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How come so much research goes into breast cancer but not prostate cancer? Or is it just me? It's pretty common to hear about raising awareness about breast cancer and looking for the cure on the radio or on TV. What about prostate cancer? About 217,000 new cases of prostate cancer have occurred in men this year, and over 32,000 have died. Is it me, or is there a whole lot of more research and awareness going into breast cancer more so than to prostate cancer? Why does it seem that breast cancer is taken more seriously than prostate cancer?
I sense some sexism going on here.
Well, maybe it's my imagination but apparently all the money that could have gone into raising awareness about prostate cancer, was funneled 100% into research and developing a drug for male erectile dysfunction. The demand was there for E.D. Which means as far as men are concerned, they were far more interested in having an erection than a healthy prostate.
I could tell you about two drugs available for E.D. and I don't even have a penis.
High intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) has been around for a number of years in Europe (trials were started in the UK a while back). Now the nanoknife is under trial for this as well as other cancers. Provenge (approved in 2010) and the better DCVax prostate in trials soon. So some things are being done, i would imagine its because most prostate cancer is slow growing and affects older men (over 65)
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
8,852 posts, read 10,458,803 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cpg35223
Women are better at organizing.
Very true, and it also has to do with marketing and the cultural biases built into the nature of each illness. For example, "Save the Ta-ta's" is a much easier and catchier sell, than say, "Prostate Cancer Sucks!"
How come so much research goes into breast cancer but not prostate cancer? Or is it just me? It's pretty common to hear about raising awareness about breast cancer and looking for the cure on the radio or on TV. What about prostate cancer? About 217,000 new cases of prostate cancer have occurred in men this year, and over 32,000 have died. Is it me, or is there a whole lot of more research and awareness going into breast cancer more so than to prostate cancer? Why does it seem that breast cancer is taken more seriously than prostate cancer?
I sense some sexism going on here.
Research funding is not a zero-sum game. No one is obligated to give equally to every type of cancer out there.
Advocates of breast cancer have simply done a better job at promoting their cause.
Perhaps you should spend more time pursuing that and less time whining and building up your us-poor-oppressed-men fantasy (and this comment comes from a man, by the way).
Screening for prostate cancer is a scam. Most old men die with prostate cancer. Very few men die of prostate cancer. The statistics strongly support Not operating on prostate cancer. If you are over 50 you shouldn't be screened.
Very true, and it also has to do with marketing and the cultural biases built into the nature of each illness. For example, "Save the Ta-ta's" is a much easier and catchier sell, than say, "Prostate Cancer Sucks!"
This is ridiculous, but once again, the apparent youth and lack of memory/knowledge of what I recall as fairly recent changes in society are just driving home that I'm gettin' old.
SO, LEARN, my children:
Back in the 60's and 70's women were dying left and right of breast cancer because there was so much shame attached to having had a mastectomy. Women would rather die than live without breasts for fear their husbands would dump them and they would no longer be viewed as complete women. There were no regular mammograms or "women's health" centers or exhortations to do self-examination.
What you see today is the fight against that death sentence. A women named Betty Rollins wrote a ground-breaking book in the 1970s called "First, You Cry" about her breast cancer. Only after that did other books and magazines start paying attention to this previously hidden, shameful disease that no one wanted to talk about. Women began to be encouraged to seek treatment for breast cancer and TO TALK ABOUT IT, technology for reconstruction and prosthetic breasts grew and became more than little shops on dark side streets where women who were missing a breast could skulk into with no one seeing them going to get fitted for a mastectomy bra.
That's what reality was for "saving the ta-tas" thirty-five, forty years ago, and that may be your entire lifetime, but it really wasn't that long ago. You want more attention for prostate cancer? Then follow what those brave women did who finally spoke up and talked about it and decided to LIVE.
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