Uni women's loos 'chest check' campaign

[OrangeToothbrush]

I was on a uni campus today and was really quite disturbed to see this campaign from Coppafeel dominating the women's loos, presenting 'chest checks', being too 'dysphoric' to deal with doing a breast exam, and top surgery all as the norm.

While I understand there are people that may need information presenting in this way, surely this is coming at the cost of clear information for women?

Hopefully it was alongside posters for the majority group - women - about checking their breasts? Otherwise that would be exclusionary - no?

Needless to say, it was not.

If you have developed breasts as part of your transition
There's literally no pretence that they're talking to women, is there?

I mean men can get cancer in that area of their bodies as well, were the same posters in the men's loos? If so then I wouldn't have a problem with that. I also to be fair think breast or chest cancer is important and not enough young people know how to check themselves properly or feel they're too young to need to worry so I personally think if it encourages that age group to start regardless of their feelings on gender/sex then I'm OK with that.

I get what you're saying Lavender and of course trans people need this kind of health info.

But this is a women's loo and this poster smacks of being too afraid to even mention women at all despite our vastly increased chances of getting breast cancer. The normalising of top surgery and dysmorphia to young people in this way is quite saddening.

Do you really think there'll be posters in the men's loo?

I think most men know that we can be referred to the breast clinic. This may be a little embarrassing for some of us, but euphemisms don’t reduce any embarrassment. I’m fed up of people pandering to trans people as if they are uniquely stupid. They may be more likely than most to be aware of the medical conditions they can’t get away from by transitioning; those echo chambers they inhabit should make sure of that, though some are more concerned with denial of reality than with the health of those In them.

I do understand where you're coming from with it, but surely in this instance it's about recognising who the audience are and there are much, much higher rates of trans/non binary students now and male/ female students who are very keen to promote a more gender neutral/trans inclusive society. I think they've just considered who they are targeting to get their information out in this sense and I imagine they would provide differently nuanced advertising in different settings to make it more palatable for those they are thinking will read it. I also imagine that if they didn't take this route, they'd likely get a student backlash which some could argue would get the word out but could also deflect attention completely from their intended message. So in this instance for that setting I see why they've chosen to do that. But then in fairness I would use the words chest/ breasts interchangeably so i wouldn't personally feel excluded by this either as it's language I use already and always have done?

Coppafeel went down this path a long time ago, it makes me so sad as they provided so much support for my colleague before she died of breast cancer. There was no getting away from it for her.

I wonder if I am the only person massively put off by the name "coppafeel", never mind anything else.

Yes I am. It's exactly the kind of thing wolkwhistling meatheads shout out at women. It's sexual assault territory.

you realize cis men can get breast cancer, right?

Good Christ some of you must have absolutely, stunningly easy lives if you need to stretch this far to be outraged.

@ElonsMusky yes, we know subcontractors can get breast cancer just as any other man can. Do males in the construction trade appreciate all your support and work on their behalf? I hope so, you’re a true advocate for them. Well done.

Good points again Lavender and I appreciate the need for targeted campaigns.

Interesting you mention potential backlashes as I think a problem here is this avoids a lot of the usual things we'd expect in a health campaign (facts) to pander to certain people. No graphics of bodies (just avocados), no mention of women (or men), and text that handles the dysphoric with kid gloves as a pp said ('it's only those silly doctors who call it breast tissue so we literally have to sorry sorry').

If I were an 18 year old student again and this kind of messaging was everywhere I went I really don't know what kind of impact it would have.

Firstly, males shouldn't be in the female toilets.

Secondly, it is BREAST cancer. So the corresponding information must reflect the topic in order to be accurate, and ensure people whose first language isn't English can understand it, or those with low reading levels. In this case, it makes the difference between life and death.

Thirdly, I very much hope no female went to check in the men's to see if they were being peddled the same misleading garbage. Just as they shouldn't come into our spaces, so we shouldn't go into theirs.

I do understand where you're coming from with it, but surely in this instance it's about recognising who the audience are and there are much, much higher rates of trans/non binary students now and male/ female students who are very keen to promote a more gender neutral/trans inclusive society.

OK, but for all the 'much higher rates of trans/non binary' - the vast majority of those affected are women.

These posters should be in the mens too if they are trying to be inclusive, and they should be side by side with posters using the right words for the body parts, with clear diagrams of what you have to do so that women are included - because unless there is a picture missing from that picture, that doesn't tell you how to do a breast exam at all - it's missing the most important bit of information for women, and using the space to talk about top surgery instead - which is important info to people who've had mastectomies, but not to the vast majority of women who need to know this information, in clear language (foreign students for example), and be shown what to do to their breasts to check for lumps.

No missing picture, Quink. Just cartoon avocados.

Surely the appropriate symptoms to watch for chest cancer areshortness of breath, chronic cough etc. And the checks would be a chest x-ray, which is very different from a mammography. And if that is clear then spirometer, endoscopy, etc.

Totally agree, this makes me both angry and sad that a generation of young women think elective mastectomies is a normal thing.

Exactly.

Interesting that they acknowledge female born trans people mostly use the ladies toilets. I hope the exact same poster is also in the mens otherwise that is invalidating the identities of the trans people that do use the mens.

So no actual health advice for women then - Coppafeel would obviously rather throw the 99.08% of women that don’t identify as trans under the bus? Any government funding they receive should be adjusted accordingly.

😂

Oops! That was in response to Happy Little Chicken's post.

I absolutely hate it. Why would any woman "cop a feel" of her own breasts? It's another example of that endlessly condescending, infantilising way that health campaigners think it's appropriate to talk to women about female health. I'm reminded of the ghastly "Don't be a diva, it's only a beaver" slogan from Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust about the importance of smear tests.

This letter has been submitted that sets out why language is important in health information.

can-sg.org/2023/02/23/open-letter-to-nhs-chiefs-the-importance-of-the-word-woman/