As we pass the month-long milestone of the current monkeypox outbreak, reports are emerging that the World Health Organization (WHO) plans to change the name of the monkeypox virus to avoid stigma and discrimination. While this is an important step, it may require more than a name change.
As a researcher studying metaphors in healthcare, I use critical metaphor analysis to explore how the metaphors used to understand and discuss monkeypox can reinforce problematic, discriminatory, and dangerous social beliefs.
When a problem is framed metaphorically in a certain way, the solution to that problem often follows within the same frame. For example, metaphors used in the context of Covid often frame it as an enemy and the pandemic as a war. Within this framework, actions of “sacrifice,” “celebrate heroes on the front lines,” and “shelter in place” made sense.
In the first month since cases of monkeypox have been identified, different frames have been used to understand it. Each has potential consequences.
One way Monkeypox is metaphorically framed is as a criminal. This criminal is constructed as if he had broken out of the West African area where he was previously held. It has been “introduced” into the “community”, moved “undetected”, created a “threat” and “increased the risk”. monkeypox can even be masked or disguised.
When monkey pox is characterized as a criminal, the reasonable social response is to treat it as such. This is evident from how we describe the monkeypox response in criminal terms: “suspected cases” must be “investigated” and “detected” to “contain” it. We create a story that makes sense given the kinds of stories we know and the words we have available. This can spill over into how we respond to people with the virus.
Monkeypox has also been described as being “related to”, the “cousin” of, or “in the same family” as smallpox. Compared to smallpox, which previously received significantly “more attention and resources”, monkeypox was relatively “neglected”.
Only now does monkey pox “attract attention”, “make itself known” in “unexpected places” and cease to be “stupid”. It “pops on our doorstep” and invites itself into our communities. These descriptions combine into a characterization of monkey pox as something of a neglected, rebellious child.
The metaphors that frame monkeypox occur in the broader context of existing discriminatory narratives. Characterizing monkeypox as a criminal can have problematic consequences when it occurs alongside reports of cases of men having sex with men.
The ongoing LGBTQ+ history is riddled with criminalization, with identifying as LGBTQ+ being considered a crime, as well as a history of being considered a “disease.” Inaccurate descriptions of HIV/AIDS as a disease that only affects gay men reinforced these harmful, stigmatizing stories.
When monkeypox is labeled a criminal in the context of this history, it can reinforce the association between LGBTQ+ identity, disease and crime.
Similarly, when monkey pox is portrayed as a “black” disease, the frequent images of lesions on black bodies and association with Africa, in addition to the continued criminalization of black people, may further entrench that story.
The story of the neglected, rebellious child parallels a larger colonial story that infantilizes many African countries and peoples. Metaphorically, countries are constructed as people: political ‘bodies’ that interact within, and are part of, a larger ‘international community’.
In these metaphors, Western countries are often framed as parents, and countries that are still ‘developing’ as childlike. Western countries could be seen as having a responsibility to help them develop ‘correctly’ if they rebel, fueling colonialist attitudes, policies and actions.
Monkeypox, characterized as a neglected, rebellious child, can mingle with wider colonial and racist narratives, fueling racist beliefs and actions. Another racist story compares black people to monkeys and other primates. This story is evoked in conjunction with the childhood metaphor by the name of the virus – monkeypox – along with descriptions of it coming from certain African regions or countries.
One of the reported reasons for the WHO’s proposed name change is to decouple monkeypox from the African continent, especially variant names with African countries. There is also a call to stop using images of lesions on black bodies when discussing the virus.
In the context of broader discriminatory narratives discussed here, this makes sense. Breaking these associations can weaken the link between the language used to understand monkeypox and the broader discriminatory narratives permeating the culture.
However, the metaphors used to understand the virus will still exist. They can still be problematic. When deciding “who Monkeypox is”, we need to consider not only whether this is an accurate characterization of the virus, but also how this story might mix with others already in circulation and what damaging consequences it could have on its survival. love racist, colonial, homophobic and other discriminatory attitudes and beliefs.
Kaitlin Sibbald is a PhD student in Health Candidate at Dalhousie University, Canada