Stigma from above: a new theoretical perspective to understand the sexual and reproductive health of women experiencing homelessness

There is a stark knowledge gap on the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of women experiencing homelessness. The limited research that does exist foregrounds the challenges that they face at every stage of their reproductive lives. However, this body of research is often theoretically underdeveloped. To address this gap, I propose utilising a reproductive justice framework to understand the constraints within which women experiencing homelessness navigate their SRH homeless. Reproductive justice draws attention to the connectedness of reproductive issues with other social justice issues, and to the structural conditions which constrain the exercising of choice. This article focuses on one form of injustice, structural stigma, deploying a re-politicised theorisation of structural stigma as a mode of social control that is violently enacted upon women who experience homelessness. This conceptualisation of stigma, and its effects, holds the potential to underpin a future research agenda and provide a more nuanced understanding of the barriers that women who experience homelessness face throughout their reproductive lives.