A sociological and psychological study illuminating the misunderstood meaning of self-injury in the twenty-first century.

Cutting, burning, branding, and bone-breaking are all types of self-injury, or the deliberate, non-suicidal destruction of one’s own body tissue, a practice that emerged from obscurity in the 1990s and spread dramatically as a typical behavior among adolescents. The Tender Cut argues instead that self-injury, long considered a suicidal gesture, is often a coping mechanism, a form of teenage angst, an expression of group membership, and a type of rebellion, converting unbearable emotional pain into manageable physical pain. An important portrait of a troubling behavior, The Tender Cut illuminates the meaning of self-injury in the twenty-first century, its effects on current and former users, and its future as a practice for self-discovery or a cry for help.

Choice’s Outstanding Academic Title list for 2013

2013 Honorable Mention for the Distinguished Book Award presented by the Midwest Sociological Society

Honorable Mention for the Charles H. Cooley Award for Outstanding Book from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction