The monkeypox (MPX) virus is not a novel occurrence, but cases were only reported a few times a year until May 2022 when transmission of MPX spread globally and was declared a global public health emergency by the WHO shortly after [1,2]. In the WHO European Region, the outbreak of MPX cases is largely targeted towards men among whom men who have sex with men (MSM) who represent the vast majority of the cases [3]. Most likely transmission routes were sexual contact in the majority of cases [3]. Also in the Netherlands, MSM are being considered as the population at risk of MPX, with PrEP users and MSM living with HIV labelled at highest risk due to their sexual risk behaviors [4,5]. Monkeypox could therefore become labelled as a MSM-specific infection which might elicit stigmatization towards this population, similar to the beginning of the HIV epidemic [6]. The current scientific MPX literature focuses predominantly on the epidemiology and clinical outcomes of MPX, but psychosocial aspects such as stigma are ...