Think Pink

Everything this month is pink. Women in pink. Men wearing pink lapel ribbons. High school kids, boys and girls alike, wearing pink t-shirts, socks and shorts. Pink dye in the fountains. Pink newspaper pages. NFL players and officials with pink gloves and whistles. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting something pink.

Clearly it's breast cancer awareness month proudly sporting pink as the color of the cause du jour. Women no doubt live in the shadows of this affliction, having been drilled since youth to remember yearly exams, self-examination and know the advantage of early detection. It may not be a conscious concern each day but surely it weighs on a woman's mind from time to time, if for no other reason than propagation of this particular affliction. Everyone knows someone who has contracted breast cancer. Many know someone who did not survive it.

Clearly breast cancer is a terrible disease, affecting even women who undergo surgery to remove masses that might possibly serve as a platform for cancer to develop. Awareness is high and seems to increase each year with more walks, runs, pink days and media attention than the year before. Women are constantly reminded to be vigilant.

With the possible exception of Muscular Dystrophy, I think no other affliction approaches the public relations and media frenzy that accompanies breast cancer month. Make no mistake, it is well deserved and does much good teaching and alerting women to the danger.

It leaves me only one observation: Where is equal time for men?

Seriously. Men are not commonly stricken with breast cancer. Many, however, are hammered with prostate cancer and it too can lie undetected. By the time symptoms develop, you're way behind the recovery curve. There doesn't seem to be any hype associated with it though. No fun runs, no walks-for-the-cure. No Susan Koman standard-bearer. No awareness month. What color do we wear for prostate cancer? Who walks for men?

Perhaps the public doesn't care that men get sick. Females are supposed to be the fairer, gentler gender (a highly subjective view, I must add) and need more attention, more nursing, and must suffer more publicly. I don't know. In this era of political correctness and not caring to bruise any feelings about anything, should men not be granted a bit of support against a disease particular to men?

None of this is asked to diminish the dread and horror of a breast cancer diagnosis. Not at all. But when will society fall in behind men with prostate cancer? The treatments are unpleasant to discuss or contemplate. Cancer of any kind is an awful future to face, but many men face it too. Perhaps men are expected to be stoic and suffer in silence, but why should that be? Correctness demands an balanced approach.

Again, take nothing away from the pink cause. It's a good thing and promotes life-saving practices. But who is looking out for men?

Just wondering.