Understanding and Challenging Stigma toward ... - Pact Cambodia

A7
Personal Experience
of Being Stigmatized
Facilitator’s Note:
This exercise is not for men who have sex with men (MSM). It is designed for health
care providers, NGO and CBO staff, the police and the community. It asks
them to think about a time in their life when they felt stigmatized, and to use this
experience to help them empathize with MSM.
MSM use a similar exercise (C1) in Chapter C to explore their own experiences of
being stigmatized.
This exercise requires a lot of trust and openness within the group so it should
not be used as the first exercise. It works better if it is used after two to three
exercises selected from A1 to A6 where participants identify stigma faced by
MSM in different situations. Then A7 can be used to get a more personalized
understanding of stigma so participants can understand how it feels to be
stigmatized. By this point participants are beginning to open up with each other
and are now ready to share some of their own experiences.
You should note that the exercise looks at stigma in general, not MSM-related
stigma. This is why the instructions are to think of a time in your life when you
felt isolated or rejected for being seen as different from other people. Give
participants a few examples (e.g., being made fun of because you came from a
poor family; or being made fun of in school because you were smaller than others
or poor at football). The examples will help participants understand what type of
experiences they are expected to think about.
This exercise needs a good introduction to help participants break out of their
initial discomfort about sitting and reflecting on their own and sharing their own
experiences with others. One way of getting started is by the facilitators sharing
their own experience and feelings first.
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