Analysis of the AIDS Stigma

Authors Avatar by meh_xo (student)

 

        Torture of the Stigma

Enlarged lymph glands, tiredness, fever, loss of appetite and weight, yeast infections, and night sweats started occurring to predominantly homosexual men in 1981 within the United Stat. The �Gay Related Immune Deficiency�, also known now a days as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), has typical stereotypes. Men and women with AIDS are thought to be drug addicts, homosexuals, or promiscuous, which shouldn�t be the case at all.

AIDS is the final threatening stage of HIV (AIDS 163). It�s caused by the retroviruses HIV-1 and HIV-2 (AIDS 163). The most common way of getting the infection is by any form of sexual intercourse. But, anyone can also get AIDS from direct contact with infected blood, like needles. Also, if a pregnant woman has AIDS, no matter how far along, she can give the disease to her baby. It�s not been reported to get it from normal, everyday things like sharing food, drinks, and utensils. Yet, once a person is infected with the disease, that person has it for life. There is no cure yet, but that doesn�t mean getting infected is a death sentence as most perceive it as.

Join now!

To anyone, it usually seems like it at first. The way the media, communities, and people in general talk, getting the disease makes it out to be the worst thing that could happen to someone. It�s making people with AIDS feel like they�re nothing, because the disease is spread mainly by sex and drugs. For example, low income citizens within the United States are some of the main drivers of the epidemic. So, the stigma of the media attacks them. Along with homosexuals, they�re targeted as well. Infected or not, homosexual men are looked down on because they are ...

This is a preview of the whole essay