Beth Whaanga was diagnosed with breast cancer on her 32nd birthday. Doctors had discovered that the mother of four possessed a mutation of the BRCA2 gene. Whaanga underwent a double mastectomy, breast reconstruction surgery and a full hysterectomy within months.

Instead of hiding her scars, Whaanga decided to set up the 'Under the Red Dress' project to show the world the physical havoc that cancer can wreak. With the help of local Brisbane photographer Nadia Masot, Whaange bravely  posed for nude post-surgery photos (NSFW) in order to encourage others to practice self examinatons.

But not everyone was impressed by Whaanga's bravery. More than 100 people actually defriended her Facebook account, and the images were even reported as inappropriate in an attempt to get them taken down. This was despite the fact that Whaanga had even included a disclaimer to the project: So far, the social networking site has decided to leave the images intact since the intent is clearly educational and not sexual in nature. Still, it's a shame that some people would be so offended about the reality of what kind of damage that cancer inflicts to the human body.