By Joe Hadsall

jhadsall@joplinglobe.com

Sarah Burkybile, of Galena, Kan., played along. When she saw her friends on Facebook posting the color of the bra they happened to be wearing, she participated as well.

The effort was to raise awareness of breast cancer, after all.

Burkybile, 29, is a member of the Hope4You Breast Cancer Foundation’s board of directors, and has already survived the disease, which required a bilateral mastectomy.

But then she read feedback on different breast cancer forums and saw mixed emotions.

“Some took offense and some didn’t,” Burkybile said. “Many breast cancer survivors can’t even wear a bra, and they got to see all these other women posting about polka dots or lace. There was some jealousy out there.”

Bra-wearing Facebook users are being asked, supposedly in the name of breast cancer awareness, to share information they normally hold close to their chests.

“Some fun is going on,” reads a Facebook message that started making the rounds late last week. “Just write the color of your bra in your status. Just the color, nothing else. It will be neat to see if this will spread the wings of breast cancer awareness. It will be fun to see how long it takes before people wonder why all the girls have a color in their status.”

Alaina Clayton, 30, of Joplin, received three copies of that message on Facebook. She also participated.

“It did get a lot of men curious,” Clayton said. “Everyone was wondering what we were talking about.”

But as the meme spread, some started asking questions:

• Why was everyone suddenly talking about their bras?

• Was this movement really for raising awareness about breast cancer? If so, why was there no information about self-checks or mammograms?

• Was it the latest example of “slacktivism,” a feel-good, Internet-only effort with hardly any real results?

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization told the Chicago Tribune that it was not responsible for the meme. Andrea Rader, a spokeswoman for the group, said it did not launch the effort but called it “a terrific tool for raising awareness.”

“We just hope people act on it,” Rader said. “Get educated, get a mammogram.”

The same is true of the American Cancer Society. Ashley Hill, communications director for the group’s Joplin branch, called the movement “wonderful.”

“Anytime awareness can be brought to the forefront, that’s great,” Hill said. “Hopefully people will take it seriously. It’s not just a fun thing.”

But, she agreed with the thought that more information would have helped the cause of awareness.

“Over the past few months, there have been a lot of mixed messages about what the correct guidelines are,” Hill said. “The more information there is, the better.”

Burkybile said the Hope4You Foundation had no official opinion about the Facebook campaign. But she felt that the movement itself should have presented more information about breast cancer.

“The e-mail I got said nothing about awareness,” Burkybile said. “It was about how many guys we could confuse. It doesn’t tell how to do a proper self-examination.

“It got people talking, but I don’t think it did what simple education could have done.”

Because of her family history, Clayton said she is vigilant about preventing breast cancer. She said that even if the message was wasted on a majority of participants, the ones who took some action justified the effort.

“If we have something to raise awareness, something positive has to come from that. “If a bunch of people didn’t care, but some did, then that was the point. I thought it was fun, and it raised awareness for everyone.”

Burkybile agreed that the more people who talk about it, the better. Part of the battle against the disease involves eliminating a negative stigma about the disease.

“If we get rid of fear and use preventive care, then we shouldn’t lose so many lives to it,” Burkybile said. “We’re talking about it, and that’s the good part. When people give opinions, that’s when things happen, when things change and society evolves.”

— McClatchy Tribune Information Services contributed to this report.





Mammograms

Despite recent changes to recommended standards, Ashley Hill, communications director for the Joplin branch of the American Cancer Society, said that group stands by its original recommendations:

n Women 40 and older should have a mammogram every year.

n Women of all ages should do self examinations monthly.

More information can be found at www.cancer.org.