Autolesão e produção de identidade

Abstract

Some fields of knowledge have been highlighted in the study of self-harm, such as medicine (especially psychiatry), psychology and psychoanalysis. These areas differentiate the acts of harming oneself as part of a specific culture or religious ritual from those recognized as pathologies or dysfunctional behavior. The last ones are considered as acts of self-destruction produced by individuals who need assistance so that they can stop self-injuring. Partimos do pressuposto de que a autolesão é um modo de subjetivação construído e transformado por diferentes discursos dependendo do contexto sociocultural em que acontece. Assuming that self-harm is a form of subjectivity produced and transformed by different speeches, depending on the social context in which it takes place, this study intends to analyze, using the post-structuralism perspective, messages left on Orkut virtual communities by people who self-harm and discuss their experiences in that social network. Results indicate discourses in common with the aforementioned fields of knowledge and with religion, as well as definitions of self-harm as art, a privileged way of expressing emotions or even a source of pleasure. Some internet users claim for the right to use their bodies as they please since it is meant to be their territory of intervention and their only, what can be understood as a movement of resistance to the rule of having a docile body. In conclusion, it is understood that the subjects involved with self-harm relate to their bodies and with virtual communities as means of producing identities.