In the last few years, mental disorders have been given much more
attention. While it is certainly an improvement that people dealing with issues like
depression, eating disorders, self-harm, or anxiety are getting much better
treatment, there have been some negative side effects. Books and
films such as It’s Kind of a Funny Story or
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, as
well as actors and actresses like Demi Lovato, have given so much attention to
these problems, that somewhere along the way, they’ve become romanticized. Mental disorders have actually become a new
“hipster” trend which is not only frustrating for those who actually have to
deal with these disorders, but also incredibly harmful to society, and teenage
girls in particular.
There is
evidence of this all over social networking sites like Tumblr or Twitter. Thousands
of people reblog black and white pictures of woman with marks of self-harm all
over their bodies, quotes from books and movies about having a little
self-esteem, or dark poems about suicide and depression. Comments like, “tragically
beautiful” can be found underneath all these posts. People are trying to make
these issues seem hipster and artistic and beautiful. This glamorization is
actually encouraging harmful behavior and ways of thinking.
What’s
worse is that now teenage girls have grown completely used to the idea of
self-harm. Last year Justin Bieber was caught smoking marijuana and millions of
his fans, “ the Beliebers,” responded to the scandal by tweeting “#cutforbieber”
with pictures of slashed wrists. His fans, mostly ten to sixteen year-old
girls, were actually cutting themselves to show their disappointment in their
favorite celebrity.
This is not
right. These are serious disorders that are unhealthy and harmful. Glorifying
them and making them so commonplace in society that they’re trending on Twitter
is dangerous. It encourages this behavior among young impressionable girls that
now think cutting will make them seem cooler or sophisticated or worldlier. It
encourages it among people that are already in the midst of dealing with these problems
when they have to be constantly reminded of them everyday. Drawing attention to
mental disorders so more people can get the help they need is a good thing, but
people need to start seeing them for what they truly are: dangerous and
unhealthy behavior. There is nothing glamorous about that.
Julia,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post; it was interesting and easy to read. It is true that mental disorders are given much more attention on Twitter and Tumblr in the last few years. I have never thought about the negative effects the attention has on teenage girls so your post gave me a new perspective on mental disorders in the media. Now that I look on my social media I see many posts that shed a romantic light on self-harm. I enjoyed how you used the Justin Beiber: "#cutforbieber" example; it solidified the overall point of the post. You also did a good job of wrapping things up in the last paragraph. Discussing the new self harm trend and tying people who actually suffer from mental disorders was a nice touch.
Overall your writing was almost perfect. When you say "hipster and artistic and beautiful" I think you could have just used a comma in between hipster and artistic. Likewise when you say "Cooler or sophisticated or worldlier" I think you could have used a comma in between cooler and sophisticated. The "and" and "or"s seemed a bit repetitive but overall your post was really good!
Yeah, Julia, I agree with Emily. There is little to critique in this post. One of the best parts of this journal, and teaching this class, is that students constantly teach me about different issues that I would otherwise remain unfamiliar with. Like Emily, this is not an issue that I had previously thought of. Although, I have often regretted how similar social blights - like alcoholism - can be romanticized in popular culture. Drinking is cool until you, or someone you know, ruins his/her life because of it. I also like your Justin Beiber example. It gives your post credibility. The only suggestion that I would offer would be to include a definition of "hipster." You want your writing to appeal to a large audience, and many of your older readers might not be familiar with this term. Regardless, good job.
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