Student Learning to Blog

            Breast cancer affects thousands of people a year. Breast cancer does not discriminate, you can be white, black, brown, male or female and be diagnosed. Because of this, raising awareness is important to both men and women and this is done all throughout the year with the biggest surge being in October, breast cancer awareness month. Everywhere you turn in October you will find something pink for awareness, it may be clothes, collectables, food, or social media posts.

            In the recent years cyberactivism has become increasingly popular on social media, but does it truly bring awareness when it excludes men? Private messages are sent between woman as to what to post of Facebook, whether color of their bra or how long it takes to fix their hair, along with order words to make the posts seem more sexualized. These posts are not sent to men and do not really have options for men to post about if they do get the messages. All of this I see to be an issue because simply put, men can and do get breast cancer and can die from it the same as woman. According to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, in 2025, about 2,800 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and approximately 510 will doe from it (BCRF, 2025). While this is much smaller than the over 300,000 women that will be diagnosed, it does not make them less important.

            Looking at this information, it makes me wonder, what awareness is posting a simply post on Facebook really do for awareness when half the people are unsure of what the post is even for? Do people do this to raise awareness or just because others are doing it? I have a hard time seeing this as raising awareness and think women can find better ways to show awareness that will also include men.

            This all started me thinking about what I could do to bring awareness, I have family that have battled and won breast cancer in the past and an aunt who is currently battling it for the third time, so I understand some of the difficulties. Someone to bring awareness by simply wearing the clothes promoting awareness and going to the rallies, but what about actually volunteering to help? There are breast cancer research institutions in every state, and they can always use volunteers. This may be as simple as preparing mail-out flyers or making phone calls for awareness, this may include helping plan fundraisers to raise money for those battling breast cancer. Another way people can help that is not often thought of is by volunteering at chemotherapy clinics. Simply sitting with employees and visiting while getting treatment can uplift the patients. Some patients have families that go with them, but others have no support systems or support systems so small that they cannot afford to take off to sit with them.

There are so many ways to help raise awareness and support patients that cyberactivism seems insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Take a minute to imagine yourself or a loved one diagnosed with cancer, do you think posting a silly comment on Facebook truly raises awareness or does getting out and doing something raise more awareness?

Reference

BCRF (2025). What to Know About Male Breast Cancer. Retrieved December 4, 2025, from Male Breast Cancer Statistics and Research | BCRF