The problem of stigmatizing expressions: The limits of anti-discrimination approaches

Acts of discrimination are stigmatizing. Preventing discrimination is therefore important in reducing the stigmatization of vulnerable minority groups. Anti-discrimination approaches are particularly useful in preventing certain acts of discrimination against certain categories of individuals. Some anti-discrimination approaches may however have difficulty in engaging stigmatizing expressions made against various groups. This may be particularly true where such approaches are focused on the existence of ‘treatment’,which, as the author discusses in this article, involved the imposition of binding changes on individuals. This includes expressions that may be stigmatizing and, while not imposing binding changes upon individuals, are in reality capable of inflicting psychological pressures, inducing potential effects that can be felt at the group and societal level. In making this point, his article compares the general anti-discrimination approach developed under Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the more specialized approach adopted by the European Union in a number of its anti-discrimination directives.As this article demonstrates, the latter type of approaches may offer more possibilities for engaging purely expressive activity that may be stigmatizing, but only in extremely limited contexts. The author of this article argues that this is largely because such approaches are less focused on the concept of ‘treatment’.