Hands That Are Marked with Blades

Blood games, self-harm, blade marking? What stories have these young hands, which are blossoming and dancing like tree branches in early spring, gone through that they scratch and wound themselves like this? Last week, reports emerged about self-harm among schoolgirls in schools, drawing significant attention. However, what these girls do in school is not a new phenomenon. It has been prevalent among students for years, and these hands have been marked with blades for years. Self-harm and blade marking on hands, thighs, and even heads and foreheads have become common among high school girls and sometimes even middle school girls. One report states that the number of self-harm incidents in schools is so high that school administrators only ask students to cover their wounds when discussing self-harm so that they are not visible. This week, in the Society magazine, we spoke with several schoolgirls in Tehran. They seem cheerful, laughing, and carefree, all talking together. They say self-harm is a common and repetitive occurrence in their schools: "What cannot be expressed in words shows itself on the body... (laughs)... For example, in our family, there is a girl who tends to behave like boys. She generally dresses like boys, talks like boys, and does things like boys; she does not want to be like other girls or believe in God and the Prophet, and when she cannot achieve these things, she empties herself in another way. She always has these lines on her hand. One of the girls in our club liked a boy in the same club, and whenever they had a fight, she would mark her body and take pictures to send to him. (laughs)... We also have one who is married and does not want her husband, and she empties herself this way. From what I have seen up close and have a close relationship with them, it is a lack. Part of it is also a trend that they want to follow. They want to do this." Trend, distress, and lack, crisis, or whatever it is, leaves its mark on the lives of teenage girls. Scars on wrists or other parts of the body. Students say this is a form of self-investment: "Because they cannot reach what they want, they perform this act on themselves. Because they cannot achieve a desire they want. Imagine, for example, they are friends with a boy, but cannot reach him, yet they write his name on their hand, which gives them pleasure when they look at it." Another student: "This means, for example, we are cool and these things..." (laughs) "There is a lack of affection in their family. For example, they are given little love and affection, and they are drawn to this boy, and because they cannot reach him, they carve his name on their hand, which definitely gives them a special comfort." Another student: "No, you see. It does not mean that we should say that anyone who is in a relationship with a boy or loves someone wants to do this. If we separate the discussion of girls and boys, these are more likely to be repressed." Gender issues, same-sex attractions, and confusion between what one is and what one wants to be, and what one thinks they should be during the critical teenage years, along with disturbances or emotions or desires and instincts that perhaps if there were appropriate references to identify and understand them, teenage girls would not need to resort to blades. They themselves mention cases where girls are attracted to their same-sex peers, but schools and society expect them to live differently: "There was someone who loved a girl. That is, one girl loved another girl. She had written that girl's name on her hand with a blade, and she was expelled from school. This could indicate an attraction to her same sex." Another student: "I say the same. For example, I said that there is someone in our family who wants to be like boys. She imagines herself in the position of a boy, and this behavior is out of rebellion. Among my friends, there are those who, although it may not be right to say, really want to change their gender because they do not have a womb. That is, only one part of their body is feminine, and they do not perform feminine tasks. Well, they have to deal with this and are running away from it. They have been drawn into many bad situations. But we also have someone who is just being rebellious and says, this is my style. I want to dress like this. I do not want to do the feminine tasks that you do. I do not want to grow my hair long... I also had a boyish style for a while, but it did not stick with me because it was not out of rebellion or repression; I just wanted variety." They talk about the marks and scratches of blades and glass on their peers and about shorter sleeves than usual when they were in their final year of high school and how their classmates would harm themselves: "She had carved the first letter of her boyfriend's name." Another student: "I have a friend who wrote my name on her hand. For example, we were very close." "Yeah, marking was a trend. Or they would mark their foreheads. To the extent that it would turn brown. Did you see the scars and scratches turn brown? Similar to that." Another student: "Just as when one has excess hair and is cutting it... a scratch that turns brown... it becomes trendy, and everyone does it, or maybe for some who write their boyfriend's name, it is perhaps for attention, to show how much you matter to me that I would sacrifice my life for you." Are these middle and high schools the factors contributing to such conditions? Saeed Peyvandi, a sociologist in the field of education, says adolescence is a sensitive age, and only one or two factors will not affect teenagers: "School is never the sole factor in creating such behaviors. Given the age characteristics of students, that is, during the critical and turbulent period of puberty and entering a new stage of life, young children, whether girls or boys, can engage in behaviors that may be socially incomprehensible. However, there is a situation in schools, families, or society that can exacerbate such behaviors, or conversely, schools, families, or mass media can act as agents of change or improvement in this situation." Some psychologists view self-harm and self-inflicted injury as a way to seek help. A way to express that the individual is enduring heavy psychological pressure and has lost their self-esteem or sense of social and familial connections. Saeed Peyvandi, although he does not consider schools to be the only main players in educating and nurturing students, nevertheless has criticisms of the educational content in Iranian schools and states that pressures in girls' schools are greater than in boys' schools: "The characteristic of Iranian schools compared to other countries is that these schools, on paper, pay special attention to the education of students, but when we delve into the content of education, we see that the most emphasis is placed on religious and ideological education for children. There are moral strictures [present], and the environment in which the student finds themselves, instead of feeling comfort, security, and peace, becomes more anxious and frustrated, and all field research in Iran shows that the pressures, especially from educational authorities and the highly ideological and closed content of textbooks, lead to schools not becoming the ideal environment where students can find themselves, feel comfortable, and trust the environment to express their issues. Unfortunately, the school becomes a place for increased anxiety, internal tensions, and new conflicts. From this perspective, it can be said that education and schools play a very negative role in creating such an environment, especially in girls' schools where these pressures are much greater than in boys' schools." Students say that often specific groups in certain fields of study engage in self-harm, and not only in high school but now that some of them have recently entered university, they can say that even in university: "I have seen those around me who are from technical, vocational, or work-study backgrounds. Those who were at a lower level. They are also prevalent in university. You do not see them in the faculty of literature. Go to the faculty of arts. Generally, students fall into three categories: either girls or boys or art students..." (laughs) The Iranian Minister of Education considers creating intimacy to be the most important concern of officials in this ministry, while thirty years after the establishment of the educational affairs institution in schools across Iran and the tumultuous transformations this institution has undergone, not only are there reports of self-harm among schoolgirls, but some reports have also described statistics on addiction and suicide in schools as concerning.