Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Welcome to Cancerland”

Barbara Ehrenreich, an American feminist who was diagnosed with breast cancer, gives her brutally honest opinion on how corrupt the idea of breast cancer awareness has gotten in her essay “Welcome to Cancerland.” Once Ehrenreich was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was motivated to read up more about the illness. What she found online was endless blogs, sites, and groups dedicated to helping calm the nerves of other patients. Ehrenreich noticed an overall positive mood that people promoted; as she got deeper into her treatment she was directed towards a lot of support groups and came across countless programs that worked with companies who were advocating breast cancer awareness. Ehrenreich discusses how this is more of a way for people and corporations to help women without being a feminist. But what they fail to address is what Ehrenreich describes as the real issues; she believes that the focus of this “awareness” should be on the causes of breast cancer, like environmental effects, and on the problems with detection and treatment of cancer. Breast Cancer awareness has strayed from its initial purpose and has turned into a corporation’s way of milking people’s money.

Ehrenreich brings up very valid points throughout her essay, but for me it was not effective in making me want to believe her. Logically it makes a lot of sense; she discusses how some programs are “an inefficient way of raising money” and how “the benefits of routine mammography ‘are not well established.’” She makes it very evident that there are issues that need to be solved; there needs to be a more efficient way of raising money that will go straight to the American Cancer Society, and the science behind mammography needs to be solidified. Even though she incorporates these issues into her argument, she develops a very angry tone when discussing her objections. She claims that the groups of optimistic and upbeat survivors are “not my sisterhood,” and that “what sustained me through the ‘treatments’ is a purifying rage, a resolve, framed in the sleepless nights of chemotherapy.” She leaves the reader with a lasting impression when she exclaims that “I will not go into that last good night with a teddy bear tucked under my arm.” Ehrenreich gives off a very bad attitude that is not appealing to readers. She just seems bitter towards people that are actually trying to help and support her. She makes the reader feel bad, and almost guilty, that they ever thought that they were being supportive by helping raise money and awareness. She should direct her energy and frustration on convincing people to work towards a better understanding of what the intentions are of breast cancer awareness. There’s no sense in putting people and optimism down, especially those who are also struggling, just because she doesn’t agree with it. She might as well appreciate their positive attitude, and use that positivity to help readers realize what other wonderful actions, and more beneficial actions, they can take to help.

Barbara Smuts on Male Aggression

Barbara Smuts makes a connection between aggressive behavior of primates and humans in her essay, “Apes of Wrath.” Smuts shares her story of one of her first encounters with nonhuman animal violence; she witnessed a male chimpanzee attack a female chimp that was in the early stage of estrus, which is when they are fertile and sexually receptive. Over many years, Smuts saw many other similar attacks among other animals as well. Smuts eventually began to believe “that a deeper understanding of male aggressive against females in other species can help us understand its counterpart in our own.” Through experiments of animal aggression, Smuts concluded that this behavior was a scare tactic that males used to make the females surrender and to establish ownership of females. Smuts believes that social relationships contribute to male aggression towards females. Females who join forces with other females tend to face less aggression than females who don’t. Females who form alliances with males may face protection against other males, but they are more likely to face violence or control under the male they befriended. Smuts then proceeds to compare these patterns of behavior to humans. She focuses on the importance of a strong female following and the social unacceptability of violence against women.

Smuts began her essay with an anecdote about a trip she made when she was in “Gombe National Park in Tanzania, trying to keep up with an energetic young female chimpanzee.” The story grabs the reader’s attention as well as acts as a seamless introduction into specific primate behavior that relates to human behavior. She then follows this up with loads of facts to support her claim of there being a correlation between primates and humans. Since Smuts is a scientist herself, she uses some information from her own experience and some from other experiments. These facts help Smuts prove to the reader that behavior among nonhuman animals is very similar to the male aggression seen in humans. Also the fact that Smuts is a scientist makes her more credible; the reader is more likely to believe what she says if the author has the education in that specific field.

The one thing about this essay that got me thinking was whether or not this essay is still relevant. This essay was published almost twenty years ago and so it’s hard to judge if her discussion about how men treat women is still relevant to present day. But at the same time, it could have to do with where I grew up. I didn’t grow up in a society where male aggression is normal or acceptable behavior. And I noticed that Smuts discusses the cultures of other places in the world other than the United States, including “South American Yanomamo…people of the Central African Republic…a community in Belize…Bosnia…China and northern India.” So it might be still relevant when looked at from a global perspective. It’s hard to determine how this applies to other countries twenty years later.