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Bodies and Breast Cancer: Perspectives of Younger, Middle-Aged and Older Women
Unformatted Document Text:  Bodies and Breast Cancer: Perspectives of Younger, Middle-Aged and Older Women Lisa Cox Hall, Ph.D. Introduction Do women of different ages feel differently about their bodies or have different experiences when dealing with breast cancer? Through popular culture, such as magazines, fundraising events like Race for the Cure, music, and organizations like Young Survivor’s Coalition, we have many opportunity to see younger women’s perspectives. There are few, if any, cultural representations of older women’s experiences, though. Breast cancer primarily occurs to the female body. Since the body is the most significant medium through which all experiences pass and manifest and due to the fact that older bodies are not given much attention in our youth-biased culture, I designed a study to try to learn about older women and their experiences with breast cancer. Much is revealed about women of various ages and their bodies in the data that was gathered. Literature Review Michel Foucault deconstructed the prevalent Cartesian Mind-Body dualism and began theorizing the body in a new way in the 1970s. He particularly focused on the surveillance of the body by the institution of medicine. Many scholars have continued to fervently debate a variety of aspects concerned with the body. It is the works of Bryan Turner (1992, 1995), Judith Butler (1993), Margaret Lock (1998), and Mike Featherstone (1991) which are most relevant to this paper, however. They have led the research and theorizing on the body within culture, the gendered and sexual body, body image, and the body as consumer. Breast cancer, as a sexually charged and highly feminized disease, challenges the feminine body. Mastectomy eliminates breasts, chemo eliminates hair, and drugs take away fertility and/or force young women into early menopause. Breast cancer is a disease that attacks traditional cultural forms of femininity. It is hard to hide, and therefore carries stigma (Goffman 1963). Accounts of breast cancer experience (Kushner 1975; Rollin 1976; Lorde 1980; Stacey 1

Authors: Hall, Lisa.
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Bodies and Breast Cancer: Perspectives of Younger, Middle-Aged and Older Women
Lisa Cox Hall, Ph.D.
Introduction
Do women of different ages feel differently about their bodies or have different
experiences when dealing with breast cancer? Through popular culture, such as magazines,
fundraising events like Race for the Cure, music, and organizations like Young Survivor’s
Coalition, we have many opportunity to see younger women’s perspectives. There are few, if
any, cultural representations of older women’s experiences, though.
Breast cancer primarily occurs to the female body. Since the body is the most significant
medium through which all experiences pass and manifest and due to the fact that older bodies are
not given much attention in our youth-biased culture, I designed a study to try to learn about
older women and their experiences with breast cancer. Much is revealed about women of
various ages and their bodies in the data that was gathered.
Literature Review
Michel Foucault deconstructed the prevalent Cartesian Mind-Body dualism and began
theorizing the body in a new way in the 1970s. He particularly focused on the surveillance of the
body by the institution of medicine. Many scholars have continued to fervently debate a variety
of aspects concerned with the body. It is the works of Bryan Turner (1992, 1995), Judith Butler
(1993), Margaret Lock (1998), and Mike Featherstone (1991) which are most relevant to this
paper, however. They have led the research and theorizing on the body within culture, the
gendered and sexual body, body image, and the body as consumer.
Breast cancer, as a sexually charged and highly feminized disease, challenges the
feminine body. Mastectomy eliminates breasts, chemo eliminates hair, and drugs take away
fertility and/or force young women into early menopause. Breast cancer is a disease that attacks
traditional cultural forms of femininity. It is hard to hide, and therefore carries stigma (Goffman
1963). Accounts of breast cancer experience (Kushner 1975; Rollin 1976; Lorde 1980; Stacey
1


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