Is it political correctness or altruism?

On October 25, 2005, Dr. Helen had a post about Breast Cancer Awareness Month:

So, what harm does this do? It convinces most women (and men who are concerned about women) that breast cancer is just around the corner, especially for younger women. This could not be further from the truth. In 2001, only 900 women under 30 had invasive breast cancer. In fact, almost half a million women die every year from heart disease compared to 40,000 from breast cancer. Yet, heart disease gets little publicity--our local newspaper is not even expected to show up at this year's heart walk; and there are almost no celebrities I can think of that have taken up the cause for heart problems. Heart disease is thought of as an "old person's disease and a good way to die (even if this is true, which it is not, isn't this a little cruel?)."

Yes, it is wonderful that we are finding cures for breast cancer, but if we are doing so at the expense of finding cures for other diseases that take more lives, even those of younger women, are we really fighting diseases to extend the lives of those who have them or are we just trying to make ourselves feel good?

Ben asked her a question:

This is completely off topic, Dr. Helen, but, most women I know are not as concerned as you seem to be with bias against men in the U.S. I truly appreciate you getting the word out about this issue, and I agree. I'm just wondering why you feel so strongly about these issues. Does my question make sense? I'm just trying to get a peak inside your head, that's all.

She responded with this:

Thanks for your question. I will have to do a post on my life and views at some point soon. To sum it up, my emotional makeup was more "masculine" (actually, I found out later that other women felt the same--I just did not know them) while growing up in the South and I never understood the whole girl culture. I was direct with my feelings and opinions and believed heavily in individual rights and freedom.

On October 27th, an anonymous person asked her this:

hmmm. what exactly does that mean--your "emotional makeup" is more "masculine"?

She responded with this:

By "masculine" emotional makeup--I meant that I showed anger more directly to other people than typical women did in the south. I realize that women feel anger just as readily as men but they tend to show it in different ways such as passive-aggressive techniques such as not wanting to be your friend etc. Many junior high age girls were terrified of this rejection (still are) whereas I would just say, "fine, don't be my friend, what friend would say that to me?" I think men in our society are more direct with their anger (although that is changing).

On December 18, 2006, I responded:

I don't live in the south, but my sister is like this and sometimes I think she does it to be mean. I am a very timid guy and I would never want to marry someone with this type of personality.