Journal of Women’s Health and Gynecology Research Article Open Access The Wounded Body in Public Space: Voices of Breast Cancer Survivors Annette R Hofmann* Ludwigsburg University of Education, Germany *Corresponding author: Annette R Hofmann, Ludwigsburg University of Education, Germany, Tel: 07141140838, E-mail:
[email protected] Received Date: February 04, 2021 Accepted Date: March 04, 2021 Published Date: March 06, 2021 Citation: Annette R Hofmann (2021) The Wounded Body in Public Space: Voices of Breast Cancer Survivors. J Womens Health Gyn 8: 1-12. Abstract Breast cancer has been a taboo subject and stigmatized for a long time and still is in many societies. However, in recent decades breast cancer has become a public issue in some countries. It is no longer the patient´s “own” disease or that of the medical profession, but also belongs to beauty companies, the clothing business and other commercial enterprises. All want to be a part of the public discourse and profit economically from breast cancer. Following Peter Conrad’ s formulations, this paper first discusses the “outsider perspective” on breast cancer and focuses on how society shapes this illness. Based on qualitative research conducted with German breast cancer survi- vors, the second part of the paper focuses on their “insider perspective” and especially how they deal with their private body in public. In this way the paper seeks to highlight and analyse both cultural attitudes towards the body as well as the manner in which breast cancer is socially constructed. Keywords: Breast Cancer; Chemotherapy; Body; Physical Activity; Public Space ©2020 The Authors. Published by the JScholar under the terms of the Crea- tive Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.