Warner's argument is based on the distinction between shame and stigma, the former focused on the action and the latter focused on the doer. Specifically, as Warner says, "shame affects one's biographical identity" and, with time, it, like the memory of the act to which it was linked, will pass; stigma, on the other hand, “identifies a person permanently with his or her misfortune” and remains with the person “like a mark or a tattoo.” (Warner 27-8) Throughout his work, Warner continues to reiterate the point that stigma is lifelong, and its negative impact on the lives of those it touches is necessarily inevitable. And as you might expect, the negative consequences of stigma will inevitably conflict with the laws that reinforce them