As a two-time breast cancer survivor and BBC-trained journalist, I have done a significant amount of research into the causes of cancer. My self-help memoir, My Wild Ride: How to Thrive After Breast Cancer and Infidelity, not only includes cartoons and humor, but also a bibliography referencing nearly 70 books and more than 100 studies.
One important book I read as part of my research was the second edition of Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras, by Sidney Ross Singer and Soma Grismeijer. It presents compelling evidence that the link between breast cancer and bras is stronger than that between smoking and lung cancer. In my blog, “ Say No to Bras: Can Bras Cause Breast Cancer?”, I describe the issue in more detail.
Given the potential damage bras may cause, I find the current fashion for nonbinary gender fluid biological females to bind their breasts to be concerning, especially in young girls whose bodies are still developing. Are they dramatically increasing their chances of getting breast cancer? The jury is out on this issue, but in 2017, a study of the health impacts of chest binding among transgender adults was published in the journal Culture, Health & Sexuality. It found that 97% of the 1800 participants who bound their chest daily had at least one negative symptom. Side effects they reported included back and chest pain, shortness of breath, a buildup of fluid in the lungs, reduced exercise tolerance and even broken ribs. Inexpensive breast binders are now available from a variety of retailers, including Target and Amazon, and I saw no mention of potential health issues in any of the listings that I found online for these products.
These symptoms of health problems from breast binding in some ways hearken back to those reported from the 19 thcentury fashion of upper-class women wearing tightly laced corsets. An article by Susan Isaac entitled “ The dangers of tight lacing: the effects of the corset,” published in 2017 on The Royal College of Surgeons of England’s website, details a litany of health hazards this garment caused, labelled by doctors as “chlorosis” or “green sickness.” Symptoms ranged from fainting and anemia to even death. However, some claim that the improvements in women’s health after corsets fell out of favor were due to better sanitation.
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was seen as a miraculous cure for hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms and was increasingly prescribed from the 1960s to the 1990s. Then it appeared that this treatment caused breast cancer and thus it has now fallen into disfavor. This begs the question: Like HRT, will the practices of prescribing puberty blockers and various hormone treatments to youngsters with gender dysphoria be found to have various unintended consequences, including breast cancer? Osteoporosis is no laughing matter, but up till now it has been a condition mainly affecting postmenopausal women, rather than young people in the prime of life. Yet in a February 3, 2021 article in the Daily Mail, Joe Pinkstone reported on a study showing that puberty blockers impair height, growth and bone density. Some doctors believe that growth and bone density will return to normal if these drugs are discontinued, but nobody knows if this is actually the case, as those prescribed puberty blockers are in effect preventing vital development at a key time in their lives. Extensive use of these drugs has virtually no previous track record as no long-term studies have been done to prove their safety. It is all brand-new territory, and today’s trans youth are the guinea pigs.
Some gender-dysphoric biological females as young as thirteen years of age have undergone mastectomies for cosmetic reasons. Some doctors have apparently claimed that if these youngsters change their minds, they can always have reconstruction surgery. This is shocking to me because breast implant illness is very real, as I write in my blog, “ Breast Implant Illness? It’s All in Your Head, You Neurotic Woman!” The potential side effects include pain, cancer and systemic immune dysfunction. Thus, my view is that once someone decides to get rid of their breasts, they had better really want that 100 percent, and the person should be at least mature enough in age to be able to make an informed decision. When I went through breast cancer the second time, my doctor recommended a double mastectomy, but never mentioned anything about the toxicity of breast implants. I chose to turn down that surgery and have a lumpectomy instead. Nicole Daruda’s Breast Implant Illness and Healing Facebook support group to date has more than 170,000 members. Many women with breast cancer are now choosing to go flat after having mastectomies to avoid having to deal with implants.
Adolescence and youth in general is a time of insecurity and experimentation. Some folks know early on in their gut deep down that they have been born in the wrong body, but for others gender fluidity is a temporary phase in their lives that they later change their minds about. Several friends of mine went through times of trans, gay or bisexual activity, but then later on became 100 percent cisgendered and heterosexual. One girl I knew from high school had a relationship with a guy that ended so badly she vowed to date only girls from that time on, but when I reconnected with her several years later, she was happily married to a man she described as her true soulmate.
I have dealt with breast cancer twice, undergoing surgery, chemotherapy and radiation as well as the emotional toll of confronting my own mortality. It is not an experience I would wish on anyone. Thus, the bottom line for me is that I firmly believe gender experimentation in young people with bodies that are still developing should not be medicalized. “First do no harm” should be the watchword of medical professionals. Furthermore, the potential side effects of practices such as breast binding should be made crystal clear, both by retailers and doctors.
Originally published at https://www.adultererswife.com on October 17, 2022.
