Women received email messages and men have been guessing. In case you’re wondering, here’s why people are filling in colors for Facebook status updates:
“We’re playing a game. GIRLS ONLY. Put the color of your bra as your status.
One word-the color of the bra you are wearing. Then send this message to all
the women you know. This is to raise awareness of breast cancer PLUS it will
drive the men crazy wondering what we are up to. Men are not allowed to know
what we are doing. Remember the main focus is to raise breast cancer
awareness.”
I’m not sure how to treat this whole thing. I’ll say up front that I’m fine with NOT treating it, but it’s fun to critique and speculate and surf the net for reactions so here I go:
My first reaction was that I wanted to participate. After all, who isn’t looking for the perfect status update? Then I found out it was about bras and I couldn’t participate. Well technically, since I feel out of shape and my tight-ish sleeveless tanks serve a second purpose to pull myself together a bit under my shirt, then maybe I could*. Sometimes. Did I just say that?
But that’s the whole point. I don’t think about or wonder what bra color women around me are wearing. Now after this brief facebook fad I am more likely to think about it. I am *not* more likely to think more about breast cancer. That’s something I think about when – it happened just today – someone tells me they started radiation treatment for stage one breast cancer.
Maybe it’s bad timing for me personally, but the status update thing is fun (or as feministe says sexy and provocative and whatnot). It does not raise awareness for breast cancer. If you want to raise awareness then consider Feminazery’s idea to post how you can check for breast cancer. You could also look into donating to your favorite breast cancer research group. The facebook thing however borders on my pet peeve of over-commercialization of a cause.
But it doesn’t quite, since no-one seems to be making money, and no company or product is behind it yet. Maybe that’s the saving grace and I should quit complaining. And oh yeah here are some good stats about breast cancer.
*in this case see title of post.
UPDATE: Status quote from a guy which proves my point (and I thank him for it!) “Am I the only one that thinks today’s color-coded topic of discussion is worthless without pics?” What’s next, posing topless to raise awareness? oh wait…
Comments on: "white mesh." (2)
hmm.. thankfully, only two of my meager 41 friends (primarily of the XX orientation) felt neccessary to share. i really didn’t know, nor question, what the deal was. people share all sorts of odd things that i would not personally think of as public information. i think social network sites .. with all their “privacy selections”, give many a false sense of security. it’s a very thin veil. from a general perusal of my friends’ friends, most people have about 150-200 friends. to me it just seems excessive to send out status updates on any number of inane human (and pet) moments… or perhaps that is exactly the point.
fb gives me many things to ponder. the average gen-X kid isn’t sharing sugar and eggs with their neighbor.. but they will let all 238 amigos on fb know that fido learned a new trick today. does it make ppl feel more connected? are people waiting for the moment when they have something noteable to share? i don’t understand but i do get it and feel appreciative for the sheer ease to connect with those you haven’t seen in some time.
in sum, i get an F for networking today. and btw, i LOVE LOVE LOVE the video of edie dancing.
Jen! I can’t believe you haven’t met our children. I’m so glad to hear from you give you a B+ for networking, since without FB you may not have seen the Edie video. Anyway just wanted to say hi.