Kierra Aiello
WRIT 1733: The Ties That Bind
Professor LP Picard
During my freshman year at the University of Denver, my mother was diagnosed with breast
cancer. Everyone has different ways of coping; this paper was one of my coping strategies
after the drama had subsided. Research and personal stories all come together to form a
collection of diverse viewpoints complicating the issue of not only breast cancer in todays
society but also body image more generally. This paper is organized as a series of notes,
which help to organize the many lenses through which I look at the topic. Because I had nev-
er written in this style before, I found it somewhat difficult to organize all of my ideas. At the
same time, since I was using this paper to address my contrasting feelings, I do not believe I
would have been able to adequately express these feelings with a different structure.
The class prompt for the paper dealt with the idea of loss. It may be odd to some that I even-
tually decided to discuss the loss of breasts and what that means to women like myself. I
am equally as attached to my pinkie fingers as to my breastsI am a musician after allbut
I believe that society needs to become more comfortable with the discussion of the loss of a
body part that is both sexual and biologically nurturing.
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Kierra Aiello /
LP Picard
4thfullmoon /
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was part of a textbook, a study. After the surgery, when asked to write a review of the experience, she wrote: I did find it difficult for me
to have student [physicians] observe my breast
radiation session as it made me uncomfortable
with individuals casually walking around and
watching. None of the students even asked if it
was acceptable for the group to watch her procedure. After the operation, my mother, a person
in the medical field, turned to research to find
both information and solace. She changed her
diet, completely eliminating animal protein, and
I changed my diet to be mostly vegetarian. Her
findings changed our paths.
The 17th century painter, Rembrandt, a widower,
fell deeply in love with a woman he could not
marry. Since their love was looked down upon
by the church, he chose to recreate the story of
Bathsheba, a Biblical woman who loses her child
because of her adulterous affair, and to use his
mistress as a model. She is fleshy and nude; her
breasts exposed. The left breast is asymmetrical
and shows discoloration, which can be one of
the signs of breast cancer if the tumor is close to
the skin.20 Some think Rembrandt was painting
the cancer. In Rembrandts later depictions of his
mistress, we can see that her health deteriorates.
She died within nine years. Rembrandt avoided
idealizing his lovers body and her breasts; and,
knowingly or not, the artist depicted the cause of
her eventual death.
I have come to read breasts as texts, as signs and
symbols. At one level, they are physical assets.
They suckle babies. They catch the popcorn that
drops from our mouths in movie theatres. They
make seatbelts a daily challenge. They display
name tags. They change the way we wear clothes,
the way we notice ourselves in the restroom
mirror, the way we turn and gaze at ourselves,
sometimes in dismay, sometimes proudly, as we
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ENDNOTES
1. Breast Anatomy, National Breast Cancer Foundation,
breast-anatomy.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/14/showbiz/ange-
lina-jolie-double-mastectomy/.
2014, http://www.daily-art.com/the-scar-projectdavid-jay/.
14. Elisabeth Coyne and Sally Borbasi. Holding it All
15769.
1199207.
breastcancer.org/tips/fert_preg_adopt/treat-
ments/chemotherapy.
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