Monkeypox: "Stigmatization doesn't cure, we need answers"
The media and institutional approach to monkeypox replicates a discriminatory and homophobic discourse.
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On July 21st, a report in the New England Journal of Medicine stated that of 528 positive cases of monkeypox in 16 countries between April 27th and June 24th of this year, 98% were gay or bisexual men. Far from focusing attention and response on these groups, this led the media to amplify the stigma.
But this isn't the first time that, faced with an epidemiological alert—in this case monkeypox —the chosen response has been hatred. In 1985, US President Ronald Reagan spoke for the first time about the HIV virus. Four years had passed since the first recorded case, thousands had died, and a stigma remained: it was something that affected faggots, transvestites, and drug addicts. Until it affected "heterosexual" people (what a concept, heterosexuality!), no one was alarmed that this "divine plague" or "pink cancer" was claiming the lives of the outcasts.
While medicine and science require objective research and inclusive, macro-level perspectives, historically, the approach in the social sphere has been to find a scapegoat, a population upon which to place the (lack of) collective responsibility. This happened in the 80s and 90s, and it's happening again in 2022. Pandemics come and go, and it seems we learn nothing.
The WHO recommendation on monkeypox
While science continues to rack its brains trying to achieve time travel, this week the director of the World Health Organization made a recommendation that seems like it was written in 1980. But it was made live in 2022. They suggested that men who have sex with men reduce the number of sexual partners to prevent the spread of the virus.
In other words: the solution isn't preventative vaccines. No. The solution is for gay men to wear chastity belts. While monkeypox isn't an STI (sexually transmitted infection), it can be transmitted during sexual encounters. For the WHO, the solution isn't to take preventative measures or vaccinate those considered more vulnerable populations, but rather to launch regressive and useless proposals. Bravo.
So what's the point of all the statistics and numbers we read in the media? Why talk about the number of gay and bisexual people with monkeypox ? This supposedly objective information should lead to concrete action, but instead it's used to blame a certain sector of society, not to formulate urgent public health responses. We need vaccines, treatments, and information. And instead, we're given prejudice and sensationalist headlines.
These days in Mexico, activists are demanding underreporting of monkeypox cases . The WHO isn't talking about the inefficiency of underfunded and neglected healthcare systems, or the burnout of healthcare professionals after dealing with a pandemic. We aren't revisiting the debates about drug and vaccine patents and their bureaucratic purchasing processes, which generate unimaginable profits for a select few. No, what's urgently needed here is to talk about the sexuality of men who have sex with other men and love men who love men, and so on ad infinitum.
The role of the media in disinformation and stigma
The voracious pursuit of clickbait headlines turns the media into a breeding ground for stigma and prejudice. The WHO issues an outdated message while simultaneously urging people not to stigmatize. And the filtering of major headlines and featured stories reveals that gay men, men who have sex with men, and bisexual men are at the center of the seismic storm.
This morbid focus in journalism stems from a perceived priority on social media metrics, regardless of the impact on society. These irresponsible actions reveal a historical pattern: people who refuse treatment or testing because " I'm not gay, after all ," or others who, if they have symptoms, prefer to deny them to avoid being labeled a "faggot."
While viruses related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and other issues continue to spread, the media gains followers through sensationalism and fear-mongering. The equation is disastrous.
The worst virus
Instead of addressing the problems, taking responsibility for mistakes, and implementing collective solutions, the preference is to blame a group of people. This structure is as old as it is sinister. It demonstrates that world history is an endless cycle of déjà vu with catastrophic results from which we learn nothing.
While the same media outlets that spread terror marvel at the case of a person in Barcelona who managed to control HIV without medication, HIV activism organizations denounce the Community of Madrid for imposing bureaucratic obstacles that leave HIV+ migrants without medication.
The same media outlets that celebrate an isolated case and ignore the health emergency affecting not only migrants but the entire population, constantly avoid mentioning her name—who? The president of that region: Isabel Díaz Ayuso. The same one who, after denying that the homophobic murder of young Samuel was a homophobic crime, said that homophobia “lives in the minds of the left.”
Healthcare systems are collapsing, anti-rights groups are undermining sex education, viruses are multiplying, prevention is being ignored, but of course, for the WHO, the solution is for us faggots to have less sex. The president of the Community of Madrid denies migrants care and human rights, but the media is fascinated by an isolated case.
While it may seem we are emerging from another pandemic, the dangerous clouds in the sky never left, those that bring hatred and stigma. The worst virus was, is, and will continue to be hatred. Let us be the vaccine of information, greater rights, and empathy.
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