Double stigma of AIDS: instrument and symbol——Ethnography on an AIDS online forum
HU Yumeng
Abstract：What is the stigma of AIDS and related groups born from? How does it influence "our" cognition on AIDS? Based on ethnography on an AIDS online forum, this article tries to reveal the characteristics of AIDS stigma: instrument stigma from the fear of viral communication and symbol stigma from moral judgment. There are four conditions that are considered to be the cause of high HIV stigma: AIDS is incurable and even fatal; it is infectious; its symptoms are nasty; and the patients are thought to be guilty. The stigma of AIDS patient like "dangerous people" or "time bomb" is partly due to self-defense mechanism. What is worse, with dominant discourse's moral judgement, AIDS is considered to be an exclusive disease belonging to notorious people. Often, the patients with AIDS are divided into two types: the innocent victims and peoples deserving their punishment. The former needs to bear instrument stigma, while the latter has to bear symbol stigma as well as instrument stigma.
Keywords：AIDSdiscourseBBSinstrument stigmasymbol stigma
Publication Date：2018-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2026-08-26(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：4( 60-62,65 )