Discussion The purpose of this study was to explore the symbolic frames that participants engaged to made meaning of their lived experience as PLWHA and how they subliminally interrogated mainstream symbolic representations that excecated stigmatizing attitudes towards them. The results of the study have theoretical and practical implications for future research. Theoretical Implications Symbolic frames are “terministic screens” (Burke, 1989) which PLWHA engage to make meaning of their lived experience of the HIV/AIDS-related stigma. Through these meaning making resources, PLWHA subliminally interrogate the systemic dismissal of (their) vernacular voices and, in so doing, “participate in social change” (Dutta-Bergman, 2005). The current study …show more content…
These suggested empowered potentials resonate with the “rhetoric of emancipation,” a means for PLWHA “to counter stigmatizing” attitudes and repossessing “control over their own” identities (Couser, 2001, pp. 79, 78). Additionally, the study unmasked the symbolic frames PLWHA engaged to make meaning of the stigma and how the “transformative capacities” (Giddens, 1984) therein allows for positive thinking through consubstantiation. For example, Mawusi explained how people see her “as that crooked branch of a tree, forgetting that people can stand on a crooked branch of the tree to reach the straight branch. I am a channel to goodness in society.” This symbolic frame—“crooked branch of a tree”—is an embodiment of consubstantiation that paves the way for transformative and empowering foci through PLWHA reframing, recalibrating, and refocusing of their identity (see Meisenbach, 2010). Understanding how PLWHA engage symbolic language to make meaning of HIV/AIDS-related stigma can be a useful resource for policy makers and healthcare providers to identify linkages between stigma discourse and transformative empowerment. From a communicative standpoint, symbolic frames are subliminal interactive forces that consubstantiate a status quo, opening spaces for …show more content…
This study has kinship with dialogue in marginalized contexts. Relevant to this study is the way in which symbolic language (especially frames), is constituted in the realms disempowerment and empowerment. This study therefore contributes to ongoing research examining the ways in which PLWHA make meaning of HIV/AIDS-related stigma and engage in stigma discourses that articulate the communicative dark side of HIV/AIDS stigmatizing attitudes, while celebrating its empowering and transforming possibilities. Indeed “We frame reality in order to comprehend it, negotiate it, manage it, and choose appropriate repertoires of cognition and action” (Gitlin, 1980, pp. 6-7). Burke (1973) explained that symbolic frames act as repertoires and thus function to “size up” exigencies (p. 1). Exploring the symbolic frames that PLWHA use to depict their experience of HIV/AIDS-related stigma serve as a rhetorical entrance for unmasking the feelings associated with the phenomenon as well pinpoint a “dialogical positioning” (Smith, 2008) that precipitate empowerment and social
Interstitial politics, defined by Kimberly Springer as a “politics in the cracks” is also a key element in intersectional analysis. As Black feminists it’s our job to locate places of contradiction and conflict, because in working alongside these sites of power and gatekeeping, we can achieve a better knowledge of how they operate as well as develop strategies to dismantle them. This embracing of sociopolitical dissonance embodies the spirit of dialectical practices in Black feminism. In the chapter “Distinguishing Features of Black Feminist Thought” Patricia Hill Collins emphasizes that
Often identity is only thought of as a collection of individual characteristics that are independent such as sex, gender, race, class, sexuality, etc. Intersectionality is when these characteristics are transformed by one another and “tend to collapse into one another in the context of everyday life”. Dorothy Allison wrote Two of Three Things I Know for Sure where she explains aspects of her life through chronological stories revealing details and providing the reader with lessons she learned throughout her experiences. This book can be read with an intersectionality lens focusing on the moments or stories where gendered poverty shapes people’s experience of sex and sexuality as well as how gender, sexuality, and class transforms whiteness into a stigmatizing attribute rather than it’s usual power given attribute. Allison’s scene with her Aunt Maudy and the scene with her girlfriend both show intersectionality in different aspects and times of Allison’s life.
Perry, Brea. L. (2011). The Labeling paradox: Stigma,. Journal of health and Social b, 52.4 (Dec), pp. 460-477.
Giddens (as cited in Ritzer & Goodman, 2003) argues that structure and agency, although a dichotomy, mustn’t be regarded as working independent of one another. Instead the nature of human interaction and action relies on the interlaced mechanism of agency and structure. Human practices are recursive, thus individuals create both their cognizance and the structural conditions within which they act. Since social actors are reflexive and observe the ongoing flow of activities and structural conditions, they adapt their actions responsively to those evolving insights. An example of such adaptation is the ways in which stigmatized individuals manage their identity to conform to the structural norms and expectations of society.
Mary Fisher delivered her speech “A Whisper of AIDS” on August 19th, 1992 in Houston, Texas. Fisher is the mother of two young children and is an advocate and victim of AIDS and HIV. Fisher delivers this speech in hopes to end the prejudice that surrounds AIDS and HIV. Fisher gives this speech to disprove false stereotypes about victims of HIV and AIDS. Fisher contracted this disease from her second husband proving that AIDS and HIV does not necessarily stem simply from hemophilia, gay people, doing drugs, or from promiscuous activity. Fisher argues that no one is safe from AIDS and HIV and anyone can become victim to this deadly virus.
While some might argue that Du Bois has had limited application as his focus group narrative was contained to the African American experience of double consciousness, the phenomena of identity and image mediated by factors externally is relatively universal. Media images create unprovocative identifies for less dominant groups or ideas triggering the outlook to be unfavorable upon those groups and ideas. The idea of seeing “me” through “you” is detrimental to one’s self esteem, values, beliefs, and overall outlook on life. The inclusive damage created by the stigmas is disastrous to one’s self.
Nine years. It took nearly a decade, and more than two hundred thousand Americans’ deaths until a brave soul spoke up to encourage people to speak up about AIDS. “A Whisper of AIDS” was written to encourage people to “lift the shroud of silence which has been draped over the issue of HIV/AIDS” (Fisher). The effectiveness of this speech lies in its addressing of a problem that has affected many people not only in the 1980s, more than thirty years ago, but has continued to even in the 21st century, and through its use of many rhetorical devices it makes for a convincing and heart wrenching speech.
Waddell and Messeri (2006) found that disclosure to potential helpers is required to gain the most social support possible and that concealing one’s status can limit access to available resources, reduce potential support, and may lead to lower treatment rates. Huber (as cited in Kalichman, DiMarco, Austin, Luke, & DiFonzo, 2003), found that social support, can help to buffer the stress associated with living with HIV and can lead to better emotional health in this population, including a lower incidence of depression. On the other hand, disclosing one’s status is often hindered by the stigma associated with HIV and the fear of rejection and isolation (Deribe, Woldenmichael, Wondafrash, Haile, & Ameberbir, 2008). In a study done in Pakistan regarding stigma specifically in the workplace, researchers found that negative stigma in the workplace can result in negative workplace outcomes, which may lead to a loss of financial support (Bashir,
In today’s advanced societies, many laws require men and women to be treated equally. However, in many aspects of life they are still in a subordinated position. Women often do not have equal wages as the men in the same areas; they are still referred to as the “more vulnerable” sex and are highly influenced by men. Choosing my Extended Essay topic I wanted to investigate novels that depict stories in which we can see how exposed women are to the will of men surrounding them. I believe that as being woman I can learn from the way these characters overcome their limitations and become independent, fully liberated from their barriers. When I first saw the movie “Precious” (based on Sapphire’s “Push”) I was shocked at how unprotected the heroine, Precious, is towards society. She is an African-American teenage girl who struggles with accepting herself and her past, but the cruel “unwritten laws” of her time constantly prevent her rise until she becomes the part of a community that will empower her to triumph over her barriers. “The Color Purple” is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Alice Walker which tells the story of a black woman’s, Celie’s, striving for emancipation. (Whitted, 2004) These novels share a similar focus, the self-actualization of a multi-disadvantaged character who with the help of her surrounding will be able to triumph over her original status. In both “The Color Purple” and “Push”, the main characters are exposed to the desire of the men surrounding them, and are doubly vulnerable in society because not only are they women but they also belong to the African-American race, which embodies another barrier for them to emancipate in a world where the white race is still superior to, and more desired as theirs.
All types of discourse analysis aim to create a meta level of meaning, instead of simply interpreting the semantic meaning. It is useful tool to achieve theoretical and pragmatical goals but the meaning should not be delivered as an absolute interpretation (Frost, 2011). The alcoholic transcript presented a binary dilemma. The discourses regarding acceptance and denial of being an alcoholic shows what a complex process is to make the first step towards a successful anonymous alcoholics meeting. Drinking might illustrates a stronger gender identity for our subject and presumes that undertaking alcoholism might mean a social stigma and loosing masculinity (Kaminer, & Dixon, 1995). The second discourse features the tension towards the meetings and forming an equal membership and accepting that there is no difference between people in these groups. Edward's status as an alcoholic is not automatically granted by attending the AA meetings. This morally laden dilemma regards identity must be targeted and
Stigma is a powerful tool of social control. Stigma can be used to marginalize, exclude and exercise power over individuals who show certain characteristics. While the societal rejection of certain social groups (e.g. 'homosexuals, injecting drug users, sex workers') may predate HIV/AIDS, the disease has, in many cases, reinforced this stigma. By blaming certain individuals or groups, society can excuse itself from the responsibility of caring for and looking after such populations. This is seen not only in the manner in which 'outsider' groups are often blamed for bringing HIV into a country, but also in how such groups are denied access to the services and treatment they need.
Another example from the book is the person who suffered from cerebral palsy. The stigmatized person in this situation reveals how he or she was protected throughout their life, until having to get out in the “real world”. By the real world, I am referring to applying to jobs in the corporate world. They explain how, “Looking for a job was like standing before a firing squad,” and how, “employers were shocked that I had the gall to apply for the job”. Personally, reading this made me realize that having a serious condition isn’t the worst of the stigmatized person’s problems, it’s how they are treated by the so called “normals”, in their quest to fit in and move up in society.
Without the attachment of discourse such as good/bad, a person may non-judgementally examine their power and gain insights into ways they perpetuate oppression (Wong, 2004). This engagement in critical reflectivity regarding one's own discourses and location of privilege is necessary for the "integration of what one learns and knows with how one acts" (p.4). Action for social justice can begin when "discursive rationality, the dominant form of knowledge" (p.3), is replaced with listening rationality.
This study conducted a quantitative survey of 238 adult HIV positive patients and followed the stigma index questionnaire developed by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) in partnership with the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), and the International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW). Data were collected by using face-to-face interview technique. To determine the prevalence of internal stigma among these 238 patients, an internalized stigma scale was developed. This scale included 15 questions from the section “Internal stigma (the way you think about yourself) and your fear” of the stigma index questionnaire. These 15 items covered three domains of internalized stigma (self-acceptance, self-exclusion, and social withdrawal). The fir...
A case study approach was used to collect data with a sample size of two hundred household respondents. The survey revealed that stigma is deeply-rooted in the community as fifty-eight and half percent (58.5%) of those interviewed were not willing to disclose their HIV status if tested positive whereas forty-one and half percent (41.5%) respondents were willing to disclose their HIV-status to a spouse and children and other close relations. The outcome of the study further revealed that, none of the respondents were willing to disclose their status to their friends if they were tested positive. This particular survey evidently provides a premise for this study. Stigmatization reaching that percent hike in a local community in our country is an alarming situation which needs to be looked