From the On The Issues Print Archive

Winter 1992-Got To Get This Off My Chest

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Health activism and the feminist movement frequently travel hand-in-hand, and they, along with environmental concerns, have been topics of deep interest in past issues of On The Issues Magazine.

Got To Get This Off My Chest by Matuschka

Following her diagnosis of breast cancer, the artist, photographer and writer Matuschka contributed powerful artwork of herself for the cover of the winter 1992 issue and also wrote of her experiences after her mastectomy.

In response to a suggestion by her surgeon that she have reconstructive surgery, Matuschka says: "For a moment I thought this was crazy. The implant scandal had just hit the media. We had learned that many of the materials used for these implants were originally intended for upholstery, battle ships, and automobile parts. Annoyed that my surgeon was pushing plastic surgery, I commented sarcastically, 'If I'm going to bother putting anything on my chest to replace a missing breast, why not install something useful there, like a camera or a walkman?'

"...Hiding breast cancer allows people to forget, or never see, what happened to these women. All my life I have refused to hide behind anything. It was unthinkable for me to conceal my disease behind a reconstructed breast or a plastic, por- table prosthesis which spends the night in a box. Why should I be embarrassed that I had a mastectomy?"

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