Selfish Selfie

The no make-up selfie has had us talking for several reasons; sorry, did I say talking? Silly me: I meant indignantly shouting. 'Oi: You without make-up! Stop being so big headed, selfish, vain!' Yeah, go on, stop it. As if your bare face will cure cancer. Bitch. Why don't you do something useful with your life like get a science degree, join a laboratory and then chain yourself to your station until you've cured cancer. Jeez, you're so selfish: If you really cared...

It's shocking how many people in the UK appear not to have a grasp of the English language. No; no: sit back down BNP, this isn't about immigrants, it's about English speaking nationals. Now we've known for a while that huge swathes of society cannot speak their own language. Akse you're self wat its Ima saying. Akse me nething at aaaallll. But alongside the people filling our social media timelines with poor grammar and made up words, there's a whole bunch of people who've never heard of the word awareness before.

Shall we get the dictionary out?
Awareness: Having knowledge of: understanding of: appreciation of: familiarity with.

Now we've cleared that up, let's look at the first accusation that was bouncing around Facebook last week. 'What use is a picture, why don't you just donate?' Bitch. Well sure, but remember that word 'awareness' again? Well, remember how we talked about what it meant? Well see, this picture thing was started by a charity to raise 'awareness'. Want to know what they wanted to make us 'aware' of? Well gather round, this is the good bit. You see, breast cancer, like most cancers, is best caught early. Do you know how to find early signs? Well, you grope yourself whilst looking in a mirror. Go on ladies, have a fumble. That's what they wanted to remind us to do: have a little fumble. Believe it or not, this cancer can be apparent before a lump forms. But guess what, all this talk of cancer and tits seems to have made everyone feel 'donaty' because donations have increased. Probably a case of men sticking their hands down their trousers: looking for a fumble of their own but finding a pound or two. We know how the media keeps telling us how men love to 'pay' for it. And pay they did. Brilliant. And so did the women, just as soon as they'd put their make-up back on.

Complaint number two: 'I still don't see how you without make-up will cure cancer.' Oh okay, so complaint two is complaint one only now they know we're donating too, they have to bemoan the fact that none of us are scientists actively working on a cure. Okay, sure. And you moaning about me raising awareness in part of a breast cancer campaign is curing cancer? Fucking hell. Why didn't scientists figure that out earlier? 

Complaint number three: 'It's just vanity.' Is it? Really? Funny that; I've seen a lot of women I know that hate not wearing make-up in public 'out' themselves. It's actually quite a brave thing for some people. Now let's just take a minute to look at that, because guess what, that right there is why a no make-up selfie was relevant to a breast cancer awareness campaign. It's unfair to say that men aren't judged on their appearance, they certainly are. But we all know women are especially judged on how they look; most vociferously by other women. Breast cancer is a cancer that can very obviously change a woman's appearance. The loss of a breast or two can be a hugely emotional thing for a woman. Of course, we choose life but that doesn't make the impact of this on our personal image of ourselves any less emotional. So women coming together, taking their make-up off and saying, I take off all that makes me a 'woman' in order to remind women to check their breasts, is actually a very relevant thing to do. It is women saying we're in this together. And let's not forget often the harshest critics of women are women. In fact the only people I've seen complain about the no make-up selfies are women.  

Now I get it, moaning about Facebook and Twitter is the 'faire du jour'. Bitches be like, all up in my face yo. Haters gonna hate. "I don't remember running round my neighbour’s house with a picture of my dinner before Facebook". Blah, blah, blah. I hate the 'Like equals one prayer' shit as much as the next person. But if a marketing person at a charity comes up with an engaging campaign that spreads like wild fire and allows women (or men) to unmask (or in the male case, mask themselves) in the name of awareness for a cancer that affects too many people, then I'm in. If that campaign gets people talking (for talking, read arguing) about that cancer, then I am in. If that campaign allows women to say, we're beautiful with or without make-up, with or without breasts, with or without hair, then I am in. And if that campaign gains donations to cancer research or breast cancer care, or testicular cancer, or lung cancer, then I am in. 

No, I'm not curing cancer. I can't cure cancer. But I can stand with women who have it, hold someone’s hand whilst going through chemo, take my make-up off and say, we're beautiful exactly as we are, donate money and write a blog explaining why the people moaning are bloody idiots. And, I can check my breasts for signs of cancer. Thanks to the increase of posts about how to check them, I now have a better idea of what it is I am looking for. 

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