Friday November 30, 2007
A good word
STICK and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me – that’s something many a child or teenager would have said after being taunted. The bravado of the young but much as we hate to admit it, some words do hurt and can even leave a scar.
It cuts even deeper when the words are directed at those with issues or problems, and worse, when people are shunned because of certain stigmas attached to them. Even words or phrases that may seem harmless could be damaging to people on the receiving end.
At a workshop organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) early this month, the organisers tried to look at the right language and terminology for HIV/AIDS. While the media was the focus of this workshop, its eventual aim was to reach a broader audience, from politicians to academicians right down to the public, in how they speak and write about the issue.
Unicef East Asia & The Pacific regional adviser for AIDS Wing-Sie Cheng said that one should avoid derogatory or discriminatory language that perpetuates myths about HIV or incorrectly stereotypes people or behaviour.
An example is the phrase, “to catch AIDS”. First of all, you do not contract AIDS, you contract HIV. Second, HIV is not a contagious disease but an infectious one, so one does not catch it like the flu. As an infectious disease, HIV is transmitted via body fluids, such as blood, semen, vaginal fluid and breast milk.
And that highlights another term – body fluids, which, when used broadly, is often misconstrued. This gives rise to a false belief that tears, sweat, urine and saliva, for instance, can also transmit the virus.
Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC) president Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman when contacted said that terms like “prostitute” and “drug addicts” are more sensitive and derogatory. She suggests the use of “sex worker” and “drug user” respectively instead.
“We should be non-judgmental and not discriminate. Our personal values should be put aside and we should be balanced when we address the topic. Even come in my profession forget their scientific training and allow their personal beliefs to cloud their perspective,” said Dr Adeeba.
Cheng said that one should steer clear of value judgments and avoid moralising about HIV or associating it to a group.
“We are not in a position to determine who is good and who is bad. There are just people who engage in high-risk behaviour. It is important to remember that it is not the group that someone belongs to that makes them vulnerable to HIV infection, but their behaviour and the social or economic circumstances that may have contributed to it,” Cheng pointed out.
So words like “innocent”, “guilty” and “promiscuous” are judgmental as they give the impression that certain groups deserve to be infected. There are also phrases – such as, “suspected of having HIV” or “admitted to having HIV” – that perpetuate the stigma because they imply secrecy.
What really upsets people living with HIV (PLWH) are words like “sufferer” or “victim”.
As a PLWH (not HIV-carrier as this is a stigmatising term focusing on the individual as a carrier instead of someone managing a disease) related at the workshop:
“Look at me. Do I look like I am suffering? I am healthy with the treatment I am getting. Don’t feel sorry for me.”
What that underscores is that PLWH are just part of society, and like any other group, they should not be shunned. They simply want to be accepted and not be treated as social misfits. And how we talk to them, about them and for them plays a big role in ensuring that.
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