The Stigmatized STI
Throughout the semester, we’ve discussed the different stigmas or associations attached to different diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, cancer, and tuberculosis. While we have discussed sexually transmitted infections (STIs) as a part of other discussions, for this roundup, I wanted to focus specifically on the stigmas surrounding STIs, how they differ from other diseases, and how protection differs from other sex-related protective measures.
How have you heard STIs talked about in everyday conversation? Are there stereotypes or judgments attached to discussions about them?
As we’ve read in AIDS & Its Metaphors, STIs like syphilis had strong associations because of their sexual nature, and HIV/AIDS further compounded these stereotypes because of its association with gay men and African countries. In City of God (and to some extent the Countryman letters), the authors discuss the outright shaming of people with HIV, especially gay men. How is HIV similar or different than other STIs? How do the groups affected by different STIs change their perceptions or stereotypes?
What education have you received related to STIs? Is protection against them discussed differently than protection against pregnancy? How do the feelings/stereotypes attached to STIs impact health care, both in treatment and protection?
I think at Poly we have been relatively well educated about STIs, consent, and how to have safe sex. I have noticed a few differences between our education about STIs and Pregnancy though. I remember in 5th grade when we first learned about sex in school, STIs were talked about in a way that created associations of lack of hygiene and an almost dirtiness about the person who got them whereas pregnancy did not have these associations. Because of these associations, I think a lot of people at Poly just assume that they would never get an STI because they aren't "dirty" or "unhygenic." In high school I haven't heard much talk about STIs apart from human development mainly because I think everyone just assumes that nobody has them or that everyone will always use protection. I also think that a lot of students at Poly (and teenagers in general) don't think they need to get tested.
ReplyDeleteIn Dallas Buyers Club, a highly homophobic group ceases all contact with a close friend who has HIV. The group did not want to contract the infection themselves. They even avoided physical contact, unknown to the fact that HIV is only spread through bodily fluids. They were clearly uneducated about the infection, and through this process, the main character felt deprived of friendship. This isolation example is one of many that can have traumatic effects like in City of God, where people with HIV are shamed and judged. People with AIDS do not get checked by a doctor because they feel they will be ostracized. This simple act of avoidance and fear ends up killing them. Similarly, it turns out a community’s reaction can lead a person with this infection to contemplation of suicide. These instances are direct examples of manslaughter by society, and it is because of stigmas and stereotypes attached to STI’s. On the other hand, I find it interesting that even though AIDS is arguably the most stigmatized sexually transmitted infection, it is not the most prevalent STI, and I would like to explore the reasoning behind why other STI's are not as stigmatized as HIV/AIDS.
ReplyDeleteLike Coco said, we are all pretty well educated on the topic of STIs, however, we are taught the stereotypes of them from a very early age. I just watched a Ted Talk on STIs titled “STIs aren’t a consequence. They’re inevitable”. What I found really interesting about this talk was that the speaker, Ella Dawson, had been diagnosed with Herpes at age 21, but was really confused upon her diagnosis because ohs had always been told that “she was not the type of person Herpes and other STDs happened to.” She goes to explain that she too had been taught that those who contracted STIs were “dirty” and “promiscuous.” The root of these stigmas lies in our sex education. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcIl-hclrLI
ReplyDeleteAfter doing some research on general sex education in America, I found that only 13 states in the entire nation require sex education to be medically accurate. When I compared the two charts, I saw a correlation between the states that stress abstinence and teenage pregnancy, which I found to be particularly interesting. https://nursing.usc.edu/blog/americas-sex-education/
It seems as though the diseases that are spread through sexual contact have the most stereotypes surrounding them. I do not think that infections such as pnemonia are stigmatized because they are not passed through sex. When anything is spread through just normal daily functions such as breathing or coming into contact with germs while at school it is considered unavoidable. STIs, on the other hand, is considered a result of a persons choice to partake in sex. The perception of STIs and the groups that they affect only changes when they harm privileged groups such as in the case of Ryan White, a straight white male who contracted HIV/AIDS in a contaminated blood treatment. I received a basic introduction in 5th grade in addition to the human development course at poly. I do not feel like we were educated in a way that allowed people to feel comfortable asking questions, which hindered people’s understandings of STIs and the human reproductive system.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we’ve been pretty comprehensively educated about STIs at Poly, but there are still strong stigmas and preconceptions associated with different STIs. There’s still a general belief that STIs are both embarrassing and somehow a sign of “dirtiness”, all of which contribute to shaming and further stigmatization. In my experience, there’s a general sense that people with STIs should be embarrassed and secretive about it, and that they only affect the most unsafe, promiscuous people. Also, I think many people believe that high schoolers don’t really have to worry about STIs from other high schoolers, because most people aren’t as experienced as they might be in a few years and they won’t have been exposed to STIs yet. For people who have gotten STIs and were diagnosed, this culture of mockery, invisibility, and shaming would definitely contribute to a sense of otherness or damage their self-esteem, but for people who don’t know whether they have STIs, these stigmas may be dangerous. A recent study of young African-American men found that an increased sense of shame or wrongness surrounding STIs was associated with a decreased likelihood of getting tested, telling a non-main partner about their medical history, and seeking treatment for STIs. I definitely think that the shame and alienation of people with STIs leads other people to avoid discussing or taking measures against them; our collective embarrassment and preconceptions about them prevents productive discussion and consistent testing practices among young people.
ReplyDeleteI think what Sophie said was really interesting. I asked my mom if she associated STIs with anything, or if she knew or had heard of any stigmas surrounding STIs, and at first she didn’t really know what I was talking about, lol, but then she said that maybe that means the person who contracts an STI is promiscuous. I love my mom, but this kind of threw me a bit. There was, however, a time when I probably thought the same thing. I think, while we were taught objectively what sex and STIs were, I never knew of all the negative associations and stereotypes and stigmas surrounding sex and STIs. I think, sadly, I got a lot of that information growing up from media and tv shows and movies and this all represented sex as something only the “slutty,” “promiscuous” girls and the “douche-y” jock-type boys would partake in. Because sex was seen as something you shouldn’t do or it was this really stigmatized thing in media, it was therefore a consequence/ punishment and something those who had sex deserved if they were to contract an STI. So, while I obviously don’t agree with the idea that STIs only affect those who are more liberal in their sex life and have sex more often than others, I can see where people get that idea from, seeing as we have portrayed sex and STIs so negatively for so long.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone who has said that we have been well educated on the topic of STIs for the most part. Going off of what Sophie and Charlotte previously said, I do think it is interesting that the stigmas STIs acquire almost create image of a person that would have that specific infection. It's unfortunate that these stigmas cause people to look at certain individuals in a negative way; I've heard heard comments like "he/she looks like someone who would have (certain STI)" and many times these people are looked at as dirty or unclean. These comments and thoughts cause the stigmas surrounding STIs to stay present in society; they cause people with STIs to feel ashamed and like what they have is a secret and they cause individuals who "fit the image" of a specific STI to feel isolated.
ReplyDeleteAs Poly students, I believe we have all been pretty well educated regarding STIs. We have all been exposed at a relatively young age (compared to the majority of the nation) to the potentially detrimental nature of these infections. However, there still is a culture surrounding STIs that characterizes them as embarrassing and shameful which leads to further stigmatization. Additionally, in my experience, I think many high schoolers believe they're impervious to contracting any kind of STI because of their young age. But this is a complete misconception as around 50% of all cases are from ages 15-24 suggesting that this is a real issue that is plaguing the younger population. Even the CDC says one of the main reasons for their spread is "Many young people are hesitant to talk openly and honestly with a doctor or nurse about their sex lives." That's why it's crucial to destigmatize STIs from a young age, so speaking honestly to a medical professional is no longer uncomfortable or a shameful process. I also read another issue why so many young people are contracting STIs is because many don't have insurance or transportation which typically makes it more difficult for young people to access STD testing. It would be great if we could also talk about that too.
ReplyDeleteHeres the link to the CDC article:
https://www.cdc.gov/std/life-stages-populations/stdfact-teens.htm
We talked about this in class, but although, as people have pointed out, we definitely learn about STIs at Poly, we still don’t talk about them in everyday conversations like we might with condoms or the pill. And when we talk about condoms or birth control, it’s almost always in the context of pregnancy prevention as opposed to STI prevention although some birth control can protect from both, a coincidence which makes it convenient to skirt the STI issue while still tacitly handling it. But I do wonder how discussion of STI prevention might be framed if the method used had to differ from what’s used for birth control.
ReplyDeleteI think society hasn’t quite become accustomed/amenable to the presence of STIs (which means they haven’t become socially acceptable to discuss) because it’s easy to see them as a form of punishment for sexual interaction. Sex itself is deeply stigmatized in society, a topic that should only be discussed behind closed doors and certainly not in polite company, and I think that in a way STIs justify that stigmatization as a concrete manifestation of why sex is shameful or sinful and should be accompanied by guilt or remorse of some sort.
Like a lot of people said, we've had a pretty comprehensive education in terms of STI's at Poly. However, though we know the basics, I think that the topic is something that people need consistent reminders of, because it can feel like it doesn't really matter until it becomes relevant to you. I think it's interesting how, as we discussed in class (I think) at one point, STI's are more common results of unprotected sex than pregnancy, yet pregnancy is framed as the primary consequence. Also, as Isabel mentioned, sex itself is stigmatized as a whole. Though I've been educated on STI's, I've never heard my family talk about them, and wouldn't I feel wholly comfortable bringing it up. But that's just my family, and I'm sure it differs. I think what Harry brought up - transportation and access to STI testing clinics/facilities - is important. I'd be curious to see a map of such locations to determine who and who does not have access and why.
ReplyDeleteMy mother grew up in a very traditional Mexican household. They never talked about sex or anything related to that topic. I feel like because of her upbringing, my mom, while she may not directly say it, has certain stigmas and negative associations surrounding STI’s and sexual health in general. Whenever I talk to her about things regarding my health, she is very accusatory and cares more about what I did rather than what is actually causing my discomfort or unbalance. Because of this, I hide it and try to figure it out myself. I am fortunate to go to a school that doesn’t stigmatize STI’s as much, and I have openly talked to friends regarding my health; however, it isn’t like that in the rest of the country or even world. I think this definitely affects how people with STI’s are treated. Young adults especially may have a hard time going to get tested or treated because of fear that their family will find out.
ReplyDeleteI think STI’s are so heavily stigmatized, especially towards women, because they have to do with body parts that are so heavily stigmatized themselves. Especially with women, I can imagine the amount of shame that comes along with telling people about an STI in a society that loves to control and tell women how to behave.
In my sex education, pre-marital sex was taught as something sinful, and as a result, we never actually talked about sex itself. We may have talked about the anatomy, but because my school (and mother) believed discussing sex was promoting it, I never learned about STI’s or birth control at all.
For Luke:
ReplyDeleteIn casual conversation, the topic of STI’s rarely comes up, but perhaps it should be more frequently discussed given the amount of dialogue our peers dedicate to sex. Although we have access to the information researchers have made available to us about the prevalence and prevention of various STI’s, these diseases continue to pose a public health risk because safe sex protocols continue to be underutilized. Prior to the discovery of the HIV virus, Herpes was the STI that had the most significant stigma attached to it. The idea that it had no cure, propelled it into a category that made people cautious about sexual contact, harshly labeling those that were infected. As Eddie Murphy said in “Delirious”, “You keep that sh** forever like luggage.” The love affair that this country had with casual sex came to an abrupt halt. With the injection of HIV and AIDS into the pool of STI’s, came a high level of fear and panic that swept the nation and the world. Fueled by discrimination against the gay and African populations that were most heavily impacted by the virus, there was limited public interest or funding of research and education. It was the high profile figures in Hollywood and sports that penetrated the veil that had been shrouding those that suffered from this disease. Not only did people from these industries help to bring attention to and understanding about HIV, but were responsible for raising a good deal of the money for the research needed to eradicate it. Worldwide, the response to the epidemic was slow, mostly in part to the population that was afflicted. In America televangelist, Jerry Falwell stated that AIDS was sent by God to punish the intravenous drug users and those that practiced a homosexual lifestyle. In Africa, politicians did not want to acknowledge homosexuality at all, less a disease that seemed specific to them. Societal taboos proved to be a significant deterrent implementation of research, education, and prevention. Even faced with evidence that the disease was not confined to the homosexual community, around the world AIDS was considered to be a “gay disease” well into the 2000s.
Going off what Luke said, for a society that's pretty much obsessed with sex, I think it's interesting that STI's rarely come up in discussion. Sex, which is already extremely stigmatized is used all the time in music, movies, social media, advertising/selling things and in conversation but the way sex is portrayed changes a lot depending on the context it's being "used" in. For example, when people want to scare (usually young) people about sex (a.k.a teach abstinence only) STI's come up a lot more in conversation than say, when Carls Jr. uses sex/objectification to sell their burgers. I've mentioned this before, but people tend to adapt their understandings of something, in this case sex and STI's depending on the situation they are in. As people have mentioned so far, the target group for STI's tends to be the dirty promiscuous girl (somehow I feel like girls are targeted a lot here) that gets an STI. People can isolate themselves from the issue and place blame and shame on someone else. This tends to be a pattern in all sorts of areas of stigmatization
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