Turns out Angelina Jolie wasn’t just acting. She really is as tough as Lara Croft, Evelyn Salt and all the other formidable heroines she plays on film.
She just drop kicked our hang-up with women’s bodies, redefining beauty and what it means to be female.
When you’re a woman, it’s like your body is your sum total, not to mention everybody else’s business. Hair, lips, neck, hips, bottoms, legs – there’s hardly a part that isn’t scrutinized,dissected and pronounced on. And breasts – in our preoccupation with ogling (Are they real?) we’ve forgotten what they’re actually for.
Then there’s Hollywood, where it’s everyone’s job to look perfect, whether your parts are real or crafted by the best (and most discreet) doctors money can buy. Oscar-winner, leading lady, A-lister and former Sexiest Woman Alive, Jolie is one of the most beautiful women in a world of beautiful people.
But faced with a high risk of breast cancer, she chose to undergo a double mastectomy so she could be around for her children. Then she wrote about it, in the New York Times, to offer support to other women.
And she stated this: “I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity.”
It must have been scary. It’s definitely highly personal. But there’s no drama, no pity in her account. It’s forthright and considered. That’s what makes it so powerful.
She certainly doesn’t spare a lot. The decision was not easy, she wrote. She describes the procedure called a “nipple delay” (“causes some pain”), the major operation, which can take eight hours, and waking up with tubes to drain the fluid and expanders in her chest to create space for implants. It’s like a scene out of a science fiction film, she wrote.
But she also offers hope. Her risk of breast cancer has plummeted from 87 per cent to five per cent.
“I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer,” she wrote.
As for reconstructive surgery, there have been many advances, she wrote, “and the results can be beautiful.”
Her example – that you can seek information, explore your options and make the decision that’s best for you – is a message for everyone. She’s clear that her decision is not the right one for every woman. She had a mutation in one of the two so-called breast cancer susceptibility genes. They belong to a group of genes called tumour suppressors that help ensure the stability of genetic material and prevent uncontrolled cell growth. Certain mutations disrupt the genes’ proper functioning and increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. But only five to 10 per cent of these cancers are caused by these mutations, and even in those cases, the risk varies.
There are other options, too, though none are as effective as a mastectomy. There is increased screening to detect cancer early, when it’s more easily treated, and drugs that have been shown to reduce the risk of cancer.
Jolie’s account is not only bold and reasoned, it’s exceedingly generous. She could have said nothing. Certainly she’s entitled to privacy. But she knew that a person of her stature has an opportunity to have an impact, and she seized that opportunity.
“I’m writing about it … because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience,” she wrote. “Cancer is still a word that strikes fear into people’s hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness.”
Jolie can afford the blood test, which costs $3,000 in the U.S. ($4,000 in Ontario, covered by OHIP if you’re at risk), to check for the mutation. But she acknowledges that millions of Americans can’t afford it. And she advocates for them.
“It has got to be a priority to ensure that more women can access gene testing and lifesaving preventive treatment, whatever their means and background, where they live,” she wrote.
Despite all of the above, we should remember this isn’t a cure for cancer. The choice of facing potentially fatal disease or cutting off parts of our bodies to prevent it isn’t much of a choice, as one doctor said. But I’m convinced that some day, we’ll have real options.
Still, I have new respect for the woman who used to wear a vial of Billy Bob Thornton’s blood around her neck.
ajarvis@windsorstar.com or 255-5587. Follow me on Twitter @winstarjarvis.
