No surprise here. People are reacting ignorantly to Angelina Jolie's decision to have a double mastectomy to lower her 87% chance of developing breast cancer down to 5%.
First of all, it seems the majority of reactors to this news haven't bothered to straighten out their facts before reacting. Her breasts are not gone, which is what most people seem to be worried about – proving, of course, that compassion and respect for females and their bodies are not alive and well in our society – she had them rebuilt with implants, just like my mom did when she opted for a single mastectomy during her own breast cancer treatment.
Other ignorant commenters see Ms. Jolie’s cancer risk as godly justice for her supposed immoral life choices. But that’s another angle to tackle at another time. The commenters who have inspired me to write this are those who have chosen to interpret Angelina Jolie’s decision in radical feminist ways, saying she's vain for rebuilding her breasts and is sending the message that breasts are essential to our femininity. Well, then I challenge those grouchy feminist women to cut off their own breasts just for argument’s sake - but I digress. I, for one, will re-build my breasts if they become plagued by breast cancer. What ignorant people and radical feminists are ignoring about this whole thing are AngelinaJolie's children, whom she cited in her original article as being influencers of her decision to have the double mastectomy and keep it relatively private from them. Witnessing and living with a parent’s sudden change in appearance can be jarring to children, and may serve as a constant, unnecessary reminder that their mother was/is/could be at risk of dying.My brother was five or six when our mom got her mastectomy, and so the whole thing went over his head. I was twelve, almost thirteen, and so I already "knew" as a result of my genetic cynicism that people always died of cancer eventually (and she did, about four years later). I feared I'd have to take over the duties of being a mother to my little brother, and I often wept over not knowing how to do anything quite as well as my mother did. I felt like a failure as a result.
I became ashamed of my own burgeoning breasts when my mom returned from the hospital missing one of hers. I
felt that talking about them or wearing shirts that accentuated them would be a slap in the face to her. I felt bad about being healthy. My mom's missing breast was never a symbol of diminishing femininity, it was a symbolic reminder that she too would be missing from our lives in a few years time. When her breast was rebuilt, it restored some of the normalcy in our home; it allowed us all to move forward and heal and stop letting her cancer run our lives. If Ms. Jolie has nearly eliminated her risk of developing breast cancer and the breast implants are preserving the image her young children have of their healthy mother, and preserving the security they feel in their lives, then there is no need in their household for the type of heavy conversation that was had in my house during my mom’s struggle.I have faith that my mother did what felt best for our family, and no one but her is in any position to discuss how she should have conducted herself or handled her own personal thoughts while battling breast cancer. And I never once thought she was any less of a woman no matter what stage of reconstructive surgery she was in during the course of her disease. So, in regards to Angelina Jolie's decision about rebuilding her breasts after a preventive double mastectomy - it's a commendable one, and one of the many tough choices we too often have to make as women and, more importantly, as mothers. Decisions like this are rarely made with the entire world in mind; people who can't relate, can't understand, or are looking for Ms. Jolie and others in her situation to act as poster women for femininity or feminism, should stop embarrassing the human race by commenting on matters that are well above their heads.
