Letters to Editors

to: Daily Telegraph

re: "This 'epidemic' is all selfishness"


Dear Editor,

I was appalled to read Mr McKinstry's article about self injury being selfish and attention-seeking.

Self harm, or self injury, is the result of intense mental and emotional distress, and becomes a coping mechanism (albeit a seemingly counter-productive one) which can not only relieve high levels of distress, but also prevent the sufferer from doing further harm to themselves.

Comparatively few people who self-harm present for medical treatment afterwards. Many feel they do not deserve treatment, others are scared of the treatment they may receive, and as for most people self harm is an intensely private act, there is a lot of shame and humiliation about showing others your injuries.

This means that people patch themselves up when many do have injuries which require specialist attention.

Contrary to Mr McKinstry's accusations, self harm is not the epitome of attention-seeking behaviour. It is a desperate and devastating way of coping with immense distress.

Yours faithfully,

---

to: Guardian

re: Cut it out, please

Dear Sir,

I am writing in response to the above article written by Rachel James.

She clearly has little understanding of the dynamics of self harm, and
the sheer number of people who refuse to seek medical treatment as a
result of the views of medical professionals like her.

Discouraging people who have self-harmed from seeking treatment seems
highly irresponsible as the consequences of this could be - and indeed
all too often are - fatal.

Yours faithfully,

Independent Imagery

Last Tuesday, The Independent ran front page coverage of new self harm research. There were also other articles on the subject inside the paper, including by the ubiquitous Dr Raj.

I thought it was good coverage. I mean, self harm issues taking the whole front page of the paper? That is pretty amazing. Not undeserved, as it is ridiculously underreported, just surprising.

They were wise, and absolutely correct, to point out that the number of people who present at A&E with self harm injuries, was in no way a sum total of the number of people who self harm. I, and many people I know, rarely have to have emergency treatment after self injury.

The article was very focussed on treatment. How treatment should be. Some of it is very basic respectful stuff (i.e. don't stitch someone up without local anaesthetic), other is a wider issue, like whether someone presenting with self harm injuries are referred onto mental health services.

I can't help but feel that if there were an eclectic range of support services, easy to access by self-referral, GPs, and A&E / walk-in centre staff, where people could go for help, support, advice, at the first signs of distress, that a good percentage of people would receive the required help and support, and go on to be ok.

As it is, many people can only get mental health care when things are totally, totally desperate. By this stage, things are almost certainly much worse than they were, and had they been able to access help earlier, things might never have got that bad. And by help I don't automatically or necessarily mean mainstream mental health services, it could be any of several models, such as community workers, peer support services, befrienders, support groups and so on.

But the reality is that by the time people qualify for help within a hugely cash-strapped service, things are usually very bad, and will take a lot longer to resolve.

Ah-ha, I knew I'd talked about this before.

But yeah, back to the Independent coverage. I thought all the Independent articles I read were worth reading, I was impressed with the volume and quality of coverage, but there was just one problem... the central column on the front page being a graphic photo of a disembodied, scarred and cut arm.

Why oh why? I don't want to know that the answer is to attract attention and increase sales, though I guess it was.

On the one hand, increased attention and sales should mean wider awareness of issues around self-harm and mental distress, which is good, but does the end justify the means? I'm not sure it does. Not only was I shocked and disturbed to be faced with this image unexpectedly on looking at the racks of papers, it was also what people on the net refer to as triggery. It made some people want to cut, it made others compare it with their own scars (either "Argh, mine are worse than that" or "Argh, mine aren't that bad... I don't do it enough", or many variations on those themes), and it also made me very aware of my own scars when I, in my short sleeves, paid for the paper, very aware of the visual connections between the image and my arms for the woman serving me.

I really appreciate positive and empathetic reporting on mental health issues, but when they are accompanied with such images that just feel exploitative, it leaves something of a zopiclone-aftertaste in my mouth.

This letters' page and this one contain various responses to the articles which are worth a read.

Home Truths is on the radio. It really is the Woman's Own of the BBC ;)

Vocabulary and the Vatican

An astute commentator has pointed out that as a result of my entry about Witnessing to Jehovah's Witnesses, the targeted ads at the top of this blog are, well, targeted to JW sites. So, I have become a reluctant advert for (currently, tis subject to change n all) a Jehovah's Witnesses Singles Site.

I heard a great word on the radio just now. The weather guy stumbled over it, but that didn't detract from its coolness. I give you, specificity. [Bow].

I am aware that this has the potential to become very much an anti-religious blog. I have no desire or intention for this to be the case, but if religious people keep doing stupid things, I will have to keep writing about them.

So, yeah, the Vatican, on women.

I have neither the time, the patience, or the concentration to read the whole of the original document, but the Guardian tells me a lot of what I need to know.

So let's see. Apparently, women's key traits are:

• Listening
  
• welcoming
  
• humility
  
• faithfulness
  
• praise and
  
• waiting

.

How do I do?

Listening? I'm good at that. I have Radio 4 on almost constantly, and I sometimes even pay attention to what it says. So yep, I pass the first test.

So what's next? Welcoming. Well [cough], funny story there [cough, blush]. Ummm. I used to be, I'm sure. But for ages now I've had something close to a phobia about allowing people into my house, so noone comes in, so I don't do much welcoming. Yeah, I know, fuck-up.

Faithfulness. Yuck. To what? If it's to God, I fail. If it's to my partner, I pass. If it's to myself, we're getting waaay too deep.

Praise. What does that mean?

praise

n.

1. Expression of approval, commendation, or admiration.
   
2. The extolling or exaltation of a deity, ruler, or hero.
   
3. Archaic. A reason for praise; merit.

tr.v. praised, prais·ing, prais·es

1. To express warm approbation of, commendation for, or admiration for.
   
2. To extol or exalt; worship.

How is that a trait?

I do praise people and things. Just not so often the whole God stuff. Which is probably what they're talking about.

Where were we?

Waiting. There's a bus strike for goodness' sake! If I wasn't good at waiting before, I'm certainly getting more proficient as time goes on.

Seriously though, reading the various details and commentaries on this newly published text does concern me. Women within Catholicism are oppressed and controlled by the patriarchal and misogynist forces within the religion (not to mention within society at large), but it is done so in a veiled way. By stating that the above virtues of women were particularly evident in the Virgin Mary, the Church oppresses women while maintaining the illusion that in fact they are venerating and honouring us.

It all very much reminds me of the extract of the 1950's Home Economics textbook for school girls which makes its wat round the net periodically.

The thing about this Vatican statement which particularly disturbs / confuses me is that they are very much using the argument that women are this way because of biology. That women and men naturally behave differently and have different roles. And yet they are making it a moral argument about whether women fulfil these roles. I guess they are using the going against God-given nature stance, but it is infuriatingly clear that they are desperate to keep women in a submissive, pliable, easily manipulated and controlled state, to maintain their misogyny.

Raar.

Sheffield 

Word Beads: End, Abscessed, Annotate, Comparator, Imaginably

I got this meme from Word Beads.

---

"The end of the world is nigh! The end of the world is nigh!", chanted the man, always on the same road, always with the same placard, always announcing the same thing. You wonder just now nigh the end can be given that he's probably been doing the same for at least 30 years. Though time is relative, I guess.

He tried to override the pain of his abscessed legs and feet. Believing in the Christ, believing that the agony he suffered, trekking the same paths with the same message every day, was minute compared to Christ's agony on the cross, and believing that experiencing this pain led him closer to God kept him going.

He was leaving early today, to see the nurse. She would dress his lower extremities, and check his blood sugar. He'd had diabetes most of his life, but he still could never quite get the hang of those annotated comparators to check the sugar levels once he had pricked his finger.

The nurse knew he would die soon, and wondered whether to approach the subject. He would imaginably be quite content, she thought, meeting the Lord after all this time.

She wondered how anyone could have such an unwavering faith, no doubts at all about his role on earth and how things were to be.

At least a small part of her envied the simplicity of his life. Not just in what he did, but how unquestioning he was. She didn't envy the teasing he must experience, with his placard in the street, nor the physical pain he must be in, though never complained about. But never debating whether there was anything more, or what happens next, that pure confidence, was calm and accepting within him.

He died shortly afterwards. He waited for the light, for Jesus, for the Lord. None of it came. There was nothing.

ReVisit #6

Please don't interrupt

ReVisit #5

Chainblogging: Carnivores and Herbivores

ReVisit #4

Early on in my playing with photos

Revisit #3

Christianity, Cutting and Corn Dogs

Revisit #2

Bush and Lush

ReVisit #1

Bigots, Bastards and Brides

Round 2

Ok, the good news is that I suspect that my theory about the layout mess-up being to do with the image on the Vote Manor Lodge entry could be correct, as looking at other individual entries, the layout in Internet Explorer seems fine.

The weird thing is that Firefox is managing to read the code and make it work fine and Internet Explorer is not, but at the same time I can only write entries or make template changes in IE as Firefox can't seem to manage that.

Layout problems

It's all been working fine for me in Firefox, but it seems that in Internet Explorer there is nothing to the right of the blog entries - i.e. where the links and such are.

I suspect that this is due to the image on the Vote Manor Lodge entry overlapping both columns.

If necessary I will just post enough new entries so it is not on the front page any more.

I'm sure that if I had the time and the energy I could suss out the code problems, but my meds have been whacked up and I can't think straight.

Spam and Strikes, Consumer Credit and Campaigning

A BBC Breaking News Alert tells me that

The amount of money owed by UK consumers breaks through the £1 trillion barrier.

Hmmm. Scary. Most of it is mine :-S

Stephen Newton's Museum of Spam is pretty funky. The email address which posts directly to his blog is advertised on the site, and thus all the bots pick it up, and all the spam he receives is instantly published.

I don't know why I think it's such a great idea, I just do.

The Sheffield bus strike is still going on. Day 9 I believe. And no prospect of return until mid-week next week at the earliest. It's fairly tricky to negotiate certain journeys at the moment, but it's First Mainline, not the striking drivers, who are to blame... They have too much of a monopoly on the public transport, and won't share a teeny weeny slice of their profits to actually benefit the people who keep the company running day after day.

And say hello to the new and exciting Voice-Hearers Action Group.

Vote Manor Lodge!

Everywhere I go, that is what I see - on the side of school buildings, facing out of office windows, everywhere is Vote Manor Lodge. So yeah, go ahead I reckon!

Sheffield Manor Lodge is the most important historic site in Sheffield, since the destruction of Sheffield Castle. It is an ancient monument and boasts three listed buildings, but despite this it is little known by the majority of Sheffield's population. This year, however, Sheffield Manor Lodge has been chosen to feature in the new series of the highly successful BBC 2 television series "Restoration".

To find out more about Manor Lodge, follow one, more or several of the links in that preceding paragraph.

To vote, call



You have from 2am on Tuesday the 27th to midnight on Wednesday 28th July.

Calls cost 50p each [34p goes to the Restoration Fund] and you can vote as many times as you want. Note: you can only vote by phone, not by e-mail or text.

There, I feel I've done my bit of citizenship for Sheffield for the day now ;)

Public Transport Woes

The buses are on strike. They have been since last Tuesday, and it seems that no agreement has yet happened, and no further talks are planned.

I do support the strike, of course. Driving buses has gone from a schoolboys' dream job, to a thankless occupation with long hours, abusive customers and, it seems, crap pay.

There was a series of graffitied adverts on buses these last few weeks. They were on a poster encouraging people to work for them and each perk of the job had been commented on by a presumably disgruntled driver.

They were comments along the lines of this:

Want to start each day with a smile like this driver?
He's only smiling cos he's leaving tomorrow or he's only smiling cos he's on drugs.

They pointed out the long hours, poor perks, poor pay, and bad shifts.

I am really, really grateful for bus drivers. They get me around and without them I wouldn't get far or out often. I want them to be paid a decent wage and work in decent conditions. And miserable drivers don't make for especially pleasant journeys for the passengers either.

So, if First Mainline are by any chance listening (of course they're not), please give these people a decent package, so I can get around again. Preferably by Tuesday please, as I have appointments then that I can't get to on a Yorkshire Terrier service.

Witness to the Witnesses

Blurry but fabulous...



It's almost subversive! Recruiting people to evangelise to Jehovah's Witnesses. Like a strange form of karma.

If you can't make out from the blur it is a classified ad calling for people to Help Jehovah's Witnesses to find Christ.

I wonder whether the JWs are actively sought out, or whether people have the relevant literature ready by their door just waiting for a visit.

I have fairly regular visits. I used to get lots of Mormons coming round too but the ultra-smart appearance and the American accent gave them away instantly so I soon stopped answering the door.

If I decide at any point that I am searching for faith, I can't imagine that it will be somebody waking me up on a Sunday morning or interrupting a quiet evening in that would make the difference. Really.

Logos and Links

TypoGenerator is amazing! Go and play with it! Now!!

I did!



Cheery stuff can be found here.

One example of how 50s scientists may have predicted the future would be... along with a mini bit of cartoon cuteness!

Of course, they were shamelessly stolen from b3ta.

On the theme of my growing interest in photography, I absolutely have to send you to look at the Slumbering Duckling. Wow.

I will end this feat of randomness with some advice. If you are feeling a bit too sane for comfort... maybe out of place amidst the world's insanity, go see magical Trevor.

The Steel Man in front of Sheffield Town Hall 

"I drink to make other people interesting"

Water from the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain has sold on ebay for £205. Bloody ridiculous! However, given that the 12 bids above £14 are all from the same two very low feedback bidders (one with 0 feedback, the other with -1), time will tell whether the opportunist seller will get the dosh!

And I'm not used to the Guardian being so gooey.

Incidentally, do people know about BugMeNot? If you want to get onto, say, a news site which requires registration, you can see if anyone there has a user name and password you can use, to save giving your details out to the world. Tis fab.

I went into WH Smith yesterday and they are re-doing the inside of the store. One thing they have done is make the shelf units for magazines and such much, much taller. I felt a bit like Alice - shrunk. It was all the same as usual, except much bigger... Strange experience indeed. It was only on leaving the shop I realised my height hadn't altered one bit. Which is good.

Oh, and I'm giving it a try. I have duct tape on my foot. Time will reveal whether it is the long-awaited cure, but I'm desperate enough to have a go.