ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the theoretical lens of 'intersectionality' to examine the complex relationship between gender and stigma, and to consider the implications of this relationship for HIV/AIDS programs. It believes that an understanding of stigma is required to deepen our analysis of facilitators and barriers for effective participatory HIV/AIDS programs. The chapter develops a social psychological reading of HIV-related stigma, which focuses on the relationship between the individual and society. In contrast, the mobilization of sex workers to challenge stigma in the Summertown Project was not particularly successful. The chapter explores the potential for participatory anti-stigma interventions to improve the life circumstances of disempowered women, through building more positive social identities and increasing women's agency. Anti-stigma interventions should therefore be focused on raising women's consciousness of gender oppression and tackling their unequal social status-as part and parcel of building the capacity of women to cope with HIV-related stigma.
