In a subtle introduction to Rose Kushner’s Breast Cancer, the reader is offered a friendly reminder that the original book (published in the late 1970’s) has been modified. Having been re-written, retitled, and retired from its original format to be republished in what Angela McRobbie and don’tcallmeblondie would call the Post-Feminist Movement, the book is revamped to address the modern woman.
Kushner’s book, in this way, represents an awkward encounter between the second-wave feminism of the 1970s and post(-)feminism of the 2000s. The themes jump from second-wave instructional chapters like “How to Find a Breast Specialist” to presumably post-feminist chapters about male breast cancer.
Of course, in order to sell new copies, Kushner’s original work had to be modernized. From what I gathered, Post-Feminists and Postfeminists (there’s a difference) are daughters of the Neo-liberal capitalist era. While post “hyphen” feminists tend to shy away from the all-powerful and self-centered matriarchal voice of the second-wave towards an acceptance of new conversations, Postfeminists represent those who prefer to disassociate from the feminist movement altogether. Whether the modern woman chooses to side with the Post-Feminists; the Postfeminists; or neither, Angela Robbie argues that capitalism, having reaped the rewards of the second wave, is now actively seeking to undo feminism.
While the breast-cancer narratives in the 1970’s and prior experienced the constraints of a male-dominated society (eg. President Ford’s ultimate decision for his wife’s mastectomy), the constraints women face today appear to be the result of a market-dominated society. I considered Kushner’s decision to go with a “main-stream” publisher, thereby adhering to the social constraints of the time, as a distinct form of oppression. Such oppression is evident today, and is very much engraved in the capitalist- dominated postfeminist era. The multi-million dollar pink ribbon campaign speaks to this issue in its entirety.