Creating Care for People Who Self-Harm through Transformation of Aesthetic Objects

Heney, Veronica

Abstract

The role of fiction in enabling care for people who self-harm is primarily framed as a relation of protection through absence or avoidance. It is frequently suggested that fiction should avoid depicting self-harm, lest it encourage readers to begin self-harming, framing those who self-harm as passive and in need of protection. This paper will demonstrate that when the perspectives of people who self-harm are centred in the analysis of texts and their effects, the practice of reading and viewing fiction emerges as a more active, creative, and relational experience, which brings self-harm close rather than holding it at a distance. Indeed, such active engagement through material practices like zine-making, event attendance, and repeated viewing of a singular scene is understood as that which makes care possible. Through a novel interdisciplinary approach, this brings together sociological and literary methods to explore the dynamic relation between a text and its effects. Drawing on both qualitative interviews with people with experience of self-harm and close readings of creative texts including the Showtime TV series The L Word (2004–2009) and Andrea Gibson’s poem ‘I Sing The Body Electric, Especially When My Power’s Out’ (2011), the paper traces the complex relation between texts and the care they make possible. Thus, I extend existing theorisations of care as intimate and relational to the context of self-harm. Specifically, I outline the way in which care is not predetermined, singular, and universal, and explore the ways that a relation of care can be invited by aesthetic qualities.

Citation

Heney, V. (online). Creating Care for People Who Self-Harm through Transformation of Aesthetic Objects. Journal of Medical Humanities, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-025-09941-w

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 10, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Apr 21, 2025
• Deposit Date: Mar 28, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 25, 2025
• Journal: Journal of Medical Humanities
• Print ISSN: 1041-3545
• Electronic ISSN: 1573-3645
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-025-09941-w
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3745335