Updates to the Abuse Policy

[danahboyd]

The Advisory Board met last month, resulting in decisions about some open issues in the Abuse Policy. The conclusions are posted here. I am happy with the decisions and I hope you will be too

Comments

[nursemette]

I'm curious as to where they are going to look for literature in this field? I would suggest some medical and nursing databases myself.

[danahboyd]

Most of the related work comes from psych, soc, anthro, public health, and social work. The medical/nursing DBs include the psych and public health literature as well as work in the endo end of things. There's universal agreement in the endo literature that self-harm is physically destructive. We're not going to try to challenge that. The questions that we're concerned with are social, psychological, policy, and cultural responses. Does that make sense?

[nursemette]

It does make a lot of sense, and I'm glad to hear that you're taking it seriously. Thank you a lot, I hope you can have a good dialog with all the parts involved and make sure that people with eating disorders and who practice self harm can have a safe place on lj where they can work on empowerment instead of pulling each other down in a negative spiral. Thank you for your response, and good luck! I personally would very much love to see what you find on this subject, and that you can link the references for those who are interested in reading these.

[feministyogini]

Might I also suggest third wave feminist literature?

[danahboyd]

What would you suggest? Most of my familiarity with that literature comes from critical race studies and queer studies. I'm not familiar with the ways in which they address SH (ED/SI) especially in terms of mediated technologies. Recommendations would be great!

[feministyogini]

Sadly, I don't know much literature on the mediated technologies bit. My sense is that it's an emerging field of research given the quick pace of technology. But, I can post to WMST-L for you if you like?

I suggest 3rd wave fem. lit because most of what you listed sounded social science-y and perhaps would lead you more to medicalized/pathologizing of self-harming rather than a woman- (and youth-) centered approach to the topic.

Let me know if you'd like me to post to WMST-L on your behalf and I can report back with their suggestions?

[danahboyd]

Let me give my intern some time before posting to the women's studies list

[feministyogini]

You are right; there are wonderful social scientists doing important work. In my program, there's a pretty rigid division between the social science and humanities people - mostly it's 2nd wave feminist political economists versus 3rd wave cultural studies feminists

[danahboyd]

Oh, I'm a qualitative scholar through and through. I'm with you on the irritation over needing numbers to prove points, but I've also learned how to work with quantitative scholars to make sure that they're asking the right questions. When they do, they typically find what qualitative social scientists find. But it's important to realize that not all social science is quantitative in nature.

I guess I view the coping thing differently than you. I think that there are lots of social and structural forces at play that don't allow people so-called "choices." I'm really excited by projects like The Body Project that helps young girls deconstruct the messages given to them by MSM. The result is a noticeable decline in EDs. I think that self-destruction is damaging and while I support people's self-determination, I still think that it's necessary to address all of the various socio-cultural forces that are contributing to so-called choices.

[danahboyd]

One bias that I do have concerns the physical damage of many of these practices. For example, I believe that anorexia and bulimia cause long-term physical damage on the body. I am not a staunch believer that people should be barred from doing things that cause physical damage. (If that were the case, I'd have to take a stance against a long list of things from extreme sports to alcohol, going outside to eating corn syrup.) That said, I do believe that addiction is real, control issues are rooted in broader cultural structures, and many people cannot handle what they get themselves into when it combines addiction, control, and feedback loops. (This goes for alcohol and drugs as well as self-harm.) I am not interesting in putting bandaids on solutions, but addressing problems at their roots. Based on earlier work, I believe that many people who engage in SH cannot handle what they've gotten themselves into, but I'm less interested in stopping the SH than helping people address what prompts that behavioral response. This involves