The female anatomy is subjected to changing ideologies with age and experience. Starting at a young age, through the development of attachment to breast, breast feeding and other forms of interaction the attachment to breast is formed. The intimacy of not only breastfeeding, but the recollection of the experience with breast being an object of sexual desire, but a method or platform that displays personal life experiences. Outsiders who see women that have undergone breast removal, for various reasons, may feel uneasy due to society’s association with breast since they are sexualized. The experience extends beyond the individual, and may affect those closely related such as family members, medical doctors, and significant others. Experiences with breast may shape an individual, but in no way signifies being a women. By creating a parallel between the experiences of Audre Lorde and other individuals regarding the saliency of their breast beyond cancer, important conversations can occur to change societal perceptions of breast and there link to womanhood.
“Each woman responds to the crisis that breast cancer brings to her life out of a whole pattern, which is the design of who she is and how her life has been lived.” The quote that starts off Audrey Lorde’s, The Cancer Journals, provides context to how breast cancer may shape a woman’s life, as breast creates an unnerving parallel of thought to the circumstances surrounding a woman’s life through her breast. The notion of breast cancer creating a recollection of memories, proves the significance of breast beyond a person's life to create the woman they have become today. Today women who have gone through mastectomy are becoming more empowered with their feminine nature even though many societies and cultures view breast as a sign of womanhood. Through increased agency and promotion of self image, woman are starting to reclaim their bodies from the perception creates in our heteropatriarchal society and becoming more comfortable with the idea of being a woman who has gone through the medical removal of breast.
As quoted by Ms. Marcou:
Ms. Marcou, 59, who had a mastectomy 15 years ago, said: "People used to hide in the closet. Individual women still tussle with their body because it's so valued in society. Every woman who goes through this will wonder about her femininity and sexuality. But it comes down to this: 'Your femininity is not determined by whether or not you have breasts.”
Ms. Marcou describes an experience all too familiar in today’s society; women feeling uncomfortable with their body due to societal perception of perfection and beauty. Society’s expectations are particularly taxing on those who have undergone a mastectomy, since breast are portrayed as a definition of beauty in modern day society. The expectation of society, in particular for women after breast removal, removes agency from women who have undergone a mastectomy due to the emphasis of breast in modern culture. As a culture that links breast with reproduction, society removes the stories, character, and emotion tied into the physical being of breast. Women who lose their breast face callow individuals asserting “normal” females either use prosthetics or create the image of having breast. Through the prosthesis, it creates the conversation of removing the experience of pain from breast cancer survivors. Moreover, removing the stories surrounding breast cancer and its greater impact to females globally take away from the experience of breast removal. Audrey Lorde also speaks to these issue through the following quote:
"When other one-breasted women hide behind the mask of prosthesis or reconstruction, I find little support in the broader female environment for my rejection for what feels like a cosmetic sham," [..] The social and economic discrimination practiced against women who have breast cancer is not diminished by pretending that mastectomies do not exist."
By creating an environment that does not acknowledge a woman's pain, and instead attempts to hide it through diminishing women who decide to display the story of strife, courage, and perseverance. Displaying their mastectomy in a way that does not subject them to societies standards of beauty, by reclaiming their bodies and showing that this is something that exist.
Bringing to light the issues surrounding breast and providing women with agency who have gone through a mastectomy the ability to affirm, survive, and share their strength and stories returns empowerment and agency to women. Breaking down the societal perceptions of breast being sexualized, and acknowledging the women and the stories and the power it gives to each woman who decides to display her body without judgement, will lead to greater awareness of breast cancer and strengthening all individuals who have had or may have breast cancer.
References
Williams, Lena. "Women Who Lose Breasts Define Their Own Femininity." The New York Times. The New York Times, 1991. Web. 03 May 2016.
Lorde, Audre. The Cancer Journals. San Francisco: Aunt Lute, 1997. Print.
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