The news of Angelina Jolie’s preventive double mastectomy has been unavoidable for all but hermits. I don’t have much to say, but I do have a little bit to pass along.
First, a meditation from a breast-feeding academic at Valparaiso University. Excerpts:
Society in the United States already has a hard time with the God-given nourishing function of the female breast. Mothers … buy “Hooter Hiders” and cover themselves in order to not offend others or raise eyebrows …
Twenty-first century “lactivists” stage nurse-in protests when businesses like Victoria’s Secret (2006) and Hollister (2013) ask nursing mothers to refrain from nursing in public. Breasts are oversexualized to the point that the mainstream has difficulty accepting breasts as blessings.
Yet even as Angelina Jolie has elected a preventative double mastectomy, many God-given, natural means of breast cancer risk reduction already exist. Perhaps these methods of prevention are time-consuming, counter-cultural, and have an effect on one’s career. But a woman’s health is worth protecting …
Here are some steps that are less drastic and dramatic, and which have allowed me to enjoy the blessings of being a woman in today’s world. I practice extended breastfeeding to about three years with each of my children. I have never taken the Pill. We eat a diet that is strong on vegetables and we aim for hormone-free foods. We garden and grow pesticide-free foods. When we can afford it, during winter, we buy foods that are hormone- and pesticide-free. We have reduced our sugar and dairy consumption. We get vitamin D through vitamins and sunshine. For calcium, we eat almonds and bok choy. We avoid the use of plastic in the kitchen by using glass storage containers rather than risking the possible breakdown of bisphenol A (BPA), which is linked to cancer.
Having a baby before age thirty may be hard on a woman’s career, but it is a healthy choice. I am committed to being a mother, to not having abortions. My first child was born when I was twenty-five years old, and I gave birth three times during graduate school. Those births were not always met with welcome by those close to me, but God called me to be a mother and I have welcomed the opportunity with open arms. These are some ways I am trying to prevent breast cancer in my body and in my children.
Second, from the (likely) world’s only Anglophone Islamic-convert, natural law folksinger, Richard Thompson, the inimitable “Dear Janet Jackson” (YouTube) and a transcription thereof so bad I was embarrassed to clip it and didn’t want to take the time to edit it.
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“The remarks made in this essay do not represent scholarly research. They are intended as topical stimulations for conversation among intelligent and informed people.” (Gerhart Niemeyer)
Tipsy Teetotaler ن 