donate them to an orphanage. I would even shave my hair or dye it. Go volunteer at the AB May Cancer Research Centre they do need the help. For heaven’s sake there are countless ways to get involved, without making it all about sex. Don’t fix what is not broken. Show some respect to those who have survived, died and are still battling breast cancer and lets support them in a dignified manner. There are already enough images of women being objectified so lets just try not to add to this. And to all those who are affected by the breast cancer, directly or indirectly do not give up hope. Lets do our part to fight this disease in a humane way.