The bogus business of stigma-busting

Our society is bristling with social stigmas, we’re told, even in the progressive West, even in London. Life is so horribly stigmatised that celebrities are increasingly keen to raise awareness not of diseases or disabilities, but of the stigma that’s said to surround them. So: less campaigning for cancer research, more for breaking the stigma around talking about cancer. Less feeding the world, more brave standing up to the stigma attached to food poverty.

Once you’re alert for stigma, it’s astonishing how much mention of it there is. There are the obvious and much discussed stigmas surrounding mental illness and sexuality, but also (I’ve read) there’s a stigma around having red hair, blonde hair or black hair; being curvy or ‘naturally thin’ (the horror!); eating meat or eating ‘clean’ (‘Your love of raw vegan cheesecakes could be costing you friends’, reported the Independent).

Spotting stigmas is a rewarding game. My favourite so far is a po-faced report about the stigma attached to eating crisps.