Living with a spoiled identity : HIV positive women talk of stigma

• Main Author: Rohleder, Poul Andrew
• Other Authors: Gibson, Kerry
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: University of Cape Town 2014
• Subjects: Clinical Psychology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/8001

Word processed copy.|Includes bibliographical references. === The purpose of this study is to begin to explore how women experience and deal with AIDS stigma under conditions where they have little support. In-depth, narrative interviews were conducted with ten HIV -positive women, living in a poor, black township in Cape Town. The study used both Social Constructionist and Psychoanalytic theory to understand the impact that their """"spoiled identity"""" had on the emotional lives of these women. The study elicited women's narratives as they talked about the circumstances surrounding their diagnosis, their subsequent interaction with their family and community, and their experiences of living with a spoiled identity. The analysis suggested that the women drew on negative social discourses around HIV, which were then internalized, to become part of the self. However, the narratives also indicated the women's resistance to their stigmatised identity.