STIGMA what stigma?

live. Now I’m back in work, at the gym and buying my own flat. A lot of positive gay man were knocked back - they lost their jobs and their self-esteem tumbled. I’ve been able to

regain my self-esteem, feel attractive again and know I have a future.
“I think that stigma has a lot to do with our perception of ourselves,” says Andrew. “It’s people thinking ‘I’m terrible, I’m horrible, I’m unlovable’ and projecting that onto everyone they meet.
“It’s not easy, but a lot of coping with being positive is how much you can accept yourself, not judging yourself too harshly, ditching guilt and getting on with life.

“People who are happy with themselves and who like themselves look after themselves. People who are unhappy and miserable and don’t have any value in life are more likely not to look after themselves.”
Jack Summerside, head of ‘Living Well with HIV Services’ at Terrence Higgins Trust, agrees that the situation for positive gay men is much better than it was, but questions what proper evidence for stigma there actually is.
“At the Barcelona conference this summer there were a lot of people rattling on about stigma but precious little hard research. Certainly there were some horrific experiences here in the past but it’s nothing compared with what’s going on in Africa.
“As gay men we should be used to dealing with stigma and discrimination and should have toughened up a bit. There’s no point in torturing ourselves because we’re positive. There are all sorts of stigma out there. People may not like us because we’re not very tall or have a Brummie accent or don’t have a perfect gym body.
“Worldwide, the stigma theme is very important but for those of us in the rich west I think it’s time we stopped feeling sorry for ourselves and moved on.
“The situation in the big cities here is obviously much better than for isolated positive men.

“I still wonder why HIV is so universally feared. 300 years ago Daniel Defoe wrote in ‘Journal of the Plague Years’ about men going out and kissing girls and passing on the plague and