When I grow up, I want to be a Superhero... Who knew?

When I was a really little kid, I wanted to be Spiderman. When I was a little girl, watching Linda Carter week after week, I wanted to be Wonder Woman. And when the movie came out, I wanted to be Supergirl. In high school, when I saw Michelle Pfeiffer don the latex, I wanted to be Catwoman (of course, meeting and selling Eartha Kitt muffins every morning for a summer contributed to that fantasy). In college, I was thrilled to dress my friend Charity, who was playing Princess Ida, like Xena in our production of the "Three Princess Project" And I always tell my kids not to make me angry, as they wouldn't like me if I got angry...

Ok. So I DO own Wonder Woman/Supergirl boots.
I bought them the day I was diagnosed - I was already
channeling my inner super heroine. Glad they followed
in my footsteps.

I never, sadly, developed any superhuman strength, or super powers. I shared nothing in common with any of these heroines. They were unattainable beacons of womanhood. Good examples, of course, but they existed on a plane that was far beyond reach.

Or were they?

A brilliant ad campaign is launching in, of all places, Mozambique, promoting self-breast examinations as a means to increase early detection of breast cancer. Associação da Luta Contra o Câncer in Mozambique is launching the following campaign of super heroines giving themselves breast exams in, what I think is, one of the most eye-catching, powerful campaigns I've seen in a long time.

It doesn't play on fear, shock, sentimentality, or the color pink. It focuses on powerful women. Strength. It humanizes these super heroines that so many of us grew up looking up to, and generation upon generation admire at some point in their lives, and shows us that, despite all the supernatural powers in the world, cancer can touch us all. Despite the cloaks, spandex and genetic mutations, we are all still women.

Today, I feel like Wonder Woman. I may not break out the starry bloomers and tiara, but I realize that I faced a dubious super villain, and I'm beating it down.