Cancer Conscious

Along with my Ph.D. studies, i was in a big way into writing articles, syndicated all over the South  of India, and Orissa, for newspapers in English. I wrote a few series as well. I wrote, a few articles on women and psychiatry, for example. Yet another series that I attempted dealt with cancer and women.

It was quite some experience. Well, cancer is in a way an auto-immune disease. It is as if your body rebels against you. There was this lady who first had breast cancer. Luckily she had noticed the symptoms quite at the right time. It was hence at an early enough stage. Apparently, it got cured. It re-surfaced yet again, but it could be controlled with chemo, and so on.

Later, she developed uterine cancer. Her uterus had to be removed, and due to certain complications, even the breasts. Of course, as per the medical thinking these days, there was a breast re-constuction, too. I can understand it if it is for absolutely medical reasons. Apparently, the reason behind breast re-constuction is a woman's self perception, and that i do have a problem  with. Such 'pre-conceptions' lead to body shaming and trolling if one is very fat, for example. 

Her reaction was interesting. When she had to remove both the uterus and the breasts, she said she felt less a woman. This is the way, women are perceived, the body image, even in the face of calamity.

Sure, times are indeed tough for women. They still continue to be their looks, their body. What was so apparent was the fact that these public perceptions are so intensely internalised by women themselves that even when suffering from the dreaded disease, the "look" continued to matter even for a well educated, extremely upper class woman. That is the real cancer indeed! What say?

Pratima@Being looks conscious even in the face of a dreaded disease is the real cancer gnawing at women and their self perceptions!