'Breast awareness' and 'breast self-examination' are not the same. What do these terms mean? Why are they confused? What can we do?

The terms 'breast self-examination' and 'breast awareness' are often used loosely, causing general confusion, with potential to cause women harm. To explore this confusion, we begin by defining their current meaning. We trace the history of these methods of early detection over the last half century, which has seen considerable cultural, social and attitudinal changes. Breast self-examination is not recommended. We caution that uncertainty exists about the value of practicing breast awareness: evidence is currently lacking to determine whether the benefits outweigh the harms: globally-aware research is needed. We believe that a clear and universally agreed definition of the term 'breast awareness' is needed, and that the confusion needs to be further exposed and debated. Meanwhile, we advocate 'sensible alertness'.