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This Pakistani Girl Has The Perfect Response For People Who 'Joke' About Breast Cancer

Cancer is not a joke.
Fama Hasan/ Facebook

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), breast cancer tops the list of cancers that hit women across the world. The threat's even bigger in developing countries, where a majority of the cases are detected at very late stages.

In 2011 alone, it claimed the lives of over 5,08,000 women worldwide.

While thousands of women lose their battles against this cancer world wide, spreading awareness for early detection is still a challenge. Reason? It involves the breast -- female body part rampantly sexualised in patriarchal social narratives.

On Tuesday, Islamabad-based college student Fama Hasan took to Facebook to narrate an incident where she had overheard men making fun of breast cancer. Yes, that happens too.

"Yesterday I got out of class and was walking to my car towards the gate when I passed a bunch of guys who seemed like they must be in the 7th or 8th semester," Hasan wrote.

This is what she overheard:

Guy 1: Oye wo kia kehrae thay?

Guy 2: Pata ni yara 'Breast' cancer ka kuch kerne aye thay. Ussi ka btaye jarae thay. *inmature dirty giggles*

Guy 3: *smirks* Ayeinnn!

All of the guys: *Erupt in laughter*"

Hasan further added, "I cringed all the way from university to home and I cringe as I type this. A society where basic human organs are sexualized to the point that even a cancer related to it is some locker room banter joke for these boys just like we talk of the one Trump said."

She went on to state some hard-hitting facts about breast cancer in Pakistan. "Little do they realize that it kills more than 40,000 women every year in Pakistan alone and these are just only the cases that even luckily get reported. Little do they know that Pakistan has the highest incidence of breast cancer in Asia."

"Little do they know that it is exactly this social setup because of which women are reluctant in medical checkups and sharing their issues, not even with their family members and ultimately lose their lives as the diagnosis only occurs at very late stages. God forbid some woman in their family suffers from this ever," she adds.

Hasan also believes that this is why everyone needs to support breast cancer awareness. "I have people constantly telling me that if you support a cause tou do something, beth ker baatein kerne se kuch nai hoga.

To all of you, 'do something' se pehle beth ker awareness phelana aur samjhana zaruri hai. Cause when organizations do come to our institutions to take a step and 'do something', these are the illiterate idiots they get to deal with."

You can read her entire post here:

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.