Malignant by S. Lochlann Jain

Author:S. Lochlann Jain
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780520276567
Publisher: University of California Press

CHAPTER 7

Can Sir

What Screening Doesn’t Do

Grab your wellies: at least one guidebook recommends the large intestine as a pleasant, if mucky, place for an afternoon stroll. The Prevent Cancer Foundation’s “Prevent Cancer Super ColonTM,” an eight-foot-high, twenty-foot-long replica of the human colon, slinks around the country with this inviting offer, while reducing the indignity of cancer symptoms by making the colon our friend. The Super Colon campaign aims to reduce the number of people who literally die of embarrassment, too ashamed to speak of the symptoms of “below the waist” cancers.1 Another awkward one, testicular cancer, remains the largest cancer killer of guys between the ages of fourteen and thirty-four even though treatment can be very successful. Testicular detection ads focus on loving one’s body, on the acceptability of touching one’s privates (junk, jewels, nuts and bolts, whatever; fig. 17).

Bodies are mortifying. Then again, visits with the doctor, often a stranger, require etiquette, and one might be in a position of requiring moves that might give even a lover pause. Early detection campaigns aim to tweak relationships so that bodies can be a proper subject of conversation at the doctor’s office.

Attention to the body in itself is not a guaranteed good. With breast cancer, the ethereal representation of the body part mixes oddly with a thudding materiality. Quite aside from pink ribbons, diagrams illustrating how breast cancer spreads tend to portray slim young women in sexualized poses adorned with see-through breasts illustrating schematics of ductal and invasive carcinoma in syrupy brown pods and clusters (fig. 18). This kind of fantasized sexuality reflects a 2007 study which found that fewer than 20 percent of both male and female physicians complete the recommended two-minute manual breast exam on their patients for fear of seeming sexually motivated.2 In these cases, propriety on the doctor side interferes with diagnosis. Regular screening with either a go-to technology such as mammography or a mandated and communicated standard protocol can at least in theory override awkward interactions and concerns about intentions.

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