Language of cancer
The second module about language was again very interesting. I had a strong reaction to two words: warriors and survivors. The other dos and don'ts are how I speak myself. I do not use the term survivor for myself and have great difficulty with it, as I believe that BC can always come back and that I will be a survivor when I finally die of something else. I consider myself to be living with the disease.
Warrior is an interesting one, because it is related to the fight/battle imagery which I dislike intensely. However, there is the imagery of warrior women/Amazons etc that I admire and I used visualization about warrior women during my treatment. I understand the inconsistency of my views but...
I do think it is important to understand why at BCNA certain terms are used or not used, but it is also important for me to understand why people use the terms that I actually find offensive such as patient, battle, losing etc and for me to be able to explain why I (as well as BCNA) don't identify with these terms.
Comments
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Hi "Polyxena"
It is interesting how different terms can have both positive and negative meanings to someone, such as the term 'warrior' you have reflected on.
What did others think of the terms used in the "Language" module?
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