STUNNING Photos Feature Breast Cancer Survivors As Underwear Models

Recently, the breast cancer awareness movement has become synonymous to 'I love boobies' bracelets and every single item you can imagine in pink on the market. Although the people showing their support mean well, sometimes it feels like all of this pinkwashing misses the mark.

Not all breast cancer survivors fit into this conventional image of a woman with reconstructed breasts and yet we keep promoting this message with social media campaigns that mainly celebrate boobs. The reality is that some women opt out of that choice.

That's where non-binary/gender neutral underwear company Play Out comes in. 

They created a powerful photo campaign with FlatTopper Pride (a support group for cancer survivors in the LGBTQ community) around women who chose not to go through breast reconstruction.

The results are breathtaking.

In a conversation with Huffington Post, Melanie Testa, one of the breast cancer survivors in the photo series, gave this brutally honest and beautiful response:

"Living in a society that does not reflect the image of my body [type] -- breast-less, scarred, affected by cancer -- has great consequence and influence to those who are newly diagnosed. Not all women choose reconstruction or feel that it will make them whole again; some feel quite whole without breasts and without the need to wear breast forms. I choose to embrace my body as is and blithely proceed with grace and dignity. My hope is that other women will see these images in their time of need and that they will feel empowered and informed about flat reconstruction as one option among many."

It isn't just the fact that Play Out and FlatTopper Pride used breast cancer survivors who underwent a double mastectomy as models but rather that they also included women on the LGBTQ spectrum, effectively shutting down gender norms. In doing so, they open up the conversation to survivors of all shapes and sizes.

Here are a few of the images from this stunning series, all shot by Nomi Ellenson: