Citation

Grzanka PR, Mann ES. Sexualities 2014; 17(4): 369-393.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1363460713516785

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article investigates a mass-mediated campaign against a perceived increase in suicides among gay (or presumed-to-be-gay) youth in the USA since September 2010. "It Gets Better" (IGB) became a rallying cry for "anti-bullying" activists, politicians, celebrities and ordinary people who created YouTube videos addressed to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth who might be considering suicide. A critical discourse analysis of a sample of IGB videos reveals a neoliberal frame that places the burden of a "better" life onto the emotional lives of LGBT youth, who are instructed to endure suffering in the interest of inevitable happiness. Drawing on Foucault and Orr's work on the construction and management of mental illness, we use the concept of "psychopower" to explore how these IGB videos render queer youth suicide both a psychological disorder and a sociological crisis for which the only viable solution is "homonormative" subjectivity. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

Language: en

Keywords

neoliberalism; mental health; suicide; youth; Homonormativity