Body Image and Breast Cancer

Granted, mutilations against women do not take place solely within the context of this disease, but cancer treatment provides the surgeon with all the necessary alibis. Misogyny is rampant in this field, where there are practically no female cancer specialists of note. How long must we wait before there is a commission of enquiry into female mutilations, and not only the excision of young girls, that poster child of cultural difference, but an enquiry into the whole range of mutilations inflicted upon females, excision in the name of custom, mastectomy in the name of cancer, and on-the-off-chance hysterectomies!Jeanne Hyvrard, Le Cercan (p. 168)