Stigma and otherness in the Israeli media's mirror representations of illness.
In this study we examined the social construction of stigma toward HIV/AIDS in the Israeli press by comparing newspaper articles on HIV/AIDS, a highly stigmatized illness, and heart disease, a nonstigmatized illness in Israel. We carried out thematic content analysis of 242 newspaper articles published over a 12-month period. Two counter themes emerged from the analysis. HIV/AIDS was portrayed as a "foreign illness" mainly afflicting immigrants from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia. In addition, HIV/AIDS was constructed as a disease of "the deviant other," particularly gay men, who pose risk to themselves and those around them. By contrast, heart disease was defined as a "local illness" of "ordinary" individuals, and an unpredictable phenomenon. The mirror images of HIV/AIDS and heart disease, which were involved in the stigmatizing process of HIV/AIDS, reflect the wider moral-sociocultural order of Israeli society.
College of Law, the Burton Blatt Institute, Syracuse University, 900 S Crouse Ave., Crouse-Hinds Hall, Suite 300, Syracuse, NY 13244-2130, USA. msoffer@law.syr.edu
Michal
M
Soffer
Mimi
M
Ajzenstadt
D001294:Attitude to Health; D003625:Data Collection; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005002:Ethiopia; D015658:HIV Infections; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006331:Heart Diseases; D006716:Homosexuality; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008402:Mass Media; D011287:Prejudice; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013240:Stereotyping; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014586:USSR