Online tie in?

Lange, Patricia G. University of Michigan, Department of Anthropology (pgonzal@umich.edu)

Identity Performance and Disruption on the Internet

Participants in online groups often use sociolinguistic strategies to perform their affiliation to certain beliefs, values, and ideologies popular in technical communities. For example, a participant may praise the importance of Netiquette in order to construct his identity as someone who is knowledgeable about "correct" or normative online forms of expression. Importantly, such a public display does more than construct an individual identity as "expert." The performance also helps to create an imaginary group of like-minded individuals to which the performer wishes to align himself. Yet, as Goffman points out, a performance is a "delicate, fragile thing that can be shattered by very minor mishaps" (Goffman 1959: 56). This paper examines data from two online communities in which participants mentor each other with respect to computer technologies and related social behavior. The data show that participants may interrupt another's attempt to display their expertise by questioning, challenging or attacking a particular performance. The attacked participant often responds with an improvisation meant to recoup the techno-social capital lost during the disruption. The contention here is that performers often respond to the high-pressure demands of performance disruptions by offering stereotypical views on technology and techno-social culture. The continual re-animation of such stereotypes eventually concretizes these views as normative (whether or not they originally were), thus making non-normative expression more difficult. Within and across interactions, such stereotypical expressions become reified as techno-cultural norms even though they are better seen as improvisational responses to performance disruptions that threaten to decrease a participant's techno-social capital.

Found at http://anthropology.uchicago.edu/courses/michicago/2003.shtml#identity_performance

Male Self-Harm up 11%

Ireland has GREAT self-harm reporting!

"The report revealed that almost half of presentations were by people under 30, with the peak rate for women in the 15-19 age group and for men in the 20-24 age group. An increase in self harm was also observed amongst those aged as young as 10-14 years."

"with particular concern for those who used highly lethal methods, such as attempted hanging and drowning."

at http://www.imt.ie/news/2009/07/11_increase_in_male_selfharm.html

CNN Photo Essay: Self-Injury in Japan

See more at:

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1809157,00.html

Enviable Anorexics?

Comparing disorders, depression/anorexia/cutting

"Because it lacks "bleeding wounds," Merkin feels, her illness doesn't seem real — even in comparison with other mental illnesses"

"They were clearly and poignantly victims of a culture that said you were too fat if you weren't too thin and had taken this message to heart. No one could blame them for their condition or view it as a moral failure, which was what I suspected even the nurses of doing about us depressed patients. In the eyes of the world, they were suffering from a disease, and we were suffering from being intractably and disconsolately - and some might say self-indulgently - ourselves."

YET, in popular media, "people with eating disorders are blamed for their illness, when it is even seen as an illness. Eating disorders are generally seen as some sort of failure—if not the sufferer, then clearly her parents."

So yeah, we're talking an article that "shows how deep the stigma still goes, and how difficult it is for those stigmatized to advocate for themselves"

at http://jezebel.com/5248389/depression+stricken-daphne-merkin-finds-anorexics-enviable?skyline=true&s=x

Triggering? Girls and Eating Disorders

NY Times has an article on 'contagion' and eating disorders especially among young girls regarding Young Adult literature.  

Quotes:

"The Internet has given rise to countless “pro-ana,” or pro-anorexia, Web sites that promote anorexia as a “lifestyle” rather than a disease. Photos of rail-thin celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and the Olsen sisters serve as “thinspiration,” while reading lists tout the appeal of eating disorder books."

"I’ve gotten tips, motivation and many of the characters have become my role-models"

"Are there things in this book that will trigger unsuspecting people? And if so what do we do about that? What their response was, was that we have a culture that glamorizes this. The docs say, Yes, the book is going to trigger people. Turning on the television triggers people — looking at billboards, going to the computer, walking past a magazine rack. But the challenge in the book they felt I had met was to show the entire story. There is nothing glamorous or lovely about an eating disorder. It’s horror."

"There is a dangerous trend to view anorexia as a lifestyle choice rather than a serious mental illness"

"Books such as these should be read with careful parental supervision."

From the Comments:

"IN ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION: In writing about eating disorders, are authors, unwittingly, creating an alluring guidebook to the disease? MY ANSWER, BASED ON PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IS: “YES”

More than 28 years ago, I, as a teen, first began reading about bulimia and anorexia in popular, safe magazines like Woman’s Day, and Ladies Home Journal...These magazine articles, which were meant to inform, led me down the road to be a practicing anorexic/bulimic for almost 15 years. Be VERY wary of these types of books. They may very well turn out to be a how-to guide for your teen."

"On the “Yes” front: I know my disorder was triggered by an article in New York Magazine - among the first on the topic, a few years before it burst into the headlines...

On the “No” front: Anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, pica, EDNOS, are all manifestations of an underlying problem. Whether you want to define this problem as a reaction to external issues (e.g., poor peer relationships, dysfunctional family, etc.) or internal issues (depression, OCD, bipolar) or most likely an interaction of both, there will be SOME trigger and SOME manifestation. If it isn’t an eating disorder, it could be acting out, or inappropriate sexual behaviour, or kleptomania, or cutting, or something else. The psychological force is a river, and if you dam one channel it will cut itself another.""

"I don’t think it’s a coincidence that more girls are having problems with anorexia and bulimia at the same time. The same goes for “cutting.” No one cut or had these eating disorders before they became popular. Just like no one considered shooting up their schools until others did it"

Girl Bullying: The Media's Fault?

Interesting blame-game by the Sydney Morning Herald about girl bullying and online media.  But is Gossip *new*?  It seems to say that the move further into "the private domain" is causing an increase in harassment...

Quotes:

"The public arena is moving further and further into the private domain."

"Because the internet is so unfiltered and so vast, it has become a far more accurate reflection of the human condition than the traditional mass media. The self-portrait that has emerged is not flattering. The explosion in productivity, transparency, community and knowledge has been accompanied by largely unfettered pettiness, vituperation and schadenfreude. This is the encompassing public medium of the young. This is their stage and their minefield."

Irony:

Same sight re-posts Rihanna's alleged nude photos.  Gossip, anyone?

Getty Images: Self Harm

Getty Images has a few (19) images found by the search terms "self harm".  They're all listed under 'Creative'.  

A lot of the images feature blood, the color, drops, the razors, the whiteness of most of the subjects and the contrast of the blood and the skin, scarification, bathrooms (privacy?), and metaphors.

Methods include knives, burning/stoves, gun, alcohol. 

E.G.: