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Tag: mastectomy

  • Mastectomy Dance Video Goes Viral

    Mastectomy Dance Video Goes Viral

    Most people would be terrified before undergoing surgery, but not Dr. Deborah Cohan. She held a dance party there in the operating room right before she was scheduled to go under the knife at the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center at Mount Zion.

    Cohan was diagnosed with breast cancer and was getting ready to have a double mastectomy. How did she talk the team of doctors and nurses to dance with her? Well, she is also affiliated with the hospital. Cohan is an OB-GYN who specializes in the treatment of pregnant women with HIV.

    Not only did she convince the surgical staff to dance with her to Beyoncé’s “Get Me Bodied”, she had an entire dance mob planned and received pictures and videos from friends, family, and complete strangers dancing along with her. On her Caring Bridge journal, she asked everyone to participate saying, “My fantasy is for you to play the song and dance wherever you happen to be (in the kitchen, the carwash, subway platform [Dan!], classroom, Labor and Delivery unit, wherever!) — ideally at 7:30am but really anytime Tuesday. It would be extra remarkable if you could send me a photo (or, better yet, a short video segment) of you dancing. I have visions of a healing video montage. Nothing brings me greater joy than catalyzing others to dance, move, be in their bodies. Are you with me people?”

    Cohan says she was less nervous about how the surgery would go than the dance mob. “I was more nervous about how the flash mob was going to go than how the surgery was going to go,” she said. The six-minute video was posted on YouTube and has already received over 250,000 views.

    Thousands of people have commented on her story and say that she is truly an inspiration. One viewer wrote: “Deborah- the strength and vitality you have is an inspiration to us all- to get out there and “be” in our bodies and to enjoy it- and personally – girl – you have some killer moves- I wish you love,peace and light on your journey of recovering! You got this-” Another viewer said: “What a gift you are to this world. So grateful for your willingness to share your experience. You are a beautiful spirit and your children are so blessed. Looking forward to a follow up video far, far in the future when you’re a very old woman; I bet you’ll still have the moves! Speedy recovery and many thanks.”

    Cohan was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday and is hoping for a speedy recovery so she can get back to the dance floor.

    Image via Caringbridge.org

  • Facebook Allows Mastectomy Photos Following Public Outcry, Petition

    Facebook has a breast phobia. Anyone who’s attempted to post art, breastfeeding photographs, and even photos that resemble breasts but are not actually breasts, only to have them removed, know this.

    We’ve covered Facebook’s wonky content-removal system plenty of times. Here’s how the script usually reads: Someone posts a photo on Facebook that depicts breasts in a non-pornographic setting; Facebook yanks the photo; People protest; Facebook reinstates the photo, saying that it was removed in error.

    Considering Facebook has billions upon billions of pieces of content to moderate at all times and that they outsource a lot of it, it’s inevitable that they’re going to make some mistakes. That’s not an excuse for Facebook’s content-removal screwups, mind you, just an explanation.

    This latest episode in the series is a bit different, however. A public outcry, complete with a successful petition, not only forced Facebook to backtrack on the content-removal, but also forced them to clarify a specific policy geared toward a specific type of photo:

    The post-mastectomy photo.

    Here’s the story. It all begins with a Facebook page for The SCAR Project, an alternative breast cancer awareness initiative that “puts a raw, unflinching face on early onset breast cancer” with a series of large-scale portraits of young cancer survivors.

    “Breast Cancer Is Not A Pink Ribbon,” they say.

    The Facebook page, unsurprisingly, contains plenty of these portraits featuring nude women, post-mastectomy. A few weeks ago, Facebook began removing many of these photos, much to the chagrin of the project’s admins. They initiated an online petition on Change.org that has received over 21,000 signatures.

    This prompted Facebook to clarify their position on mastectomy photos – Yes, they allow them. Here’s what Facebook has to say in a new Help Center post:

    Yes. We agree that undergoing a mastectomy is a life-changing experience and that sharing photos can help raise awareness about breast cancer and support the men and women facing a diagnosis, undergoing treatment, or living with the scars of cancer. The vast majority of these kinds of photos are compliant with our policies.

    However, photos with fully exposed breasts, particularly if they’re unaffected by surgery, do violate Facebook’s Terms. These policies are based on the same standards which apply to television and print media, and that govern sites with a significant number of young people.

    Another statement from Facebook outlines what I said before – that Facebook sometimes screws up. Plain and simple.

    “We have long allowed mastectomy photos to be shared on Facebook, as well as educational and scientific photos of the human body and photos of women breastfeeding,” Facebook said in a prepared statement. “We only review or remove photos after they have been reported to us by people who see the images in their News Feeds or otherwise discover them. On occasion, we may remove a photo showing mastectomy scarring either by mistake, as our teams review millions of pieces of content daily, or because a photo has violated our terms for other reasons.”

    Facebook’s content moderation system is always going to be a headache. It’s the nature of the beast. But small movements like this show that if you bring it to their attention and drive enough support, they’ll most likely listen.