Three Types of Stigma Related to HIV

According to Associations (2013, p.121), stigma refers to a mark of dishonor connected to a specified person, circumstance, or quality. By extension, Brooks (2011, p.34) delineates stigma as a reputation, behavior, or attribute, which socially brings an individual into disrepute in a specified manner and results in mental classification of the person by others in a

Ever since the first cases of what eventually came to be known as AIDS were diagnosed in the early 1980s, people with HIV/AIDS have been stigmatized. Over time, there have been many misconceptions about this disease. Even though there have been many discoveries, and treatments for HIV have improved over time, there are still many people who understand very little about this disease. This lack of understanding, along with fear, misinformation about how the disease is transmitted, and “moral” judgments made about the types of people who contract HIV, all have led to stigmatization of, and discrimination against, people who are living with HIV/AIDS. Understanding the stigmatization of people with HIV/AIDS is an important social justice issue because that stigmatization can result in people with HIV being insulted, rejected, gossiped about, excluded from family and social activities, fired, and even jailed. People with HIV are no different from people suffering from other chronic diseases. Instead of being alienated, they have a right to be treated with fairness, respect, and dignity.

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

One determinant for the above feelings is stigma. Stigma is a mark of disgrace or shame that sets the person apart and is a social sanction which dehumanises an individual, by branding them or labelling them based on their illness (Epstein, Olsen, & Grey, 2012) . When they are labelled they are

Since it is a disease contracted on one’s own, it is oftentimes seen as the fault of the person living with HIV or AIDS, therefore causing others to feel as though they should not be held responsible for such accomodation. Furthermore, there is a strong correlation between the stigma of HIV and other marginalized groups, such as queer and people of color. For a long period of time there was a general misconstrued idea that this disease only affected gay men or those who were economically disadvantaged and seen negatively, including minority groups.

But before we discuss ways in reducing HIV stigma, we should talk about what it consists of in Baton Rouge. Stigma can become a chronic stressor that leads to poor coping skills, inadequate self-care, and risky sexual behaviors (Johnson et al. 72). According to an HIV Infrastructure Study conducted by the Southern HIV/AIDS Initiative, they discussed what the HIV stigma consisted of in Baton Rouge. After a few interviews with employees in HIV/AIDS clinics and people living with HIV/AIDS, they stated that one of the main reasons why people refuse to go to a clinic to get HIV tested or delay testing is because they are afraid that people they know might see them getting tested and assume the worst from them (Reif et al. 12). People also don’t want to get tested because they fear the repercussions of getting tested positive for HIV and that their family or loved ones might shun them away if they were HIV-positive. People should not care about who is going to see them getting tested because they are being smart about taking steps in knowing their HIV status instead of waiting to show signs of AIDS infection and then it’ll be too late to get any treatment. Moreover, one study evaluating the HIV Stigma Scale had some key observations. Out of one-hundred and ten HIV-positive African-Americans that were picked for this study, some of the appalling statements they agreed with the most

The stigma towards HIV positive African-American women also exists within their own communities; unfortunately, this stigma towards these women does not encourage them to come out as HIV positive individuals. The problem with this fear is that it not only worsens the anguish for the sick individual, but also puts the people around the individual at risk. In “Social Context of Rural Women with HIV/AIDS,” authors Kenneth D. Phillips, Linda Moneyham, Sandra P. Thomas, Mary Gunther, Medha Vyavaharkar discuss the significance of the stigma felt by HIV positive women; the authors point out that the existing stigma causes these women to live in secret (2011). In order to keep their illness hidden, they would have to be maintain some form of normalcy with the people around them. Societal stigma plays an important role in the occurrence of HIV; it can be studied by examining the results of “stigma reduction” in African-American communities (Loutfy et al, 2015). HIV stigma reduction is difficult when dealing with African-American women because the stigma of sexism and racism cannot be ignored. One of the other effects of stigma is depression (Logie, James, Tharao, & Loutfy, 2012). In a “multi-method community-based research (CBR) study with Women’s Health in Women’s Hands (WLWH) across Ontario,’’ researchers also found that other forms of stigma like race and gender do correlate with the stigma felt by HIV positive African-American women

Mental health stigma is a pervasive problem in the United States and in the world. In fact, the stigma surrounding mental health and mental illness can lead to a number of negative health outcomes for those who fall victim to it. For the purposes of this paper, the terms “mental health stigma” and “mental illness stigma” will be used interchangeably. Studies providing a more global view of the mental health stigma in the United States are few and far between, meaning that more research is necessary to expand knowledge surrounding the stigma. In addition, studies examining the effect of the mental health stigma in restricted demographics are also limited, indicating that more research is again indispensable in order to explore demographic differences

The definition of a stigma is, a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person (Oxford Dictionary). In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Lennie and Crooks worked very hard at the farm both physically and mentally. Both men are forced to live partial lives, due to others diminishing their life worth. Lennie and Crooks, both have to deal with the lives they were born with. Stigmas oppress people in different ways and are present in many other countries; a person that holds a stigma must overcome many forms of derision.

After viewing the TedTalk presented by Rick Guidotti, I began to imagine a world where the following scenario would become commonplace. Differences in others would be considered, studied, and approached with a child-like curiosity instead of being looked upon with fear, disdain, misunderstanding, and unfounded discrimination. Some may argue that this type of scenario is much too utopian in nature. Yet, I propose that we have an inescapable responsibility as change agents to re-examine our personal viewpoints, beliefs, and paradigms around the differences we perceive in others. It follows that based on this video, I have come to understand stigma as arising from negative connotations that have been inaccurately attributed to perceived or actual differences in others. To me, stigma represents a negative association that has been inappropriately linked to one or more physical/mental traits or characteristics. That is, a unique quality about the self that is distinct from others. For instance, Mr. Guidotti indicates that the "red albino eye" has been publically thought of as an irrefutable hallmark of albinism, even though contradictions to this rule have been noted such as blue eyes.

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

Goffman felt that there was already good work done on the topic of stigma. However, he wanted to discuss the previous works and his own ideas regarding stigma. Writing Stigma Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity provided him a place to discuss his ideas regarding prior work on stigma, and to give his spin on it.

Goffman looks at variety of strategies when it comes to stigmatized individuals, especially ones that deal with rejection from others. Stigma: Notes on the Management of a Spoiled Identity was published in 1963 and in the first chapter the book, Goffman determines the three types of stigma; stigma of character traits, physical stigma, and stigma of group identity. Stigma of character traits are “blemishes of individual character perceived as weak will, domineering, or unnatural passions, treacherous and rigid beliefs, and dishonesty, these being inferred from a known record of, for example, mental disorder, imprisonment, addiction, alcoholism, homosexuality, unemployment, suicidal attempts, and radical political behavior” (Goffman, 1963). Physical stigma is the deformities of the body, whereas the stigma of group identity is a stigma that derives from a particular race, nation and/or religion. These three types of stigma have one thing in common, their sociological features: “an individual who might have been received in normal social

Individuals with serious mental illness are doubly affected by their disease; not only do they experience the often debilitating symptoms of their condition, but they must also endure mundane mental health stigmas and prejudices. Stigmatized attitudes are perceived to be one of the greatest impediments to living a complete and fulfilling life. Stigma has been defined as a combination of three related problems: ignorance, prejudice and discrimination (Rose, Thornicroft, Pinfold, & Kassam, 2007). Ignorance implies a lack of knowledge, prejudice entails negative attitudes, and discrimination involves exclusionary actions against people deemed to be different. Two forms of stigma are commonly distinguished in literature. Public stigma describes the attitudes of society towards people with mental illness, while self-stigma results from the internalization of prejudice by people who suffer from mental health conditions (Corrigan, Powell, & Rüsch, 2012). The World Health Organization announced that stigma was the most crucial obstacle to overcome for a community to functioning effectively and efficiently (Ontario Hospital Association, 2013).

There are HIV-related stigmas and discriminations that refer to the prejudice, abuse and negativity that is shown towards people living HIV and aids.in many countries with available data, over 50%of people have been said to have shown discriminatory attitude toward people living with HIV and AIDS. These stigmas have made people living with this