A lot more women than men self-injure, probably for the same reasons that eating disorders are a lot more prevalent among women. It's because women have very few societally acceptable outlets for their emotions, and therefore turn on themselves.
I'm VASTLY oversimplifying this, because this is an LJ comment and not a university paper. ;)
But, basically, that's what it is. Women are taught from the time they're very young that it is not acceptable for them to feel any kind of "negative" emotion. Not just *show* any kind of negative emotion, but even feel it. They must be restrained and quiet and "proper." Therefore, when they inevitably feel sadness or, God forbid, anger, they immediately feel conflicted and guilty, and, in extreme cases, they turn on themselves, because they don't know how to deal with these strong emotions in a healthy way.
Men, on the whole, are given more outlets for "negative" emotions (I'm using quotation marks because I don't like that word, but I can't think of a better one right now). I'm not saying the outlets are necessarily good, but there are more of them readily available. Not so for women, whose failure to live up to the impossible standards to which society holds makes them the first victims of self-hatred. It's basic programming: they're programmed to think that unless they act a certain way, they're defective. Unfortunately, it's beyond the capacity of any human being to act that way all the time, therefore they fail. Those women in whom the programming is strongest therefore begin to believe that they are the problem, that they are defective, and thus begins the cycle of self-loathing, of self-destruction.
It's a lot more insidious than most of us care to think.
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Date: 2004-02-25 09:02 pm (UTC)I'm VASTLY oversimplifying this, because this is an LJ comment and not a university paper. ;)
But, basically, that's what it is. Women are taught from the time they're very young that it is not acceptable for them to feel any kind of "negative" emotion. Not just *show* any kind of negative emotion, but even feel it. They must be restrained and quiet and "proper." Therefore, when they inevitably feel sadness or, God forbid, anger, they immediately feel conflicted and guilty, and, in extreme cases, they turn on themselves, because they don't know how to deal with these strong emotions in a healthy way.
Men, on the whole, are given more outlets for "negative" emotions (I'm using quotation marks because I don't like that word, but I can't think of a better one right now). I'm not saying the outlets are necessarily good, but there are more of them readily available. Not so for women, whose failure to live up to the impossible standards to which society holds makes them the first victims of self-hatred. It's basic programming: they're programmed to think that unless they act a certain way, they're defective. Unfortunately, it's beyond the capacity of any human being to act that way all the time, therefore they fail. Those women in whom the programming is strongest therefore begin to believe that they are the problem, that they are defective, and thus begins the cycle of self-loathing, of self-destruction.
It's a lot more insidious than most of us care to think.