Former spokeswoman for DPP has cancerous tumor

Former DPP spokeswoman Sisy Chen (陳文茜) was diagnosed yesterday as having breast cancer and will be operated on early next month at National Taiwan University Hospital to remove a tumor.

Chen, currently spokeswoman of the legislative reform group Mountain (山), seemed unaffected by the diagnosis, tempering her medical condition with a sense of humor.

"I'll take advantage of my breasts' surplus value. Before one of them is removed, I'd like to pose naked for Playboy magazine for a NT$3 million fee. The magazine has been talking to me about doing this since I was 38," the 43-year-old Chen said yesterday, adding that she would use the money to buy a Steinway piano she has long dreamed about.

Trying to look at a likely breast removal with a positive attitude, Chen said that "actually these two humps are to blame for women's suffering in their relationships with men."

"Because they seem to answer only men's desire, who tend to look at women's breasts to fulfill their imagination on seizing power and territory," she said, "breasts only function as women's social tools. Therefore, it may be a good thing if I am one breast less."

Claiming to be a radical feminist, Chen was then critical about there being too few female politicians or professionals in Taiwan daring to reveal their figures by naturally exposing their upper busts. She said that, in the Mediterranean culture, it was more natural and normal for people to dress revealingly.

Though Chen appears well-prepared to become a single-breasted woman, her surgeon Huang Chun-shen (黃俊生) was optimistic that Chen may keep her breasts intact.

"The probability of her tumor being malignant is only 20 percent, therefore, a scar on her breast is probably all she's getting after the removal operation," Huang said, adding that Chen's tumor was about 3cm in diameter now.

Huang said that whether Chen would have to later receive chemotherapy treatments would depend on the results of an examination.

While Chen told Huang she didn't care about the scar, Huang also cautioned her not to work too hard the next few months and to get as much rest as possible.

Chen's political ally Shih Ming-teh (施明德), a former DPP chairman, yesterday praised Chen for her cleverness, which he said has won her a great number of friends.

"It's not her looks or breasts that attract people, but her brains and wisdom. She is a very confident woman," Shih said, adding that he admired Chen's tough and optimistic temperament in dealing with her medical condition.