Response to Bell, K., The breast-cancer-ization of cancer survivorship: Implications for experiences of the disease, Social Science & Medicine (2014).

Résumé

While there are multiple reasons for the prominence of breast cancer survivorship experience including high incidence, high numbers of cancer survivors and success of breast cancer treatments which may give the impression of the superior standing of breast cancer in the "hierarchy of cancer suffering ", the common way the breast cancer is depicted focuses on the positive, sanitised image of cancer survivor that is more acceptable to society and more commonly seen in popular media and occurs at the exclusion of experiences common to many other breast cancer patients. That polarisation within breast cancer is an example of "hierarchy of cancer suffering" in itself that warrants examination. One of the potential reasons for the positive bias and separation in the stories of cancer survivors may be the terminology of survivorship which implies special standing and distinct status that can lead to exclusion and polarisation between, as well as within, cancer types.