Comic superheroes perform breast self exams

An advertising agency in Mozambique has created a new campaign for breast cancer awareness featuring some leading female superheroes performing self breast exams (SBE). The ads feature Wonder Woman, Catwoman, X-Men's Storm and She-Hulk.

The ads feature the caption: "When we talk about breast cancer, there's no women or superwomen. Everybody has to do the self-examination monthly. Fight with us against this enemy and, when in doubt, talk with your doctor."

However, the well-intentioned ads have sparked some controversy. Over at Badass Digest, Devin Faraci writes, "As admirable as these ads are they, as is the case with many breast cancer PSAs, seem to skew towards men."

Boing Boing's Xeni Jardin, who is currently living with breast cancer, writes:

"I think more awareness and more data is generally a good thing. Even for superheroes. As an aside, the ads are fun but I'm gonna guess that the creative team on this one was all-male . . . . Ever notice how public health ads about testicular cancer and prostate cancer don't tend to feature fondle-y sexualized close-ups of those parts?"

Artist Kevin Bolk recent addressed the issue of sexism is comic book art by creating this mock poster for the upcoming Avengers film. In the artwork, the male superheroes are repositioned into stances commonly used to depict female superheroes, including in the actual posters for the Avengers film.

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