October is breast cancer awareness month and this year I feel compelled to get something heavy off my chest.

Pun absolutely intended.

I’ve always been bothered, even horrified by the following widely recognized slogans used in certain breast cancer campaigns –

“Save the boobies/tatas!”  

“Big or small – save them all!”

It’s not just about saving the tatas or boobies, it is about saving LIVES; ask any woman who’s sacraficingly bartered her breasts for her LIFE.

Boob references do nothing more than sexualize a deadly disease that’s not even necessarily exclusive to women.

Chemotherapy, surgical bandages and radiation do not come in pretty shades of pink.

Breast cancer is not about cutsie slogans or pink polka dotted cleavage – it’s a deadly cell mutation that happens to occur in the mammary tissue.

It’s true that the novelty pink boob movement has brought awareness to this cause and that’s not entirely negative. Any awareness is good awareness.

However, let’s not lose sight of the real person whose life has been forever changed by cancer – cancer that just happens to be located in the breast tissue.