Abstract

Since 1913, the American Society for the Control of Cancer and other health organizations have promoted early detection of breast cancer. The message of early detection has resonated for nearly a century and continues to have great traction in American culture. However, by mid-century, and particularly evident since the 1970s, women have written disruptive texts that have complicated the one-dimensional message of early detection. By analyzing the works of authors such as Terese Lasser, Rose Kushner, Audre Lorde, and Gabriela Arredondo, this article argues that "disruptive texts" have expanded the boundaries of breast cancer narrative to include such topics as pain, fear, identity, coping, family and community involvement, metastasis, and more. Although discourse of early detection remains a dominant trope in cancer narrative, disruptive texts reflect the voice of female patients and offer a critical and important insight about the limits of a contemporary cancer narrative that rests solely on a message of early detection.

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