If something has a negative association attached to it, call this a stigma. Bed-wetting can lead to a social stigma for a six year old, while chewing tobacco might have the same effect for a sixty year old.
Stigma, from the Greek word of the same spelling meaning "mark, puncture," came into English through Latin to mean a mark burned into the skin to signify disgrace. It did not take long for stigma to be used figuratively, as it is commonly used today, for the negative stereotype or reputation attached to something such as "the stigma of divorce."
