Bad Girls and Fallen Women: Chronic STD Diagnoses as Gateways to Tribal Stigma

Abstract

This article uses women's firsthand experiences as the basis from which to explore how social constructions of sexual disease and feminine morality merge to threaten women's sexual selves during sexually transmitted disease (STD) diagnostic interactions. Constant comparative analysis of interview data reveals how forty‐three women made sense of this stage in their moral careers. Adding to interactionist literature on gender and chronic illness, this article expands discussions of tribal stigma to the intrapersonal realm. The data show how these women learned to view herpes and human papillomavirus (HPV) as symbols of impurity, antithetical to feminine ideals of sexual morality. Socialized to fear a caste system that divides women according to perceptions of moral transgression, the women viewed official medical diagnoses as having the potential to brand them not only as diseased but also as immoral. Tribal stigma provides the theoretical framework for analyzing why and how STD diagnostic interactions may be the catalysts for women to symbolically redefine themselves as bad girls and fallen women.

Effects of Sexually Transmitted Infection Status, Relationship Status, and Disclosure Status on Sexual Self-Concept

“…These findings do not support results from the study conducted by Nack (2002), who found that women with herpes and HPV who were in committed relationships reported that they felt that being in a relationship somehow buffered them from the stigma of having an STI and eased the shock of their STI diagnosis.…”

“…This may cause great distress for the infected individual. Nack (2002) found that relationship status appeared to affect how women with genital herpes or HPV or both handled their diagnosis. Women with genital herpes and HPV who were in committed relationships reported that being in a relationship buffered them from the shame and stigma of having an STI.…”

Young people's perspectives on the use of reverse discourse in web-based sexual-health interventions

“…Stigma is a socially constructed concept and, according to Goffman's (1963) foundational work on the subject, can be associated with physical attributes (e.g., a sexually transmitted infection), moral attributes (e.g., engaging in risky behaviour) or 'tribal' affiliation. Nack (2002) extends this concept of tribe beyond familial/ethnic associations in the context of sexual behaviour norms attributed to a particular group. Young people represent a socially distinct group, and an understanding of their own identities as sexual beings is informed by many of the morals that are entrenched in negative social constructs of young people's sexuality (e.g., stigmatisation of certain sexual behaviours as 'risky' or immoral).…”

The essential role of social theory in qualitative public health research

“…The study by Nack quoted above argued for generalisability of the findings by drawing on Goffman's analysis of stigma but also on the well-researched theoretical concept of a 'career', involving re-definition of identity as a result of illness or trauma. 40 Thus, confidence in the generalisability of the findings grows.…”

“…40 She drew on feminism and Goffman's analysis of stigma to structure a study of the way in which women's sexual self is transformed by diagnosis of an STD. She disclosed her own STD status.…”