As someone recovered from an eating disorder and recovered from self-injury (and having been forced into treatment for both), it is always quite infuriating to me when people in the spotlight minimize the seriousness of either of these with phrases like "dabbled in" or "went through a phase of". These are serious conditions and you don't just "get over" them. They aren't for attention. I didn't really have an opinion on Megan Fox until I read that, and now I think she is reckless and irresponsible. I guess I "dabbled" for a bit (six years) and then got over it (at serious financial and opportunity cost).

I am writing from a place of extreme emotion on this subject, so you'll have to forgive my outburst!

It pisses me off when people treat something as serious as cutting like it's no big deal. It is an external sign of serious psychological problems, and it is by no means a healthy outlet or something harmless to "dabble" in. A friend of mine started cutting after her boyfriend left her, and she always tried to convince me that it was a normal and healthy way for her to deal with her grief. (Guess what? It's not.)

Hmmmm...

First, I don't think criticizing starlets for not being "good role models" is particularly productive. And assuming that teenage girls run around emulating their famous idols is sort of insulting...

Not to mention that Megan Fox is extremely popular among teenage boys but not so much with teenage girls.

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. On the one hand, I obviously completely agree that the ideas she is expressing about eating disorders and cutting are harmful. I also think that role models should be more responsible, more intelligent about these issues, and better leaders. I just don't know if expecting Hollywood stars to step up and fill that role is the best solution; I wish we could, instead, give kids more appropriate role models and help them to look to them for guidance instead of the stars they see on tv and in the movies. If we did this, then young girls would hear a statement like Fox's and be able to understand its flaws ... or, if that's too high of an expectation, they would at least have people in their lives they could talk to who would give them a better perspective.

At first when I read this I thought that admitting she was a cutter was a very brave thing for her to do. I have friends that used to do that in high school and some in college. I know how difficult it was for them to even admit to me (a close friend) that they cut themselves.

But then I looked at her wording and it just made me upset. She is minimizing it. Maybe that's her way of coping what she went through but still, not cool at all. Cutting is not just a "phase" or something girls "dabble" in. Neither is an eating disorder. These are serious problems and we do not need more people minimizing the severity of these issues.

I don't think she's trying to minimize the problem, but is just speaking in a passive tone because it's obviously something she's not 100% comfortable talking about. This is something from her past that she struggled with so the way she talks about it isn't going to be like a psychologist talking about it clinically or in the most politically correct way.

Certainly trivializing cutting is problematic and could be downright dangerous when the attitude is presented to adolescents, but this post bothers me. She's not the first to say something like that and she's far from the worst. Nor is she very much of a role model to teenage girls, as someone above pointed out. I think because she is a mainstream actress who seems to have some feminist attitudes, feminists want to expect better from her, and are disappointed when we don't get what we expect, but this is the perspective she's putting onto her experience. As ooperbooper said, there is some value into taking the stigma out of serious problems like this, and I very much doubt that Fox wants to be defined by her experiences with cutting; maybe that's why she's so quick to brush it off.

As a former cutter, attitudes like this bother me. The way she phrases her words suggests she thinks cutting is just another thing adolescent girls do. This could not be farther from the truth. Any time someone purposefully inflicts harm on their own body, there is something wrong.

It seems like the media has been paying more attention to cutting in recent years. When I did it I thought I was the only one and that I must be crazy and really messed up to do something like that. While I think openness about psychological disorders is key to getting rid of the stigma and helping people accept treatment, it also seems like people are being a little too casual about issues as serious as cutting. I hear more and more young girls talking about cutting with their friends, discussing things like what they use, where they do it, and how deep they cut, ect, etc. There are people who say people who talk about their cutting habit are just doing it for attention and do not really have a problem. But still, if people feel they need to do that to get attention, there is still a problem.

While I applaud her openness about something that is stigmatized and probably a painful experience for her, I cringe at her attitude that it's something teenage girls just go through. No one should have to go through cutting or an eating disorder.

First: holy crap, that's Megan Fox? She looks completely different in this photo than in all the others I've seen of her. I totally didn't recognise her.

Second: I was a cutter in my teens (quite severely). I stopped 5 years ago, still covered in scars, and I hate talking about it. If anyone asked me about it I would brush it off in the same way (or at least in a similar way... "It was a long time ago, I was a teenager"). I am uncomfortable talking about it because it was such a horrible time for me, and I hate to have to hash it out with strangers. It's the curse of having such visible and plentiful scars, but I brush it off completely and totally downplay it whenever it comes up. So basically... I understand why she would want to gloss over it. I don't think she has any responsibility to the rest of the planet because she is a somewhat well known public figure.

Okay, before I post I should say that I love Megan Fox, I think her lack of inhibitions is something to be admired. Therefore, the rest of my response might be biased, but here we go.

I do not think she wanted to minimize the problem. She probably made the comment, then regretted it so she said "dabbled" as a way to back-pedal out of the situation. We have to remember that journalists go out of their way to make their subjects feel comfortable so they divulge info they might have otherwise kept private. I honestly don't think that her attitude was dismissive, and if asked I believe that she would acknowledge the issue of self-injury as being a serious one. She's more intelligent than people give her credit for.

As for the role model comments, you guys can't be serious? Fox is not and has no interest in being a role model. She doesn't even really have much interest in being a "real" actress. She's just having fun. And if she is inadvertently a role model, well there are worse people to look up to. At least she presents herself as exactly what she is and doesn't comprise that for the sake of others.

Plus she openly talks about being a feminist AND her opinions on being a "sex symbol" and a feminist. In a world where so many women don't want to be either of those things, I think she at least deserves respect from us and the media, which so often takes what she says out of context in order to make her look bad.

Well, from the standpoint that she says she used to cut herself, I'd say that she has the authority to speak about her experience. And it's pretty obvious from the "I don't want to elaborate" part that she didn't really want to talk about it with the journalist, so the distancing/diminishing language makes sense in that regard. Perhaps she chose the word "dabbling" because she was afraid/ashamed to convey that she had a serious problem, especially in light of how much crap she gets from the public already.

Since I often get so fed up with our expectations that actresses function as some sort of feminist role model when there's really no reason for us to expect that they're any more educated on these issues than your average woman, if Megan was simply one of your friends/dormmates/coworkers who made a comment like that, what would your reaction be to her? What would you say to her?

The most important thing I see here is the difficulty of owning a label that you feel will "soil" you, victimize you, and associate you with a condition you yourself stigmatize. Just as many survivors of sexual assault never call their experience rape, many people who suffer from self-injury resist those labels for similar reasons. Applying labels that have social connotations and labels you may have made negative assumptions about to yourself is incredibly difficult -- it's an adjustment to your identity.

More than anything, this is an example of why we need to encourage openness and judgment-free approaches to these things so that others don't feel shamed into denying their experience or de-emphasizing the significance of their life events.

why is cutting always a "serious problem"? yes, for some people it is. for other people, it doesn't seem to be.
eating disorders seem a lot worse to me, they're bound up in poor body image and self hatred, but cutting isn't necessarily self-punishing. the emotional context makes a difference. i wouldn't "trivialize" cutting but i don't believe it's always "self-destructive" behavior.
it can be a coping mechanism. if you're depressed and you start drinking is drinking your worst problem, or is it depression? some people cut occasionally at times of particular stress. i think of it as the difference between use and abuse.
for one of my best friends cutting was a serious problem. it was addictive and it very obviously marked her for life. but on the other hand the stigma of cutting can be worse than the thing itself. another friend of mine was involuntarily committed because of a few light scratches. it seems like that was an overreaction. it certainly did not improve his mental health and was not in his best interests.

for the person who said "No one should have to go through cutting or an eating disorder." i sympathize. emotional problems suck and dealing with them alone sucks more. but i would disagree that cutting is always indicative of a disorder. cutting can be a relief. i know it's weird but some people enjoy pain. wasn't bdsm recently taken off the list of mental disorders? on top of that, scars, like tattoos, can commemorate important events, even if they are very stressful or painful. in other cultures this is called scarification and has a very different significance.

I'm surprised nobody is looking at her comments like a feminist. She is right. It is GIRLS that deal with these things for the most part. Why is that? If you look at it this way, her comment was mostly good. I think we can agree that "dabble" was a poor choice of words, because it makes it sound like eating disorders and cutting are no big deal.

However, I have a problem with a lot of the commenters saying that cutting isn't a phase. For some people, it is. A lot of people are depressed during adolescence and then just grow out of it. It was a phase for me. I thought it was serious at the time, but now I see my cutting as no big deal, as a cry for help, and a desperate, misguided attention to get people to notice me. I guess Megan Fox is more in the camp of my experience, instead of the camp of people that have to go to rehab for their cutting addiction. As feminists, don't we want to respect women's experiences and not impose our experiences/judgments on them? Perhaps Megan Fox's comments make it sound like all cutting problems were no big deal, and should have clarified that she can only talk about her own.

i'm jumping on the "cutting CAN (although not always is) a phase" boat. why is that? because self-injury seems to be glorified in a sense when it comes to girls. i have cut in my life, once was a very serious mental side effect of a medication, and the other times? because girls in books and in movies and at school did it and hey, i was sad too so i probably should aswell. i have since been diagnosed with depression/SAD/anxiety. these diagnoses, therapy sessions and subsequent medications are completely unrelated to ever cutting. in fact, i have not once cut since becoming so severely depressed.

furthermore, i don't think megan fox meant that cutting is always just a phase when it comes to girls. but maybe that wads the case for her. and maybe she just wanted to move past that point quickly because she didn't want to (and shouldn't have to) discuss her life and mental health on such a personal level.

I would say that actresses don't sign up to be role models (a la Charles Barkley's "I am not a role model. I am not paid to be a role model. I am paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court.")

However, Fox has explicitly said that she considers herself a role model for strong, intelligent young women. So in her case, the criticism is warranted.

This was taken from the Rolling Stone cover article on her. The guy who was interviewing her was asking the most ridiculous questions that you'd never ask a guy. It was a terrible interview.

The context of what she says makes all the difference in the world. It completely depends on how she meant it, and words alone can't easily reveal intent. She says it almost in a way as though she was ashamed of cutting (to the point that she won't even label herself "a cutter") and in so doing is relegating it to a point in her life where she considered herself and the behavior foolish. Part of it too is that she is, I think, seeking to distinguish that it wasn't a major issue in her life and doesn't want to be viewed as though it were.

I think about when Fiona Apple was interviewed about her own childhood rape and was reluctant to talk much about it because she didn't want to be viewed, in her words, as a "rape poster child".

However, I think what we can all agree on is that eating disorders and self-mutilating behaviors, particularly among young women, are far more prevalent than reported. Yet, in stating this, let's not make this into a media-driven alarmist issue with all of these scary, exaggerated (if not altogether fake) statistics designed to instigate the latest moral panic towards American girlhood, either.

I don't see Fox as dismissing it. I read it as her saying that some women go through a short period of time (apparently, calling a 'stage' is a no-no) when they engage in destructive behavior such as eating disorder cutting, but they then later become healthy adults.

Admittedly I'm not a current or former cutter (although I've had friends and SO's who were), but it seems like a lot of people here are mapping their experiences or understanding of cutting onto everyone.

Sort of like they're saying, "It was a large and traumatic life experience that never entirely went away for me/someone I know, so it must be like that for all people who engage in such actions."

For some people, it is a 'stage.' Some people do 'get over it.'

It's a bit patronizing to suggest "cutting is always _______." It's an experience that varies widely across people.

Megan Fox, please go away. Usually I don't pay any attention to what comes out of that girl's mouth, but I was a self-harmer for five years (from the age of twelve to seventeen) and this girl is so wrong about it. Like many people have said, cutting isn't a phase you go through and then grow out of. It took me five years, multiple hospitalizations, and a cocktail of horrible medication for me to learn how to deal with my depression in a more positive manner. Megan Fox is just reenforcing the idea that self-harm is usually for attention, and something that one can just stop when they please, which as former self-harmers may know, is so not true.

i think its hard to see that your experiences are not The Experience, just an experience. and that experiences can all be very different. there's no one right way or one real way to do things. what's true for one person is not true for everyone.

(speaking in the general "you")

she's a Jolie wannabe using the Jolie business model, except that she is not nearly as intelligent, so instead of coming off as interesting and as one who has faced challenges and overcome them, she comes off as a ditz. Maybe she is combining Monroe and Jolie's business model...she is a Fox after all.

she's a Jolie wannabe using the Jolie business model, except that she is not nearly as intelligent, so instead of coming off as interesting and as one who has faced challenges and overcome them, she comes off as a ditz. Maybe she is combining Monroe and Jolie's business model...she is a Fox after all.

she's a Jolie wannabe using the Jolie business model, except that she is not nearly as intelligent, so instead of coming off as interesting and as one who has faced challenges and overcome them, she comes off as a ditz. Maybe she is combining Monroe and Jolie's business model...she is a Fox after all.

she's a Jolie wannabe using the Jolie business model, except that she is not nearly as intelligent, so instead of coming off as interesting and as one who has faced challenges and overcome them, she comes off as a ditz. Maybe she is combining Monroe and Jolie's business model...she is a Fox after all.

she's a Jolie wannabe using the Jolie business model, except that she is not nearly as intelligent, so instead of coming off as interesting and as one who has faced challenges and overcome them, she comes off as a ditz. Maybe she is combining Monroe and Jolie's business model...she is a Fox after all.

This entire post strikes me as so wholly anti-feminist, destructive and, for this blog's purview anyway, so completely beside the point. I can't believe how few commenters thus far seem to feel the same way.

As for criticism of a famous female artist on the basis that she's not "sending her young emulating fans a good message," isn't this the kind of bull that Feministing usually decries? Aren't y'all usually up in arms when a woman or minority is lambasted for not being a proper role model? As you know, women in the public eye are often held to impossible standards to which men aren't.

(And what "young emulating fans" are you talking about, anyway? This is highly speculative, and from what I can tell the bulk of Fox's fan base isn't young girls anyway.)

By insisting that Fox is "normalizing pretty serious issues," you're speaking for her and claiming that her experiences amounted to "pretty serious issues." Whether or not she downplayed her own experiences in so doing (and we can't know that either way), Fox clearly stated that she thinks of them as constituting a phase and not an ongoing issue. How can you purport to know better than she?

More importantly, what concern is it of a feminist blog whether an actress is honestly describing her possibly painful and self-destructive experiences to a Rolling Stone reporter? Fox never said she was proud of her behavior or would recommend it to other girls. She never said that she thought it was no big deal if other girls engaged in it.

This post sounds little more feminist than the grossly scolding, "concerned" one to which it links, featuring a gossip-rag exhortation that Fox consult a therapist, not a reporter. (The irony.) The term "concern troll" rings a bell.

It's too bad the article doesn't provide resources for people who cut themselves.

As for Megan Fox, she claims to have serious psychological problems and worries about them. link Hopefully, she'll get the help she needs and be able to talk about self-cutting in a constructive way one day.

FIRST OFF I MUST THANK FEMINISTING FOR THEIR AMAZING WORK WITH THIS POST!!!!

SECONDLY I HAVE TO SAY I AM SHOCKED AND APPALLED BY ANY NEGATIVE RESPONSE TO FEMINISTING FOR THIS POST. HER COMMENTS DO TRIVIALIZE CUTTING IF NOT WITH "DABBLE" THAN WITH THE WORDS "EVERY GIRL DABBLES IN EITHER CUTTING OR EATING DISORDRS" THIS IS DISGUSTING AND PATHETIC.

NOT ONLY THAT, THOSE WHO SAY THAT FEMINISTING WAS TOO HARSH ON HER SHOULD READ THE POST. THEY ACKNOWLEDGE HER "BRAVERY" FOR COMING FORWARD ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THIS.

AND THE PEOPLE WHO DEFEND HER BECAUSE SHE "NEVER WANTED TO BE A ROLE MODEL" YOU NEED TO DO YOUR RESEARCH ON MEGAN FOX BECAUSE SHE DID SAY EXAAAAAAAACCCCTLY THAT!!!!!!!!!! AND THEN SHE DOES STUPID THINGS LIKE THIS.

ON THIS NOTE FEMINISTING I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU TO PLEASE ADDRESS SOME OF THE OTHER DISGRACEFUL AND UNFORGIVABLE THINGS THAT SHE HAS SAID.

STARTING, APPROPRIATELY, WITH HER OTHER COMMENTS IN ROLLING STONE WHERE SHE STATES THAT THE IDEA OF A "ONE NIGHT STAND MAKES HER SICK"

NOT ONLY DOES THIS DEGRADE AND SHAME COUNTLESS WOMEN FOR THE WAY THEY LIVE THEIR LIVES IN PRIVATE, IT IS RIDICULOUS CONSIDERING THIS GIRLS CAREER IS BUILT ON SEX, JUST LOOK AT THE PHOTOS!!!

THAT IS HYPOCRACY AND IT IS IN NO WAY FEMINIST OR STRONG!!!! AS SOMEONE WHO HAS HAD A ONE NIGHT STAND I FELT PERSONALLY DEGRADED AND SHAMED. PLEASE TALK TO GIRLS ABOUT IT!!!

LASTLY I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU GREATLY FOR USING THE PHOTO OF HER THAT YOU DID, BEFORE SHE TRANSFORMED HERSELF WITH PLASTIC SURGERY.

LET ME START BY SAYING THAT I DONT THINK THERE IS ANYTHING WRONG WITH PLASTIC SURGERY. THERE IS SOMETHING HORRENDOUS ABOUT LYING ABOUT IT!!!

NOT ONLY DOES FOX REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SHE HAS REDONE HERSELF WITH SURGERY SHE FLAT OUT DENIES IT. THIS PROMOTES THAT WOMEN SHOULD NOT ONLY CONFORM TO AN UNREACHABLE BEAUTY IDEAL BUT SUBJECT THEMSELVES TO SURGERY FOR IT!!!

IT IS ESPECIALLY SADDENING WHEN YOU CONSIDER THAT THIS GIRL HAS MADE HER CAREER OFF OF HER LOOKS!!!! SHE NEEDS TO TELL GIRLS THAT THE REASON THEY DONT LOOK LIKE HER IS BECAUSE NOT EVEN FOX REALLY LOOKS LIKE THAT.

NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT LYING ABOUT PLASTIC SURGERY SHAMES ANYONE WHO HAS GOTTEN IT.

THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH FEMINISTING AND IF YOU COULD TAKE THESE THINGS INTO CONSIDERATION THAT WOULD MAKE ME FEEL SO MUCH BETTER ABOUT MYSLEF AND IM SURE OTHERS!!!

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND DONT LISTEN TO ANY NEGATIVITY!!! YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT HERE!!!!!!!!

WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT US????????

Yeah, I read all caps as yelling... is that weird? But seriously I couldn't even read this whole thing because it was bugging me so much. Lower case is your friend.

As someone who is a recovered cutter (6 years now, I'm 20). I was hospitalized for it twice, and when I refer to that period of my life I also refer to it in a simular way because that part of my life is over, and looking back on it it was completely ridiculous. I don't think she did the wrong thing, obviously if she even stated it then she faced it, which is hard enough to admit. I'm definitely not a Megan Fox fan, but I don't think this should be as blown out of porportion as you are making it. Teen cutting is an epidemic, and most girls (espically 12-16) have delt with some form of body image issue that lead to negative self destructive habits (whether it be cutting, eating disorders, drugs, etc). I think its a good thing that she's open regarding the subject because those for those struggling, seeing someone who is successful, and by society's standard "Beautiful" that can help them get over it. When I was in recovery and met someone who had also struggled, but made it out and were okay and were making something of themselves, it made me feel better, and gave me more hope. I don't think you should cover this topic unless you have personally struggled with that issue, maybe then you'd understand the point she was trying to make.

I don't know how big "cutting" is in minority communities but I knowof this girl 15-16 puerto rican/dominicana who does it. This girl is so negative, she is so mired in what I would call depression and the just sheer and other just...I don'tknow... a resignation in the futility of life it's amazing. I would try to there for her be a sister , a confidant to her and talk to her, even if it made me want to slit my wrists. Mainly though I try to get her to seek help cuz she need it. Sometimes she will talk to a counselor but she needs some major help beyond me and you can do only what you can do.

As a (former?)'cutter' myself, I'm pretty conflicted about this analysis. I get the concern about belittling the issue (God do I ever), but I don't think Ms. Fox was doing that.

Really, your average cutter is not doing anything more bizarre or dangerous than your average heavy-drinking teen. Neither is in any way healthy, but neither should be stigmatized to the point of marking that person as completely damaged/insane. And I think that was the point Meghan Fox was trying to make.

As a (former?)'cutter' myself, I'm pretty conflicted about this analysis. I get the concern about belittling the issue (God do I ever), but I don't think Ms. Fox was doing that.

Really, your average cutter is not doing anything more bizarre or dangerous than your average heavy-drinking teen. Neither is in any way healthy, but neither should be stigmatized to the point of marking that person as completely damaged/insane for the rest of hir life. And I think that was the point Meghan Fox was trying to make; simply because one self-destructive behavior literally leaves marks, does not mean you are anymore emotionally/mentally marked than someone who drank as a young adult.