Understanding and Challenging Stigma toward ... - Pact Cambodia

Naming
Stigma
toward
MSM
4. Summary: Bring the session to a close by summarizing the main points
which participants have made during the exercise. In giving your summary you may
use some of the following points, if they have not already been mentioned by
participants.
We are socialized or conditioned to judge other people. We judge people
based on assumptions about their sexual and other behavior.
Sex is a taboo, something shameful that we should not talk about. So we often
shame and blame people whose sexual behavior is different from ours.
MSM, entertainment workers, people living with HIV, and even widows
were all labeled as sexually immoral on the flipcharts. They were called
“sex crazy,” “irresponsible” and “AIDS carriers.” The judgments in this case are
based on sexual morality.
These are disadvantaged/vulnerable groups who are lacking in power. They
are stigmatized partly because they have limited power to resist these labels.
All of these labels show that when we stigmatize, we stop dealing with people
as human beings. We forget their humanity (by using mocking or belittling
words) and this gives us a feeling of power and superiority over them.
All of these labels are based on assumptions in which we have insufficient
information. They are generalizations which have no validity. We simply
assume that “the other people” are “dirty, disgusting, useless, sex crazy,” etc.
We attribute characteristics to a group and everyone who belongs to that group.
We assume that all members of that group have the same characteristics, e.g.,
that all MSM are sex crazy.
Stigmatizing words are very strong and insulting. These words have
tremendous power to hurt, humiliate and destroy people’s self-esteem. When
we “shame and blame” MSM, it is like stabbing them with a knife.
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