Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!
Health:
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Phillips, C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Phillips, C.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

Images, femininity and cancer: an analysis of an international patient education programme

Catherine Phillips

University of Plymouth, UK, catherine.phillips{at}plymouth.ac.uk

This article is an analysis of a cancer patient education programme run by cosmetic companies. I focus on an analysis of imagery, arguing that there are particular discursive elements that the cosmetic companies use in order to make productive the relationship between femininity and cancer. I contextualize this education programme by presenting the controversies regarding cosmetics as they relate to the growth of breast tumours. In doing so, I conclude that conversations and questions about a link between chemicals and cancer are subverted by both `horror' narratives of cancer and the provocative use of standards of beauty. Such discursive dominance in patient education programmes makes it difficult to engage in a more public understanding of cancer growth as affected by cosmetic chemicals.

Key Words: breast cancer • cultural theory • femininity • parabens • patient education

Health:, Vol. 13, No. 1, 67-85 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1363459308097361
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?