Breast cancer in mass circulating magazines in the USA and Canada, 1974-1995

This paper presents the results of a study of the images of breast cancer in the highest circulating periodicals in the USA and Canada over a twenty year period of time. Both manifest and latent themes are noted and described. The emphasis in the manifest themes is on the medical aspects of the treatment and early detection of breast cancer. The latent themes emphasize the contrast in the ways that women with the disease, as compared to their doctors, are described. Notably, women are portrayed as being 'worried about their health' and, in particular, the most feared of 'their' diseases, breast cancer. Breast cancer is said to be caused by everything, especially women's own traitorous bodies. Women are described as isolates, as emotional and preoccupied with their sexual attractiveness. Doctors are described in contrasting ways, as moral truth-seekers, infused with rationality and intelligence. The ubiquitous causes of breast cancer are also noted. The paper concludes with a discussion of the possible implications of the gendered character of the reporting about breast cancer.