The Ongoing Process of HIV-Stigma (Re)Production

HIV stigma negatively affects the social experiences of people living with HIV (PLWH) and remains a challenge to HIV prevention, treatment, and care. Research has overwhelmingly focused on individual cognitive measures of HIV stigma (e.g., internalized, anticipated, and experienced). However, little research explores the interactions and societal structures through which HIV stigma is produced. Data from qualitative interviews with 30 black gay and bisexual men living with HIV in the U.S. Deep South revealed an interconnected and interdependent set of processes that produce and reproduce HIV stigma. These included social interactions (silence, euphemism, and gossip), witnessed acts of marginalization, word-of-mouth transmission of HIV misinformation, and laws and policies carried out within the education and criminal justice systems. Efforts to reduce stigma that focus on individual beliefs and attitudes are critical to improving the well-being of PLWH. However, reducing HIV stigma requires intervening on the social interactions and structures through which HIV stigma is produced and reproduced.