Goffman Stigma

In September 15, 2016 Reuters published a rather disturbing story, they found that 30% of transgender patients delayed or did not seek treatment due to the stigma they received as transgender people. While the United States is making progress toward fairer treatment, medical professionals lag behind making mistakes with names and creating a hostile environment for these people in clinics. We simply do not spend enough time training medical students about Transgender issues and this is problematic because transgender people tend to need more medical care than other groups. In summary the transgender stigma is almost nowhere else as disadvantaged as it is in the US medical system despite the fact that the medical system is one of the places
In the context of Goffman's idea of stigma individuals who identify with a different gender than the one they are born with are "...reduced in our minds (the minds of a medical professional) from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one"(Goffman, Page 3). Transgender people are of course still people with a wide range of ideas, preferences, political opinions and personal philosophies. If they did not have a different sexual orientation from the rest of humanity they would "...have been received easily in ordinary social intercourse"(Goffman, Page 3). According to Goffman's view being transgender is a stigma of character traits and thus humanity will act as though they are not entirely human and for this reason discriminate against them. This discrimination will fuel the self hate and cause problems for the transgender. They must expend more time and energy to get their physicians to understand their problems and treat them properly. These views are born out by reality with nearly 42 percent of transgender men reported verbal harassment, physical assault or denial of equal treatment in a doctor's office or