Someone sent an 'agony aunt' letter to me, the sixth form agony aunt for the forthcoming Student Voice magazine.

 

'My friends are emos, like me, and they have started to cut themselves to fit in with the Emo philosophy. They are doing it to rebel against their parents. What do you think I should do?'

 

My reply:

People like your friends seem to be are making a mockery (for want of a better word) of those who cut for a genuine reason. Self-harm is a serious pscyhological issue, not something you do for fun or to rebel. If you want to rebel then go out and get pissed or stoned. I am speaking as a self-harmer, as if you hadn't noticed. It became my coping method while I was in a junior psych unit because I had no other way. It REALLY F*CKING ANNOYS me to know that people like your friends are basically mocking what became a very real and very dangerous experience for me and millions of other people worldwide. If they actually sat down and tried to convince themselves that their internal pain was so great it HAD to be balanced out with a similar external pain do you think they could do it? No, neither do I. Stupid little emo children who need to grow up and stop acting like complete tw*ts and get a grip on reality before it jumps up and smacks them in the face. As for rebelling against their parents... scare the sh*t out of them more like! I don't think there are many (good) parents out there who wouldn't be absolutely distraught at the fact that their child felt the need to carve into themselves for relief. Or pleasure? Why you would use this as a weapon against your parents is even more of a stunner. My advice? Tell them to get their heads out of their arses and find a les pathetic and 'emo-typical' way of rebelling.