TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - Queer youth suicide and the psychopolitics of "It Gets Better"
JO  - Sexualities
A1  - Grzanka, P.R.
A1  - Mann, E.S.
SP  - 369
EP  - 393
VL  - 17
IS  - 4
N2  - 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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1363-4607
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1363460713516785
ID  - ref1
ER  -