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This post is mainly a rant, but why the fuck are people on the internet obsessed with romanticising self harm? It's either people bragging about cutting themselves or giving fictional characters weird and frankly, creepy headcanons to do with SH.
First, let's talk about the headcanons. I've noticed fans of Bungo Stray Dogs doing this with the character Dazai. If you haven't seen BSD, Dazai is a character who's severely depressed and has attempted suicide many times. Fans seem to enjoy making strange hcs up to do with his mental health, such as "Only shows Chuuya his SH scars" (real headcanon I once came across) and things in a similar vain to that. Do I have to explain what's messed up with that? I wish that, for the first time ever, an internet fanbase can talk about a fictional character with poor mental health in an intelligent and respectful manner. Things such as the mentioned headcanon is insulting to people who do struggle with SH and/or their mental health.
So at least that was just a character, not a real person. Well things are going to get more serious, because we're going to talk about Tumblr.
Why is Tumblr a cesspit of the worst things on the internet? Well, Tumblr communities are no stranger to promoting dangerous things such as anorexia and bulimia, so of course there are people who glamorise self harm. On Tumblr, if you go to the search bar and type in "sel" without clicking anything, one of the tags you will see show up is "self h@rm". This tag has 21K followers. I accidently clicked on this tag before when typing in sel as the abbreviation for Serial Experiments Lain. The "self h@rm" tag on Tumblr is scarily easy to stumble onto.
Anyway, what's on the tag? People giving advice on how to stop self harming? Of course not. On this tag I've came across photos of people's cuts, self deprecating humour to do with their sh problem, people showing off their blade collection and people asking for advice on the best ways to self mutilate. This tag genuinely feels disturbing and eerie, and this is coming from someone who's near bullet-proof when it comes to horror. There could be a near innocent post of someone showing a small, hinged box they found at a thrift store, but underneath there'll be text saying that they plan to hide their blades in the box. In the comments of posts showing off blade collections, you'll see people commenting, asking how each blade is and which one the poster recommends. It's horrible.
It's not just the "self h@rm" tag -- I've came across posts like that on the emo tag and other tags for alternative subcultures, alt bands, etc. I've been in the MCR fandom for more than two years, and whilst most of the fans are nice people, there is a small, but noticeable amount which glamorise mental health problems. I think it's a real problem, especially when a lot of people in these spaces struggle with their mental health and have the band as their comfort.
Now onto self harm itself, besides the glamorisation. If you hurt yourself or you even get urges to hurt yourself, please tell someone. Tell anyone. I'm one to talk, but if you're mutilating yourself you need to seek help immediately. A large majority of the time SH occurs with mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety disorders, borderline personality disorder, eating disorders, PTSD and bipolar disorder. People who experience depersonalisation also have a tendency to hurt themselves. Whilst you may not be aware of exactly why you self-harm, it's usually done as a coping mechanism. You could be doing it as a release for bottled emotions and stress, or it could be to relieve a feeling of numbness. Even if you think you don't need help, hurting yourself is a major sign of there being something else seriously wrong, so talk to someone as soon as possible.
So that's all, have a good day and don't post harmful content.
Update, 08/10/2024:
I wasn't actually expecting this post to get as much attention as it did. I'm glad that there are others who agree with me and am thankful for all the comments.
I've also noticed that a lot of people have said that some people headcanon characters as having SH scars as a comfort thing. I'm aware of this, and what I mean with the weird SH headcanons are the ones which romanticise it, such as the mentioned "Only shows Chuuya his SH scars". I dislike that headcanon because it's a Chuuya x Dazai and is posing Dazai showing his scars as a romantic thing. It's disrespectful headcanons like that which I have a problem with, not someone simply saying that they think a character self-harms. I just wanted to clarify my views.
Comments
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chirichu
this is such a well-written and thoughtful post that i just had to add a comment. i also feel like an important part of SH being glamorized on the internet, especially with how easily young people access these types of platforms where it's happening, is how young impressionable teens are sometimes influenced by the idea that their SH is not "bad enough" to count. that is such an insane thing to me, it's just terrible. so it causes people to not only continue hurting themselves even further, introducing them to a variety of health risks, but it also affect self esteem. i can't believe that many people follow that tag on tumblr, but it is tumblr i guess so it's to be expected. just wanted to share my thoughts as well!
PussySlayer69
It's annoying how people think SH is some cute little trend or make it into a competition like "if you don't cut this deep it doesn't count", it's annoying and influences young kids to do this shit and think it's okay. This isn't some trend it's a mental issue
F4NG!
i make HCs like this myself, but in a respectful manner (as a way to cope). and i have to agree with all that you’ve said, the way the internet glamorized the whole aspect of SH and other disorders/addictions makes me sick. my addiction is not your costume. i shouldn’t have to fight tooth and nail to make sure my addiction/problem doesn’t get boiled down to “edgy 12 year old headcanons”! i can’t even begin to explain how disrespectful and gross this is
Snow X3
THUS IS SO REAL AMD PEOPLE SHOWING THERE FRESH SCARS ON TWT LIKE NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THAT LIKE
kaz
omg FINALLY. i hate when people headcanon certain characters and say "sh's and shows it to ____" i came across this once, IT WAS WITH MADOKA. MADOKA MAGICA.
some Madoka Magica fans are a different breed of degeneracy.
by ★🦇Mars (㇏(•̀ᵥᵥ•́)ノ)🍷♱; ; Report
kaz
omg FINALLY. i hate when people headcanon certain characters and say "sh's and shows it to ____" i came across this once, IT WAS WITH MADOKA. MADOKA MAGICA.
Adrian
sh being so normalised and romanticed is one of the reasons why i even tried sh in the first place, and idk if many poeple even realise that it does damage to ppl, srs
XtremeCringeWarning
(Sorry if anything came off wrong, english isn’t my first language)
About the headcanon part, I think people just use those as a way to sorta express themselves and/or vent. I have an oc who does sh since sometimes I get the urge to do it (I didn’t actually do it don’t worry) but yeah sometimes headcanons can be pretty wild and I’ve seen lots of weird lnes myself
yeah i think thats okay to do too
by r0xie; ; Report
r0xie
While i agree with most of theses, i have mixed opinions about the headcanon part. yes, some people have weird headcanons and they like to romantize bad habits, i don't think that's the case with everyone who headcanons their characters with sh scars. while i do belive theres weirdos that treat these headcanons as something "quirky" like if it was a joke, others do these headcanons to project themselfs for self comfort so they feel less ashamed of their scars, it makes them feel safer because they know they are not alone and that theres other people who are going trought the same pain who are willing to recover mentally and physically. Another thing that i want to add is that i think people who have never self harmed themselfs SHOULDN'T do these headcanons, i think that's the main problem, the people who do theses headcanons of something that they will never went trought, not the ones who are doing for self comfort.
liza
The glamorisation of SH is one of the main reasons I deleted Tik Tok . On Tik Tok you literally can't move without being a "vent" video that's basically bragging about SH , its ridiculous, the problem is it introduces so many people to SH who probably would not have even known about it if it wasn't for these videos , The word bit is Tik Tok does nothing to take down these videos which are literally introducing 11 year olds to the idea of SH .
zirconieee
i feel that a lot of the people on the tumblr sh tags go there and post for 2 reasons.
1. validation that they're 'sick enough' and that their cuts are deep enough. 2. to trigger themselves/be enabled by others to keep doing it.
SH is addictive, when its one of the only thing in your life that gives you a dopamine hit you get hooked real quick. I dont see this being said enough. These people are addicts to a natural drug produced by your brain, they do crazy shit to get it and it only makes the cycle worse. When i see these tumblr communities around sharing images of SH to trigger eachother and validate eachother i see young vulnerable people who arent even aware of what is happenening to them, or really why they do it. They just know that they're hurting and this thing they do to themselves makes them feel better for a brief time.
It sucks, it shouldnt happen and it should be reported and removed. But i feel that doing so is just a band aid solution to a much wider issue amongst youth that if continued to be ignored, this type of shit will keep happening.
Mahn00rZ26
This is so true!! I've seen so many people show their scars and glamorize it as if it's a big achievement, not realizing just how much it affects ppl. Even in my school I remember some of the people slitting their arms to basically make their partner worried or do it for no reason cause it's "cool". Like I remember my cousin having a quite deep scar because she injured herself and she literally took a picture of it and sent it to her whole snapchat list whilst laughing abt it. Like her friends were worried abt it and doing something like that is not cool!! I've also seen people give sh scars to anime characters and make it a head canon when the character is completely fine. Like as someone who has engaged in sh, whenever I see content related to sh or depression I always try to skip them because the more you interact with those type of content, the more you will ruin your mental health.
scourge the jeff the killer
after struggling with sh and suicidal idealization one of the clearest signs of recovery for me has been no longer being desensitized to topics like sh and suicide. if you dont flinch at the suggestion of these topics, if you find that you dont have much of a reaction, that means youre either at risk or currently in the midst of an sh addiction. its scary to tell people, but tell at least one person. tell one person you know will support you. if you have a friend whos also struggling, pulling yourself out will help them out as well and vise verse. its not easy but a relapse isnt a failure. its like being stuck on a level in a videogame, each time you try youll get further and further to the finish line, youll have more time in between each game over screen, and eventually, youll finish the level. just keep trying at it. just make it one more day. and if you are following any of those self censored gore tags on tumblr, your first step is to unfollow those, please. those arent healthy communities and will only drag you down further.
the amount of tags ive had to block over this stuff is horrible. my first time stumbling over this rabbit hole was by complete accident and had me over the toilet
augustine
UR SPEWING THOSE FACTS RIGHT AT EVERYONES FACES DAMN I AGREE SM!!
XxRoxyRawrXDxX
I find it kinda disturbing that some people do this for clout
Same honestly
by •Izz•; ; Report
furbyz0ntheRADi0_
i totally agree, it's really disturbing and triggering and honestly kind of offensive to me as someone who has s/hed in the past (not offensive that they ARE s/hing, the fact that they are glamorizing it). it is not cool, it is not aesthetic, it is a very harmful coping mechanism that they need help for asap. I'm glad they've found some kind of community but the fact that community is only encouraging them to hurt themselves even more is absolutely horrifying. my own s/h was kind of traumatizing to me even to this day and I can only imagine what these people will feel like looking back on this time in their life. Not to mention digital footprints- everything about this just sucks. I really hope the people in those tumblr communities can recover and get help.
ruru
Fr!! its not a fcking trend, stop showing fresh sh and blade collections! its fcking triggering, like cant the #s3lfh4rm be js comforting shit, how to stop doing and support! its not edgy, its not cool its serious.
ruru
Fr!! its not a fcking trend, stop showing fresh sh and blade collections! its fcking triggering, like cant the #s3lfh4rm be js comforting shit, how to stop doing and support! its not edgy, its not cool its serious.
ruru
Fr!! its not a fcking trend, stop showing fresh sh and blade collections! its fcking triggering, like cant the #s3lfh4rm be js comforting shit, how to stop doing and support! its not edgy, its not cool its serious.
ruru
Fr!! its not a fcking trend, stop showing fresh sh and blade collections! its fcking triggering, like cant the #s3lfh4rm be js comforting shit, how to stop doing and support! its not edgy, its not cool its serious.