title: The breast cancer fanfare: Sociocultural factors and women's health in Ghana.
abstract: Traditional notions of the "full" woman and sociocultural beliefs about gender roles contribute to a unique experience of breast cancer in Africa. I used the critical feminist lens to analyze dis-courses about breast cancer in mainstream Ghanaian media. I found that breast cancer awareness is promoted amidst fanfare and that cultural notions of the female breasts, including their sexual appeal, are implied in breast cancer discourse. This obscures a nuanced understanding of the disease and women's health globally, limits the power of women to name their experiences, and contributes to the late presentation of the dis-ease in sub-Saharan Africa. I discuss the implications of the findings for international, interdisciplinary scholarship.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Communication , Arkansas State University , Jonesboro , Arkansas , USA.
authors.forename: Dinah A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Tetteh
mesh_terms: D017954:Africa South of the Sahara; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D019513:Feminism; D005869:Ghana; D014943:Global Health; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media; D012938:Social Perception; D016387:Women's Health; D014933:Women's Rights