The Ongoing Process of HIV-Stigma (Re)Production

Abstract

HIV stigma negatively affects the social experiences of people living with HIV (PLWH) and remains a challenge to HIV prevention, treatment, and care. Research has overwhelmingly focused on individual cognitive measures of HIV stigma (e.g., internalized, anticipated, and experienced). However, little research explores the interactions and societal structures through which HIV stigma is produced. Data from qualitative interviews with 30 black gay and bisexual men living with HIV in the U.S. Deep South revealed an interconnected and interdependent set of processes that produce and reproduce HIV stigma. These included social interactions (silence, euphemism, and gossip), witnessed acts of marginalization, word-of-mouth transmission of HIV misinformation, and laws and policies carried out within the education and criminal justice systems. Efforts to reduce stigma that focus on individual beliefs and attitudes are critical to improving the well-being of PLWH. However, reducing HIV stigma requires intervening on the social interactions and structures through which HIV stigma is produced and reproduced.

The sociology of global health: Inequality, disease‐related stigma, and the rise of nongovernmental organizations

“…Empirical scholarship in this area often centers around individuals' experiences with disease-related stigma, who experiences worse HIV-related health outcomes, and the impact of NGOs and pharmaceuticals on mitigating the stigma and poor health associated with the disease. The healthism perspective is also seen empirically with HIV/AIDS (e.g., Campbell, 2021Campbell, , 2023.…”

“…However, constrained access to antiretroviral treatments (ARTs-or drugs to ameliorate HIV-related immune suppression) and prominence of HIV-related stigma is not unique to developing countries. In U.S.-based research, Black gay and bisexual men are reticent to disclose a positive HIV status to their families in order to avoid interactions that reinforce misperceptions around transmission and sexuality (Campbell, 2021(Campbell, , 2023. Poor and low-income patients seeking ARTs in the U.S. may also face more stigma when accessing care than their counterparts in some developing countries who have explicit rights to healthcare (Heimer & Tolman, 2021).…”