Stigmatized Diseases and Stereotypes

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Thinnest of Them All?

Ann Marie O'Brien — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 10:00:00 PDT

Societal standards of feminine beauty are presented in all forms of popular culture, thus bombarding women with images that portray what our society considers to be the “ideal body type.” These images, as seen on the cover of magazines, in popular films and in all forms of web and print advertising, are consistently depicted and easily described with one word: skinny. The regular use of unnatural, unhealthy and unrealistic models sends the implicit message that in order for a woman to be beautiful, she must attain this ultra-thin physique. Such adulation of these images encourages women to sacrifice their health in order to be considered attractive by societal standards. Today we live in a world in which “healthy” is defined as “skinny” and “skinny” has morphed from a physical characteristic into a lifestyle. This paper examines the answers to questions: “What is this ‘thin-ideology’ that all women strive to achieve?,” “How has popular culture effected the ability of women to properly perceive a healthy body weight?” and “How far are women willing to go to reach these unrealistic standards?” This paper highlights the transformation of the way in which women are viewed as our cultural perceptions have taken a risky turn from a celebration of uniqueness to a pressured life filled with attempts to fit an unhealthy mold. Finally this paper calls for the need for combative work against these harmful messages and our societal need to redefine “healthy” in the context of our “skinny obsession.”

"Home for Street Women": Venereal Disease and the Unknown Imprisonment of Women in the Early 20th Century

Scott Wasserman Stern — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 10:00:00 PDT

This paper examines the ignorance surrounding the forced quarantine of tens of thousands of American women in internment camps in the early twentieth century. It is traditionally stated that 18,000 women were interned in forty-three camps after being arrested on suspicions of prostitution and tested for venereal disease. Yet, I will show that these numbers only address the camps that received federal funding and operated between 1918 and 1920. A number of camps were in operation before 1918 or long after 1920, and many received no federal monies at all. This means that the number always given—18,000—is an appalling underestimate. Compared with the Japanese internment during World War II, the internment of women with venereal disease has received far less scrutiny. This paper is a step toward expanding scholarship on this subject.

I will argue that there is a lack of scrutiny of the imprisonment of these women because of (1) the vague and euphemistic treatment of venereal disease and prostitution in the press at the time and (2) the decentralization of the program. Contemporary newspaper articles rarely mentioned the internment at all, and when they did, they never did so explicitly. Many camps operated under local ordinances and under the purview of conflicting agencies, so no centralized records exist at all. Using government documents and newspaper and medical journal articles, I will show that lack of press coverage and an irremediably disorganized program have caused the imprisonment of women suspected of prostitution to be understudied and misunderstood.

HIV/AIDS: Ayurvedic Medicine's Impact on India's Social Stigma

Shawn Francis — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 10:00:00 PDT

Ayurvedic medicine is an ancient form of treatment that has existed in India through scriptures and generations for thousands of years. It is practiced by “indigenous medical practitioners” or natural medical practitioners that assume the role of healers and use various forms of herbal remedies to treat individuals that have a form of illness. (Kakar DN. 1983) According to the C.D.L. College of Ayurveda, Ayurvedic medicine focuses on viewing the individual holistically through the body, mind, food, and environment to produce a medicinal recipe to meet the needs of the individual. In addition, the college has also mentioned that they have provided effective remedies for a multitude of chronic diseases including HIV/AIDS. With 2.4 million people HIV positive in India’s expanding population; this virus has become a social stigma. (UNAIDS 2010) In this regard, HIV/AIDS is perceived merely as, “someone else’s problem”. (UNDP 2006) Those that are HIV positive are treated by strong discrimination that includes: rejection from relatives, denied medical treatment, and sometimes violent forms of harassment. (UNDP 2006) Ayurvedic medicine can also be seen as a more humanistic and traditional approach that can potentially ameliorate this stigma and ultimately affect the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in India’s society. The purpose of this paper is to provide a level of comprehensive coverage that focuses on the underlying factor of Ayurvedic medicine and its probable impact on the social construct of HIV/AIDS.