'Pink-Ribbon Culture' a Disservice to Women

When women raise a fury over questionable mammograms while letting the “anti-choice” Stupak amendment pass with nary a peep, you know something’s wrong with what passes for the “women’s health movement” these days, writes Barbara Ehrenreich. "All but the wealthiest women's right to choose" could soon be gone, and the outrage is nowhere to be seen. "To some extent, pink-ribbon culture has replaced feminism as a focus of female identity and solidarity."

"Once upon a time, grass-roots women challenged the establishment by figuratively burning their bras. Now, in some masochistic perversion of feminism, they are raising their voices to yell, 'Squeeze our breasts!,'" she writes in the Los Angeles Times. The focus on breast cancer is safe “apple pie” for the national discourse. Women need to bite into the “too edgy” issues that truly matter. (More Barbara Ehrenreich stories.)