Menhera

Menhera (Japanese: メンヘラ) is a Japanese slang term used to describe a person, typically a woman, with a mental health disorder. The term may refer to fictional characters who exhibit traits of mental illness or to participants in mental health-inspired fashion subculture.

Etymology

Menhera translates to mental healther and originally referred to users of mentaru herusu ban, a 2channel discussion board about mental health. The term mentaru herusu, meaning mental health, was abbreviated by discussion board members to menheru, and users became known as menhera.

History

The term menhera began to spread past the mentaru herusu ban 2channel board in the early 2000s, where it began to connote any person with a mental health condition. Later in the decade, the term grew more closely associated with women, especially those who demonstrated traits of borderline personality disorder.

Menhera was further popularized by Ezaki Bisko, who in 2013 created a Menhera-chan character which typified the subculture and the yami-kawaii fashion aesthetic.

Characteristics

In fiction

In a scholarly review of the menhera trope in fiction, researchers Yukari Seko and Minako Kikuchi distinguish between three subtypes of menhera woman: the sad girl, who experiences acute loneliness and alienation, the mad woman, who may exhibit unhealthy obsessive behavior towards their love interest, and the cutie, who embodies the fashion subculture associated with menhera. The authors noted that all forms of menhera may engage in some degree of self injury.

In fashion

Menhera communities are associated with the yami-kawaii (sick-cute) fashion subculture, a variation of the kawaii aesthetic characterized by medical motifs such as pills, syringes, and bandages.

Analysis

In a Business of Fashion feature on the menhera community and the yami-kawaii aesthetic, some commentators argued that these subcultures emerged due to their shock value, while others suggested that these trends raised awareness towards mental illness and suicide in Japan, where such subjects are often taboo. The latter sentiment was echoed by Elizabeth McCafferty of Vice magazine.