University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations August 2014 When Breast Cancer Is All About the Boobs: Postfeminist Culture's Influence on Breast Cancer Awareness Campaigning Robin Frances Turnblom University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Mass Communication Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Turnblom, Robin Frances, "When Breast Cancer Is All About the Boobs: Postfeminist Culture's Influence on Breast Cancer Awareness Campaigning" (2014). Theses and Dissertations. 545. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/545 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. WHEN BREAST CANCER IS ALL ABOUT THE BOOBS: POSTFEMINIST CULTURE’S INFLUENCE ON BREAST CANCER AWARENESS CAMPAIGNING by Robin Turnblom A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Media Studies at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee August 2014 ABSTRACT WHEN BREAST CANCER IS ALL ABOUT THE BOOBS: POSTFEMINIST CULTURE’S INFLUENCE ON BREAST CANCER AWARENESS CAMPAIGNING by Robin Turnblom The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2014 Under the Supervision of Associate Professor Elana Levine This project analyzes the relationship between breast cancer culture and postfeminist culture, looking at materials from both American and international breast cancer activist groups. Postfeminist culture has an influence on breast cancer culture in several ways, through a neoliberal focus on consumption as a form of activism, continual self- monitoring for beauty and health, a “girling” of women, and the sexual subjectification of women.