Silly Facebook Statuses.

Today, I received one of these messages on Facebook (I'm sure you'll recognize the kind...) -

Hi Beautiful Ladies, So here is the time of year again when we try to raise awareness for breast cancer through a game. It's very easy and I would like all of you to participate. Two years ago we had to write the color of our underwear on our wall. Men wondered for days at what was going on with random colors on our walls. This year we make references to your love life status. Do not answer to this message just post the corresponding word on your wall AND send this message privately to all the girls in your contact list!!!!!! BLUEBERRY = single; PINEAPPLE = it's complicated; RASPBERRY = I can't / don't want to commit; APPLE= engaged; CHERRY= in a relationship; BANANA=married; AVOCADO= I'm the better half; STRAWBERRY= can't find Mr. Right LEMON = want to be single RAISIN = want to get married to my partner. Last time the underwear game was mentioned on tv, let's see if we get there with this one !!!!! Copy and paste this message into a NEW message and send to all your girly friends - then update your status with your answer ONLY. If you're a girl with a Facebook account, I'm sure you will have received something similar to this - last year it was the theme of bras which we will come onto later - and it makes me question what people's motives to actually post and share something like that are. The question is - do silly Facebook statuses like this actually raise awareness for the cause that they're trying to? And the answer is, of course, no. It turns the deadly serious cause, whichever one it may be, into a joke. For example, this one above is about Breast Cancer. First of all, I'd like to ask, who isn't aware that Breast Cancer exists? We are constantly bombarded in the media with things reminding us to check for lumps, go for mammograms and so on. Secondly, I'd like to point out that this Facebook status last year actually excluded victims of Breast Cancer, who are of course the main people to consider during these types of things. In 2012, the theme to post to 'raise awareness' for Breast Cancer was the colour of your bra. There must have been so many women who had undergone surgery to have their breasts removed who were reading this on Facebook and feeling excluded, when it was actually about them. Susan Niebur, a survivor of Breast Cancer who had both breasts removed, wrote a blog about her opinion on it in which she said things like... "Breast Cancer survivors couldn't participate... And were reminded that we didn't need bras any more." Her blog on the matter was so upsetting that it choked me up. You can read the full thing here. So not only is it a pointless exercise which doesn't do as it intended (raise awareness) and turns a very serious matter into a 'joke' or a 'game', but it also leaves Breast Cancer survivors feeling isolated. It's a constant reminder for them that they can't join in and that they're different from most of the women. A bra is such a feminine item to wear and they have no reason to wear one any more. If people want to raise awareness for causes such as Breast Cancer, silly Facebook statuses are really not the way forward. People should focus more on raising money for treatment towards these suffering patients. Raising money for it raises awareness at the same time, and it means that at the end of it, you have a lump sum to give to a chosen charity and possibly help to save someone's life. Next time you receive a message like this, think about what it does to the people who are suffering with those kind of illnesses. Do not turn them into a game or joke. Clare (twitter / instagram) xxx