How Pink Came To Be A Symbol Of Fighters Hope And Health
Colored ribbons were first used in 1979 when the wife of a hostage taken in Iran would tie yellow ribbons around the trees in her front yard. This signaled her desire to see her husband come home again.
Eleven years later the yellow ribbon became a symbol for the support of military personnel during the gulf war. It didnt take time for the power of color to gain traction, red ribbons soon became a symbol for the fight against AIDS.
With color ribbons becoming powerful symbols breast cancer awareness followed suit. You should know that the first breast cancer awareness ribbon wasnt pink but light peach in color.
In 1991 Charlotte Haley , a grassroots activist and cancer survivor was trying to raise awareness about the lack of federal funding for cancer prevention. Ms. Haley sent out thousands of cards with a peach ribbon attached resulting in her message reaching too many people to be ignored.
It would be Susan G Komen through her Breast Cancer Foundation who would be the first activist to incorporate pink in her campaign. She did this by having pink visors handed to runners in her Race for the Cure.
With the success colored ribbons had seen for the gulf war and the fight against AIDS, Pink ribbons were handed out during their New York City race. Though Ms. Komen was the first to use the pink ribbon she wasnt the one to popularize this powerful symbol.
History Art And Fashion
The color pink has been described in literature since ancient times. In the Odyssey, written in approximately 800;BCE, Homer wrote “Then, when the child of morning, rosy-fingered dawn appeared…” Roman poets also described the color. Roseus is the Latin word meaning “rosy” or “pink.” Lucretius used the word to describe the dawn in his epic poemOn the Nature of Things .
Pink was not a common color in the fashion of the Middle Ages; nobles usually preferred brighter reds, such as crimson. However, it did appear in women’s fashion, and in religious art. In the 13th and 14th century, in works by Cimabue and Duccio, the Christ child was sometimes portrayed dressed in pink, the color associated with the body of Christ.
In the high Renaissance painting the Madonna of the Pinks by Raphael, the Christ child is presenting a pink flower to the Virgin Mary. The pink was a symbol of marriage, showing a spiritual marriage between the mother and child.
Using Colored Ribbons As Symbols For Different Causes Was Not New
We had red for AIDS, and yellow to show support for Armed forces. Both these symbols had been around and gained popularity. In fact, the New York Times named 1992 the year of the ribbon.
Just a refresher on that story: In 1979, Penny Laingen, wife of a hostage taken in Iran, was inspired by the song to tie yellow ribbons around the trees in her front yard. The ribbons signaled her desire to see her husband home again and the yellow ribbon became a message, springing up across the country in solidarity. That was step one.
Step two occurred 11 years later, when AIDS activists looked at the yellow ribbons that had become resurrected for soldiers fighting the Gulf War and turned a ribbon bright red, for people dying of AIDS.
The groundwork was laid for a ribbon. The story about the pink ribbon is lengthy and not without some controversy, so Ill do my best to give you the essence of it.
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Breast Cancer Awareness Products
This category includes products featuring the Pink Ribbon representing Breast Cancer Awareness.; October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.; Choose Hope offers a wide variety of Breast Cancer support and awareness products including bracelets, wristbands, jewelry, pins, apparel, hats and many more.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in American women, except for skin cancers. Currently, 12% of women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer sometime in her life.
About 268,600 cases of invasive breast cancer and another 62,900 cases of non-invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year. About 2,600 men will be diagnosed this year with invasive breast cancer.
All statistical info from the American Cancer Society website
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What Is The Most Anxious Color
The Five Colors of the Anxiety Rainbow
- Red. This is the worst of the worst, the type of anxiety that makes you feel like youre at deaths door.
- Orange. Fear plays a big role in this anxiety as well, but unlike red, orange is usually rooted in something stressful that is really happening in your life.
- Yellow.
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What Happened One Week Later
Penney, heard about a woman named Charlotte Haley, a 68 year old woman who had battled breast cancer and lost family members to the disease, and was promoting a peach-colored ribbon for breast cancer.
So they asked their lawyers what to do and they said, Come up with another color. ;So they chose pink.
Which Day Do You Wear Pink
This years Real Kids Wear Pink Day is Friday, . Kids can make a difference in the fight against cancer in our own community! In 2021 our goal is to continue to grow the program within more schools and have even more kids joining us in celebrating the official Real Kids Wear Pink Day on October 22nd!
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The Way It Goes Is The Ribbon Color Could Have/should Have Been Peach What
The presence of a pink ribbon already existed when the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation gave out pink ribbons to every participant in the 1991 fall race. But it hadnt become a national symbol.
It needed something bigger. In 1991 ;Self magazine collaborated on the edition with Estee Lauders senior corporate vice president . It was a hit. And then, for the 1992 edition, the Self magazine editor in chief, Alexander Penny had a flash she would create a special ribbon and enlist the cosmetics giant to distribute it in NYC stores.
Evelyn Lauder promised to put the ribbon on cosmetics counters across the country.
How Pink Became The Color Of Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a cause thats close to our hearts here at Square Cow Movers. Donna Lombard, mom of one of the owners and wife of another owner is a breast cancer survivor that fully understands how the support of so many people can be a life changer. The whole Square Cow Movers family is proud to wear pink during October, and were happy to share the story of how pink came to be the color of hope.
How Pink Became the Symbol of Hope and Health
Today the color pink, especially pink ribbons, is a strong symbol of breast cancer awareness and the fight to find a cure against the disease. It is used all around the globe, bringing emphasis to the cause across countries, cultures and languages.
Ribbons became popular as a symbol of support in the 1990s. It was then that the yellow ribbon became a sign of support for the military during the Gulf War. Soon after a red ribbon became the symbol of passion and hope in the fight against AIDS. These simple pins spoke volumes to people across the world cementing their place in activism and awareness for all causes.
Its worth noting that the first breast cancer ribbon wasnt actually pink. It was a light peach color. In 1991 Charlotte Haley was a grassroots activist and breast cancer survivor that was trying to raise awareness about the lack of federal funding for cancer prevention. She sent out thousands of cards with the peach ribbons attached, and her message ended up striking a cord.
What the Color Pink Represents
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Breast Cancer Awareness Month: How Did The Pink Ribbon Come To Symbolise Breast Cancer And The Story Behind The Colour In 1986 The First Breast Cancer Awareness Month Was Held In October And The Pink Ribbon Became An International Symbol In 1991
Many of us are aware about the colour pink being an international symbol of breast cancer awareness. Every October, people all around the world sport the colour to support the breast cancer awareness month. It could be in the form of pink; ribbons, pink lapel pins or by simply wearing the colour. But how did the colour pink become a symbol for breast cancer awareness? The common notion would be the association of the colour with femininity but there is more to the pink coloured ribbon.
According to United Breast Cancer Foundation, the use of ribbons for a cause began in the;nineteenth century. During those days, women were often seen wearing or tying yellow ribbons to trees to remember their loved ones in the military. The concept gained popularity in America when, in;1979, Penny Laingen, wife of a man held prisoner during the Iranian hostage crises, tied yellow ribbons on trees outside her home to display silent support for her husband and other hostages. A decade later, an activist art group Visual AIDS launched the Red Ribbon at the;45th Annual Tony Awards in 1991. They used a bright red ribbon, looped it up and pinned it on the chest of actor;Jeremy Irons.
What Illness Does The Color Purple Stand For
The color PURPLE represents Alzheimers Disease, Animal Abuse, Cancer Survivors, Chiari Malformation, Crohns Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Domestic Violence, Epilepsy, Fibromyalgia, General Cancer, Hodgkins Lymphoma or Hodgkins Disease, Lupus, Pancreatic Cancer, Relay for Life, Rett Syndrome, Sarcoidosis, Seizure
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Make A Pink Breast Cancer Ribbon Lapel Pin
The pink ribbon lapel pin has become a powerful symbol to increase awareness about breast cancer, and it’s easy to make for yourself and your friends.
During Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October and throughout the yearpeople wear pink ribbons to honor survivors, remember those lost to the disease, and to support the progress we are making together to defeat breast cancer.
We encourage you to wear a pink ribbon throughout the month of October and join us in the fight against breast cancer.
Follow the printable directions below to make your own pink ribbon lapel pin; no sewing required.
Finished size: 1½” by 5/8″.
You will need:
- Needle and small length of pink thread
Options to attach to a lapel:
- The small safety pin used above
- Double stick tape
Directions:
Common Associations And Popularity
According to public opinion surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most associated with charm, politeness, sensitivity, tenderness, sweetness, softness, childhood, the feminine, and the romantic. Although it did not have any strong negative associations in these surveys, few respondents chose pink as their favorite color. Pink was the favorite color of only two-percent of respondents, compared with forty-five-percent who chose blue. Pink was the least-favorite color of seventeen percent of respondents; the only color more disliked was brown, with twenty percent. There was a notable difference between men and women; three percent of women chose pink as their favorite color, compared with less than one percent of men. Many of the men surveyed were unable to even identify pink correctly, confusing it with mauve. Pink was also more popular with older people than younger; twenty-five percent of women under twenty-five called pink their least favorite color, compared with only eight percent of women over fifty. Twenty-nine percent of men under the age of twenty-five said pink was their least favorite color, compared with eight percent of men over fifty.
In Japan, pink is the color most commonly associated with springtime due to the blooming cherry blossoms. This is different from surveys in the United States and Europe where green is the color most associated with springtime.
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Who Is Likely To Breast Cancer
Being a woman and getting older are the main risk factors for breast cancer. Studies have shown that your risk for breast cancer is due to a combination of factors. The main factors that influence your risk include being a woman and getting older. Most breast cancers are found in women who are 50 years old or older.
Obscuring The Real Issue With The Rainbow Addition To Pink
Instead of reallocating its assets to direct more to research, Komen decided to make a virtue of its division of funds by spinning the story of four pillars to replace for the cure in its tagline. That way it makes it’s messaging align with its spending, which is not really all about ending cancer as it has claimed but about offering a variety of resources, including what it has become known for in defining its own standards for community for women who embrace pink ribbon culture.;
In her book,; Sulike also examines the mythology of the “she-ro” who must rise above her suffering according to the script tied with a pink ribbon. This approach has excluded many women, as Lara Huffman, a breast cancer survivor wrote in Why I Am Anti-Komen
Would people like Huffman and;Sikka become supporters of Komen with the makeover? Not very likely.;
Certainly, Karuna Jaggar, Executive Director of Think Before You Pink is not. As she noted in a blog entitled Before You Walk for Breast Cancer,; the problem with the way the organization operates is not its color choice itself:;
That’s something to think about when we feel we’ve done our part in contributing to a cure by just choosing the pink-labeled product over the standard one without really thinking about what that does and does not accomplish in the battle against cancer.
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The Myth Of Salvation Through Mammograms
The repeated mantra, Early detection saves lives in making yearly mammograms the key to breast cancer survival has been an integral part of the positive spin on ending breast cancer in pink ribbon culture, but it is far from a cure or even of benefit for all women.
As Sulike explains in the book:;”Screening mammography is largely responsible for the ever-increasing diagnoses of stage 0 breast cancers, the types that are not technically breast cancers at all.
Such results stack the deck for the claim that early detection saves lives when the lives “saved” were never in danger in the first place. In addition to false positives, mammograms can yield false negatives, meaning that the cancer that is there will not be detected.
In the book, she quotes an article that appeared in 2009, “Chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society Dr. Otis Brawley said: ‘I’m admitting that American medicine has overpromised when it comes to screening. The advantages to screening have been exaggerated.”;
The more research done into the impact of mammograms, the more they are revealed to be a mixed-bag at best with the benefits possibly outweighed by the risks involved.
In 2014, the British Medical Journal published a;twenty-five-year follow-up;for breast cancer incidence and mortality of the Canadian National Breast Screening Study;that challenged the conventional wisdom still in practice by many gynecologists today of pushing for annual mammograms in all women over 40.
Understanding Pink Ribbon Culture And Its Effects
Theres an entire book on pink ribbon culture called;Pink Ribbon Blues: How Breast Cancer Culture Undermines Women’s Health. The author is; Gayle A Sulike, PhD, a medical sociologist and 2008 Fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities for her work on breast cancer culture.
Each chapter is followed by pages of footnotes that point out the dark side behind the pink ribbon. She points out very little true progress has been made in the battle against breast cancer, for all the fanfare of pink products, awareness, and the popularity of donning pink or coloring products pink all in the name of supporting the cause.
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What Age Does Breast Cancer Affect
Your risk for breast cancer increases as you age. About 80% of women diagnosed with breast cancer each year are ages 45 or older, and about 43% are ages 65 or above. Consider this: In women ages 40 to 50, there is a one in 68 risk of developing breast cancer. From ages 50 to 60, that risk increases to one in 42.
What Is The Color Of Malignant Breast Masses
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This Cancer Ribbon Is Not Pink
In 2009, October 13 was established as the first annual Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Metastatic breast cancer or MBC is disease that has spread to other organs, usually the liver, lungs, brain or bones. More than 154,000 women in the U.S. are living with metastatic breast cancer. It can affect men too, but its rare. While there is no cure for MBC, treatments can slow the cancers growth and spread. These treatments can extend a patients life, and also improve quality of life. Today, many MBC patients live 10 years or more after their diagnosis.
Created by SELF magazine in 1992, the widely recognized pink ribbon is a symbol that celebrates breast cancer survivors. Unfortunately, there is no surviving or beating MBC. More funding for research to develop additional life-extending treatments is urgently needed. A tri-colored ribbon designed by the nonprofit support and advocacy group Metavivor supports that goal while also supporting patients living with MBC.
The ribbon includes green, which represents the triumph of spring over winter and life over death. Teal symbolizes healing and spirituality. A thin pink overlay signifies that metastatic cancer started in the breast. Metavivor is behind a new campaign called #LightUpMBC. Today, October 13th, more than 115 iconic landmarks around the world will be lit in green, pink and teal, symbolizing the more than 115 people who die from MBC every day.