While this blog got more porn spam than usual thanks to the even more prodigious than usual deployment of the word “boobies” (and the blog also seems to have won a number of international lotteries it didn’t even enter), the Anti-Boobie-Thon came to a wonderfully breastpixless close, so on Monday I’ll be mailing a check for at least $300 and possibly a bit more, to Breast Cancer Action, in honor of Twisty Faster. For more about other annoying approaches to breast cancer awareness, see “Show Us Your . . . Sexism” by Liz Losh at Sivacracy and this too.
I was in a shopping mall today, and passed a Victoria’s Secret, and in the store window there was a large fuchsia print advertisement which said: “From Wow to Wowee, the Victoria’s Secret Adjustable Cleavage Bra,” and just the thought of that made me wince.
–Ann Bartow
Update: As most but perhaps not all of you know, the “Anti-Boobie-Thon” was instigated in (negative) reaction to the “Fifth Annual Blogger Boobiethon for Breast Cancer,” the premise of which was that bloggers would send in photographs of their breasts, and the Boobiethon website would raise money by charging readers $50 to view these pictures. [NOTE: See comments for correction from Boobiethon organizer, who says in part: “We don’t charge $50 to see the photos. In fact, we charge absolutely nothing to see the photos in the main section of the site, which include survivors and tribute galleries. Rather we request a $50+ donation to the Susan G. Komen Foundation – directly to them, not through us – and with a copy of donor receipt plus tracking number, donors receive access to the uncovered portion of the site.”] Twisty’s critique was awesome, but I have recently encountered another one that also resonates with me at Threading Water called “Pink Porn“, my favorite paragraph of which follows:
And, for heaven’s sake, think twice about whether flashing a jpeg of your lovelies is the most appropriate way to raise money for this cause. Personally, I get a bit queasy thinking about someone paying fifty bucks to get a peek at mine, maybe even downloading them as a screen saver. What’s next? Can you imagine the companion website that raises money for cervical cancer?
Congratulations on your successful event! Not that this will change your opinion on the Boobie-Thon, nor do I expect it to – but please get your facts straight. We don’t charge $50 to see the photos. In fact, we charge absolutely nothing to see the photos in the main section of the site, which include survivors and tribute galleries. Rather we request a $50+ donation to the Susan G. Komen Foundation – directly to them, not through us – and with a copy of donor receipt plus tracking number, donors receive access to the uncovered portion of the site. We don’t “raise money” ourselves. Every penny every year goes directly to our selected charities. We operate in a pledge capacity only. (And I might add, over $35,000 has been sent by our supporters to Susan G. Komen and our secondary charities since 2002 – over $9000 was raised during our 1-week event that just wrapped in 2006.)