This is a response to the most recent episode of MTV’s Real World Cancun.
We were made aware of this particular episode through an email received earlier today. Members of our team watched last night’s Real World Cancun episode, in which Ayiiia self-injures after a season of arguments and a difficult living situation with her roommates. Since watching, we’ve read over the messages coming from MTV viewers, e-mails, and Twitter.
It’s easy to watch a show and feel like you know a person, feel like your opinion about what’s going on in their world is easily solvable and can be fixed by simply “cheering up.” After I watched the episode online, I viewed a couple of the responses by other members of the show, and it was so clear to me that hurtful responses towards people struggling with self-injury are not ok, but sometimes, they’re the only way we know to respond.
What the MTV producers did really well with this episode was bring to light the way we have a chance to respond during confusing, painful moments in the lives of those we do life with. I think that Chloe, one of our TWLOHA team members, said it best when she said that when faced with an issue they don’t understand, like self-injury, people can either antagonize, sympathize or become apathetic. Each of these responses was evidenced in the Real World episode.
We want to say that we see the confusion. We see Ayiiia’s pain, and we see the frustration of her roommates who don’t understand why she chooses to respond by hurting herself. We understand the confusion these issues carry, and we want to say that striving to understand them is important.