Pinkwashing Turns on Itself with Breast Cancer Awareness Gun

Submitted by Anne Landman on

Smith & Wesson Breast Cancer Awareness PistolOctober was Breast Cancer Awareness month, and the group Breast Cancer Action seized on the opportunity to promote its Think Before you Pink campaign to raise awareness of how companies are increasingly exploiting breast cancer as a marketing device to sell products -- some of which are actually harmful to women's health. Pink ribbon campaigns are offering up some bizarre, albeit benign products like a breast cancer awareness toaster and a breast cancer awareness floating Beer Pong table. But the most bizarre item yet to have a pink ribbon slapped on it must be Smith & Wesson's Pink Breast Cancer Awareness 9 mm Pistol, promoted by a woman named Julie Goloski, Smith and Wesson's Consumer Program Manager and a sharpshooter herself. Goloski is promoting S&W's breast cancer awareness pistol on her Facebook page, saying "October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Breast Cancer Awareness M&P’s are shipping to dealers. I am thrilled to have my name associated with such a worthy cause and one of my favorite firearms." According to a 2008 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, firearms are the second most common cause of violent deaths of women, accounting for 29.2% of all violent deaths among females in the U.S. in 2008.

Main Source: 
GunBroker.com, November 3, 2009
Topics: 
Corporate Campaigns
Ethics
Health

Comments

JeffB replied on

That has to be the most ignorant post I have ever read. Why don't you try to back up your statements with facts? Its because you can't.

Gun Geek replied on

There are a lot of women who have used a firearm in self defense against abusive spouses, stalkers or home invasions. The information is out there. Before you say that someone cant back it up with FACT. You might want to check into it yourself. Here is one place you might find some info.

http://womenofcaliber.wordpress.com/

NatAtGirlsGuide replied on

If you look a little deeper, you'd know that Julie Goloski brought the idea of this firearm to Smith & Wesson. Not the other way around. She did so because a loved one suffered from cancer and she wanted to make a difference in her sphere of influence. Could there be a more noble motive?

Women are the fastest growing group of shooters out there and this was Julie's attempt at reaching out to them in an empowering way. It's a fantastic tool for more awareness. Though it's true that violence against women is a problem, your stats are seriously skewed. And incidentally, what better way to protect women against gun violence than by arming them in a safe and knowledgeable manner? This firearm is a win on all fronts. Do a little more research into the field and you just might find out that guns are a very good thing. Especially this one.

Web replied on

Julie is at the top of her sport. Do you play golf? She is like Tiger Woods. The model pistol that you find "bizzare" is the M&P 9 JG. It has been configured to specifications that Julie has set, and the JG stand for her initials. She ( like Tiger with Nike et. al.) has the right to a portion of the profits from the sale of the gun. That is money in her pocket, shes earned it. She has decided to give all proceedes from her share, to research. Wow, shes a cold hearted gun owner.

Anonymous replied on

When us gunny types see that pink gun, we think it's a WOMAN's gun, not the attacker's gun. Some women are gunnies themselves (many of whom think pink guns are silly, by the way). Male gunnies have wives or girlfriends, female friends and neighbors and colleagues, daughters, mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers and aunts. We want them safe.

With reasonable training and practice, an armed woman's chances of surviving an attack are very good (naturally, everybody should avoid dangerous places as much as possible -- it's always safest never to be attacked at all). Any normal woman with a gun is infinitely more dangerous to a rapist than to herself. I know women who shoot. They are competent and confident people. Come to think of it, pretty much all of the women I know who *don't* shoot are competent and confident, too. Most adults are. If they can be trusted with a car -- and women wrap their cars around a lot less trees than men do -- they can be trusted with firearms.

Men are bigger and stronger than women. When a man attacks a woman, he probably doesn't need the advantage of a weapon. The woman probably does need that advantage. Even if we could make all guns vanish (and that's not possible), unarmed women would still have as much to fear as they do now. If both parties have weapons, she's at least got an even chance, which she wouldn't have if neither were armed.

So. Bottom line: What that gun signifies to S&W and to Julie Goloski is enabling women to defend themselves, and that is absolutely consistent with supporting breast cancer research. I know it signifies something else to you. I get that. You may disagree with our reasoning, but the whole debate will make more sense to everybody if you at least know what our reasoning is.

Anonymously Equ... replied on

http://www.examiner.com/x-18149-SelfDefense-Examiner~y2009m11d2-Mobile-AL-woman-shoots-home-invading-exboyfriend-in-self-defense

RT replied on

"one of the leading causes of death in women" Really? Well, if you count 10th place as "one of the leading". And that's the ranking for men and women together, and included deaths from gang warfare, self defense shootings, and deaths by police.

I would suggest you read "Armed and Female" by Paxton Quigley. http://www.paxtonquigley.com/

RT replied on

Your comment above (2nd comment in the list) , verbatim. "The point is, a company that manufactures a device that is one of the leading causes of death in women"

If you misquote the original article, don't complain that we are as well.

I notice that you have no reply to the comments that show self defense use far outnumbers the cases of a firearm causing death among women.

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