Goffman's Thesis on the Stigmatized Body

Stevenson, A., & Lindberg, C. (Eds.). (2011). Stigma [Def. 1]. In New Oxford American dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved February 8, 2016, from

The documentary Dr. Money and the Boy with No Penis depicts the tragic experience of a young boy and the psychologist who attempts to “treat” him after an unfortunate accident. In a time of little knowledge of sexual variation Dr. John Money proposed the theory that a boy could be raised as a girl, but after years of failed attempts this theory would be shattered. This story began when twins Bruce and Bryan went in to the hospital to have a routine circumcision operation at 7 months of age. On the 27th of April 1966 Bruce was the first of the two twins to be operated on, but the procedure would not go as planned. The boy’s parents were soon informed that their son’s penis had been fully burned off in a nontraditional attempt to burn the foreskin away from the penis. In a position of great confusion the Reimers became hopeful in light of such tragedy as they later became aware of the work of Dr. John Money, a man who was becoming a pioneer in the field of sex change surgery. In meeting with this man the Reimers were informed that their baby boy could live a normal life as a girl.

With the establishment of these gender identity clinics, and the financial backing of philanthropist Reed Erickson, a transsexual man, the health care needs of transsexual people gained increased attention and support. Despite this new attention, the clinics used Benjamin’s model of “true” transsexuals. This differentiation between “true” transsexuals and other gender variants became a serious and highly important diagnostic decision as gender affirming surgeries were irreversible. This resulted in many transsexual individuals to be denied access to hormones and surgery. Specifically, transsexual men encountered difficulties, as transsexuality was primarily seen as a male-to-female only transition. In fact, during the late 1960s the United States leading UCLA Gender Identity Research Clinic debated whether trans men should be considered transsexuals. Many trans men themselves did not label themselves as transsexuals as they only knew about other transsexual women (Meyerowitz, 2002; Beemyn, 2014).

In “Intro-How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States,” Joanne Meyerowitz writes about the beginnings of transsexuality. She beings the article by defining cross-gender identification, as “the sense of being the other sex, and the desire to live as the other sex” (Meyerowitz 432), while transsexuality, “being the quest to transform the bodily characteristics of sex via hormones and surgery” (Meyerowitz 432). According to Meyerowitz, transsexuality began in the early 20th century. Experiments on changing sex, began in europe on animals. Then in 1920, on humans. Joanne Meyerowitz writes that “the debate on the visibility and mutability of sex” began after Christine Jorgensen, an american who went to Denmark to get a sex change in 1950, became a media sensation in America. While professionals were figuring this out, people “who identified as transsexuals, transvestites, lesbians, and gay men” (Meyerowitz 433) were having the conversation and creating the language within themselves. This conversation on sex change, occurred alongside the sexual revolution in the 60’s, opening “the movement of the organizing of programs, clinics, conferences, and associations to promote study of and treatment for transsexuals” (Meyerowitz 434).

The word itself, used when branding lower class Ancient Greek citizens (around 500 BC) after they’d committed a crime, hasn’t altered in meaning. Although society might not physically give them a symbol of their sin, group mentality ensures those victimized a life full of judgement. The consequences of stigmatization against those with metal incapacities are large and often seen as a whole other weakness altogether. These pre-disposed judgments of others, thrust upon those with mental illness, can easily undermine and overpower the life goals and achievements through reduced participation in society’s staple components (education opportunities, employment, and even relationships with others) (Source D). The worldwide goal of eliminating stigma's effects on people labeled “mentally ill” has become a major public health priority over the past ten years via nationwide campaigns. Attempts to change public stigma have been achieved in three ways- protest, education, and direct contact with those usually targeted (Source E). The protest aspect plays on the idea of a public shaming by telling the public to suppress the thoughts and let go of previous inhibitions. The educational aspect of spreading awareness seeks to decrease stigmatizing myths of mental illness by contrasting them with the cold hard facts. Lastly, direct contact tries to erase the prejudice and discrimination of mental illness through interactions between the “public” and people in recovery, showing them how alike we are. The overall hope is that if progressive people such as scientists, public speakers, and even well-known psychiatrists

Johnson utilizes the biblical story of Jesus healing a leper. Leprosy is a disease that manifests itself as discolorations, lumps, and deformities on the skin in addition to the internal damage it inflicts. In the days of Jesus, it was illegal to for lepers and non-lepers to interact because of the condition of the lepers’ skin. Thus, the lepers were denied medical treatment and human interaction because of a medical condition that affected the state of their skin. Similarly, African American patients have had their medical treatment degraded because of the condition of their skin. Their black skin, which Dr. Johnson refers to as “the stigmata of medicine” (1104). Stigmata, in Christian tradition, refers to the marks left on Jesus’ body by the crucifixion. For Dr. Johnson, medical stigmata “symbolizes the suffering of black people in unethical clinical treatment and the victory of overcoming such monstrosities” (1105). Race-based medication is just another in a long history of acts that add upon the medical stigmata that African Americans are subject

He had achieved the shock value not only with myself as the reader, but ultimately who he was addressing. Jamison had been an educator of trans people, speaking out to audiences of college students of all ages. His goal of educating the public stemmed from his own experiences with choosing to change genders as well as a broad overview of the ideas that surrounded transsexualism as a whole. He communicates well that his experiences do not encompass all transgendered people’s experiences and that transformation from male to female (MTF) is quite different from female to male (FTM) transformation. The societal complications from FTM are well examined from Jamison’s view. Many people believed that females that wanted to become males could

The mentally ill were removed from society, so their condition was viewed as negative and sometimes dangerous. In Erving Goffman’s book, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, he maintains this idea by noting, “The stigmatized individual is asked to act so as to imply

Goffman explained that the stigmatization is a pattern of unexpected behavior placed on a person who maybe diagnosed with an illness, apart of a certain group or because of different characteristics that others may not consider to be normal. It has been said that when an individuals inform others about their infection of HIV/AIDS, there is a behavior that is endured that makes it obvious to the naked eye that someone is not accepted. The existence of a stigma, and the means for determining who are stigmatized, seem to be normal for some parts of society. There are

Racial Stigma in Mercy originally meant a physical mark of shame. Now, it’s an invisible mark that sets you apart from others. The problem with the word stigma’ is that it puts the focus on the person’s difference instead of on the people who are setting them apart. Using the word stigma makes it seem different than racism, homophobia or sexism. It isn’t. So it’s time to talk about stigma for what it really is. (56)

In chapter one of Stigma, Goffman describes different definitions of the term stigma. For example in the very beginning of the book he describes how early Greeks used the term stigma. He describes how the Greeks would refer stigma to body markings of different individuals to show how they were deviant and socially unacceptable in their society at that time. Goffman then describes how in later Christianity the word stigma and body markings meant a spiritual symbol or a symbol for a physical disorder. Throughout chapter one Goffman identifies three different types of stigma; body which can be described as physical, character which is described as internal or personal, and tribal stigma which could be consider social or even cultural. After identifying these three different stigmas, Goffman then describes how there

Stigma can be defined as a mark of shame or ignominy that sets individuals apart from others. Goffman notes “Society establishes the means of categorizing persons and the complement of attributes felt to be ordinary and natural for members of each of these categories”. (Goffman) Given, when a person is labeled by said illness, disorder, or deviancy they are seen as a part of a stereotyped group and as a result are stigmatized by the “normals”. Moreover, the routines of social interactions in society allow us to create normative expectations and demands for the way ones in said society are expected to

I now need to backtrack and define stigma. According to the book, the word stigma originates from the Greeks, who valued visual aids (Goffman, 1963, p. 1). They used stigma to stand for “bodily signs designed to expose something unusual and bad about the moral status of the signifier” (Goffman, 1963, p. 1). These signs that they referred to were those that were forced upon a person to designate their spot as the scum of society (Goffman, 1963, p. 1). These scum of society were cut or burn so that their status would be known to all that they encountered (Goffman, 1963, p. 1). With time, the word stigma also became attached to the physical marks that extremely holy Christians might experience (Goffman, 1963, p. 1). Now days we mainly use stigma to refer to the feeling of disgrace that is placed on an individual rather than the actual bodily signs (Goffman, 1963, pp.

The idea of stigma and what it is like to be a stigmatized person was conducted by sociologist Erving Goffman. He analyzed how stigmatized individuals feel about themselves and their relationships with people that are considered “normal”. Stigmatized individuals are people who are not socially accepted and are constantly eager to alter their social identifies: physically deformed people, mentally ill patients, drug addicts, homosexuals, etc.

The stigma of leprosy may be defined as the loss or spoiling of the patient’s true identity as a person. In leprosy,