Self-stigmatization affects many people that live in our world around us. Self-stigmatization happens when a person believes and internalizes prejudices and myths about mental conditions, diseases like HIV, and many other things that society might frown upon. These stigmas about certain things can cause people to feel more depressed than they already were and may lead them to detach themselves from society. People who engage in self-stigmatization take social stereotypes about a particular condition that they may have and internalize these negative stereotypes to be a part of them. This can affect many personal characteristics of a person’s self-esteem and how they view themselves as an active member of society. In the HIV community we can see prejudice and negative attitudes directed at people who are living with this condition by looking at statistics. According to UNAIDS foundation, in 35% of countries with available HIV data, 50% of people had discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV (UNAIDS, 2015). This stigma on HIV actually makes people more vulnerable to getting HIV because of their perceived beliefs of what it looks like to have HIV. In our community many people assume that these people live in isolation and can’t touch anyone. They picture them as if they are lying in bed for 24 hours a day and could die any second. Stigma arises from people’s ignorance to being fully aware and educated about a topic, if more people looked deeper into issues rather than what they perceive to know, then this stigma can be erased. People who are living with HIV are afraid of this societal stigma on their condition and will often not share it with anyone. Although the HIV rates have gone down in recent decades there are still thousands of people living among us with this disease. It is important to us that we look deeper at the issue and educate ourselves before we believe myths and prejudices about diseases, mental illnesses, and any other thing that can be stigmatized. In the article written by Dan Brouwer he mentions in the first paragraph that a man named William F. Buckley wanted to get everyone tested for HIV and if they tested positive they should receive a tattoo to let everyone know they tested positive. If this was carried out the stigma on HIV would be far worse than it is today. This would cause people to feel depressed by always reminding them that they are living with a condition and that everyone can know. Furthermore, the fact that many people agreed to wanting people who have HIV get a tattoo shows the ignorance and lack of education we had about HIV in the 80’s. In conclusion the main way to avoid this self-stigmatization is to educate our society about the truths and real-life examples of people living with diseases.
“HIV Stigma and Discrimination.” AVERT, Avert, 9 Apr. 2018, http://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-social-issues/stigma-discrimination#footnote1_ldij7me.
Thinking Rhetorically at GCSU 