Winskell Kate, Sabben Gaëlle
Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2016 Jul;161:143-50. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.06.004. Epub 2016 Jun 2.
There is growing recognition of the health disparities faced by sexual minority populations and the critical role played by sexual stigma in increasing their vulnerability. Experienced, anticipated, and internalized, stigma based on sexual orientation reduces access to HIV/STI prevention and treatment services among African men who have sex with men and has been linked to compromised mental health, risk-taking, and HIV status. It is likely that similar processes undermine the health of sexual minority African women and transgender and non-binary people. There is a need for increased understanding of both the contextual factors and the cultural meanings, or symbolic violence, that inform sexual stigma and harmful stigma management strategies in contexts that are culturally and socio-politically oppressive for sexual and gender minorities. Using thematic data analysis and narrative-based methodologies, we analyzed narratives and essays on same-sex attraction contributed by young people aged 13-24 from ten African countries to a Spring 2013 scriptwriting competition on HIV, sexuality, and related themes. Submitted by 27 male and 29 female authors, the texts were written in response to a prompt inviting participants to "Tell a story about someone who is attracted to people of the same sex". We analyzed the ways in which sexual stigma and its effects are described, enacted, and counteracted in the texts. The data provide insights into the social and symbolic processes that create and sustain sexual stigma in the context of broader transnational discourses. The data shed light on psychosocial challenges faced by sexual minority youth and identify both rhetoric, stereotypes, and discourse that devalue them and representations that counteract this symbolic violence. We share our findings in the hope they may inform education and communication programming as part of multi-level efforts to improve the health and human rights of sexual minority populations in sub-Saharan Africa.
性少数群体所面临的健康差异以及性污名在增加其脆弱性方面所起的关键作用，正日益受到关注。基于性取向的污名，无论是经历过的、预期到的还是内化的，都减少了非洲男男性行为者获得艾滋病毒/性传播感染预防和治疗服务的机会，并且与心理健康受损、冒险行为以及艾滋病毒感染状况有关。类似的过程很可能也会损害非洲性少数群体女性以及跨性别者和非二元性别人士的健康。在对性少数群体在文化和社会政治上构成压迫的背景下，需要更多地了解影响性污名以及有害污名管理策略的背景因素和文化意义，即象征性暴力。我们采用主题数据分析和基于叙事的方法，分析了来自十个非洲国家的13至24岁年轻人为2013年春季一场关于艾滋病毒、性取向及相关主题的剧本创作比赛所提交的关于同性吸引的叙事和文章。这些文本由27位男性作者和29位女性作者提交，是对一个提示的回应，该提示邀请参与者“讲述一个关于被同性吸引的人的故事”。我们分析了文本中描述、呈现和对抗性污名及其影响的方式。这些数据为在更广泛的跨国话语背景下产生和维持性污名的社会和象征过程提供了见解。这些数据揭示了性少数群体青年所面临的心理社会挑战，并识别出贬低他们的言辞、刻板印象和话语，以及对抗这种象征性暴力的表述。我们分享我们的研究结果，希望它们能为教育和传播项目提供参考，作为改善撒哈拉以南非洲性少数群体健康和人权的多层次努力的一部分。
