When the Plus Sign is a Negative: Challenging and Reinforcing Embodied Stigmas Through Outliers and Counter-Narratives

摘要

When individuals become aware of their stigma, they attempt to manage their identity through discourses that both challenge and reinforce power. Identity management is fraught with tensions between the desire to fit normative social constructions and counter the same discourse. This essay explores identity management in the midst of the embodied stigmas concerning unplanned pregnancy during college and raising a biracial son. In doing so, this essay points to the difference between outlier narratives and counter-narratives. The author encourages health communication scholars to explore conditions under which storytelling moves beyond the personal to the political. Emancipatory intent does not guarantee emancipatory outcomes. Storytelling can function therapeutically for individuals while failing to redress forces that constrain human potential and agency.