Understanding and Challenging Stigma toward ... - Pact Cambodia

Naming Stigma
toward MSM
Blaming people for bad behavior
Keeping at a distance
Isolating or rejecting
Treating as different
Meaning of Stigma
Avoiding contact with people
Shaming and blaming
Treating as outcasts
Treating people as inferior
Treating people with contempt
Condemning people for breaking social norms
2. Presentation: Then explain and discuss the following:
Stigma is a process where we (society) create a “spoiled identity” for an
individual or a group of individuals. We identify a difference in a person or
group, for example a physical difference (e.g., physical disfiguration), or a
behavioral difference (e.g., men having sex with men) and then mark that
difference as having a negative attribute, as a sign of disgrace. In identifying
and marking differences as “bad,” this allows or justifies stigmatizing the person
or group. Stigmatized people lose status because of these assigned “signs of
shame,” which other people regard as showing they have done something
wrong or bad.
To stigmatize is to believe that people are different from us in a negative way, to
assume that they have done something bad or wrong (e.g., sinful or immoral
behavior). When we stigmatize we judge people, saying they have broken
social norms and should be shamed/condemned; or we isolate people, saying
they are a danger/threat to us.
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