Stigma and Discrimination

Sorry for not writing for so long,

I think in order to understand what stigma and discrimination is we need to know what we mean by stigma and discrimination.

Stigma is a spoilt identity, to stigmatize is to label someone, to see them as inferior because of an attribute they have.

There are three types of stigma;

1. Self Stigma - self hatred, shame, blame, people feel they are being judged by others so they isolate themselves from their families and communities.

2. Felt Stigma- Perceptions of feelings towards an individual or community. This is very common, we see other castes, community as beneath us, we see individuals as beneath us or not as good or great as us.

3. Enacted stigma or the resulting discrimination - when it ends in abuse, violence, isolation or any cruelty enacted just because the perception that they are bad and indulging in bad activities or are not as good as us.

For us it is important to remember that individually all of us have fought self stigma and felt stigma and even enacted discrimination while growing up and are fighting it every day of our lives. Our own stories, be it a women or a girl child/boy child who has been abused, or a gay, or a hijra, or a drug user; our own stories reflected in this blog speaks out loud and clear about our struggles within ourselves and with the outside world. We have to come together to fight against all these three which is rampant in ODISHA.

Thank you Sohamm and Santosh for being a part of us in the fight against stigma and discrimination.

Sarita