The Pink Month

I know some of the girls would be happy about that. In Sweden, October is the pink month. The month against breast cancer. Here in Sweden, every year, 7000 women learn that they have breast cancer. Not much you think? Well Sweden is not such a big country and in the end one in every ninth woman will be affected sooner or later in their lives. And if the number of diagnosed women is rising, the number of women surviving this is also rising thanks to research.

The whole month is full of different ways to give money for both private persons and companies and is concluded by a big gala shown on TV. Some companies are associated to the event and sell "pink products" during this month and give 5kr or 10% for instance for each sold product to Cancerfonden, the organisation in charge of this. You can buy everything from egg to toilet paper or a digital camera. See some examples here.

The symbol for this month is the pink ribbon, Rosa Bandet, that is sold throughout the country and is similar to the red ribbon, symbol of the fight against aids. In Sweden, the pink ribbon has a new design every year and this year it was design by Gert Windgårdh, a famous architect. It is very light pink with some dots on it like braille and it says "ska bara" or "just gonna". "just gonna" illustrates all the excuses women can find to avoid feeling their breast because of shame or fear. And reading and feeling the braille dots is like reading and feeling your breast, with your fingers. This was the inspiration of Windgårdh.


I firmly intend to be a part of this month. As for many of you, I have been affected by breast cancer in my family. I lost one aunt and the mother of my very dear sister in law. The horrible thing about breast cancer is that it can affect anyone at any age. Both of the two here above were in their 50-60 and it's way too young to leave us... that's the shocking thing, the too young age of the victims.

As every year I will buy one or two pink ribbons, a couple of the products such as toilet papper. I already have a pink mop and bucket. Very girly, very chic!

And my little plus may sound cheesy but I am going to wear pink tops and t-shirt the whole month when I go to the gym. October is the pink month.

What will you do this month?