THAT PINK BREAST CANCER LOGO

I was at my OB-Gynecologist’s clinic the other day, I went to have my pap smear scheduled and at the same time did my regular up and down there check-up. While waiting for the doctor, a co-patient in her 40’s, so fixated with what the medical magazine, out of the blue, threw me a question,… ‘so why do breast cancer and its campaigns bear a pink ribbon logo?’ She was looking at me with a big question mark on her face, so I was sure she wanted me to answer it. I said, ‘probably because pink as a color is generally associated with women and breast cancer mainly troubles women, that’s why’, but it was more of an assumption than a conclusion. But with all seriousness, I actually don’t know the origin myself and since I don’t want to get into hot water again, I read … 

So, the pink ribbon, which we generally recognize as the breast cancer logo was first used in 1991 when Susan G. Komen Foundation, a well-funded breast cancer organization which supports and conducts research for the cure of this cancer, handed out these little pink ribbons to the participants of the breast cancer awareness campaign, since then, it has become a symbol of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month that is celebrated every October. This fête also aim at meeting generous sponsors and donors that will fund the foundation’s activities. 

While the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation claimed ownership of this logo, under most influences, this logo is actually a public domain, hence, one can use, modify, revise or alter such that may deem best fit to what it necessitates. 

So now I know.

Posted in Feminist Musings, Women and Health