Self-injury is deemed a pathology and a deviant practice that is not socially sanctioned and culturally accepted as soothing and healing the self. The marked female body is also pathologized and perceived as deviant; hence, having self-inflicted scars may easily lead to social stigma, shame, and the need to hide the scars. In this personal reflection I explore how self-inflicted scars can have the same meaning as self-injury to control the self and act as self-expression, and how the marked female body can be a resistance to the cultural idea of femininity. I draw upon my own personal experiences of self-inflicted scars and how these scars have become intertwined with my identity. I have carved or burnt my body in different situations and from different moods in the past, but they are all with me at the present and will be with me in the future. Without the scars, I am not the person that others see me as or I see myself as. I sometimes feel that I would be nothing without my scars.

自我伤害被认为是一种病理学和一种越轨行为，没有得到社会的认可和文化上的认可，就无法抚慰和治愈自我。被标记的女性身体也被病理化并被认为是异常的。因此，自伤疤痕很容易导致社会污名化，羞耻感和隐藏疤痕的需要。在这种个人反思中，我探索了自我伤害疤痕如何具有与自我伤害一样的含义，以控制自我并表现自我，以及标记的女性身体如何抵抗女性气质的文化观念。我借鉴了自己对自身造成的伤痕的亲身经历，以及这些伤痕如何与我的身份交织在一起。过去，我曾在不同的情况下和不同的心情中雕刻或烧过我的身体，但现在它们都与我同在，将来也将与我同在。没有伤痕，我不是别人视我为或我视我为自己的人。有时我感到没有疤痕我什么都不是。