"Being Born like This, I Have No Right to Make Anybody Listen to Me": Understanding Different Forms of Stigma among Thai Transgender Women Living with HIV in Thailand

This study explores the ways Thai transgender women are affected by internalized, perceived, vicarious and enacted stigma. Participants were eleven Thai transgender women living with HIV, who were asked about experiences of stigma in their daily lives. Various forms of verbal, psychological and phys...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of homosexuality 2021-12, Vol.68 (14), p.2533-2550
Main Authors: de Lind van Wijngaarden, Jan W., Fongkaew, Kangwan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advocacy
Behavior change
Behavior modification
Blame
Emancipation
Harassment
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus
Internalization
internalized stigma
Legal reform
Relatives
Social structure
Southeast Asian cultural groups
Stigma
Thailand
Transgender persons
transgender women
Women
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Summary:This study explores the ways Thai transgender women are affected by internalized, perceived, vicarious and enacted stigma. Participants were eleven Thai transgender women living with HIV, who were asked about experiences of stigma in their daily lives. Various forms of verbal, psychological and physical harassment were reported. Internalized stigma and stigma within the transgender community itself were significant. Participants tended not to blame their family members or others in their social structure for their experiences of stigma. They tended to see the solution to tackle the problem of stigma mainly in changes in the behavior of transgender women themselves. This paper suggests that transgender people themselves should better understand how the structure, culture and institutions of mainstream society instill, reinforce and perpetuate stigma against, within and among them. There is a need for advocacy directed toward manifesting societal emancipation of Thai transgender people-starting with legal reform.
ISSN:0091-8369
1540-3602
DOI:10.1080/00918369.2020.1809892