As the culture of silence that once surrounded cancer has gradually given way to greater public awareness, normative visions of what cancer survivorship should entail have proliferated. These visions emphasise positivity and perseverance in pursuit of cure. While these visions provide comfort to many, for people with metastatic cancer, the emphasis on cure can undermine their sense of belonging to the broader collective of people living with cancer. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 38 Australian women living with metastatic breast cancer, we explore how incurable cancer inflects understandings of self and transforms interpersonal relationships. Extending ideas around biosociality and belonging, we explore the tenuousness of social bonds, revealing how (in)visibility, (in)authenticity and (in)validation circulate within the daily lives of women with metastatic breast cancer. We conceptualise accounts according to four social bonds: (1) threatened bonds where a relationship is strained by misunderstanding, (2) severed bonds where a relationship is ruptured due to misunderstanding, (3) attuned bonds whereby a relationship is based on shared identification and (4) flexible social bonds when a relationship is based on mutual understanding. More broadly, we illustrate the persistence of normative visions of cancer survivorship and their enduring effects on those whom such visions exclude.

中文翻译：

---

无法治愈的自我：与转移性乳腺癌协商社会纽带和脱节/联系

随着曾经围绕癌症的沉默文化逐渐被公众意识所取代，关于癌症生存的规范愿景也随之激增。这些愿景强调追求治愈的积极性和毅力。虽然这些愿景为许多人带来安慰，但对于转移性癌症患者来说，强调治愈可能会削弱他们对更广泛的癌症患者群体的归属感。通过对 38 名患有转移性乳腺癌的澳大利亚女性进行半结构化访谈，我们探讨了无法治愈的癌症如何影响对自我的理解并改变人际关系。我们扩展了围绕生物社会性和归属感的想法，探讨了社会纽带的脆弱性，揭示了（不）可见性、（不）真实性和（不）验证性如何在患有转移性乳腺癌的女性的日常生活中循环。我们根据四种社会纽带来概念化账户：(1) 威胁纽带，即关系因误解而紧张；(2) 切断纽带，即关系因误解而破裂；(3) 协调纽带，即关系基于共同的认同和(4) 当关系建立在相互理解的基础上时，灵活的社会纽带。更广泛地说，我们说明了癌症生存的规范愿景的持续存在及其对那些被这种愿景排除在外的人的持久影响。