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I genuinely don't get what shaming people for their behavior is supposed to accomplish. Like, at 7 months into this pandemic people know what the COVID-19 prevention behaviors are. This isn't to educate them or others. It's holier-than-thou virtue signaling bullshit.
You know what shaming people does? It makes them feel shameful, angry, and manipulated. You know what it doesn't do? Make them change their behavior. We've seen this with interventions around STI prevention. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/mar.20647
Shame as a "public health" approach to behavior change disproportionately harms marginalized communities! We've seen this with shame-based smoking interventions, as people who smoke are disproportionately low-income, people of color, and LGBTQ+. https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/24/5/419.full
You know what works instead? When people engage in prevention as a form of care for each other. You know what makes people not want to care for each other? That shame & manipulation people feel when they are publicly shamed by others for their behaviors. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3433852/
Shame does not make people change their behaviors. Feeling shame around drinking can make drinking worse for folks with alcohol use disorders! Reducing shame around sex can help sexual minority men use condoms more often, reducing HIV/STI risk! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3833191/
These are conversations that public health and the public sphere have been having for DECADES across various epidemics, and the consensus time after time is that harm reduction is the answer rather than shame-based calls for perfect abstinence. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7271640/
It's not cute / radical / clever / educational to shame people for their behavior in this pandemic. It's not going to accomplish anything other than making you feel better for a moment because "At Least I'm Not Acting Like That" and maybe getting you some social media attention.
Shame is not the answer for prevention—of HIV, of STIs, of COVID-19, of substance use, of anything. We need to meet people where they're at and walk together towards a more sustainable way of moving through this world.
