Stigma is a stain, a blot on one’s escutcheon, and probably originated with the ancient reaction to menstrual blood as a form of ritual pollution. Stigma is something of which to be ashamed. Each culture and society has its lists of stigmas. The stigma is also the sticky part of the pistil, the female part of a plant. Reproduction in plants occurs when the pollen from an anther is transferred to the stigma. A noun ending in an a is recognized as female in Latin, otherwise it would be stigmo. Stigma does sound sticky. Stigmo doesn’t.
• Stigma (manga), a Japanese manga story by Kazuya Minekura
• Stigma (EMF album), an album recorded by the band EMF in 1992
• Stigma (Mind Assault album)
• Stigma, an album recorded by the Japanese band YMsei Teikoku in 2005
• Stigma (Irish band), formed 1992 in Dublin
• Vinnie Stigma of the Agnostic Front and Madball
• Stigma (Stigma Official), WWE SmackDown vs. RAW player and ‘Stigma Official’ Community
• Stigma (Star Trek: Enterprise), a second-season episode of Star Trek: Enterprise
• Stigma (film), a 1972 film featuring Philip Michael Thomas
• Stigma (letter), a ligature of the Greek letters sigma and tau
• Stigma (wrestler), a professional wrestler
• Stigma (short), a 1999 TV Movie
• Stigma (book), a 1963 book written by Erving Goffman
Wikipedia says:
“Identifying which human differences are salient, and therefore worthy of labeling, is a social process. There are two primary factors to examine when considering the extent to which this process is a social one. The first issue is the fact that significant oversimplification is needed to create groups. The broad groups of black and white, homosexual and heterosexual, the sane and the mentally ill; and young and old are all examples of this. Secondly, the differences that are socially judged to be relevant differ vastly according to time and place. An example of this is the emphasis that was put on the size of forehead and faces of individuals in the late 19th century, which was believed to be an indication of a person’s degree of criminal nature.”
For a great book on this subject, check out Stuart and Elizabeth Ewen, Typecasting: On the Arts and Sciences of Human Inequality
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