Type of Proposal
Visual Presentation (Poster, Installation, Demonstration)
Faculty
Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty Sponsor
Dr. Pauline Phipps
Proposal
The goal of this project was to create a discussion among breast cancer surviving women about their perceptions of body image, femininity, and women’s breasts in connection with their cancer diagnosis and treatment. This paper was an assigned project for a feminist research course on body image and allowed students to only interview participants whom they knew personally. This condition limited the research to a convenience sample made up of six women within the interviewer’s family and friendship circle. The subjects have similar sociodemographic characteristics including ethnicity, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status, as they are all heterosexual white women of similar socioeconomic status who reside in the same geographical area. That being said, the narratives of all participants are unique, thus highlighting the significance of Patricia Hill Collins’ notion that we are all knowledge-makers. The author’s motivation to focus on breast cancer was due to her upcoming genetic testing for the BRCA1 gene mutation, sometimes referred to as the “breast cancer gene”. This paper’s purpose was to engage with a sample of women through semi-structured interviews about how diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer affect body image and sense of femininity, specifically as they relate to their relationship with their breasts. The findings in this study show that both diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer is a very individual experience. Overall, most women found themselves to be more mindful of their bodies after cancer treatment. Some women found that their sense of womanhood (as they define it for themselves) had been weakened after diagnosis and treatment, while others were more easily able to accept the ways their bodies have changed. The information collected may benefit those who work with breast cancer patients through medical or social interventions because the results suggest that women respond to breast cancer in very unique ways, affecting one’s choice of path to treatment as well as one’s relationship with their body.
Start Date
31-3-2017 1:00 PM
End Date
31-3-2017 2:00 PM
Busted
The goal of this project was to create a discussion among breast cancer surviving women about their perceptions of body image, femininity, and women’s breasts in connection with their cancer diagnosis and treatment. This paper was an assigned project for a feminist research course on body image and allowed students to only interview participants whom they knew personally. This condition limited the research to a convenience sample made up of six women within the interviewer’s family and friendship circle. The subjects have similar sociodemographic characteristics including ethnicity, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status, as they are all heterosexual white women of similar socioeconomic status who reside in the same geographical area. That being said, the narratives of all participants are unique, thus highlighting the significance of Patricia Hill Collins’ notion that we are all knowledge-makers. The author’s motivation to focus on breast cancer was due to her upcoming genetic testing for the BRCA1 gene mutation, sometimes referred to as the “breast cancer gene”. This paper’s purpose was to engage with a sample of women through semi-structured interviews about how diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer affect body image and sense of femininity, specifically as they relate to their relationship with their breasts. The findings in this study show that both diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer is a very individual experience. Overall, most women found themselves to be more mindful of their bodies after cancer treatment. Some women found that their sense of womanhood (as they define it for themselves) had been weakened after diagnosis and treatment, while others were more easily able to accept the ways their bodies have changed. The information collected may benefit those who work with breast cancer patients through medical or social interventions because the results suggest that women respond to breast cancer in very unique ways, affecting one’s choice of path to treatment as well as one’s relationship with their body.