There is no single 'right way' for most things in life. Although, I'm sure there are exceptions in fields like medicine or Japanese tea ceremony...

Presently, I'm in the Halifax airport waiting for my connecting flight back home from Labrador. I've got about 2 hrs, so I decided to listen to the podcast "You are Pre-diseased" that my preceptor gave me. It's quite interesting and once I get back, I'll try and post it here so you can listen, too.

The podcast talks about whether or not cancer screening is a good idea. They've raised some good points so far (I'm only halfway through listening) that have articulated what I've had rumbling around in the back of my head as vague feelings for awhile. One of the points that I'm interested in discussing here is the idea that cancer is always deadly and that we should be very, very afraid if developing it.

This got me thinking about the recent Guardasil commercials on tv. Perhaps you've seen them? They consist of monologues by young women who describe their safe sex habits or long term relationships followed by an anxious narrator who responds with phrases like, "I wouldn't say that if I were you" along with scary music and blurring of the womens' pelvic regions. This kind of fear monguering by a pharmaceutical company makes me angry. These ads critize responsible choices and further alienate women from their bodies by making their pelvic areas seem like incubators of disease and pestilence. Who knew that a "cure" for cancer could have such a dark side?

In other ads, guardasil advocates that women ought "to do everything (they) can" to protect themselves fro
HPV. The implied message here is that if you don't volunteer to get the vaccine, then it's likely your own fault that you develop cancer.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for vaccines and preventative treatments as thenrxt person (and probably moreso since I'm a med student)- my objection is really how we're framing these preventative measures to the public. I personally don't believe that this Machiavellian approch to advertising and awareness is the way to go- people ought to choose screening and treatment procedures out of informed consent rather than fear or shame.