'I love boobies' bracelets controversy

Move over, Silly Bandz. The hot new bracelet in town is a fundraiser for a breast-cancer awareness group. The wide rubber bracelet proclaims, "I love boobies" and is being sported by tweens and teens, boys and girls alike.

"I see them everywhere," says Annie Kelly, a 16-year-old junior at Massapequa High School. The colorful bands are fashioned after the once-ubiquitous Lance Armstrong "Livestrong" bracelets, but are wider, measuring 1 inch.

"They're a hot commodity," agrees Sarah Viollis, 17, a senior at the school.

Why have they caught on?

"We're teenagers, and it says the word 'boobies' in it," explains Susan Reilly, a 17-year-old senior, making her friends crack up.

"Either they want to support [the fight against] breast cancer," Kelly says, "or they think the bracelet's funny."

The "boobies" bracelet has spawned copycats that say things like "Save the ta-tas," "Fight Like a Girl" or "Boobies big or small, save them all." Local businesses and charities are emulating the wider style of the bracelet to promote their causes, towns or school teams.

Keep A Breast started selling the "boobies" bands as an alternative to pink ribbons, which it said weren't resonating with teens. The bracelets, $3.99 each at Keep-A-Breast.org, also say "Keep A Breast" on them. The nationwide "I love boobies campaign" encourages young people to adopt lifestyle choices that have long-term health benefits; the group also sells T-shirts bearing the slogan, but it's the bracelets that have really taken off. More than 2 million have been sold so far this year, says Kimmy McAtee, marketing manager.

Hayden Edelson, 13, of Great Neck, made a contribution to Keep A Breast and gave out 70 of the bracelets as part of the "giveaways" to the kids who attended his bar mitzvah earlier this month. Says his dad, Ron Edelson, a founding partner of Zimmerman/Edelson Public Relations in Great Neck: "What this organization is trying to do is deal with young people. How do you do that? Sometimes, you have to do some stuff that is a little left of center to get them to stand up and listen."

David-James Pentecost, a Massapequa High junior, owns two "Save the ta-tas" bracelets. He says he wears them to support the cause - after all, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and men can get breast cancer, too. The bracelet, he says, is symbolic of his compassion for women who have lost their lives due to the disease. "Some people in my family had it," he says.

Not everyone on board

The West Islip school district is observing October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month in more acceptable ways - there's no reason for students to be wearing bracelets school administrators deem inappropriate, says district spokeswoman Nancy Lenz.

Teachers, for instance, made a $5 donation each toward breast cancer research to earn the right to wear blue jeans to school this Friday - something usually prohibited under their dress code, she says. Students will wear pink Friday.

West Islip is one of at least five districts on Long Island that have banned the "I Love Boobies" bracelet entirely or in specific schools, including Center Moriches, Comsewogue, Great Neck and North Babylon. They cause "too much chuckling," Lenz says. "It's disruptive during the school day."

Local schools join others in California, South Dakota and Washington that have banned the bracelets or make students wear them inside-out.

Some parents and students from West Islip seemed baffled by the need for a ban; others supported it.

"Do you think anybody cares what people have on their bracelets anymore?" argues Abby Riley, a 10th grader. She has 10 rubber bracelets on one arm and 13 on the other, supporting causes such as animal rescue, literacy and the U.S. Air Force.

"It just puts a little bit of humor into something that's serious and hurts a lot of people, and makes it a little easier to cope with," says Adrianne Ragland, a 14-year-old ninth grader. "It's like a conversation starter. 'I like your bracelet. Where'd you get it?' 'It supports breast cancer.' See how that works?"

Karen Miller, founder of the Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition, says she believes the next generation is going to be "feistier" in demanding a cure for breast cancer. "If this is the way they want to deliver the message, then absolutely, I say, 'Go for it,' " she says.

But the West Islip PTA supports the ban. "The wearing of these bracelets, much like the Silly Bandz last year, appears to be causing a distraction in the classrooms, taking away valuable minutes from instructional time," PTA Council president Theresa Shaw said in a written statement issued Monday.

"There's got to be rules," concedes Cindy Johnson, who has two children at the high school. "If they have these, they can wear other shirts that are even worse. It never stops."

Jumping on the bandwagon

At Massapequa High, the school is selling thick blue bracelets with CHIEFS written on them in gold capital letters - blue and gold are the school's colors, and the Chiefs its team name.

Alex Kantor, 14, of Centerport, whose 17-year-old sister, Nikki, was killed in a one-car crash on July 21, is selling bracelets with Nikki's favorite sayings to raise money for The Nikki Kantor Memorial Scholarship Fund. The black and white bracelets have sayings such as YOLO, for "You Only Live Once," and have her name on the inside. They're sold at nkmsf.org for $10 each. "A lot of kids were just looking for something . . . to grasp onto, to look at or touch every day," says her father, Mike.

At M.J. Beanz toy store in Plainview, bracelets that say Dix Hills, Jericho, Syosset, Woodbury, Plainview or Melville are for sale for $7 each, manager Traci Lester says. Others say things like "Whatever" or "I love to text," for $6.