EDITORIAL: Breast cancer exams should not be censored

An ABC affiliate channel, WJLA in Washington D.C., is receiving flack for planning to air un-obscured footage of women's breasts as part of a two-part educational series for women on how to perform self-examinations of their breasts in order to check for irregularities that may be indicative of cancer. Parent watch-dog groups were concerned that the content would be too mature to be run in the early evening, when the likelihood of young children being exposed to the naked breasts is much higher. While this concern is valid, this is an occasion where censorship must be reconciled with the intent of the message that is considered to be potentially inappropriate.

There is a significant difference between Janet Jackson's exposed nipple during the Super Bowl half-time show and an informational program with the potential to save lives. This is not some stunt to improve ratings - the program is not eroticizing a pertinent public issue. It will feature two volunteers demonstrating the correct techniques for performing a self-breast examination, one of whom has breast cancer and detected it through one of these exams. It will also feature interviews with women who have struggled with breast cancer.

The Parents Television Council, the group who suggested that such a program may not comply with the FCC's decency regulations, and the rest of America need to consider the price we pay with this type of censorship. While there is a debate over how effective self-breast exams are as a method of detection - a topic the program does not discuss, preferring to focus instead on the correct methods for executing such an exam - there is no doubt that there are occasions where such an exam has saved someone's life. Knowing how to check for irregularities in her body is something that every woman should know. As for the program breaking a broadcast taboo by showing un-obscured breasts, the protest highlights a distinct fear of the human body in American culture. Due to the over-eroticization of everything in pop culture, Americans are afraid of the presentation of naked human bodies, even if it is in a clinical setting. For any illness, knowing your body inside and out helps you know when something is not right, from something as small as a cold to more serious conditions like tumors. ABC-WJLA should be commended for suspending a social agenda that encourages prudery and fear of nakedness in favor of educating women in a potentially life-saving process that few people want to discuss.