Defining stigma, and then discussing its associations with sexuality, are important steps in furthering sexual health. This is number 6 in my “The Case for Sex Ed” blog post series; click here to check out the rest. In Bruce Link and Jo Phelan’s article, “On Stigma and Its Public Health Implications,” they describe the ways in […]
June 2015
Stigma & Sexuality
If we define stigma as an undesirable identity that gets attributed to a person (often against their wishes), then it’s possible to explore the intersections of stigma and sexual identity, sexual acts, and so on. In this blog post I’ll describe some of these connections, and in an upcoming post, I’ll talk about why the stigma around […]
What is Stigma?
A lot of our cultural conversations around sexuality, STIs, slut-shaming, and more are shaped by the concept of stigma. Seems worth a blog post, right? In the academic world, stigma became an important concept with the publication of sociologist Erving Goffman’s 1963 book Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. In it, Goffman defines stigma […]
Upholding Boundaries Feels Good
The title of this blog post is super, super obvious. At least that’s how I felt when I was writing it – but then I don’t think this concept is as prominent in our culture as it should be. Hence this post. One time, I was about to be intimate with a partner. We did […]
Abortion Exceptions and Medical Marijuana: An Uneasy Parallel
I was struck by a sense of unease when I saw the news that a Senate committee is backing legislation that would allow VA (Veterans Affairs) doctors to recommend medical marijuana for their patients. I’m in favor of legalizing medical marijuana for a host of reasons (harm reduction primary among them), but this seemed weird […]