To wonder how the no make up selfie raises awareness?!

[Weathergames]

ARGH!! We all know breast cancer exists - how does this help?!

[Twinnies10]

YANBU I was only thinking the same thing this morning, so stupid!!

[shouldnthavesaid]

It doesn't.

I'm very tempted to comment on someone's page and say 'Thanks. I had never heard of this disease before, but your photograph of your very normal face has told me lots. Wow.'

I actually find it rather offensive that people will show what they consider to be their ugly face (a face that is always very normal) and equate this to the suffering of people with cancer in some way.

Perhaps if we all uploaded pictures of cancer at it's very worst - tracheostomies, suprapubic catheter, vulval tumors, fungating tumors, etc.. then we may raise just a teeny bit more awareness and show just how very little these pictures have to do with cancer at all.

[shouldnthavesaid]

Almost like - the shock of cancer is this, this, this. Doesn't quite equate to the shock of seeing your very normal face.

[MoominIsWaitingToMeetHerMiniMe]

YANBU. A friend of mine pointed it out on Facebook, and then posted a picture which he titled as his "no make-up selfie", but was actually the screenshot of his donation to cancer research being accepted, and saying rather than angling for compliments by taking an edited picture with no make-up on, why not do something that can really help.

Almost all of our mutual friends have now done the same; posting a screenshot of their donation acceptance screen. So in a weird way I suppose he wouldn't have started doing that without the no-make-up selfies... but at the same time I completely see his point in that it's blatant fishing for compliments for many people who don't give a shit whether the person looking at them even reads that it's for cancer awareness; they just want to be told "OMG you so pretty even without make-up!".

[EmpressOfJurisfiction]

LemonyCrickets said on another thread about this:

It was meant to be a 'know your skin' thing and you were meant to do a no makeup selfie with the caption 'text BEAT to 70099 to donate £3 to cancer research' and a screenshot of proof that you did it too.

Which fits in with what you said, Moomin.

[juliacharles2013]

It probably doesn't help much in the way of cancer awareness you're right, but a few friends of mine have had cancer & they themselves have posted pictures just for the fun of it. Between 2006-2011 I ran Race For Life every year & raised nearly £2,000 for cancer research. These "silly" pictures that you're all getting on your high horses about & slagging your "so called friends" off for doing may not mean a lot to you all (after all, you're so mature & above these silly things) but to someone, they might mean a show of solidarity from their real friends who want to have a little bit of well meaning fun & show that their are people supporting them

[MavisG]

Oh is this a thing? Explains my fb feed, thanks. I wasn't sure if some of my friends wanted congratulations or what.

[krankykitty]

Yanbu. I posted a link to cancer charity's donation page and then had people on my timeline moaning that it wasn't about donations it was about AWARENESS. Well I guess we are all sadly aware of it so why not do something that will actually help. Still, at least cancer is being mentioned as opposed to those ridiculous updates about the colour of your undies

[formerbabe]

Really pathetic IMO. Selfies make me want to vomit and doing it to raise awareness for cancer is completely inappropriate and pointless.

All it does is promote the fact that person in question is in love with themselves.

[ALittleFaith]

Having been 'nominated' last night, I had a bit of a rant about this on Facebook. It's particularly pertinent to me because my Mum died of ovarian cancer. I have now posted about the text donation so thanks.

[2rebecca]

As a charity there is far greater awareness of breast cancer than many other cancers. I find the idea that some people might not be aware that breast cancer exists and has a large charity attached to it bizarre.
I rarely wear make up and my facebook friends know what I look like and are capable of making their own decisions about charity donations.

[Monstermuncher]

Of course we are aware that cancer is there. There are lots of people on my FB feed doing their best duck faces so that folk can comment that they look beautiful without make up etc etc. However, if it prompts a few people to donate a few ££s then i think its a good thing becuase thats what matters at the end of the day.

[doublechocchip]

I've done it and donated and lots of people on my news feed have as well, as long as people are putting in the code/links on to how to donate I think its a great idea, I know from where I live a lot of people are doing it in memory of a young girl who died from cervical cancer a few days ago. I'm up for anything that raises awareness AND raises money for cancer research.

[youmakemydreams]

I got into a gunfight on my cousins dp's page about this. Especially when someone said that being shown without her armour made her feel vulnerable so it gave her a little insight into how a vulnerable cancer patient felt. At that point dp had to peel me of the ceiling and take over making breakfast.

[patienceisvirtuous]

None of the selfies I've seen have included a link...

[shouldnthavesaid]

A Facebook friend has just put one up, no make up etc, duck face (must be her default pose as all her pcitures on Facebook are exactly the same) with the caption - By posting this selfie, I am raising awareness of cancer.

She has had several comments saying well done etc.

Fair enough if she'd posted a link or something saying she'd donated money, but she hasn't - and neither has anyone else that I've seen.

[Joysmum]

I've put something on my Facebook this morning asking how a selfie helps. I've seen quite a few selfies posted this morning and nobody has come back with what they think they are achieving by doing so.

The cynic in me thinks it just appeases the conscience of the poster, that they think they are doing something in solidarity, but that it actually doesn't help anybody else.

[Oldraver]

I have to admit the latest ones I've seen have included a TEXT to donate £3 or somesuch. But yes also a few... its for awareness.....

I may of replied...<a class="break-all" href="//fwww.blood.co.uk/index.aspx" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">Blood Donation, Anthony Nolan fuck awareness, be useful

[GingerRodgers]

The majority of fb pictures I've seen have said "I don't know how this helps but I don't want to miss out be a party pooper so I'll be a sheep join in"

If you don't know, don't bloody do it!

We all know cancer exists. Posting a picture of you not wearing any make up won't change anything. Donating will.

[anothermrssmith]

I used my nomination to post a picture of a door nob and said I was raising awareness of people raising awareness of how they looked with no make up. Sarcastic yes but I hate these things,they're up there with the 'only people who hate paedophiles will repost this' status.

[bemusedisnottheword]

oh this has fucked me right off, my dad died very painfully of lung cancer which had spread to most of his body and by the end of it didnt recognise me or his grandchildren. Now i get some vain bints on my fb walls posting make up free selfies of themselves without a hint of donations so they can raise 'awareness for cancer innit'and then acting all coy when people comment on their photo saying how great they look without make up.

where the fuck was their support when my dad died, no they were no where to be seen.

how the hell does a make up free selfie raise awareness for cancer exactly? Its an insult imo

[Joysmum]

Ok, I had a great response back from one of my friends who is a charity worker.

She says it will raise awareness in younger Facebook users and that even if a small proportion visit a website or make a donation then with a viral campaign like this, that will have a big impact on both awareness and donations. That makes sense to me and explains why I didn't understand it to start with.

[MaryAnnSingleton]

oh I'm glad you started this- I looked to see if there was a thread and then started one... this bare faced thing has really pissed me off- it just seems to be another 'look at me' type thing.. so much better to actually do something like link to cancer charity websites and also to actually GIVE some money !!! grrr