Roanoke Times Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: TUESDAY, August 17, 1993 TAG: 9308170011 SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO SOURCE: Associated Press DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
The reaction - outrage, shame, praise - reflects the increasingly heated argument over how hard the nation fights breast cancer.
"Some people are upset by that cover, but let me tell you, it's not as upsetting as having breast cancer," said Barbara Balaban, a Long Island breast cancer activist who says not enough is spent on caring for and curing the disease.
Sunday's edition of the magazine featured a self-portrait by Matuschka, a New York artist who has put such images on posters and post cards. The full-page color photo depicts her wearing a white dress that is cut away at the breast to reveal a jagged mastectomy scar.
The magazine's circulation is 1.8 million. For many readers, its cover offered a first, wrenching view of a hidden agony.
"This is what it looks like when a part of your body is removed," said Elin Greenberg, head of the Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. "I was afraid people would be horrified, but several said, `It doesn't look as frightening as I thought.' It demystifies mastectomy. Here is a person who had breast cancer and lived."
Nancy Nielsen, spokeswoman for the Times, said telephone calls and other responses to the cover were running "about 50-50 pro and con. . . . Some people thought the magazine was brave. Others were appalled by such an explicit photo. Some people said it brought back bad memories."
The decision to put the photo on the cover was made by the magazine's editor, Jack Rosenthal. He was on vacation and unavailable to comment Monday, but Matuschka said the decision was made "without a lot of hemming and hawing" and took a lot of guts.
In an interview Monday, the artist said she had tried for years to place her self-portraits "in almost every magazine in New York except the Times." "I was surprised they ran it," she said.
How best to draw attention to the risks of breast cancer has been in dispute among those who favor increased spending on the disease. For instance, some experts question the validity of the common claim that one in nine women will get breast cancer, because the ratio is based on the assumption that all women live to 85.
The National Breast Cancer Coalition says 2.6 million American women have breast cancer - including about 1 million who don't know it. About 46,000 women a year die from breast cancer.
Matuschka, whose words formed the Times Magazine's headline, said she did not intend to shock or offend.
The artist, a former lingerie model who was born JoAnne Motichka, said that her mother died of breast cancer and that she lost her right breast in 1991. Before that, she said, she had regularly displayed and published her photos of her breasts. She had her mastectomy filmed, she said, and subsequently made her scarred chest one of her regular photographic subjects. "Sort of a natural evolution," she said.
"I've been accused of exploitation and going for shock value, but I tried to make it aesthetically appealing. You're looking at a beautiful model. It's a way to suck people into looking at it."
"Does it upset people? I don't know. I can't say. But that's me."
by CNB