Breast Cancer Charity CoppaFeel! (And Critics) Speak Out About Controversial Page 3 Partnership | HuffPost Life

Breast Cancer Charity CoppaFeel! (And Critics) Speak Out About Controversial Page 3 Partnership

The Huffington Post UK

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Breast cancer charity CoppaFeel! announced a powerful partnership with The Sun for the next six months, encouraging women to check their breasts.

As part of the first push, the charity took over the paper's Page 3 - featuring topless women - to spread the message about breast cancer calling it 'Check It Tuesday'.

Since then, there has been mixed reaction to the campaign, with some feeling that such a female-centric issue such as breast cancer does not quite belong with The Sun's Page 3, which has been targeted by campaigners for being archaic and sexist.

The national newspaper, which had a big spread inside the paper featuring CoppaFeel! founder Kristin Hallenga, will lend £1.5 million worth of free coverage.

No More Page 3, the campaign trying to get The Sun to remove pictures of topless women on its pages, released a statement, saying: "Many of the No More Page 3 team have been affected by breast cancer in the lives of people they love dearly. We really hope that this campaign succeeds in encouraging women to check their breasts who otherwise wouldn’t – and we love the notion of women supporting other women. We applaud the models for doing what they feel is right to help and congratulations to the founder of CoppaFeel! for securing this partnership with a powerful platform like the Sun.

"That said, we can’t help but feel that it’s a real shame the Sun has decided to use these sexualised images of young women to highlight breast cancer. They will say that they want to use the power of page 3 as a force for good – we say that a society in which sexualised images of young women are seen as that powerful has to change."

To add to this, feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez added: "It's great that The Sun has chosen to raise awareness about breast cancer in such a prominent way. What's less great is that their method for doing so was to reiterate their daily message that a woman's worth is the sum of her titillating parts."

Lecturer and HuffPost UK blogger BJ Epstein added: "It’s pretty stunning that in this day, major newspapers still make money off of women’s bodies, and for them to be suddenly partnering with a charity doesn’t hide that fact, no matter how much the Sun may want it to. What the Sun ought to do is to get rid of the topless models and also to regularly write about and market charities such as CoppaFeel!"

Story continues below the slideshow:

11 Little Known Breast Cancer Facts

Breast cancer is actually many different types of cancer(01 of10)

Breast cancer, in its simplest definition, is cancer that starts in the cells of the breast. But what we call "breast cancer" actually includes several different types of cancer, all of which require different treatments and have different prognoses. (credit:Shutterstock)

A lump doesn't always (or even usually) mean cancer(02 of10)

Most breast lumps indicate something other than breast cancer—some possible causes for breast lumps include cysts, fibrosis, or benign tumours. And some women are just prone to lumpy breasts, which is stressful but harmless. That said, if you find a lump, get it checked out — know that the odds are good that it's nothing serious, but see your doctor about it for your own peace of mind. (credit:Susan G. Komen)

Breast cancer isn't always a lump(03 of10)

It's helpful to know that breast cancer can appear in forms other than a lump, which means there are other physical signs you should watch for. Other symptoms that you should get checked out include thickening of the skin in the breast or underarm area; swelling, warmth, redness, or darkening of the breasts; a change in your breast size or shape; dimpling or puckering of the breast skin; an itchy, scaly sore or rash on the nipple; a pulling in of your nipple or another part of your breast; sudden nipple discharge; or pain in one spot of the breast that doesn't go away. (credit:Shutterstock)

Breast cancer risk isn't always determined by family history(04 of10)

A family history of breast cancer (on either your mother or father's side) can be an indication that your personal odds of developing it are higher than average, but they don't guarantee that you will. As well, the majority of women who develop breast cancer have no identifiable risk factors, including family history. And the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations are hereditary, but only account for five to 10 per cent of all breast cancers. (credit:Shutterstock)

BRCA1 or BRCA2 don't always mean cancer is in your future(05 of10)

The news that Angelina Jolie had had a preventative double mastectomy after testing positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation made many women wonder if they had the same mutation--and what it would mean for them if they did. If you do have the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation, your lifetime risk of developing breast cancer or ovarian cancer is significantly elevated, and women with the mutations who do get cancer tend to develop it at younger ages; one estimate states that 55 to 65 per cent of the women with the BRCA1 mutation and 45 per cent of those with the BRCA2 mutation will develop breast cancer by age 70, versus 12 per cent in the general population. But it does not mean that cancer is definitely in your future, and every person has to make her own individual decision, based on a variety of factors, about how to best mitigate her risk of disease. (credit:Shutterstock)

Not all women have a one-in-eight risk for breast cancer(06 of10)

This often-cited statistic is somewhat misleading. Breast cancer risk varies based on a variety of factors, including age, weight, and ethnic background. Risk increases as you get older (http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/breast/statistics/age.htm): most breast-cancer cases are in women in their 50s and 60s. Also, some ethnic groups appear to be more susceptible to breast cancer; the National Cancer Institute in the U.S. says that white, non-Hispanic women have the highest overall risk of developing breast cancer, while women of Korean descent have the lowest risk, but African-American women have a higher death rate. Finally, being overweight or obese may also up your risk; there is evidence that being obese or overweight after menopause can up your breast-cancer risk, possibly because fat tissue is a source of estrogen. (credit:Shutterstock)

There are ways to lower your risk(07 of10)

You can't prevent breast cancer, per se, but there are ways to lower your personal risk. If you are overweight or obese, you could try to lose weight in a healthful way; if you are already in a healthy weight range, try to stay there. Exercise regularly, as as little as 75 to 150 minutes of walking a week has been shown to have a lowering effect on risk. Limit your alcohol consumption — research found that women who have two or more alcoholic drinks each day have an elevated risk of breast cancer. And avoid hormone therapy during menopause, as a combo of estrogen and progestin has been shown to raise breast-cancer risk. (credit:Shutterstock)

Mammograms aren't foolproof(08 of10)

Mammograms are a powerful way to detect breast cancer early on, but they aren't 100 per cent. Mammograms are most effective in women aged 50 and over; they detect about 83 per cent of women who have breast cancer in that age group. For younger women, the sensitivity is 78 per cent. However, that does mean some cancers are missed and that there are false-positive results as well, which could require a biopsy to confirm. Talk to your doctor about when you should start getting mammograms regularly, or if you have symptoms that suggest that you should get one. (credit:Shutterstock)

Fertility treatments don't raise your breast-cancer risk(09 of10)

Some wondered if Giuliana Rancic's fertility treatments were behind her diagnosis of breast cancer in her late 30s, but experts interviewed by WebMD said that there is no strong evidence connecting the disease with the use of fertility drugs. It's true that hormonal treatments can raise the risk for post-menopausal women, but women undergoing fertility treatments are almost never in that age range, and also take the medications for a much shorter period of time. (credit:Getty Images)

Most women survive breast cancer(10 of10)

Cancer is scary, but in most cases, women who are diagnosed with breast cancer survive and lead healthy lives. According to the Breast Cancer Society of Canada, the five-year survival rate is 80 per cent for men and 88 per cent for women. That's up from 79 per cent for women in 1986. (credit:Shutterstock)

However, in response to critics and a blog on HuffPost UK by Rosa Doherty which slammed the charity, CoppaFeel! founder Kristin wrote to HuffPost UK Lifestyle saying:

Today our charity CoppaFeel! Launched a six month campaign with The Sun and Page 3 regarding early detection of breast cancer. Our partnership will raise awareness to over a million young people who at present think they are never going to get breast cancer. It may be controversial to some but the whole point of it is that we are now talking about it – surely that is a good thing?
My charity only employs six people – we can work flat out night and day for the next ten years to raise awareness and not achieve what we will be able to do today and in the next six months with The Sun. Since the paper launched, we have been inundated with text sign ups (text remind to 70500) which is a free service once a month to remind you to check your boobs and emails of support. We even had a respectful response from the No More Page 3 campaign, women who I admire greatly.
Thousands more people today are logging onto our website to find out how to check their boobs; we have been contacted by several women who have booked appointments with their GPs as a result of something they have found. If we save just one life it will be worth it.
In addition, we have uncovered some startling facts – more women check their weight every week than their breasts and only a tiny amount of young women would be prepared to go to the GP if they found something. This is simply not good enough. I can say this with some authority because this was me 5 years ago. Would I have read a boring advert in the doctors’ surgery? Not on your nelly. That’s why it has to be fun to react our target audience. We have to make the message relevant for everyone. Something that wasn’t happening when I really needed it.
Part of our relationship with The Sun includes funding for very expensive research into how knowledgeable young women are about checking their breasts. If this hasn’t moved the dial in a positive way at the end of the six month campaign, I’ll eat my hat.

CEO of Male Cancer Awareness Campaign Patrick Cox, whose campaign Going Commando kicks off this week, pledged his support by saying: "CoppaFeel! is a bold and daring charity. Their job is simple: raise awareness of breast cancer to young people. That’s it! If that means partnership with the biggest newspaper and using beautiful young women to support that, hats off. Well bloody done.

"Why? Because that is what the charity was set up to do. Raise awareness of breast cancer to young people. And if the partnership saves just one life it would have been worth It, and the haters can keep on hating.

"This partnership is a dream come true for most charities - just look at what The Sun did for Help The Heroes. It made that charity one of the biggest charities in the UK, overnight! Remember, this is not a normal breast cancer awareness campaign. It's a young women’s breast cancer awareness campaign and there is a big difference. We're hugely proud of CoppaFeel! and all their hard work in such a short time. Well done girls."

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