Intersectional Self-Stigma Among Young Chinese Men Who Have Sex with Men Living with HIV/AIDS: A Qualitative Study

Background: Young men in China who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionately infected with HIV. While scholars have drawn attention to the intersectional stigma against individuals with multiple stigmatized identities, little is known about how HIV-positive MSM navigate stigmatized identities and cope with intersectional self-stigma. This qualitative study explored how young Chinese MSM living with HIV/AIDS respond to their stigmatized identities and developed a typological framework to elucidate their experiences of intersectional self-stigma in the Chinese context.

Method: Between August and October 2020, semi-structured interviews were conducted online with 24 young Chinese MSM living with HIV/AIDS aged 18-30. Guided by the analytic strategies of constructivist grounded theory, initial, focused, and theoretical coding were employed to analyze the data.

Results: Four profiles around the experience of intersectional self-stigma emerged. The first profile described participants self-stigmatizing their MSM identity more than their HIV/AIDS identity; the second profile captured those who reported stronger HIV/AIDS self-stigma. The third and fourth profiles were characterized by those who either self-stigmatized or accepted both intersectional identities, respectively.

Conclusions and Implications: This study contributes to understanding the intricate nuances of the responses of Chinese HIV-positive MSM to their MSM identity and HIV-positive status in China’s social and institutional contexts. By elucidating the intersection of self-stigma, this study advocates for intersectionality-based policies to eliminate public stigma against sexual minorities and HIV-positive people. This study also suggests that an intersectional perspective helps practitioners understand the complexity of intersectional self-stigma of MSM living with HIV/AIDS and provide them with services.