Facial Disfigurement Stigma

Abstract

In India, the incidence of fire attacks on women has risen dramatically. Although studies and media accounts describe how and why these attacks occur, no research has investigated the lives of survivors. Qualitative analysis of the texts of two focus groups of women scarred by domestic attacks by fire reveals that these women are heavily stigmatized. Using Yang et al.’s theory that stigma is a response to perceived threats to values of everyday life and feminist theory as guides, the study identified two patterns of moral threat related to disfigurement: (a) Disfigurement challenges values and practices of women’s family roles, and (b) disfigurement threatens normative religious sensibilities.