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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

BBC news item on girl addicted to self-harm

2 replies

hoodathunkit · 31/01/2019 21:43

I found this article to be interesting and thought provoking. Obviously it is also disturbing so please be aware that the article contains distressing material.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47069865

It seems that young girls are becoming addicted to online sharing of personal experiences / films / photographs of bodily mutilation and self harm.

This issue has been covered by the MSM before in relation to websites encouraging eating disorders via users sharing "thinspirational" photos of their starving bodies.

I am also aware of various celebrated youtube super-influencers, young people who identify as trans and who share tips about issues such as how to bind your breasts - an activity that can cause serious health complications.

It seems clear to me that many vulnerable young people are getting caught up in a potentially addictive activity in which they seek validation and affection from strangers and from dysfunctional communities on the internet via a path of escalating infliction of self harm.

Is it a bad thing to reflect upon whether the self-harm issue could perhaps be related, at least for some of the people, for some of the time, to the transition issue?

For clarity, I am not suggesting that all people who identify as trans are necessarily self harming.

I am speaking from my own personal experience of meeting extremely vulnerable young people who identify as trans but who also are suffering from serious, ongoing mental illness and / or learning disabilities who are, at a very early age, "transitioning".

I think these issues need to be discussed more widely

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Theswaggyotter · 31/01/2019 21:51

There are very obvious links between ROGD, self harm, anorexia and social media certainly has a big part to play in that. It’s just that the media won’t talk about ROGD or acknowledge these similarities

hoodathunkit · 31/01/2019 21:55

I do not understand how it can be that if a person is profoundly mentally ill they can be discouraged from making major life decisions such as buying a house, getting married or changing jobs, and yet it is fine for them to make irreversible changes to their body, and on the NHS no less.

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