title: Speaking from experience: today's Cuban women and breast cancer.
abstract: Over 2200 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed annually in Cuba, and a decade ago I became one of them. Late in 2000, I underwent breast cancer surgery at the National Oncology and Radiology Institute in the Cuban capital. My experience-both with the disease and as a sociologist at the University of Havana studying gender relations-serves as the basis for the following essay. The article characterizes today's Cuban women, particularly those of us with or at risk of breast cancer, and describes my own and others' responses to our disease. My aim is to provide insights useful to the physicians, nurses, engineers, physicists, technicians, and service and administrative workers in Cuba's health services who interact with us, whose increased awareness will make us feel more deeply understood and respected. In this context, I also reflect on the Cuban media's portrayal of cancer, with recommendations for dismantling the biases of fatalism and even pity often conveyed.
authors.affiliation: Center for International Migration Studies, University of Havana, Cuba. mnspascual@gmail.com
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Núñez
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D003462:Cuba; D004501:Education, Medical; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media; D008875:Middle Aged; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012307:Risk Factors; D014930:Women / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult