Qualitative Social Work, Ahead of Print.
Self-injury is deemed a pathology and a deviant practice that is not socially sanctioned and culturally accepted as soothing and healing the self. The marked female body is also pathologized and perceived as deviant; hence, having self-inflicted scars may easily lead to social stigma, shame, and the need to hide the scars. In this personal reflection I explore how self-inflicted scars can have the same meaning as self-injury to control the self and act as self-expression, and how the marked female body can be a resistance to the cultural idea of femininity. I draw upon my own personal experiences of self-inflicted scars and how these scars have become intertwined with my identity. I have carved or burnt my body in different situations and from different moods in the past, but they are all with me at the present and will be with me in the future. Without the scars, I am not the person that others see me as or I see myself as. I sometimes feel that I would be nothing without my scars.