Resource Undoing Suicidism by Alexandre Baril

[lachrymost]

Undoing Suicidism: A Trans, Queer, Crip Approach to Rethinking (Assisted) Suicide is free in e-book form on Amazon.

In Undoing Suicidism, Alexandre Baril argues that suicidal people are oppressed by what he calls structural suicidism, a hidden oppression that, until now, has been unnamed and under-theorized. Each year, suicidism and its preventionist script and strategies reproduce violence and cause additional harm and death among suicidal people through forms of criminalization, incarceration, discrimination, stigmatization, and pathologization. This is particularly true for marginalized groups experiencing multiple oppressions, including queer, trans, disabled, or Mad people.

Here's an excerpt I enjoyed. I love the phrase "injunction to futurity":

The suicide-affirmative approach focuses on the voices of suicidal people who, despite the epistemic forms of violence they face, including pervasive forms of testimonial injustice and hermeneutical injustice and marginalization (see Chapter 1), have something important to share but are too often not listened to. It seems cruel to force life on a person who does not wish to live in the name of an injunction to futurity and because nonsuicidal or ex-suicidal people believe that they know best what is good for suicidal people.

When Graeme Bayliss expressed on CBC radio's The Current his desire to die, it was fascinating to hear how everyone—psychologists, sociologists, and various other logists—made pronouncements about what his fate should be (i.e., continue living), confident in the belief that they knew best.

 

[ClownWorld2023]

Sounds right.

It's just another front of ignorance perpetuated by the mainstream.

 

[Abandoned Character]

This is a fascinating excerpt. I must say, I had to google what the word "injunction" meant in order to fully understand the passage. Even still, I am absorbing its message. The only other work I can compare Baril's to that I have been exposed to is that of Albert Camus. Both writers possess a willingness to explore the reality and rationality of suicide. Based on what you shared, Baril seems to be taking a different approach in a more modern lense, particularly focusing on the experiences of marginalized people.

I am pulled to the notion of sanctioned suicide because, like Camus and Baril, I cannot deny the reality that "I want to die" is not necessarily an incorrect desire to act on.

At the same time, I have empathy for those that see suicide as prepostorous and scowl at the thought that it may be a "correct" decision. After all, we are an extension of the expanding universe governed by strict laws, and as such have innate survival mechanisms perpetuating our collective survival. Ultimately, how much pain is too much? How much humanity one must lose to be allowed to die? And why should anyone other than the individual whose life is concerned have any say in the matter? These are the questions that I do not have clear answers to, which makes me pro-choice.. Those whom are pro-life and have yet to adequetly answer these questions and explore this intellectual space are either ignorant, lazy, or disingenuous.

 

[WeDontKnowTheFuture]

Thank you for the sharing, it is very interesting how he deconstruct the preconceived Idea about suicide.