What's the deal with cutting?

Yah, yah, yah, I'm old, so get over it. But in my day (the typical intro of a old guy), people who were depressed or whatever didn't go around cutting themselves unless they were trying to kill themselves.

So what's up with all the emo cutting business? Is it just the cool way to express the existential blues these days, or it more than just a fashion statement?

actually emo has nothing to do with cutting
just nowdays a lot of poeople think it does
back in the day there still was cutting,and there was also emo...
but pain was also relased in other form of self-manipulation...as well as self peircing
people whho cut usually do it because its a release for there pain, but some people also do it for attention

I have always wondered why these children deface their bodies the way that they do. The scars never truly heal. They must have a very low self-esteem.

They would have went aroung cutting in your days to just it wouldnt have been a big issue (emo word wasnt known then, so they can blame it all on us) and also there wouldnt have been as much of it then as compared to nowdays...Cutting is its own catagory , emo is another, the only reason why they associate it with emos is because they obviously have nothing better to do than implant ideas of cutting wrists into our minds until they finally drive us off the edge so we do it...

Emo...is basically a security blanket for everyonbe who's different and depressed (not all are though), but depressed kids of todays age like to talk to people with the same problems because they can relate..therefore equalling emo (which is a music genre anyways)...so your completly wrong it is not a fashion statement at all...

Dear toadaly,
First of all cutters do not do it for attention or because of low self-esteem or even depression. Unfortunately we have many who are copy cats and this goes for eating disorders, cutters etc. This type of self abuse have been around for a very long time in various forms such and hitting one's self, pulling out hair etc. We can date it back 100s of years. A person who is a cutter or self abuser for the most part will not make it know, so they will not dress emo or reveal their scars. Emo's and the like usually are not cutters and if they are they are most times copy cats. Self-abuse is done for a verity of reasons and most times it has started to deal with a trauma they have experiences at one point in their lives. The person needs psychological attention and behaviour modification to learn to handle their lack of coping skills. So there is much more then most know or even care to know about self-abuse and much more then I can go into here...but this should give you some idea.
Sue...good luck