Quotes About Stigma

I somewhat resist the whole gay rights-vampire rights metaphor because it is fraught with problems. I don't want to be seen as a gay man as a blood-sucking killer. I don't think it is the way to win hearts and minds.

People have an image of Italians. When I go somewhere in the world, I don't care where it is, when they look at me it's not about my intelligence. It's who can I beat up.

My son has died of AIDS.

Like most people I knew, I thought drug addicts were the kinds of people we see in doorways in neighbourhoods most of us try to avoid - people obviously strung out, often homeless and possibly psychotic. I didn't think my son could become addicted, but he had.

To this day my father cringes when he has to tell friends, 'My son's a movie actor.'

If you do an item song, then you're categorized as an item girl; if you focus on acting, you're categorized as an actor.

As soon as people see my face on a movie screen, they knew two things: first, I'm not going to get the girl, and second, I'll get a cheap funeral before the picture is over.

I'm not one of these guys who says, Now I'm on a really hot show, better quit soon before I get labeled. That's the most ridiculous notion I'd ever heard.

Sometimes people look at people with disabilities and there's a moment where they just feel sorry for them.

We're becoming so much better at destigmatizing all sorts of things, including mental illness in 'Silver Linings.'

People have this perception of soul music of somebody shouting.

It was a source of shame for my family that I was in rock and roll, which is so blue-collar. It just isn't done. And I felt it, too.

I'm over there filming in South Africa now, and two in five are HIV-positive now. Not many people know that.

HIV/AIDS is a very big problem in my country South Africa, so I hope to stand as an advocate for that.

Being a Southern person and a blonde, it's not a good combination. Immediately, when people meet you, they think of you as not being smart.

Southern black gay and bi men are suffering from a self-esteem issue.

If you talk with a Southern accent, it's perceived as though you are slow. That's not the case. I've met just as many dumb people who talk without an accent as with.

To see a trans body in this ideal space - on a cover, in an ad - these are spaces that have immense cultural power to dictate what is beautiful, what is glamorous, what is aspirational, what is sexy, what is clean. That can be very powerful and helpful in the de-stigmatization of trans bodies.

Watch them describe you to somebody else and see how it long it takes for them to bring up your physical description that'll tell you all.

Putting labels on others creates a black hole of disregard where judgment thrives and schisms deepen.

There are designations, like "economist," "prostitute," or "consultant," for which additional characterization doesn't add information.

American culture encourages the process of failure, unlike the cultures of Europe and Asia where failure is met with stigma and embarrassment. America's specialty is to take these small risks for the rest of the world, which explains this country's disproportionate share in innovations.

our representation of the standard criminal might be based on the properties of those less intelligent ones who were caught.

In fact, the reason I felt immediately at home in America is precisely because American culture encourages the process of failure, unlike the cultures of Europe and Asia where failure is met with stigma and embarrassment. America's specialty is to take these small risks for the rest of the world, which explains this country's disproportionate share in innovations. Once established, an idea or a product is later "perfected" over there. Volatility