Recent media coverage of a New Zealand Mpox outbreak reminds Michael Stevens of the stigma faced by HIV+ communities.
This year’s Winter Pride saw an outbreak of Mpox (formerly known as Monkey Pox). There was a definite whiff of hysteria in how it was reported. And a number of gay men, especially older ones, feared a repeat of the damage that happened to our communities when HIV/AIDS became so publicly associated with our community and same-sex activity.
The stigma our communities faced because of HIV/AIDS was huge. This had a massive effect on us collectively and individually. And the stigma was largely based on the idea that the sinful, unnatural sex we have was resulting in the spread of a deadly disease through our communities. The message was that we were only getting what we deserved. If we were getting sick and dying, we’d earned it.
It was a horrible time, and a truly awful and dehumanising message to hear. So many gay men then, and even now, felt guilty about being attracted to their own sex. This stigma amplified that guilt in a particularly nasty way. The wider public were often very hostile because in their minds, being gay equalled having AIDS, which equalled death. A powerful combination.
They say history doesn’t repeat – but it echoes.
Mpox is a treatable infectious disease, and for some people, it goes away without any treatment. For others, it is more serious, resulting in painful blistering and other health issues that need attention, and very rarely, it can be fatal. But for most people, it will pass within a few weeks but is very unpleasant to go through.
It is largely passed on through contact with lesions or blisters on other people who are already infected. This sort of close contact is very common during sex, of course. Sexual activity provides a perfect route for transmission, and gay men and MSM in general are known for being a bit more sexually active than the general population, so an outbreak at Winter Pride where there were a few thousand happily partying gay and bi men should not surprise anyone.
However, following the news of the outbreak, the media reaction did seem frighteningly over the top to many of us, and it seemed to echo those earlier judgemental and stigmatising attitudes. If only gays could practice self-control and stop having so much sex, then this problem would go away. That seemed to be the unspoken message. Our busy sex lives were once again in line for criticism. “Dirty diseased homos” seemed to be the unspoken message again.
Mpox, like HIV, doesn’t actually care about who we are having sex with. There is no more moral weight to someone catching it than there is to catching the flu. It’s a virus, not a divine judgement. But it’s good to take it seriously, get yourself vaccinated and reject any talk about how we deserve it – because we don’t.
Image | A Kenyan ad campaign challenging Mpox stigma.
