Anatomically Incorrect and Not Safe For Wendell

September 24, 2009 11:13 AM

In honor of the 5th season premiere of Grey's Anatomy on ABC:

Boobicon.Me let's you make very pink "Obamacon-styled" avatars in support of a breast cancer non-profit org called the "Feel Your Boobies Foundation" (Gallery inevitably contains NSFW images).

Accidental Dong is a single-topic blog, and the topic is things that look like penises (via Inquisitr, which perfectly calls it "a blog of dicks"). NSFAnyoneNoticingResemblances

And for your non-prurient anatomical interest, here are Weird Al's Brain (as seen at various county fairs) and his Pancreas.
posted by wendell (32 comments total)

Do people still watch this show?
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 11:16 AM on September 24

This post is like a shotgun blast using shells reloaded with shredded dildos and breast implants instead of buckshot.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:24 AM on September 24 [2 favorites]

/Do people still watch this show?

Heh. Just emailed my wife to let her know it was back.
posted by Artw at 11:28 AM on September 24

Sandra Oh is a pleasure to watch and everything, but isn't Grey's Anatomy another generic prime time hospital soap? Can't we expect that this "franchise" will be around for as looooooooooooooooooooooooong as ER was?
posted by KokuRyu at 11:28 AM on September 24

Does anyone know if they'll be bringing Sheen back for the second season of Bulfinch's Mythology?
posted by Liver at 11:37 AM on September 24 [4 favorites]

but isn't Grey's Anatomy another generic prime time hospital soap?

No, it has emo music montages!
posted by Artw at 11:38 AM on September 24 [2 favorites]

I would have much preferred BobbyConn.me
posted by munchingzombie at 11:51 AM on September 24

As someone once said: anything is phallic if it's taller than it's wide. Or something to that effect.
posted by jquinby at 12:00 PM on September 24

As someone once said: anything is phallic if it's taller than it's wide.

Then they never had sex with my ex-boyfriend.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:02 PM on September 24 [2 favorites]

Hmm -- I wonder if some of the "Accidental Dong" photos might actually be photoshopped. This seems a blog that's ripe for being spoofed like that.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:02 PM on September 24

Boobicon.Me let's you make very pink "Obamacon-styled" avatars in support of a breast cancer non-profit org called the "Feel Your Boobies Foundation"

The caption choice "Save Second Base" is brilliant.
posted by zarq at 12:10 PM on September 24 [1 favorite]

zarq: "The caption choice "Save Second Base" is brilliant."

Not to overthink the plate of boobs, but USPSTF gave an I(nsufficient evidence to recommend for or against) rating for breast self-exam as an effective screening method:

Because neither CBE [clinical breast examination] nor mammography is 100 percent sensitive, breast self-examination (BSE) has been advised as an important screening method among women older than 20 years of age. However, its effectiveness in decreasing death from breast cancer has been controversial because evidence from clinical trials is limited. Observational studies evaluating BSE and breast cancer stage at diagnosis or death have had mixed results.45,66

In two randomized, controlled trials with 5 to 10 years of followup, both conducted outside the United States, breast cancer mortality rates were similar in women instructed in BSE and in noninstructed controls.67-69 Both studies involved large numbers of women who were meticulously trained with proper technique and had numerous reinforcement sessions; mammography was not part of routine screening in the countries involved. In both trials, physician visits and biopsy for benign breast lesions increased among those educated in BSE. To date, no studies have evaluated other potential adverse outcomes of BSE, such as anxiety and subsequent screening behavior.

posted by The White Hat at 12:22 PM on September 24

The dong blog should have a vote system to establish if it really is phallic, or if it's just in the submitter's mind. Some of them looked pretty graphic, others were just a stretch. I'm thinking like FML's "I agree, your life is fucked" and "You had it coming" links. Perhaps "NSFW" and "Sometimes a cigar's just a cigar."
posted by mccarty.tim at 12:34 PM on September 24

White Hat: that is a good point in terms of clinical trials.

However -- in my sheerly-layperson's-opinion, one good thing that regular BSE's does do is encourage women to a) be a bit more pro-active in terms of checking themselves out, and b) familiarizing themselves with what is normal for them anyway. So many women are being raised with a bit of self-squeamishness, for lack of a better word, when it comes to examining themselves and with some unfamiliarity for what's "normal" that I think anything that even slightly counters that has an indirect affect, at least.

Even for women who aren't squeamish about this (raises hand), it can be an education -- in some women, the breast tissue feels a little lump naturally. If you're thus, then the regular BSEs also help you realize, "oh, okay, that's NORMAL for me. Gotcha." It's not 100% foolproof, but hey, can't hurt...

Right. Thus endeth my soapbox.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:37 PM on September 24

True, EC. The only possible downside I can imagine is someone, maybe not loving the idea of going in for a mammogram, thinking "There I checked, nothing there, no need to go." Not sure if that's realistic or not. Otherwise, why not BSE?
posted by msalt at 12:43 PM on September 24

roomthreeseventeen: "Do people still watch this show?"

I don't watch it. But the Season 5 finale was the 12th highest rated the week it aired, after American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, CSI, NCIS, The Mentalist, Sunday Night Football, Desperate Housewives, Two and a Half Men, and Criminal Minds. It had a 5.0 share (5.0% of TVs on at that time were watching it), or about 14.5 million watchers.

So: Yes. (Although it was the series' lowest rated season finale to date.)

wendell: "In honor of the 5th season premiere of Grey's Anatomy on ABC"

It's the 6th season.
posted by Plutor at 12:44 PM on September 24

This post is like a shotgun blast using shells reloaded with shredded dildos and breast implants instead of buckshot.

Don't forget the little chunks of pancreas.

It's the 6th season.

Oops, forgot GA started in early '05, not with the fall premieres. Then again, I don't watch it, I just read blogs about it.

This thread is going relatively quite well, as I did have some hope it would. Either you all have collectively accepted the non-sexist silliness with which I posted it, or jessamyn's watching it like a hawk and deleting every bad comment within seconds (while constantly swearing under her breath at me)...
posted by wendell at 12:57 PM on September 24

Oh MAN.
posted by not_on_display at 1:13 PM on September 24

Oh, *now* I understand "this will wendell."
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 1:38 PM on September 24 [1 favorite]

msalt: "Otherwise, why not BSE?"

A 1997 symposium sponsored by the NIH outlined (pdf) pretty well the arguments against using such unproven screening methods:

The main reasons not to use unproven screening tests are (1) the
burden of unnecessary workups of false-positive examinations with associated morbidity, anxiety, and cost; (2) the potential to detect lesions that may be clinically insignificant yet are treated; and (3) the false reassurance resulting from having a normal screening examination.

Let's talk about that unnecessary burden for a bit. An abnormal BSE will likely result in a clinic visit, which may then lead to a clinical breast exam (CBE), a mammogram, or a needle-biopsy. All of these procedures require time and money, and may also cause a certain amount of anxiety. Let's forget those for the moment and talk instead about actual physical harm caused by an unnecessary test. CBE is mostly harmless, as are mammograms if you factor out the low dose of radiation. Needle biopsies, however, can cause "hematomas,
infection, and scarring; from wire localization itself, complications include vasovagal reactions (7 percent) and, rarely, prolonged bleeding (1 percent) and extreme pain (1 percent)" (ibid).

Compound these risks with the fact that the intervention specifically targets women in the lowest-risk demographic for developing breast cancer and that young breasts frequently develop benign lumps from time to time, you've got what may be an large burden of unnecessary tests. This all comes down to a concept known as the "number needed to screen," which, shockingly, is the number of patients you need to screen to prevent one death. I can't find the NNS for BSE itself, but mammography (a much more sensitive/selective test) has an NNS of 1,792 for women 40-49y/o and 838 in women 50 or older. The number is likely to be much much larger for women in the 18-24 demographic that feelyourboobies seems to be going for. Larger NNS = more false positives = more unnecessary harm.

Looking at the feelyourboobies website, I can't find any information on whether or not they have a medical director. The founder is not a medical professional, and there's no clinical data provided on the website at all. I sympathize with the cause, and I think that BSE can be beneficial for older women and girls with genetic predisposition (BRCA genes), but I can't help but think that all the money this campaign is raking in could be used for better purposes than just self-propagation.
posted by The White Hat at 1:42 PM on September 24

I purely hate breast cancer awareness programs that trivialize and reduce women to a pair of mammary glands. What is important about breast cancer is that it kills women, not that it takes a pair of bewbies away from people who could be fondling them.

Women have their health concerns made light of often enough without this kind of thing.

Save the Tatas, I am talking to you.
posted by winna at 2:02 PM on September 24 [6 favorites]

Because it is not sufficient that cancer be caught, it has to be caught right.
posted by Artw at 2:30 PM on September 24 [2 favorites]

Oh yeah, there's nothing sexier than breast cancer!

Fuck, those sites give me the creeps. Having watched family members and friends go through cancer, my thoughts re: breast exams are not "oooh, sexy boobies" but "wow, I sure hope they don't find a lump, that would suck." I'm genuinely disturbed by people who want to turn the detection of a deadly disease into a sexy game that encourages the further objectification of women. Like, what's next, sexy 9-11? Sexy awareness of world hunger?

The accidental dong site is kind of amusing, though - well, except for the cheap shot at Caster Semenya...

Wait, what was the point of this again?
posted by ellehumour at 2:44 PM on September 24 [1 favorite]

Ohboyohboy, we finally find out if Izzy or George dies!

It's like comics but with less clevage and death rays. More angst though.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:51 PM on September 24

sexy 9-11?

That would be a tough one re WTC, essentially 4 phalluses being destroyed, but I'm sure you could make something out of the Pentagon attack.
posted by biffa at 2:54 PM on September 24

I just kind of like that the Hospital appeasr to be the Komo building at the foot of the Space Needle, because that;s liek the dumbest place for a hospital ever.
posted by Artw at 2:55 PM on September 24

ellehumour: "sexy 9-11?"

She was faking it.
posted by The White Hat at 2:59 PM on September 24 [1 favorite]

I just kind of like that the Hospital appeasr to be the Komo building at the foot of the Space Needle, because that;s liek the dumbest place for a hospital ever.

On top of it sounds dumber.
posted by qvantamon at 3:38 PM on September 24

I dunno, that would be kind of awesome.
posted by Artw at 3:45 PM on September 24

Grey's Anatomy is my guilty pleasure; I watch it to see just how many times they can mess up Seattle in a given episode. And to laugh at the emo montage scenes. I'm glad it's back.
posted by spinifex23 at 5:17 PM on September 24

For your snarky scatological pleasure.
posted by sammyo at 7:10 PM on September 24

The Accidental Dong blog had a screenshot of this location in Google Earth, and it was so unbelievable I had to check it. Here it is in Google Earth. That can't be accidental. Anyone in Nassau Bahamas want to weigh in?

Both links above are NSFW, natch.
posted by intermod at 9:08 PM on September 24