You’ve probably seen the “makeup-free selfie” memes all over social media lately, the latest in a seemingly never-ending stream of near-pointless “awareness” memes.
In case you didn’t know: the makeup-free selfies and earlier bra colour memes were meant to promote awareness of and bolster the fight against cancer. Riiiiight.
The colour posts apparently help to raise awareness of breast cancer. Women across Facebook suddenly started sharing the word via Messenger: “We are playing a game for Breast Cancer Awareness. Write the color of your bra as your status – just the color, nothing else!! Copy this and pass it on to all girls – NO MEN!! This will be fun to see how it spreads.”
How that raises awareness, I don’t know. It might have just been a bit of fun, but pointless fun. Secret messages don’t raise awareness of anything. Instead of “tell us the colour of your over-the-shoulder-boulder-holder”, how about a message that reminds women to get their mammograms, to self check every month, to make sure they know the early symptoms. And why ban the blokes from the “awareness campaign” when men can also get breast cancer? And sometimes it is the men in our lives who detect the lumps in the first place, when they are … well, you know: inspecting things.
The no-makeup selfie thing is being plugged as a way to beat cancer. Sigh, what a bloody crock.
The hashtag #beatcancer is as vague as it is stupid. Because hey, that’s how you fight an insidious disease like cancer: by not wearing your lippy.
It has nothing to do with beating cancer, it’s all about people wanting to post selfies while virtue signalling. How do you beat cancer? You donate to causes that research cancer treatments and cures, and you learn how to keep yourself safe. Taking a day off from the mascara doesn’t qualify.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with trying to raise awareness. But do it by, well, making people aware. Not with a vague hashtag and a filtered photo.