WHY LANGUAGE MATTERS: FACING HIV STIGMA IN OUR OWN WORDS
WHY LANGUAGE MATTERS: FACING HIV STIGMA IN OUR OWN WORDS
The words people use to talk about HIV affect the way people living with HIV feel about themselves. These words also have an impact on how others view people living with HIV.
Why Language Matters
Throughout their lives, women may experience multiple forms of oppression and discrimination based on gender, race, sexual identity, socioeconomic status, or other factors. The oppression and discrimination are often reinforced through language. For instance, an aggressive, powerful woman is called a "bitch," while a man with the same qualities is viewed with respect and called "ambitious." Adding an HIV diagnosis can magnify this oppression and affect self-worth, confidence, and self-identity.
Over the years, repeatedly hearing language that reinforces stigma, oppression, and discrimination ultimately affects the health and well-being of women diagnosed with HIV. Stigma and stress have a negative effect on a woman's overall quality of life, which can affect her family, her children, her job, and even her pregnancies. It is rare to find a woman living with HIV who has not felt stigmatized in some way.
Preferred Language About HIV
Over the years, as we have learned more about HIV treatment, care, and prevention, as advocates we have pushed HIV service organizations, media outlets, and other institutions to use language describing HIV that reflects those changes. Included in the left-hand column of the table below are some of the first terms ever used to talk about HIV. Bit by bit, the language we use is shifting toward the preferred terminology. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) developed guidelines for preferred terminology as a guide on how we use language without discriminating others.
|
Stigmatizing Language |
Preferred Language |
|
HIV-infected person |
Person living with HIV; person with HIV; PLHIV |
|
HIV or AIDS patient, AIDS or HIV carrier |
|
|
Positives or HIVers |
|
|
Died of AIDS, to die of AIDS |
Died of AIDS-related illness, AIDS-related complications, end-stage HIV |
|
AIDS virus |
HIV (AIDS is a diagnosis, not a virus; it cannot be transmitted) |
|
Full-blown AIDS |
There is no medical definition for this phrase; simply use the term AIDS, or Stage 3 HIV |
|
HIV virus |
This is redundant; simply use the term HIV |
|
Zero new infections |
Zero new HIV transmissions; zero new HIV cases |
|
HIV infection |
HIV case; HIV acquisition; diagnosed with HIV |
|
HIV infected |
Living with HIV or diagnosed with HIV |
|
Number of infections |
Number diagnosed with HIV; number of HIV acquisitions |
|
Became infected with HIV |
Contracted or acquired HIV; diagnosed with HIV |
|
HIV-exposed infant |
Infant exposed to HIV; infant born to a person living with HIV |
|
Serodiscordant couple |
|
|
Mother-to-child HIV transmission |
Vertical HIV transmission or perinatal HIV transmission |
|
Victim, innocent victim, sufferer, contaminated, infected |
Person living with HIV; survivor; warrior |
|
AIDS orphans |
Children orphaned by loss of parents/guardians who died of AIDS-related complications |
|
AIDS test |
HIV test (AIDS is a diagnosis; there is no AIDS test) |
|
Catch AIDS, contract AIDS, transmit AIDS, catch HIV |
AIDS diagnosis; developed AIDS; acquire HIV (AIDS is a diagnosis and cannot be passed from one person to the next) |
|
Compliant |
Adherent |
|
HIV risk, at risk for HIV |
HIV relevance; reasons for HIV prevention; vulnerable to HIV; chance of acquiring HIV; likelihood of acquiring HIV (Common "risk" framing focuses on people's individual actions; individual behaviour is rarely the driver of a woman’s likelihood of acquiring HIV, but rather the forces outside women’s control – including systemic racism, poverty, geography, partner behaviour and vulnerability, etc.) |
|
Prostitute or prostitution |
Sex worker; sale of sexual services; transactional sex |
|
Promiscuous |
Having multiple sex partners ("Promiscuous" is a value judgment and should be avoided) |
|
Down-low man; on the down-low |
Man who has sex with women and men; bisexual or pansexual man; same-gender-loving man (depends on individual identity) ("The down-low" is a term sometimes used to describe men who may not disclose that they have sex with men as well as women due to stigma against diverse sexualities and sexual practices. This term increases stigma and should be avoided) |
|
Unprotected sex |
Sex without barriers or treatment-as-prevention methods |
|
Death sentence, fatal condition, or life-threatening condition |
HIV is a chronic and manageable health condition when people are able to access care and treatment |
|
"Tainted" blood; "dirty" needles |
Blood containing HIV; used needles |
|
Clean, as in "I am clean, are you" |
Referring to yourself or others as being "clean" suggests that those living with HIV are dirty. Avoid this term. |
|
A drug that prevents HIV infection |
A drug that prevents the transmission or acquisition of HIV |
|
End HIV, End AIDS |
End HIV transmission, end HIV-related deaths |
These are all powerful ways to be an advocate -- and they don't all involve being the loudest voice in a big crowd. Every time you question the use of a phrase that fuels stigma and ignorance -- even to yourself -- you contribute to building hope, and to changing our culture from one that disrespects women living with HIV to one that uses language to support the power and dignity of people living with HIV.
