The Stigma of AIDS
When three Florida boys were diagnosed as having AIDS, their barber refused to cut their hair, their minister asked them to stop coming to church and their house was burned down by neighbors (Robinson, 1987). These reactions may be extreme, but other AIDS sufferers have experienced job loss, eviction, cancellation of insurance, and even rejection by their families and friends (Tross and Hirsch, 1988). Social scientists use the term stigma to describe the term stigma to describe the discredit and shame that public hostility can impose on a group of people. In short, AIDS sufferers are often stigmatized.