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CUT IT OUT: The People v. the Caricature of Self-Injury in Narrative Media

a documentary by the woman who lived it

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Non-suicidal self-harm behaviors, like cutting, are largely depicted in narrative media as acts committed by “others,” for the purpose of eliciting shock and fear in the audience. The reality of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is more complicated, with data from around the world showing a public health crisis amongst adolescents. In a study of American high school students using CDC data, they found 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 10 boys have engaged in NSSI (AJPH Research, Monto, McRee and Deryck, 2018). However, although it is this common, for many, the few examples they see are fictional representations that use self-harm as shorthand to code a character as “crazy” and/or violent with little hope of recovery. This perpetuates stigma that makes it harder for people who’ve engaged in self-harm to seek help and less likely to be treated with empathy when they’re outed. This documentary would seek to speak directly to people who have experienced NSSI, show them as nuanced human beings rather than caricatures, and explore how more authentic depictions could be empowering tools for healing.