I consider myself quite a spiritual person, so why am I saying something that folks might find spiritually outrageous? Most of us are aware of the history of black slavery in America and the Holocaust in Europe but something else is happening right now. Did you know that young black women have about double the death rate from breast cancer as white women?

Bras and Black Women

In a January 18, 2024 article published on academia.edu, medical anthropologist Sidney Ross Singer outlines his theory as to why this happens. Entitled “Why Tight Bras are Killing More Black Women Than White Women,” his report describes how “Some women, particularly women of color, have different skin properties that affect how the skin responds to trauma, rubbing, and irritation from tight bras. These women are more likely to form thick, raised scars, called keloid or hypertrophic scars.” The lymphatic impairment from tight clothing and these keloid scars, says Singer, can lead to tissue breakdown and breast cancer. Singer is a pioneer in researching the effect of bras on cancer. This issue is covered in detail in his book, Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras. Indeed, numerous studies show an incontrovertible link between bras and breast cancer. The longer the bra is worn and the tighter it is, the greater the risk.

The Jewish Cancer Gene

There is also a specific genetic flaw common in women of Jewish descent that dramatically increases their cancer risk. Everyone has BRCA1 and BRCA 2 genes. According to the CDC, however, one in forty Ashkenazi Jewish women has a mutation in those genes. Why is this a big deal? The CDC says that:

• About 50 out of 100 women with a BRCA gene mutation will get breast cancer by the time they turn 70 years old, compared to only 7 out of 100 women in the general U.S. population.
• About 30 out of 100 women with a BRCA gene mutation will get ovarian cancer by the time they turn 70 years old, compared to fewer than 1 out of 100 women in the general U.S. population.

I know that the CDC isn’t always accurate and has come up with a lot of doom and gloom pronouncements about certain health issues that were subsequently proven to be false, but these depressing BRCA figures seem to be supported not only by other studies but also my own life experience. As someone of Ashkenazi Jewish descent with a mutated BRCA gene, I’ve had breast cancer not once but twice, in both breasts.

Mastectomies and Breast Implant Illness

Contrary to what actress and defective BRCA gene carrier Angelina Jolie had very publicly done in 2013, I did not have mastectomies and reconstruction but opted for lumpectomies. Breast Implant Illness is very real—to date Nicole Daruda’s Facebook support group, Breast Implant Illness and Healing has about 190,00 members. I had no desire to deal with that on top of coping with cancer. Following the heavy publicity surrounding Jolie’s decision, my surgeon strongly urged me to lop off my boobs when I got my second cancer in 2014. When I had my first cancer back in 2007, before the Jolie Effect, a different surgeon had recommended a simple lumpectomy and mastectomies were not even mentioned. To find out more about Breast Implant Illness, read the blog I wrote entitled, “Breast Implant Illness? It’s All in Your Head, You Neurotic Woman!”

The BRCA Ovarian Cancer Risk

The risk of ovarian cancer from a faulty BRCA gene is considerably lower than the risk of breast cancer, but in some ways it matters more. Breast cancer is usually treatable and survivable. Regular screening tends to find it at an early stage when the tumor is contained within the breast. The ovaries are much smaller organs, and cancer in them can far more easily spread to the body cavity and other organs. Ovarian cancer is often only discovered when it is at a late stage.

When my gene profile was discovered, I was advised to have my ovaries removed, but I wanted to wait till I had gone through menopause to avoid being slammed into it artificially. Instead, I regularly had an ultrasound of my ovaries and the CA125 blood test. This measures a particular cancer antigen protein that is elevated in most ovarian cancer cases, but there are several other conditions that can cause a high reading, so the test is only recommended for those with a high risk of ovarian cancer. Two years after my first breast cancer diagnosis, I went to a relative’s wedding and got talking with an old friend of the family. She told me about three women she knew who had recovered well from breast cancer but, some years later, had all died from ovarian tumors. They were all Ashkenazi Jews. It was a wake-up call for me to get rid of my ovaries and fallopian tubes—which for some strange reason is known as an oophorectomy. By the time I went under the knife I had already reached menopause, and after the operation I noticed little difference in how I felt. Angelina Jolie was not so lucky. In 2015, at the age of 39, her CA125 blood test showed anomalies that might indicate an ovarian tumor, so she had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed. Jolie’s mother also had a defective BRCA1 gene and was diagnosed with breast cancer. However, it was an ovarian tumor that killed her.

Damning Evidence against Bras

I read Dressed to Kill as part of the extensive research I did for my comic memoir, My Wild Ride: How to Thrive After Breast Cancer and Infidelity. I found Sydney Ross Singer’s book so compelling that I quit wearing bras cold turkey, and maybe I even looked and felt like a cold turkey initially as I got used to not wearing the garment. I had to get rid of some clothes that were just too revealing to wear in public without a bra but pruning my wardrobe was worth it. Now, I feel so much more comfortable bra-free that I could never go back to wearing one, even if it didn’t have all the health risks.

Sydney told me, “Jewish women have a higher incidence of harmful BRCA gene mutations and should not wear tight bras. It further compromises an already genetically compromised cancer-fighting ability. Lymphatic impairment adds a mechanical problem on top of a genetic problem.”

Research indicates that link between bras and breast cancer is stronger than that between smoking and lung cancer. Take a moment to let that sink in. Consider all the anti-smoking campaigns. They’ve worked well. We all know that cigarettes are bad for our health.

Why No Public Campaigns against Bras?

So, why haven’t women been informed about the risks of wearing bras? Why are our esteemed doctors not ripping bras off their patients, especially if they’re Jewish or black? Aside from the fact that this might be seen as sexual harassment and cause healthcare professionals to lose their licenses, it seems that there has been a concerted effort by the medical community to sweep the bra-breast cancer link under the carpet. Sydney Ross Singer describes exactly why this has happened in another of his academia.edu articles, “What Breast Cancer, Inc. Doesn’t Want You to Know about Bras.”

I have to agree with his conclusions. When I tried to debate ChatGPT on the issue, it pooh-poohed the numerous peer-reviewed studies I presented that showed a conclusive link between bras and cancer. Instead, ChatGPT fabricated non-existent studies to justify its insistence that there is no connection between breast cancer and the wearing of bras. Wow!

The only actual study showing no link is the flawed 2014 Hutchinson Study that had no control group of women who did not wear bras and only looked at post-menopausal women in whom the bra-cancer link is much weaker because of survivor bias. But, surprise, surprise, that’s the only research you’ll see if you Google the issue, and ChatGPT trumpeted its conclusions. You can read the whole sorry story in my blog, “Sparring with ChatGPT on Bras and Cancer.” I’ve been told that it’s worth looking at for the featured image alone. However, given how reliant people are on ChatGPT and AI to create content and find information, the text of the article is much more of an eye-opener than the picture.

What You Can Do

To conclude, here’s the message for my black and Jewish sisters: Don’t believe AI and Google. Ditch that bra and keep thriving!