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5 CHAPTER 1 Feminist Perspectives Self-Injurious Behavior among Women Whitlock and her associates note that although self-injurious behaviors (SIBs) are “popularly assumed to represent a female phenomenon”— some studies suggest that females are up to three times more likely to cut themselves than males—this assumption “is not fully supported by existing literature” (1945). One possible explanation for this assumption, they conjecture, is that most of the research on SIBs has been conducted in clinical settings in which women are overrepresented. Nevertheless, they acknowledge that “compared with those with no SIB incidents, respondents with repeat SIB incidents were significantly more likely to be female than male” (1943). Their research does not seek to investigate the gendered implications of SIBs, but the question cannot be ignored: why do women cut themselves? “As females grow up in our culture, they are bombarded with intense and conflicting messages about their bodies. Girls and women are the prime marketing targets for the fashion and cosmetics industries, health clubs, diet pill purveyors, and cosmetic surgeons. Even as their bodies are becoming softer and more rounded with sexual maturation, girls are implored by cultural ideals to be ‘slim,’ ‘hard,’ and ‘in control’” (Conterio and Lader 105). The notion of being “in control” echoes one theory held by the majority of researchers working in the field of self-injury: the cutter uses self-injury as a means of exerting control over her body when her psychological self is in turmoil. This psychological conflict arises, according to feminist scholars, from the impact of social messages claiming that women are inadequate and unable to live up to stereotypical ideals. Despite the gains women have made in a male-dominated culture, they are still objectified, sexualized, and devalued. “What emerges is a sense of vulnerability that impedes these women from taking a stand, what George Eliot regards as the girl’s ‘susceptibility ’ to adverse judgments by others, which stems from her lack of power 27460 part 01.indd 5 27460 part 01.indd 5 10/2/07 2:04:09 PM 10/2/07 2:04:09 PM 6 CHAPTER 1 and consequent inability ‘to do something in the world’” (Gilligan 66). When a young woman in our society is made to believe she isn’t able to achieve goals, control herself or her life, succeed academically or professionally , flourish personally, meet expectations, or expect affirmation from society, where does she turn? She turns inward. But often lacking the inner strength due to this plague of self-doubt, the cutter seeks to demonstrate her internal pain and turmoil in the form of self-injury, a physical manifestation of what lies within. Some reports, like Time magazine’s cover story of June 1998 titled “Is Feminism Dead?” claim that the issue of feminism in our culture is, indeed , dead. After all, women make up almost 50 percent of the workforce, and they constitute the majority of undergraduates in America’s colleges and universities. According to the AFL-CIO, median earnings for women ages twenty to twenty-four in 2002 were 93.7 percent of what men in the same age bracket earned—the closest pay scales have reportedly been in the nation’s history (“Highlights of Women’s Earnings, 2002”). Strict laws and guidelines have been enacted in schools and workplaces prohibiting sexual discrimination and sexual harassment, and the penalties for violating these laws are stiff. Consequently, women have become more confident in their abilities and less concerned with the “old-fashioned” notion that their femininity will prevent them from achieving any real academic or professional success. To some extent, all of this is true. But it is a mistake to believe that feminism is dead and that women are no longer objectified, stereotyped, discriminated against, or oppressed. Feminists advocate the same rights for women as those granted to men. By definition, then, feminism must be alive and well. However, if we look beyond the laws and overt equality afforded to women of the twenty-first century, we see that women are still regarded as inferior and subjected to oppression in our society. Such attitudes disempower women, creating in them a sense of being out of control, one of the most frequently heralded causes of self-injurious behavior. Women as Sexual Objects One example of exploitive objectification is found in the plethora of pornography available and even promoted in our society. There have been exploitive magazines like Playboy, Hustler, and Penthouse for decades, their popularity a testament to the...

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