Despite October claiming the title of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and not February or March, the female denizens of Facebook have decided that the time has come to refresh that awareness with a new meme. Readers may remember last year's bra color meme. Status updates about fruit are the quirky methods of choice this year, but the ladies are communicating more than awareness. One could argue that altruism is taking back seat.
The Fruit: What Does it Mean?
The bra colors were simple. When a woman posted a color as her status update, that was the color of her bra. Things have become more complicated this year; when you see your sister's status as "cherry," she's really saying that she's in a relationship. Yes, the fruit is a code about one's relationship status that only those women invited to a Facebook event called Girls will understand.
Here are the meanings for each fruit:
- Blueberry: I'm single
- Pineapple: It's complicated
- Raspberry: I'm a touch and go woman
- Apple: Engaged
- Cherry: In a relationship
- Banana: I'm married
- Avocado: I'm the "other one"
- Strawberry: Can't find the right one
- Lemon: I wish I was single
- Grape: I want to get married
The thousands of women (over 26,000 as of this article's publication) who are "attending" the fruit status "event" agree through their participation and enthusiasm that the code is a fun way to bring awareness to a serious issue. A fun event that brings solidarity to a community does indeed have a positive effect, but is the fruit code sidestepping away the actual issue it is supposed to be supporting?
The Problems
- Just like the main problem for the bra color meme, the number one problem the fruit meme has is that the pool of people it will bring awareness to is extremely limited. While the ladies communicate with other women that are in the know, the rest of the Facebook population is left in the dark. Until someone spills the beans and ruins the element of mystery that makes the meme fun, no one outside the participators will be aware of anything besides a growing fruit fetish.
- The number two problem that is just as large as the first comes from the meme itself. The fruit is merely a vehicle of communication, but the meanings behind the fruit, the relationship status, is an interesting choice for a meme. Relationships: a simple, everyday thing that women can relate to. A perfect subject to privatize with an innocent code, thereby making it safe and fun for women to post as their status update. However, not only does this code make it okay to perpetuate the myth that a woman should obsess over her relationship status, it also distracts from the real reason it was created: raising awareness for breast cancer. Instead of waving a pink ribbon to rally more towards fighting cancer, the ladies (and others who will eventually know what the code means) will be more concerned about the relationship status itself. Someone's relationship status, especially if it brings drama, is much more interesting than depressing old breast cancer, after all.
- The third problem: sexism. Men are discouraged from participating in the meme, yet again. (The same went for the bra color meme, though the boys eventually retaliated with their own meme.) Not including men in a meme that claims to raise awareness for breast cancer says that breast cancer does not affect men and therefore there is no obligation to include them. The event that started the fruit meme says, "The bra game reached TV, lets get this one to do the same, and show everyone how powerful women are[.]" The focus on showing the strength of women actually strengthens a gender battle where no gender battle should be taking place.
- The event's page brings up the fourth problem. Like many Facebook groups that are aimed at raising awareness, this one fails to take the necessary steps toward helping the fight; there are no links to websites that teach people more about the disease or where they should donate money for research and cancer prevention, and there is nothing about how to get involved locally. The fact that the meme is an event, a month long party only certain people are privy to (the page does say it is a "Private Event," and can only be viewed by invitation), and not a group suggests that the biggest interest here is to gather attention to one's person and to give one's self a pat on the back for doing a good deed.
The Reality Behind Raising Awareness Through Status Update
Many an awareness meme in the past has claimed that the meme was only meant to raise awareness and not help the actual fight through action - essentially, they did not intend to do anything besides prompt other people to do the real work.
What is the point of updating my status with "Apple" when only a few of my female friends will understand that I am raising awareness for breast cancer through telling them I am engaged while the rest of my friends have no idea what I am talking about? Beyond self indulgence, not much. For more analysis on this, read Raising Awareness With Facebook: Does It Work?
What This Meme Needs to Do Differently
Instead of using obscurity, secrecy, and exclusion to gather interest in their movement, the Girls event would be better off being straightforward, informative, and encouraging. Using a meme is fine, but pair it with a link to a group page instead of using a private event page, and properly equip that page with information about who the group is, what it is doing, and why. Provide links to official charities and research sites. Making the group female-centric does not have to be a bad thing either; encourage men to create their own group and have frequent, friendly discourse with them.
Last of all, if you, the reader, want to make a difference, find a constructive way to do so - and don't boast about it for your own gain.
Danielle Foster - Danielle Foster graduated from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota in May 2010 with a BA in English and concentration in creative ...
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