By Anthony Jauregui
Senior Staff Writer

We’ve all seen the pink shirts, pink shoes and ‘save the tatas’ bracelets. More importantly, we’ve all heard of them. Everyone supports breast cancer one way or another, but are we supporting it because it’s the right thing to do, or because it looks cool?

Breast cancer is in the spotlight in numerous outlets, but hiding in the bellows are other crippling diseases like muscular dystrophy, mental illnesses and other harmful cancers.

There are supporters in society who go out of their way to support other causes because they feel breast cancer is receiving enough notoriety. Brandon Marshall, a wide receiver for the Chicago Bears, was fined thousands of dollars on numerous occasions.

According to Chicago Tribune, “Marshall wore the cleats to promote Mental Health Awareness week.” Although it is in his contract to wear white cleats, he still wore green cleats in hopes of bringing support to mental awareness.

Ignoring the fact that the fine for fighting and wearing different colored cleats is the same, at $10,000, the fact that Brandon Marshall’s best way to spread awareness of mental illness is to break the rules of the NFL is wholly ridiculous.

Breast cancer awareness has a monopoly on the support that is received from society. I see pink everywhere to support awareness, but nothing for Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Breast cancer affects less people than prostate cancer does, but I think people are inclined to support breast cancer based on the fact that it mainly affects women, and prostate cancer only affects men.

According to an article by thedailycaller.com, “According to estimates from the National Institutes of Health, in the United States in 2010, 207,090 women and 1,970 men will get new cases of breast cancer, while 39,840 women and 390 men will likely die from the disease. The estimated new cases of prostate cancer this year — all affecting men — is 217,730, while it is predicted 32,050 will die from the disease.”

And the fact that breast cancer affects the breasts, one of society’s favorite body parts, makes it easier to market to the public i.e. shirts and bracelets that say ‘save the tatas’. No one wants a bracelet that says ‘save my semen’ for prostate cancer awareness.

Don’t think you have to support illness relief because your friends are doing it, support it because it’s the right thing to do. Don’t pay $5 to donate for a cause, just to have your name on the wall of a restaurant. There are people who wear “I Love Boobies” shirts because they like what’s under them, then there are supporters who wear “I Love Boobies” shirts because they genuinely support the cause.

We have created a society where we support things that are cool. We jump on bandwagons because our friends are doing it. I feel that the support of breast cancer has become a fad. We support it because they’re boobs, not because there are women suffering. We live in a world where we can be fined for showing support for something we’re passionate and care about.

Society should stop ‘supporting’ things because they think it’s cool to support. Don’t be afraid to support something other than breast cancer. They’ll still get it nonetheless. Spread the support, not the idea of support because it’s cool.