Breast cancer is a frightening and often deadly disease, make no mistake about it. But, if you see the smiling faces of the survivors in the charity brochures, resplendent in pink everything, their bald heads tastefully hid behind a dainty scary (pink, of course) you kind of get the notion that it is a winnable fight and that, for all the scariness, it is actually kind of adorable. Lookie at all the pink, you think. Pink clothes, pink jewelry and pink banners all claiming that we are all together in this fight, we are all the breast cancer warriors or whatever they call themselves at that charity. But, ask anyone who is fighting the disease or the family of those who have lost the fight and see how "cute" they think breast cancer really is. Ask them if they think that buying a pink tee shirt is helping anything.

Lea Pool has create and released a movie that highlights the exact problems that are facing breast cancer victims and their families. That movie, Pink Ribbons, Inc, highlight that the marketing and over commercialization of the movement are the reason that more people are not afraid of the disease- because they have made it approachable, like a Disney monster. You know you are supposed to be afraid, but you can't help yourself because of how cute the whole thing is. Pool calls this process the "pink washing" where nothing is grim and statistics involving death rates are often swept under the rug in favor of more positive numbers. But, it is important to know that one in every eight women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime, even if they have no real risk factors or family history. In the 1940's, the numbers were one in twenty two.

Pool also points out that there are a number of problems with the money that is being raised by the wide ranging charities. First, there are literally thousands of researchers at labs across the United States as well as in other countries around the world but there is no communication or coordination between all of them. Experiments are often duplicated, needlessly wasting money that could be better spent. The treatment, referred to in the community as "slash, burn and poison" has not changed in the last few decades, leaving many women with little choice but to submit to invasive, body destroying surgeries followed by painful radiation and chemotherapy that often makes them sicker than the cancer had.

The cancer community needs to find new ways to approach the research, treatment and care of patients, never losing sight on the fact that every woman, at every age is at a potential risk for breast cancer.