Do Emos Cut Themselves?
One of the most famous emo stereotypes in the book is that emos cut themselves. While it was a pretty common part of the trend in the beginning, the negativity of the stereotype has thankfully helped for it to die out for the most part.
Not all emos are cutters. In fact, most of them aren’t. However, I know quite a few of them that still do it.
Unfortunately, many original emos who did self harm taught the rest of the people jumping on the bandwagon that it was an acceptable thing to do. Many of them started doing it as part of the trend, not realizing the consequences of their actions, which can be far deeper than just superficial scratch marks. A few emos took it a little too far, which led to suicide.
Popular apparatuses for cutting include: kitchen knives, pocket knives, box cutters, razor blades, safety pins, and scissors. Pretty much any sharp pointy object an emo could get their hands on.
Cutting is actually something I have quite a bit of experience with, as I was a cutter long before emo was even invented. So, for your amusement, here’s my story.
She was right, it didn’t hurt. The diabetic needle was designed to cause painless finger pricks. It was so sharp that you didn’t even feel it. All that you saw was the end result. And bleeding was very cool looking.
So, she gave me a bunch of the needles and we spent our lunch breaks carving stuff into ourselves, drawing pictures, writing words. Everyone that saw it thought we were crazy.
It’s all fun and innocent until it turns psychological. One time when I was pissed off I decided to cope with the anger by cutting. I’d cut and then pour salt on it so it would hurt and help distract my mind from the emotional pain that I was feeling.
It didn’t take long before this was the only way I coped with my emotional anguish. No longer satisfied with the painlessness of the diabetic needles, I switched to other cutting apparatuses, mainly kitchen knives and razor blade. I would cut myself repeatedly, usually on my shoulders where the cuts could be concealed by my shirt sleeve. Sometimes I would cut myself close to 100 times, never very deep, just enough to bleed.
My parents eventually found out about it and I was sent to a mental institution. I quickly learned that lying was the only way to get out, so I lied, and of course nothing changed when I was back home. By that point, cutting was the only thing I knew to use to cope with my bad moods . . . and I had A LOT of bad moods, being a hormonally imbalanced teenager and all.
Life goes on, and as I grew older and my body started to settle into adulthood, my bad moods were less and less and so was the cutting. By the time I was 17 I had figured out other ways to deal with bad moods and would only cut when things got REALLY bad.
It’s been about 3 years since I last cut, and I remember the last few times feeling awkward. The cuts were so superficial it was laughable. And as I sat there looking at my arm I wondered how cutting ever helped at all. All it does it create problems, the pain in the ass of having to hide them, the even bigger pain of having to explain when people find out about it, and the itchiness of when they start to heal.
Cutters reminds me a lot of stress eaters. It only helps while you’re doing it. You have to pay for the after effects long after the moment is over.
Some scars don’t ever heal. My arms are a pretty good testament to that. And while I honestly don’t regret doing it, nor the scars that came with it, I do realize that there were certainly better ways to cope with my issues back then. As humans, we always seem to look for the instant gratification method though.
Some people think that cutting is a psychological sickness, and I partially have to agree. Like any addiction, it only becomes that way when you repeat it so much that you hardwire it into your brain. The feeling is certainly unique, and if you’re masochistic, can create quite the euphoric feeling. Before you realize it you don’t know how to get away from doing it.
I definitely don’t recommend cutting to anyone, and in fact discourage it greatly. I just thought I would share the story above to explain how some people get into it, to point out the negative effects it can cause, and that there usually is a light at the end of the tunnel, a point in which people grow out of it and stop doing it.
Statistically speaking, most people grow out of cutting by their mid-twenties.
If you have a question you would like to Ask an Emo, please post it below. I will be answering questions in the order that they are received.

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im emo and i cut my wrists but my other friendz are emo but dey dnt cut demselfs all da tym lyk i do ive cut my wrist eva scence my brother died when i was 10 i love my bro but i hate life now sould i move on or keep bein emo???????
You definitely shouldn’t cut yourself. And being emo isn’t about being depressed all of the time and cutting. So, it’s really up to you whether or not you want to continue being emo.
I think you should go for it
There’s too many ppl in the world
For all I care you can do whatever the fuck you want
But that’s just my opinion you know
GO WILD FOR ALL I CARE
and not to be mean but GET A LIFE
your brother died for a reason
So anyhow that’s what I say and
EVERYDAY I’M SHUFFLING
I’M OUTTIE FIVE THOUSAND NIGGS
STEPHANIE,:P
<33
cutting is bad. i think my scars prove that :/
Well. I used to cut myself too, since i was 12 yrs. and stopped at 17 it was reaaly bad i was addicted to it. But i noticed that it was bad and my friends would tell me to stop and i finally stopped so, i think you should stop
Actually….Cutting isn’t as bad as drinking or doing drugs. I’m not saying it’s good either. It’s a way to deal with stress which works for some people and doesn’t work for others. Fortunately there are way better ways to deal with stress or boredom..whatever the cause. I tried snapping a rubber band on my wrist whenever I got frustrated for a while instead of cutting which didn’t really work so now I write in a diary or play my guitar
I don’t cut, I burn. Not with a cigarette that’s dirty ,but with a heated piece of metal. In my opinion it’s a lot less risky. It’s a pain and stress reliever for me. My mom and dad know but are kind of neutral about it for now. I don’t know why except maybe they’re leave it alone as long as I don’t do any serious damage or maybe they think I’m just going through a phase. It feels good and I think I’ll keep doing it for a bit more and then give it up. I don’t really know. It’s not like I’ve done anything more than cause minor scarring and I don’t intend to so why not.
I used to cut, I was 12… I started hanging around with people, and at first it’s like something you want more than anything, you look upto these people and you want to be with them. All you have to do is one little thing and it makes you like them.
It was all I wanted, it was everything to me. So easy to become what you dream of being. But it turns bad…
At first you’re so proud of it, and it’s all you want and you want to do it again, it doesn’t hurt and if you let the blood dry it looks kinda cute in my eyes. The feeling is good (I am both a masochist and Sadist, and proud.)and gave me a thrill. It gave me adrenalin, feeling like I shouldn’t be doing it, and I wanted it a lot. I showed them (24 shallow about 5cm cuts) off to my friends at school, who were fine. I loved it, and everyone wanted to see them, like it was some kind of craze.
Some girls told the head of year, and then I was taken out of class and put into an empty meeting room to be joined by the school conciliar… She went on and on, made me say lies! I did it because I wanted to, not because my friend had died and another hit by a train. I also had to go to the school nurse, and she examined and gave me another lecture over it. My parents were told, and that’s when it got too bad…
I used to lie a lot, on online chatrooms. Some of the people I added on MSN and Facebook, and my Dad is big on IT, knows how to view what I am doing at any time off his computer… I was saying lies, after being forced to lie over the stress of it and I said that my Dad beats me (He does not. I have to put that VERY importantly as he is one of the best people when he isn’t annoyed at me.) He saw this, and got furious. I mean, FURIOUS. He ran upstairs, ripped my computer off the desk and took them away. After, we had a long talk about it… It was awkward and I didn’t want it to happen.
In the last 6 months, I got a deodorant can and sprayed it on the back of my hand until it went red, sore, and froze all the blood vessels under my skin. My parents found out by themselves on this one when I wrote a fake letter to get out of Pe and left a scrap of paper with what I would write on the floor… It wasn’t as bad this time, Still got talked to and everything… They just gave up I guess. Second time ’round all you think is ‘It will end soon.’
My third and final burn was a chicken burn (When you rub your skin so much that it rubs away the flesh and leaves just blood and muscle) No one in my family knows about these and it will stay that way.
My main point on telling my story was to try and stop people from doing it. It ruins your life. R-U-I-N-S Y-O-U-R L-I-F-E
My life is getting better now. After a few years. I hope that you will all listen to this before doing anything stupid. It doesn’t help.
i actually started cutting when i was twelve to, but i never told anyone. I always kept it to myself, but it was hard to hide it. Soon some anonymous person had reported me and i ended up in the psychward…..again……its not a pleasant thing to do. I have scars on every non visible place on my body as a constant reminder=(
I almost put my self in the hospital once because cutting u shouldn’t do it
I don’t think you should cut yourself all the time but like if you start crying cut then poor salt in that scar to make it burn then wait like a month and do it again. Thats what i do.
I started cutting when I was 13 because of all the stress my family (mostly my mom) was putting on me. It didnt hurt. I liked it. My parents never found out, but my dad noticed a few of them and i liked and said i had scratched my self, and my friend’s cat scratched me also. I started getting extremely depressed and so i actually carved the word “HATE” into both of my legs. I went too deep. When I’m in water, you can still see my scars. I stopped because I realized that sports work so much better to relieve stress. I finally stopped after a few months of torture. My parents still don’t know. But I do have a few scars. Don’t cut. It doesn’t help.
I LIED to my dad. Not liked to my dad.
yeah i mean im emo but emo is more of a style now and cutting is not really a part of it yes a lot of emos cut but try something else for stress you can still be emo, like me, and not cut an alternative to cutting is drawing on yourself with sharpy marker:). Like when i get mad or sad or bored or even happy ill just draw on myself
+1
hahha nice idea!
I have a friend she tells me everything she does cut her parents don’t now her father died and her she has a mother her boyfriend broke up with her a month ago she cuts because her bf broke up with her and her father died that’s why she cuts she wants it to go serious to the veins.
u have 2 find the reson y ur cuting ur self. i use2 cut my self 4 the reson of love, what did i do? 2bh idk maybe if i was still wanted what i never had then i would still cut myself.
u have 2 find the reson y ur cuting ur self. i use2 cut my self 4 the reson of love, what did i do? 2bh idk maybe if i still wanted what i never had then i would still cut myself. it is a cure if u think about it. it lets go of stress.
I cut myself. Then my mom saw them, she knew but I told her I fell down. So I decided to stop cutting, I told my best friend that knows I cut. Now I feel a little bad for lying to her, she still doesn’t know
Uhh…. im speechless. emos are kinda scary. i just wanted to find out why emos cut them selves. im more of a punk rocker type thing. these storys make my wrist and neck hurt. and remember. its down the road,not across the street.
ok so i do cut and so does one of my friends and everything was fine untill someone told the guidance consuler @ r skool and by law the skool has to tell your parents!! so my lesson hear is that if you cut dont let the skool adults find out AT ALL caust mymy friend is misrable noe and i think she hates me now cuz she thinks that i told the counculer and ididnt ;(
I cut myself because I want to die but no one gets me like in school I’m all happy try to hide my deppresion I want to die