Raising Underwear Awareness

Without a doubt everyone is familiar with the recent Facebook trend whereby women were asked to change their statuses to reflect the colour of their bras, the claim being that this would “raise Breast Cancer Awareness”. Hmmm... I would argue that publicly declaring the colour of your undergarments not only fails to raise awareness but, in fact, detracts from the awareness of any cause. Modesty was thrown out the window in a primary school-esque diversion. I suddenly saw the women of my Facebook account as 12 year old girls giggling as they whispered “pink with white flowers” to their male counterparts then playfully ran away hoping to incite a game of tag. Barf.

More recently, I’ve been invited to the Facebook event “Wear Red for Haiti”. Really? What does wearing red accomplish, exactly? Is it to raise awareness? The media has made us abundantly aware of the horrific conditions facing Haiti. Some have said it’s to show support. Sorry, who is experiencing my support? I will gladly wear red to Royals games because there the team sees us in all of our red-wearing glory – that is what wearing red to show support means. But the Haitian people aren’t here. They are in Haiti. Wearing red does nothing to show them support. In fact, if anything I would argue it makes light of their tragedy. There is a touch of arrogance in the assumption that opening my closet full of clean clothes in my warm, intact house and selecting a red shirt to wear is an indication of my support for the people of Haiti. It is not. We need to challenge ourselves to think critically about the ways in which we “support” causes. Surely, in a time where technology is booming, marketing is elemental, and people have a seemingly interminable access to news and information we can come up with a more effective plan.

Should money be raised for cancer research? Absolutely. Fundraising initiated for relief work in Haiti? Most certainly. Don’t get me wrong – I know Redeemer is great for fundraising events: War Child with Chantal Kreviazuk, Breast Cancer fundraising through the OCAA, and an FTA Spaghetti Dinner for Haiti, just to name a few. All of these events were well organized with incredible outcomes disproportionate to our small student body, feats to be proud of for sure. But putting my bra colour in my Facebook status? Wearing a certain colour on a certain day? Blinking twice at exactly 4:03pm? Ok, so no one has suggested this yet, but this is the path of meaningless action down which we’re headed. Perhaps the scariest aspect of these fads is that they allow us to trick ourselves into thinking we’ve done something to help out a cause. We make a mental note of how committed we are, all the while wilfully ignorant of our apathy. I admire people jumping on a cause and supporting what is important to them, but surely we can engage our critical thinking skillswhile supporting a cause and raising awareness. And you know what? If you care about a cause maybe a little more effort is required than typing “purple zebra print” into your Facebook page, joining a Haiti Facebook group, or donning your favourite red shirt.