A Critical Analyis of the Pink-Ribbon Culture of Breast Cancer in the U. S.

FAIN: FB-53836-08

Gayle Ann Sulik, PhD
Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY 12604-0001)

I am applying for a 12-month NEH Fellowship beginning in June 2008 to complete my book project, Under the Pink, a cultural study that critically examines the way "pink-ribbon culture" in the United States structures breast cancer support and survivorship. The book as a whole focuses on the social and cultural forces that influence identity and the meaning of survivorship for women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Additional research for chapters 6 and 7 will examine the iconography and discourse of pink-ribbon culture within mass media, breast cancer resources, promotional materials, and survivor stories/ biographies. Theorizing the intersections of gender, medicine, and culture the book examines how much of pink-ribbon culture constructs a narrowly defined and idealized model of survivorship that limits the kinds of experiences that are represented and therefore legitimized. Under the Pink is the first in-depth analysis of this new dimension of American culture.

Associated Products

Pink Ribbon Blues: How Breast Cancer Culture Undermines Women's Health (Book)
Title: Pink Ribbon Blues: How Breast Cancer Culture Undermines Women's Health
Author: Gayle Sulik
Editor: Oxford University Press
Abstract: Pink ribbon paraphernalia saturate shopping malls, billboards, magazines, television, and other venues, all in the name of breast cancer awareness. In this compelling and provocative work, Gayle Sulik shows that though this "pink ribbon culture" has brought breast cancer advocacy much attention, it has not had the desired effect of improving women's health. It may, in fact, have done the opposite. Based on eight years of research, analysis of advertisements and breast cancer awareness campaigns, and hundreds of interviews with those affected by the disease, Pink Ribbon Blues highlights the hidden costs of the pink ribbon as an industry, one in which breast cancer has become merely a brand name with a pink logo. Indeed, while survivors and supporters walk, run, and purchase ribbons for a cure, cancer rates rise, the cancer industry thrives, corporations claim responsible citizenship while profiting from the disease, and breast cancer is stigmatized anew for those who reject the pink ribbon model. But Sulik also outlines alternative organizations that make a real difference, highlights what they do differently, and presents a new agenda for the future.
Year: 2011
Primary URL: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/pink-ribbon-blues-9780199933990?q=pink%20ribbon%20blues&lang=en&cc=us
Primary URL Description: Publisher Website
Secondary URL: http://www.pinkribbonblues.org
Secondary URL Description: Author Website for Book
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780199933990
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

---