I was watching the news this morning just to see what the road conditions would be since we have a 2-hr delay at work today.
While waiting for traffic and weather, they started talking about a bikini snowmobile race. The news anchors (both male and female) thought it was such a cute, funny idea. I’m sorry, but I absolutely disagree.
I wrote a previous post that was similar to this one (see it here: https://peppermintfrostblog.wordpress.com/2014/11/15/why-do-we-only-support-breast-cancer/).
In this post, I talked about all of the breast cancer awareness products:
1. “Save the ta-tas” bumper stickers, shirts, you name it. Because “ta-tas” is how I’d like someone to refer to my breasts. Right. In most scenarios, women would be disgusted by a man calling her breasts “ta-tas,” but throw on the pink label and suddenly it’s okay.
2. “I love boobies” bracelets, shirts, etc. Again, add the pink ribbon and nobody can complain about the language.
3. October 13th – National No-Bra day. Maybe there’s something more to this one than I understand. But how does my not wearing a bra help fight breast cancer in any way? Sure, the men are quick to jump onto this bandwagon. They would love to see all of us without bras on in order to “support cancer.” But if I ever actually did this, I would be objectifying myself as a woman rather than lifting up the women who are suffering. I can assure you that I will never support National No-Bra Day. It’s not that I don’t support cancer; it’s that I have this thing called self-respect.
Unfortunately, now there’s another item I must add:
4. Bikini snowmobile races. There’s a group called the Radar Racers and they have an annual bikini snowmobile run in St. Germain Wisconsin. Here’s the video:
The girl who speaks first jokes about how she can suck it up being cold to raise money for breast cancer. Then she even admits how many of the men come out just to watch the girls in bikinis. If you want to ride a snowmobile in your bikini that’s one thing, but actually having an event where this is what they have decided will raise the most money for breast cancer is really sad.
They race on 660 feet of snow track. I was just watching the X Games the other day. The men who ride the snowmobiles wear huge, thick jumpsuits to keep them protected. Obviously it’s a bit more intense since they’re going off jumps, but still, if any of these women fall off of their snowmobiles or if there’s ever an accident, they will absolutely be destroyed since there’s barely any protection on their bodies other than a helmet.
Regular female snowmobile rider:
Bikini rider:
Apparently, watching women race snowmobiles isn’t that enticing. But put them in bikinis and of course there are spectators. That’s because you’ve lowered them to nothing more than objects. For the men in the audience, it’s probably similar to going to a strip club, watching them remove their coats and layers when they’re about to ride, and then proceeding to race in itty bitty bikinis.
How can people really believe that it’s ultimately for the good of breast cancer? What’s next? We might as well put some breast cancer jars in strip clubs to raise money there. Prostitution in return for money for breast cancer awareness? Sure. Obviously I’m being hyperbolic, but these silly events that objectify women while covering that up by saying it’s all about breast cancer awareness simply drive me insane. No, you’re still just objectifying women. Putting the “breast cancer” stamp on it doesn’t change the situation. Our society has still not yet progressed enough to see women as anything other than boobs, butts, and objects of sexual gratification.
Lots of men deal with testicular cancer. So what should be done to help them? Make “I love weiners” bracelets? You couldn’t say “I love penis.” That’s a bit too extreme. So we need a silly nickname. For women we have “I love boobies,” so maybe “I love wee-wees.” Yep – let’s put that on a bracelet. And T-shirts. And bumper stickers. Then we have the “Save the ta-tas” gear. We can change that to “Save the ballsacks.” Yea. I’m sure girls will all go out to buy those t-shirts to support testicular cancer.
Then we’ll have the g-string snowmobile race for the men since all of the ladies will come out to watch that. We’re not objectifying the men; it’s just the easiest way to quickly raise money. Put them in a thong, bring in a crowd, and get some money raised.
It’s all just insane. And the fact that people view all of these breast cancer campaigns as normal is the worst part. We need to have higher standards. I absolutely believe in raising money for cancer awareness (though I wish we focused on all cancers rather than only breast cancer), but I don’t believe in lowering my standards to do so. You want me to buy pink products for breast cancer? Fine. But ask me to go without a bra for a day or put on a bikini and ride a snowmobile? No thanks.
Peppermintfrost 