Question

When a number of young, gay men in new york, san francisco and los angeles began dying of a mysterious disease in the early 1980's, the public began referring to the disease as "the gay cancer," stigmatizing the disease for doctors and patients. this is an example of:
a. the medicalization of deviance

b. the social construction of the illness experience

c. the decriminalization of hiv

d. the cultural meaning of illness?

Answer 1

The correct answer is D. The cultural meaning of illness

Explanation:

In societies, cultural meaning refers to the ideas, definitions, beliefs, etc. people in their culture have about some aspect or situation. In the case of the cultural meaning of illness, it refers to the ideas, beliefs, etc. related to a condition or illness and that is not based on medicine but in all beliefs, personal experience, and similar.

The case presented is an example of the cultural meaning of illness because due to people observing mostly gay men die and due to their lack of knowledge they understood HIV as the "gay cancer" rather than as a sexually transmitted disease that can affect anybody which means people created ideas, beliefs, etc. about this disease that was related to the culture and also to personal beliefs or prejudice.