The “good” and the “bad” subject position in self-injury autobiographies

Nina Veetnisha Gunnarsson,Mikaela Lönnberg

doi:10.1177/14733250211043933

Nina Veetnisha Gunnarsson, Mikaela Lönnberg

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/14733250211043933

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Abstract

Utilizing published autobiographies, we explore how individuals who self-injure discursively construct their experiences of the self and self-injury. The authors construct their selves into two seemingly opposite subject positions, here named the “bad girl” and the “good girl.” For the most part, the authors identify themselves with the “bad girl” position. Although there is a struggle to uphold normalcy in front of others, they regard evidence of the “good girl” position as fake. We demonstrate how they, to a large extent, accept the dominant discourse of self-injury as an individual and pathological problem for which they tend to blame themselves. However, they also challenge the negative subject position by separating themselves discursively from the bad “side of the self.” Acts of self-injury are described as a way to cope with the negative perception of themselves and at the same time being what causes feelings of self-loathing. Thus, understanding how the psychomedical discourse affects individuals who self-injure as well as the consequences of the medicalization of self-injury are of importance. Furthermore, social workers may be in a legitime position to work with the self-representations and the social factors that may underlie an individual’s need to cut or in other ways physically hurt oneself.

Highlights

Over the last few decades, self-injury has attracted considerable attention in media, on social media, and in research
Research has shown that self-injuring acts serve an important function for individuals who self-injure, in that it is a form of a coping strategy to reduce emotional suffering and deep distress in order to create a sense of control (Adler and Adler, 2011; Bareiss, 2014)
Self-injury is perceived by western societies as a deviant behavior, dominantly framed within an individualistic and psychomedical discourse (Chandler, 2016; Steggals, 2015) that considers self-injury to be about an individual’s deficiencies, or lack of something in the individual’s biopsychological makeup (Favazza, 2011)

Summary

Introduction

Over the last few decades, self-injury has attracted considerable attention in media, on social media, and in research. In line with this, Ekman and Jacobsson (2021: 42) describe how a medicalization of self-injury may affect the encounter between social workers and adolescents as it may “hamper non-medical professional to identify or recognize the social context of self-injuring acts.” They conclude that social workers are important actors when it comes to demedicalizing the practice, for instance, by focusing on what is going on in the social context and listening to the young individuals in a trusting and nonjudgmental way. We demonstrate how the authors of the autobiographies negotiate their identity and tend to accept the dominant discourse of self-injury as an individual and pathological problem, for which they blame themselves They challenge the “bad girl” position by discursively separating oneself from the cutting and “bad” part of the self

Methodology

Discussion