Experiences of Stigma Among Sexual Minority Men During the 2022 Global Mpox Outbreak

Sexual minority men (SMM) face considerable identity-related stigma. During the 2022 global mpox outbreak-which disproportionately affected SMM-there was broad concern that mainstream media and public health messages lacking nuance might exacerbate stigma against SMM by forging negative associations between them and mpox. The present work examined responses from an international sample of SMM (n = 685 sampled from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States using Prolific) collected at two timepoints during the outbreak. Participants reported on the stigma they faced during the outbreak and their overall well-being. Using these data, we performed exploratory analyses relying primarily on descriptive statistics and effect sizes derived from linear models to characterize SMM's experiences of stigma during the outbreak, as well as the correlates of these experiences. We found that SMM felt strongly-though variably-stigmatized during the outbreak and that these experiences of stigma were associated with worse well-being. Our findings indicate the importance of managing the messaging of future health crises to better convey important health information without further stigmatizing members of marginalized groups. Public Significance Statement When major societal events-like the 2022 global mpox outbreak-disproportionately affect members of marginalized groups, the ways society responds to those events may sometimes risk exacerbating stigma against those groups. We found that sexual minority men experienced considerable stigmatization during-and related to-the 2022 global mpox outbreak and that these experiences of stigma were related to worse well-being. We urgently call for better methods for responding to crises like this one in the future without contributing to stigma.