Saturday, December 15, 2007

Self-injury, again.

This isn't about why people cut themselves... but the media's portrayal of it. Recently (about thirty seconds ago, actually) I was watching MadTV, and a skit came on about "Tickle Me Emo" or something similar to that - a black-haired Elmo that said things such as "I hate you," et cetera. All right; that was mildly amusing.

And then...

"Don't leave your Tickle Me Emo alone for too long..." It had a razor blade and slashed at itself a few times with horrific breaks in its fur and deep "wounds."

I should have seen it coming, but every time I see something like this, I'm incredulous. First, the fact that so many people see self-injury as a cry for attention - another way of whining, of being a "drama wh*re." Just another way to be "emo." The phrase emo is another rant entirely, but the fact that people equate something that is often a life-saving coping tactic with that "I'm going to cut myself because my mommy won't drive me to Hot Topic!" bull is insane. (And yes, that is a direct quote from an ex of mine - he was making fun of self-injurers.)

It is incredible that people cannot cope with the fact that yes, some people do harm themselves, in a mature fashion. I know that it's very hard to understand how people can actually do this - it's counter-intuitive to everything we know as humans. Yet we cannot be accepting or understanding - we ridicule, blame it on an attention-getting mechanism, and scold people for doing it, instead of sitting down and asking them if they need help.

We need to stop making fun of people that hurt themselves and actually gain the trust of emotionally vulnerable, hurting individuals that need help and support. Perhaps then they would stop doing something that you find so reprehensible and immoral, and would actually trust you. Perhaps then you would be a person worth talking to about problems and tough feelings. Perhaps then you would earn someone's respect - because anyone who reduces self-injury to "Wahh, I'm not getting my way so I'm gonna cut myself!" or something similar to that is no one I will ever respect.

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