Reflecting on Advocacy and STI Awareness: Centering Stories and Challenging Stigma
I included this in one of my recent captions and want to break it down further because I think it warrants a post of its own.
As advocacy and education around herpes and STI awareness becomes more commonplace, we need to be mindful of how we show up within our efforts, as well as critical analyses of their effects. By that I mean...
Whose story are we telling? Or centering?
Whose stories are missing?
Why are we telling our story (is it education, fulfillment, or social validation?)
What is our purpose? What’s the WHY?
What is the role of stigma in this? In me?
Self-awareness has been key for me along this journey, and my personal and professional shifts on this account serve as evidence of that.
While I am pleased to see overwhelming interests in wanting to serve populations with STIs, specifically herpes, I also hope that we keep the potential, unintentional gateway of exclusion in mind.
The best thing we can do as advocates and educators is integration. That’s when the real work to undermine stigma begins.