This presentation was delivered at the Richmond MHC Stigma conference and was used to demonstrate how images and cultural attitudes create stigma in our community related to sex and drugs.

1. STIGMA
Sex, Drugs, and Everything Else
Adam Thompson, B.A.
October 6, 2012

2. What is stigma?
• Stigma (noun)
1. a mark of disgrace
associated with a particular
circumstance, quality, or
person
From: http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/stigma Accessed on: 09/18/12

3. STIGMA:
Notes on the Management of a Spoiled Identity
• Erving Goffman
– Sociologist who wrote
about
• Types of stigma
• How individuals deal with
stigma
• How persons with stigma
relate to others

4. Types of Stigma
• Discredited Stigma
– This individual assumes “his differentness is
already known about or is evident on the spot”
• Discreditable Stigma
– This individual assumes that his stigma “is neither
known about by those present nor immediately
perceivable by them.”
From: http://www.sinclair.edu/academics/lcs/departments/soc/pub/casilab/coping_deviance/coping_with_deviance_act.pdf
Accessed on: 09/18/12

5. Stigma Management
1. Some stigmatized people can physically
remove their stigma
2. People can master those areas that stigmatize
them
3. Stigmatized people can use their stigma for
secondary gain
4. Stigmatized persons can come to view their
stigma as a blessing that has taught them a
great deal about many other things
From: http://www.sinclair.edu/academics/lcs/departments/soc/pub/casilab/coping_deviance/coping_with_deviance_act.pdf
Accessed on: 09/18/12

6. Stigma Management
5. A stigma can cause people to reassess the
limits of normals rather than focus only on
their own limitations. They can come to
believe that normals have their limitations too
6. Stigmatized persons can avoid contact with
normals
7. Stigmatized people often seek out
sympathetic others who, while they do not
have a stigma, are sympathetic to it
From: http://www.sinclair.edu/academics/lcs/departments/soc/pub/casilab/coping_deviance/coping_with_deviance_act.pdf
Accessed on: 09/18/12

7. The Stage Theory
Erving Goffman, STIMA: Notes on the Management of a Spoiled Identity, 1963

8. The Players of Goffman’s Theatre
• Backstage
– The “Own”
– The “Wise”
• Audience
– The “Normals”

9. What you don’t learn in school …
STIGMA AND SEXUALITY

10. Where did this come from?

11. Which is appropriate?
What you CAN get in your mail What you CAN’T get in some schools
Political Ad: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/12/mark-grisanti-buffalo-matt-ricchiazzi_n_1877868.html

12. GAY MAN
What my friends think I do What my parents think I do What my society thinks I do
What Rick Santorum thinks I do What I think I do What I actually do

13. LESBIAN WOMEN
What society thinks we do What social conservatives think What men think we do
we do
What my Mom thinks we do What I think we do What we actually do

14. What you don’t learn in school

15. What you don’t learn in school
Vagina Model Penis Model Anus Model

16. What you don’t learn in school

17. Anti-Stigma Campaigns

18. Small Group Discussion
• What other forms of stigma have you seen in
your communities?
• What important messages and/or information
are not getting out there because of stigma?
• How do we combat stigma related to sexuality
and sexual topics?

19. What you don’t learn in school …
STIGMA AND SUBSTANCE USE

20. Anti-Drug Ads

21. Television Series

22. Television Representations

23. What you didn’t learn in school
Cocaine and Alcohol Amphetamines and LSD Marijuana

24. Justice is Blind?
BLACK
POOR
Crack
WHITE
RICH
Cocaine

25. Stoner?

26. Junkie?

27. What’s the difference?
Use
Misuse
Abuse
Addiction

28. Is it this predictable?

29. Small Group Discussion
• What other forms of stigma have you seen in
your communities?
• What important messages and/or information
are not getting out there because of stigma?
• How do we combat stigma related to substance
use and substance users?

30. Conclusion
• Stigma is pervasive through our culture from
history, media, personal perceptions, and fears
• Stigma is a way we disgrace others because of
their behavior or characteristics
• Stigma manifests because of misconceptions and
stereotypes due to a lack of information
• Stigma can prevent important and sometimes life-
saving information from reaching target audiences

31. Contact Information
Adam Thompson
AdamTThompson@gmail.com
864.354.8468

32. Resources
• Goffman, Erving. STIGMA: Notes on the Management of a Spoiled
Identity. New York: Simon and Schuster Inc. 1963.
• Rosengarten, E. Coping with Deviance: Erving Goffman STIGMA
– http://www.sinclair.edu/academics/lcs/departments/soc/pub/casilab/coping_dev
iance/coping_with_deviance_act.pdf
• Political Ad: The Committee to Save the Erie County Republican Party
– http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/12/mark-grisanti-buffalo-matt-
ricchiazzi_n_1877868.html
• Anti-Stigma Ads
– CAMBA http://www.pitchengine.com/camba.org/camba-launches-2012-
antistigma-campaign-urging-compassion-for--27000-brooklynites-living-with-
hivaids
– DC Office of Human Rights https://www.facebook.com/DCOHR
– POZ and PROUD http://www.mobypicture.com/user/Pozandproud
• Drug Sentencing Inequity
– http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/10/opinion/10sat1.html