Poor Jade Goody!!

[Mark]

Fool!

[Greenlizard0]

Lol, I started a thread in "the other place" and it got moved..not deleted..or just closed down?

[leowyatt]

That is because it is already in the original jade goody thread.

[phykell]

I changed my mind a bit...

If people are so stupid that they need to see a celebrity going through what Jade has in order to get them to have a checkup, then perhaps it (splashing what she's going through all over the papers) is not such a bad thing after all.

[Pheebs]

I don't think stupid would be the right word there phykell I think people have a tendency to bury their heads on such subjects like these and turn a blind eye to it.

If it's in their face though, on a day to day basis, on the radio, in the papers, on the front page of mags at the check out... they can no longer avoid it/forget about it and eventually some kick themselves up the butt and realise it's better to check themselves out than go through what has been exposed through the media...

Doesn't make them stupid Forgetful/scared/ignorant maybe... but not stupid

[phykell]

Originally Posted by Pheebs

Doesn't make them stupid Forgetful/scared/ignorant maybe... but not stupid

You're probably right, I just despair at the idea of people needing some TV talking head to get people to do the right thing though. The Government provides loads of information on the subject, there is loads of support at the various medical centres - free Well Woman clinics, etc. and still people need to see a "celebrity" toughing it out first! *I* dont understand it.

I do have some sympathy of course but when did our society turn into a bunch of sheep that need to be shown exactly what to do? People should be turning to their friends and family rather than the latest ubiquitous TV celebrity tragedy.

[Pheebs]

As a laaaaaaaady... if it hadn't of been for my Ma having cervical cancer I would be completely unaware of smear tests. I'm not 25 (yet... *waits a couple of months*) so haven't had a letter sent through but looking at my paper work load, if I did get one and misplaced it I could quite easily forget about it (I'm obviously not going to because of family history).

It's really not in your face. Breast cancer is - always squeezing the bobs and babs to check they're in order but information on cervical cancer and smear tests never seems to pop out at you!

I guess it's not particularly a topic you have in conversation over dinner... kind of taboo. I'm a pretty open person and generally not embarrassed about talking about any bodily dysfunctions I am having but I'm guessing most people would probably pass on having the "oooh so, have you had your foof inspected lately?!" conversation with those they're less familiar with! It's not like something you'd see at the check out at the supermarket: "Don't be a Moose, Check out your Foof!" Whereas there is always breast cancer stuff - race for life etc.

So although you say there's mountains of information out there... it's not there for us to see all the time. It's not constantly in our face so I can understand why ladies do forget/put it off etc.

I haven't had an eye test for.... God knows. 6 years? I know I should have one yearly but I've just forgotten to sort it! It's not as important as I'm fine vision wise but... well you know what I'm saying

[A Place of Light]

Originally Posted by phykell

You're probably right, I just despair at the idea of people needing some TV talking head to get people to do the right thing though. The Government provides loads of information on the subject, there is loads of support at the various medical centres - free Well Woman clinics, etc. and still people need to see a "celebrity" toughing it out first! *I* dont understand it.

One word mate.
Exposure.
The Govt. couldn't buy the amount of airtime and comumn inches the girl is getting.

There's a huge section of society that has no interest in anything Govt. does, but for various reasons they can identify with people like Jade. The reason Jade became so popular in the first place was , IMHO, that she made almost everyone feel intellectually superior to her.....even some of the most uneducated. This removes a single iota of "threat" from her, and puts the viewer/reader in a position of superiority from their perspective and as such endears them to her.

The "Kylie effect" did exactly the same thing for breast cancer checkups as Jade is having on cervical cancer tests.

[Lomster]

Its more the fact that teen girls young/young women didn't really know how serious it could be to not have smears and the outcome could be life threatening simply because they thought the smear wasn't that important.
Yes its kinda stupid but there was simply not enough information in mags etc for teens/women to see and understand.
Now that its in the media about Jade alot more information is being given out on the subject
So yeah I guess it is pretty stupid eh? all this has made the world realise how important smears are, yet Jade is just one of many that have gone through what thousands are going through.

[lostkat]

Originally Posted by A Place of Light

The "Kylie effect" did exactly the same thing for breast cancer checkups as Jade is having on cervical cancer tests.

Very true and I don't possibly see how that can be a bad thing in the slightest. Ignoring the many possible reasons that women might have for not booking their smear tests, if it takes this to make at least 1 person do it then all this bloody publicity isn't in vain.