Abjection & Self-Mutilation

Kristeva’s uses the term abjection as something that disturbs identity, meaning and systems of order; horror. She believes the process of abjection occurs in the incomplete area of repression, which is between the conscious and the unconscious, and is always present. The exciting and dangerous unconscious is always apart of the conscious.

The idea of the corpse in relation to abjection may be similar to the drives behind self-mutilation. The actual cut and the blood flow during self-mutilation bring together life and the possibility of death. This may be an effective remedy for one that is trying to show themselves that they are really hurting, and they want to feel like themselves again. The physical effects of this process may help them realize that they are a part of this world. It may attach a selfhood to their body.

People involved with self-mutilation may be unconsciously challenging the idea of the “clean and proper body’, instead of playing the defensive position. Self-mutilation may show someone the materiality of themselves as a subject that they have not been able to see. It could be their way of distinguishing themselves from the other, the subject from the object and the inside from the outside. They are in that hazy, unstable, incomplete area of abjection.