Not everybody needs medication, and there is a big stigma around it, people can’t wait to come off it or they are scared it will change their personality.
Rationally, I knew these fears were ridiculous. There were no signs, unfortunately, and I would never blame anyone for another person’s suicide. But if everyone felt that way, there wouldn’t be this cruel stigma, would there?
It is vital that a company’s culture shows a willingness to invest in employee wellbeing with no stigma or penalty attached to prioritising good health.
In the early ’90s, my parents weren’t really drinking wine. They had a bottle or two laying around, but it had been a stigma where a bottle of wine had to be for a super special occasion. A bottle of wine had to go with a steak. And it was this thing that seemed so distant.
In many parts of this country, there is still a stigma about volleyball, that it is a sissy game, the one to go out for if you can’t win a letter in anything else. People don’t realize what a difference there is between the picnic game and the top level.
As an activist who uses storytelling to combat stigma, I have always been adamant that we tell our own stories.
Scientists have this stigma of being guys or women in white lab coats with no sense of humor, no passion, devoid of all emotion, and that has been the complete opposite of the scientists I’ve met.
When I was in art school, there was a stigma attached to coming from comfortable suburbia. If you were from Great Neck, Long Island, you couldn’t be a ‘real artist’, so I found crafty ways of implying that I was from New York.
What is occurring on college campuses is about power and control – speech is impeded as a last resort, used when people fail to self-censor in response to a threat of crippling stigma and the destruction of their capacity to earn.
Most parents don’t want their kids to have smartphones in the first place. But parents worry about the social stigma of their child being the only one without a phone.
I want to bust the stigma attached to alcoholism in our country. Women particularly are discouraged from seeking help because it’s a matter of shame for the family. We don’t share our pain or frailties; we cover our weaknesses, and it becomes a cancer.
When I started on ‘The West Wing,’ that was at a time when this was still a stigma, because movie stars didn’t do TV. Now, every movie star is desperate to find their ‘True Detective.’
When I was younger, there was a sort of stigma attached to my stamina. My dad took me swimming one day and I just was no good at it, so my dad said, ‘Your stamina’s bad.’
We bought the UFC when not only was it a bankrupt company that was going under, it had a horrible stigma attached to it. This thing was so bad it was not allowed on pay-per-view.
Obviously, breast cancer is very much out there but cervical cancer isn’t talked about as much because there’s a bit more of a stigma around it. Certainly that’s something I want to make sure that young girls know.
Acting is no longer a taboo. The stigma has gone because people have realised that it’s a perfectly valid career choice.
In Hollywood, there really is a stigma against wrestling. I think that’s why people think wrestlers are Neanderthals who can’t string two words together.
I know so many women in their fifties, sixties and seventies who delight in being on their own. It’s amazing. They don’t see any stigma attached to it. We don’t need a man to prove our identity anymore.
I think there’s a stigma to some degree about the outer boroughs and Jersey, and whether their stories are worth telling.
There is a stigma attached to people who go from singing to acting.
I know that there are many excellent arguments for a universal form of basic income. Since everyone would get it, it would remove the stigma that dogs recipients of assistance and ‘entitlements’.
This journey of education and breaking stigma around HIV is something that will have a legacy everlasting.
There is a social stigma attached to ambulance services, mostly because ambulances in India are often used as hearses for carrying the dead rather than transporting patients. We made presentations to graduating students at various healthcare institutes, trying to debunk this myth.
When I was first starting out, if you were acting on television, it was a real stigma.
For women raised in the ’70s, high heels can still carry a stigma; they’re associated with being stupid, with just wanting to please a man. Other women find them empowering.
I think there’s a weird stigma in the TV-film world that theater people can’t be funny and understand subtlety, and I think that could not be more wrong.
Mental illness is the last frontier. The gay thing is part of everyday life now on a show like ‘Modern Family,’ but mental illness is still full of stigma. Maybe it is time for that to change.
There’s a mental health problem in the sense that people are so afraid of the stigma that they don’t get help. But there’s absolutely a gun control problem in the country.
The biggest part of what Anita Hill did was take away the stigma of coming forward, and it took a lot for her to do that. We don’t have these conversations, because of the fear that people won’t believe you or you’ll get attacked if you come forward. She came forward anyway and continued to tell her story.
I believe the biggest stigma right now, with mental health, is that a lot of men are not talking about it.
Never allow a stigma or the popular thing to define you.
There is a stigma attached to community colleges, and we do need to change the narrative.
Until women themselves reject stigma and refuse to feel shame for the way others treat them, they have no hope of achieving full human stature.
This is how systems of oppression work: The violence, discrimination, and stigma I face as a woman compounds the violence, discrimination, and stigma I face as a trans person, and vice versa.
I’m so grateful that I model at a time where ‘plus-size’ models are being championed, but they’re still called ‘plus-size’ which is actually quite a stigma in itself. It’s just healthy, curvy women.
I was a youngster looking up to dudes like Vicky McClure, Joe Dempsie and Michael Socha – in fact, he was a big influence on how I was able to detach drama from the all-singing, all-dancing stigma.
I want to break down some of the stigma associated with mental illness.
Lil Uzi and I gave Philly different sounds by stepping outside of the box and not sticking to the stigma.
There’s a stigma attached to ‘pop music,’ like it’s a taboo word. It used to make my skin crawl when people said it, and I’d say, ‘I’m not a pop star! I want to be a respected musician!’ But I think people have changed the way they think about it.
We need to do more to raise awareness of perinatal mental health illness and address the stigma that still surrounds it in our society.
The only reason I’ve shared my story is to take that tiny baby step of breaking down the stigma attached to depression.
Young women who come to Rise every weekend range from ages 15-19 years if they’re in school and 19-24 years if they’re out of school. These empowered young women talk about protecting themselves, their friends and communities and how they can educate people to help break the stigma surrounding AIDS.
I’m trying to work on my modelling career and remove myself from the whole FHM stigma. I want to be seen as a classic model.
Depression is a leading cause of ill health and disability, and many do not have access to mental health services and face significant social stigma around their disease.
Although by 1851 tales of adventure had begun to seem antiquated, they had rendered a large service to the course of literature: they had removed the stigma, for the most part, from the word novel.
When I was suffering with depression, people weren’t talking about depression. It had a stigma.
For me, there is a stigma attached to playing beautiful parts. They are often empty characters whom the action happens around. I’m more drawn to characters with a complex internal life, who have a burning frustration underneath that keeps them going.
Any stigma will do to beat a dogma.
The problem with the stigma around mental health is really about the stories that we tell ourselves as a society. What is normal? That’s just a story that we tell ourselves.
AIDS itself is subject to incredible stigma.
Baldness is visually enough of a stigma as it is without a big sweaty bloke on stage pointing it out.
For far too many people, the stigma around addiction prevents them from stepping forward for help.
Theatre is expensive to go to. I certainly felt when I was growing up that theatre wasn’t for us. Theatre still has that stigma to it. A lot of people feel intimidated and underrepresented in theatre.
I think it can be difficult for young lesbian or young gay, bisexual, transgender to come out and be open with who they are because there’s such a huge stigma attached to that preference of their sexuality.
I’ve struggled a lot with therapy because it’s got a stigma to it, and also, it’s really gotta work for you, I’ve found.
We enjoy a growing awareness and literacy around the symptoms of and remedies for mental illness. Thanks to brave public figures and persistent campaigners, much of the ignorance and stigma has been reduced.
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