One of the most puzzling aspects of the new guidelines concerns self-exams for breast cancer. The panel is recommending not teaching the technique.
Here is an article about some of the research behind the recommendation, and criticism of it. The research does appear to have some serious problems.
Feminist Philosophers 
I’m finding myself so frustrated with all these new recommendations! And especially this one about doctors no longer telling women about the importance of self-exams. It’s taken years to develop an awareness of the importance of both self-exams and regular mammograms (and many women still don’t do these regularly), and now I worry that this will set us back. If medical recommendations are going to take into account the effects of women’s fears and anxiety (which lead to unnecessary tests and worse–unneeded treatment), why not also consider the effect that recommendations like this will have? I can see many women using these new recommendations as an excuse not to bother with a self-exam, and as a further excuse not to schedule a mammogram.
They are afraid that the poor dears will become hysterical if they self-examine.
I do not buy into the idea that women’s health centers around cancer. My body is more than a time bomb for cancer, and I’ve been saying so for years before these more realistic suggestions were developed.
Breast self-exam has NOT been shown to prevent or delay deaths from breast cancer. If some women feel that examining their breasts for lumps empowers them, go ahead. But don’t foist that myth on the rest of us.
There are so many blatant LIES in the “war on breast cancer.”
I have never believed one in nine women will get breast cancer. About 50,000 women in the US die annually of breast cancer.
I live in Dallas, TX, which has a population of about 1 million people.
I have asked for years to see the study which concluded one in nine women will get breast cancer. I’ve never traced it, and don’t suppose I ever will.
The truth is that LUNG CANCER kills more women than breast cancer. Heart disease kills even more.
Women’s health care must stop centering around a cancer search-and-destroy mission and become whole body care.