Maybe it’s just because I’m a cancer surgeon’s kid…
but I absolutely do not understand why people were up in arms about Angelina Jolie’s double mastectomy. In fact, I didn’t even know people were being critical of her until about five minutes ago. The majority of news articles I read yesterday were praising the decision.
Breast cancer is a serious disease - and a fairly common one. It runs in my family. (Our type occurs mainly because women on my mom’s side live into their 80s and cancer’s kind of inevitable at a certain point. If you live long enough, your cells are going to fuck up eventually.) My dad’s a cancer surgeon who specializes in breast cancer - I’m not uninformed about the subject.
Is a double mastectomy a major surgery? Yes. Is it a significant decision? Yes. Is it worth avoiding a serious, often fatal illness? Probably. Angie’s still going to have boobs for you to ogle - she had reconstructive surgery. Yes, it’s a pricy procedure unavailable to many women. Angelina Jolie is hardly an average woman. Yes, there was a 23% chance she wouldn’t get breast cancer - but who likes those odds? Anyone not involved in the decision (i.e. anyone not Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, their children or her doctors) should just chill.
