Health News
2006-10-17
Whitman-Walker
Clinic conducts "Breast-a-palooza"
The Lesbian
Services Program of the Whitman-Walker Clinic conducted a
series of events to help spread awareness of breast cancer
The Lesbian
Services Program of the Whitman-Walker Clinic conducted a
series of events to help spread awareness of breast cancer
called "Breast-a-palooza," which kicked off Thursday,
October 12, and ended Saturday, October 14.
The
breast-centered educational weekend included a seminar on
how to conduct a breast self-exam, a screening of
Breasts: A Documentary, and an art exhibit
titled If These Breasts Could Talk.
Breast cancer is
an important issue for all women, but lesbians face
problems that many heterosexual women do not. These problems
include difficulty finding pro-gay doctors and a
frequent inability to be covered by a partner’s
insurance policy.
D. Magrini,
health education coordinator for the Mautner Project, which
helped sponsor the event, noted that lesbians “have
higher rates of smoking and obesity and have
children later in life, which are factors for breast
cancer,” The Washington Blade reported.
Since many women
who have breast cancer don't manifest any of the risk
factors that are generally listed, Magrini stressed the
importance of improving research to find out why women
are getting the disease at such a dramatically high
rate. (The Advocate)
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