This, however, fits into the larger picture that literally anyone in close contact with a monkeypox patient could potentially contract the virus, and the narrative reinforces stereotypes and amplifies stigma against the condition itself.Īny and every stigmatizing language around monkeypox, and the host of diseases that have preceded and will come after, doesn’t just affect the communities in question - it jeopardizes public health. The trend so far, reportedly is a fair share of cases are being seen in gay, bisexual men, and other men who have sex with other men in the U.K. The Difference MattersĮven the reporting of cases among people from the LGBTI+ community is couched in homophobia. Omicron Variant Did Not ‘Originate’ in South Africa, It Was ‘Detected’ There. It relies on an age-old stereotype: black and brown people as reservoirs and vectors of disease white people as hapless victims.
“We find these actions to be very insensitive… Is the media in the business of ‘preserving White purity’ through ‘Black criminality or culpability’?” Arguably, the racist undertones also suppress the empathy and nuance that Black and brown-skinned people deserve. The impact is far from innocuous in a socio-political context: “We condemn the perpetuation of this negative stereotype that assigns calamity to the African race and privilege or immunity to other races,” FPA noted. One of my favorite responses to this hypocrisy was: “So the present outbreak has victims who are prone to photophobia? Let the journalists get pictures from hospitals currently treating cases in the outbreak countries.” There remains something amiss in this line of argument: logistically, if the outbreak is in Europe or America, why shouldn’t the organizations take images from the ground, documenting the condition of those hospitals? If this reporting is about convenience, it makes for lousy journalism. The defense of some media outlets seems to be that since monkeypox is endemic to some regions in Africa, Google and other stock images outlets use would end up being of people from those regions.
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“It is therefore disturbing for European and North American media outlets to use stock images bearing persons with dark/black and African skin complexion to depict an outbreak of the disease in the United Kingdom and North America.” As such, we believe that no race or skin complexion should be the face of this disease,” they wrote in a letter. “As any other disease, it can occur in any region in the world and afflict anyone, regardless of race or ethnicity. The Foreign Press Association, Africa, pointed out the racism in the way news coverage has played out. Right now, monkeypox is among the most searched query on Google, and a quick glimpse will show pictures of Black patients mostly from Central and Western Africa. However, the media reporting on the virus and infected individuals have carried shades of blatant discrimination and bigotry. To a discerning eye, what we know so far is there is an outbreak in countries where the virus is not endemic. even seem to be the result of community spread. Yet, the most recent cases that are being detected have no history of travel, no contact with someone who had monkeypox some cases in the U.K. A relative of the smallpox family, monkeypox occurs mostly in remote parts of central and west African countries, near tropical rainforests, and has two different strains. Over the last few weeks, countries like the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Canada have reported a spate of cases of monkeypox in their countries. The narrative Western media is constructing around the virus is one of tacit blame and stigma along the lines of race and gender. The latest monkeypox outbreak in some countries once again stokes this under –appreciated truth. The pandemic was only the latest reminder to illustrate how untrue this is: marginalized communities have always shouldered a disproportionate impact of any infectious disease or illness.
It is the ultimate reminder of human mortality that dawns upon people equally.
It is a myth only now beginning to be debunked that health crises are rarely discriminatory.