Blog post 3: Self Harm and Sexual Orientation

For so many articles that I have read about Self Harming there is one thing common in them. Most of the self harmers happen to be teenagers. Teenagers go through puberty and their hormones are on the run. They get hairs all over their body, their voices deepen or become high pitched, women grow breasts and men mostly get freakishly taller. They feel so unaccustomed on their new body. They feel different and misunderstood. But there must be some strong factor for most teenage self harmers that made them feel distant and disconnected to others to the point that they hurt themselves. I came to the realization of what's the most possible factor that made most teenagers sensitive and conscious about. Their sexual orientation.


Now I'm not saying that being part of the LGBT is somewhat abnormal or peculiar, but the fact is, it is a minority in this society. The factors of  a self harming teenager and being a  teenage homosexual are so alike and connected. They both feel different, isolated, and secretive. I found this article by Thadeus Baklinski entitled 52% of homosexual youth report self harming: UK study  this article explains that being a teenage homosexual increases the chances of engaging into self harming. As the title says, 52% of teenage homosexuals reported harming themselves as compared to the 12% of teenage heterosexuals who did. Mr. Baklinski also said that 44% of the LGBT youth claimed to think of killing them self as opposed to the 21% of heterosexuals who said so.

"The study concludes that inadequate social and mental health services, and a lack of acceptance and bullying, which has created "a climate of fear and hostility"," are to blame for these problems in the UK's homosexual youth." I think this is one of the most important statements in the article. We should pay more attention to the alarming percent of homosexual teenagers who self harm and not make them feel unloved and different. We should treat each and everyone equally. What was the golden rule in the bible? Love thy neighbor as yourself. It doesn't say "Love your neighbor because their 'normal'" or 'Love your heterosexual neighbor', it just says, 'Love your neighbor' that means we have to love everyone no matter what and  don't hate those people that are in the minority groups. 

I was keen to find the factors that relates self harming and sexual orientation so I find this article by Tracy Alderman entitled  The Relationship Between Self-Injury and Sexual Orientation. There are a number of factors that can be said to be related between self harming and sexual orientation but there are only 3 major relations. First, self harm begins in adolescence, also the time when sexuality or sexual orientation are being explored. Particularly those who haven't come out or unsure of their sexuality are more susceptible to self harming because they struggle to fit in and they hide their sexual orientation. The second factor is, given the first factor, they are more likely to be subjected to bullying, lower self-esteem and various types of emotional and mental abuse that may lead to harming themselves. The secrecy, isolation and inability to interact or communicate to others are also considered to be associated to self harming. The last factor is the negative body image. A number of self harmers have said that they hate their bodies. Similar to those in the LGBT community, that made a factor for the teenagers to injure themselves.

On the latter part of the article Ms. Alderman wrote this statement,"What is the relationship between self-injury and sexual orientation? The answer is not so clear. Certainly, being LGBT does not mean that one is going to self-injure, nor does being a self-injurer mean that someone is LGBT. However, it does appear that there may be good reason for the anecdotal evidence that there may be a higher proportion of self-injurers within the LGBT community. Shame, secrecy, isolation, feeling different, poor body image, low self-esteem, abuse history, poor support system, and limited coping outlets are all possible factors associated with being a member of the LGBT community. These same factors have also been shown to be linked with self-injury." It is vital for us to make teenagers feel loved and accepted no matter what their sexual orientation is. I seriously hope in the near future, teenagers can feel comfortable coming out and accepting whatever their sexual orientation is. The society needs to set its view on the LGBT because being a heterosexual is not normal it is just common. Also, why do people even  care if a boy likes another boy or a girl likes to be with another girl? What's the big deal with that? Do they hurt another person for loving a person with the same sex as theirs?