I really shouldn’t need
to explain why plastering fake scars and stitches onto your body outside of a
zombie costume is not a good idea, but it seems like I do. I’ll give them the
benefit of the doubt and say that their intentions may have been positive, but
the outcome has been seen by many (myself included--and I've never struggled with cutting, burning and the like) as insensitive, potentially
triggering, and a way to commercialize off of a very serious issue. Whether
they are aware of the implications of their product or not, Lucie and Topshop
have jumped on the Mental Illness Fashion train. Rumor has it Urban Outfitters
saved them a seat.
When we live in a world
where self-harm is en vogue, anorexia is a crash diet, schizophrenia is a lazy
horror twist (and totally the same thing as “multiple personality disorder,”
which is also totally a thing), your ex-girlfriend is just bipolar, and
depression and anxiety are punchlines…it’s clear that we need to talk.
Mental health is never
an easy topic to discuss, partly because it’s personal and can be legitimately
painful, and partly because society tells us it’s taboo, the type of thing you
don’t talk about at the dinner table, or with your partner, or at work. I
really do wish this were different. I’m by no means saying that everyone should
pour out their life story to all their acquaintances, but it would be
refreshing if those who choose not to hide their illnesses and struggles could
do so without the fear of judgment. Will this ever change? Hopefully. For now,
it seems like the best medium for discussing and raising awareness of mental
health issues is the internet. It can be as public or anonymous as you choose,
and there is a certain comfort in having a screen separating you from your
audience.
All I want to do is
start an honest, open, no-holds-barred discussion over the course of several
posts, and to do that, I first want to set some ground rules. I am neither a
professional nor an expert, just someone with eyes and experience. I am under no delusions of grandeur that I am the first person to
raise this issue, or that these posts will be the Summa Theologica of mental health awareness, but I feel strongly
enough about this to at least throw my words into the mix.
No more “crazy.”
Let’s start off gently
with some semantics. Derogatory and frankly insulting names for the mentally
ill are widely accepted as harmless colloquialisms. Most people, especially
those who have not experienced mental illness, use these regularly when
referring to ill people without realizing their impact. Thankfully, there’s a
very simple solution to this problem: don’t use them.
There are no crazy,
insane lunatics, no divide between the normal and abnormal. There are mentally
healthy and mentally ill people…but that is anything but a binary system.
No more pigeon-holing.
Yes, it is possible to
classify someone as mentally healthy or mentally ill, but that is both a
subjective and fluid scale.
We need to recognize
that not everyone who can be classified as “mentally ill” is the same. There
are varying degrees of severity of illness, type of illness, and impact on
their daily lives and those around them. Objectively, a paranoid schizophrenic
may be “more ill” (i.e. have a more complex medical condition) than someone with
social anxiety. However, the schizophrenic may, through proper medication and
therapy, be able to function and live more “normally” than the social anxiety
sufferer, whose disorder paralyzes them in daily life.
The point is,
classifying people on one side or the other of a binary is virtually
meaningless. The phrase “mentally ill” really means nothing more than “has an
undefined psychological or psychiatric problem.” It’s like classifying
everything from paper cuts to severed limbs as “ruptured skin”—technically true,
but hardly representative of all that it describes.
No more judging.
You can read an entire
library of psychiatric books and journals, you can take Zimbardo out to dinner,
and you still will not be able to assume what is going on inside a person’s
head. The very nature of mental illnesses mean that they are directly linked to
our mind, and no two minds are alike. We all have our own past experiences,
fears, coping mechanisms, reactions, triggers, and for some, medical problems.
Rule of thumb: each
person is an individual, unique case, who should never be pigeon-holed. With all this in mind...let's talk.
Love this post Christina. And I totally agree that the marketing and even the CONCEPT behind this design is totally wrong. Why would we glamourize harm in any way, yet alone self harm?
ReplyDeleteZoe | www.ibelieveinromeo.com
Thanks so much! I just checked out your blog and I love it, keep up the great work :)
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