Do you think too much attention is place on breast cancer an woman medical conditions?

An not enough about mens issues like prostate cancer or heart disease. I always see fund raiser an commercials about whats the number 1 killer of women. An its apparently dozen of #1 killers out there. But, hardly any notice to heart disease for men an prostate cancer.

serindip - no man looks forward to haveing his prostate examined. Well there is a group that like it but most find it unappealing.

I have volunteered for the cancer society for the past 7 years after my parents passed away, and I have to say because breast cancer is the big money maker it gets all the coverage and funding. If you do not work for Strides it is hard to get any support from them. Maybe this is just our local chapter here but it is very frustrating.

The survival rate for breast cancer is huge now thanks to early detection, education and changing the culture of the stigma of women having breast cancer.

It is time to give other cancer patients the same funding, publicity and help women with breast cancer receive. I was walking through the supermaket a few days ago and my girlfriend and I were talking about how it seemed every other product had a pink ribbon on it. What about the others?

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and prostate cancer the most common among men. If you look at the proportion of charities and medical funding each of them receive it's not hard to spot an inequality in how poorly men and men's cancers are represented, researched, funded, and promoted. This is a BIG issue for men as almost as many men suffer from prostate cancer as women do breast cancer.

On a side note - Cancer research is very skewed anyway. As a society we should not be trying to cure cancer we should be trying to identify it earlier and stop it from becoming life threatening. 89% of cancer research funding is spent on treating and researching stage 3 and 4 cancers (stages that are at the highest risk). That's a pathetic 11% spent on preventing cancer from growing in the first place. We need to totally switch this around. If we did then we wouldn't have to treat people with higher stages of cancer because it would hopefully never get to that stage.

No I don't (in answer to your headed question). I think that the amont of attention brough to womens diseases is till not enough as they are not cured yet.
I also believe that mens diseases do not get the publicity, funding and research they deserve in a comparrable nature to womens illnesses. I just wanted to make it clear that the extra funding and highlighting of mens illnesses should not come at the expense of fighting womens illness but in addition to it.
It's very poor form to criticize gender relations based on the highlighted issues in illness, despite the fact there is and huge advancements have been made in female treatments in relation to mens. Let's just campaign and advocate for a greater initiative into male diseases, not at the expense of female.

No, I don't (as the answer to your question).

In answer to your rant - heart disease is the # 1 killer of both men and women. Women are more likely to die of a sudden heart problem than men because they do not receive as intensive of treatment in the ER. This is heart month in the USA and on the Today Show this week they are highlighting men's heart issues. Their are lots of sources of info about men's health. Many men ignore them until they have a problem. Try this: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mens-he...

USA: The 5 year survival rate for breast cancer is still only 79% but the five year survival rate for prostate CA is 99%. People die OF breast CA men die WITH prostate CA.

As for men not liking to get their prostates examined - women do not enjoy mammograms either. They crush the breast between two plates to flatten it. Do you really think that is enjoyable?

I think because women's health wasn't addressed for so long, we're seeing it an awful lot now publicly. Makes sense to me.

Also, they say heart attack and stroke are huge issues for both men and women, so I don't get how men's health is being ignored.

Prostate cancer, from what I've read, is pretty decently treatable, it's just a point of actually getting the exam, which a lot of men pretty much refuse to do, yanno?

May just be Canada, but there's a lot of news and ads for heart attack and stroke over all, without any gender labels. I don't watch tons of tv, so can't say much for commercials, but what I do see does really seem pretty equal.

Even the stupid ads for birth control and erectile dysfunction, even stevens haha =o)

Most organizations that support reserach are independent so the attention paid to them is a result of the quality of their marketers. The only reason everyone pays so much attention to breast cancer is that they have done a fantastic job of raising awareness and creating partnerships.

I think if you want to see other causes supported, you have to support them, it's as simple as that.

I dont think so. At school, we got taught about heart disease and nothing about breast cancer. Heart disease affects everyone, anyway, esp with obesity n all.

The extra support and fundraisers for breastcancer e.g. race for life, are organised and participated in by women. If men want to do the same for prostate cancer they can. No one is stopping them, since these charities and fundraisers are participated in by individuals, not government funded.

I personally feel that there isn't enough awareness of prostrate cancer - heart disease is all around us, if you care to look.
However, I don't feel it is necessary to compare it to breast cancer. To do so detracts from the cause ie raise awareness of prostrate cancer. Not get into arguments over which cause gets more money.

Feminists are woman firsters, who care only about women, and to hell with everybody else, especially their arch nemesis, men.

When in fact a woman who is married to man is less likely to be poverty stricken, on welfare, and below the poverty line.

mate that is the best seller as woman s issues and breasts are popular. seriously i don't want less for that one as it is a big killer but i would like to see more done for all as far as cancers go woman have hart disease two
pancreatic cancer is also huge

I do think there's a highly disproportionate amount of money placed on women's health issues and Feminists defend this using mortality stats which is silly because death rates don't take into account how much human suffering there is with malignancies like prostate carcinoma with lots of metastases.

Any cancer is a serious problem. Cancer knows no gender, no age nor race. When we politicize cancer we have lost our humanity. I find nothing amusing about the debate. It is one that only weakens us.

Yep.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27283197
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk...

Could it be because perhaps too much emphasis is placed on breasts in general in our society?

People runnin around with those ribbons on,and stuff.

i feel you men. but i do support the breast cancer research because they a lot of women in my life who i care about

maybe you should volenteer or start up your own group!
there are so many issues topics that whom ever has the most support will seem like it's on top of the media's eyes!
i will admit i have done the breast walk as a team with my coworkers!. i have also done the MS bike stop i didn't ride but i gave the riders some juice halfway to the trail!
this year i'm doing the Psoriasis walk and that personally effects me!

if your this upset about the prostate cancer then join an active group and you will see more of it come through! plus maybe they need more funding funding don't just fall on their laps it takes people who want to make the change and make it more aware to other people to step up and do something like a walk and ask others for donations!

i mean not many people know about psoriasis! i feel others should never thought there was a walk for it but a little research and proactive traits on my part makes me more aware!

don't blame others because they support something that someone asked them to ! join in on the support!

The politicizing of cancer has always bothered me.

I have a good friend, younger than I am, who's being treated for severe cancer. But it's not breast cancer - it's sarcoma. Far less trendy, which for her translates to far less survivability.

Her death, if it occurs, will be an enormous price for society to pay. She's a rising star in engineering, an immensely productive person, and one of the most decent human beings you or I will likely ever meet. But her disease isn't one that can be used to promote political causes, so society at large moves along - there are more important things to do, like make adorable little 'save the ta-tas' merchandise.

Just like anything it's the lobbying and the Breast Cancer one is a biggie. Sometimes bugs me too that other cancers (male and female) seem to come second in the media. More attention seems to being paid to prostate cancer though and heart disease can affect both men and women so we should all pay attention to the facts there.

Currently work in Treatment Room and many male patients turn up because the partner made them an appt so if men want more attention to their risk factors they should get off their prostates and do so themselves!!

Additional detail: I see your addl comment Elvis - are you saying therefore that women like having a smear?? Some women get find-the-prostate-exams from pervy Gynae docs too so keep your self-pity re physical differences on the same shelf as the we-don't-get-attention-because-we-don't-... one. Soo tempting to tell you where exactly to "position" your chips.

W omen's health issues are getting a lot of media attention and raising a lot of money these days.

Guess why? Until very recently, all research was done on male subjects and the data was extrapolated to females. Recent scientific studies have discovered that men and women do not experience the same symptoms nor do they respond to the same treatments for the exact same illness.
So while the same information and treatments still apply for men, we now know that certain medical conditions need to be handled in a different way for women.
The media campaign is raising awareness of this relatively new information.

So I hope you have enjoyed your run dominating medical research, but now its time to shift gears and study both sexes and their response to disease so that appropriate treatments can be developed for each.

____
I understand the frustration people may have about the seemingly unfair distribution of money. When fundraisers are conducted to raise money for research, it goes into a restricted account....the money can ONLY be used for the intended purpose. So if you want to see more money to fund prostate cancer, the best way to do it is to follow the example of the Komen Foundation and do what they have done to raise millions of dollars for breast cancer.