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June 30, 2009
The Low Down on the Down Low
by Trenton Straube
A new study debunks the myth that men on the DL are responsible for the rising HIV rates among black women. Lead researcher Lisa Bond, PhD, talks with POZ about these important findings.
Don’t blame the “down low” (DL) for the growing incidence of HIV among African-American women. A new study shows that bisexually active black men who identified as DL were no more likely to spread HIV to their female partners than those who didn’t identify as DL. Specifically, 59 percent of both DL and non-DL men had unprotected sex with women, and both groups had similar HIV rates (44 percent of DL were positive compared with 56 percent of non-DL).
To scientifically explore what it means to be on the DL and whether it is in any way related to the spread of HIV, researchers with the Public Health Management Corporation, in collaboration with researchers at Hunter College School of Social Work, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), interviewed more than 1,100 black men who have sex with men in the Philadelphia and New York City.
The results were published this spring in the American Journal of Public Health. We spoke with the study’s lead author Lisa Bond, PhD, about these important findings and what they mean.
One of the topics you studied was the very definition of down low. Of the men who identified as DL, 56 percent of them also identified as bisexual, 28 percent as homosexual and 11 percent as heterosexual. Why is the definition of DL important?
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| Lisa Bond, PhD
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It’s not the subjective identity down low that spreads HIV but sexual behavior irrespective of the down low label. One of the things we learned in this study includes that being on the down low does not always mean you are a heterosexual man who has a wife or girlfriend who is sneaking around with men on the side.
And that’s the myth you’re examining?
Absolutely. Most of what we know about men on the down low has come from highly publicized accounts of just a handful of individuals who have been prominently featured in the media. And I think men on the down low—in particular black men on the down low—have been portrayed as dishonest and duplicitous heterosexuals and vectors of HIV transmission.
We should touch on the whole notion that the down low myth is unique to black men. Which it is not. Men of other racial and ethnic backgrounds use the term down low to denote preference for privacy about their sexual behaviors, which may include bisexuality.
How does this compare with white male bisexuality?
Certainly one thing that is different, I believe, is the media portrayal of black versus white bisexuality. The media have often portrayed black bisexual men as dishonest. And white bisexuals have tended to be portrayed as victimized homosexuals—Brokeback Mountain is a good illustration. Stories of white bisexuals tend to focus criticisms at homophobic cultures that force these men into closeted lifestyles. So there appears to be some racist stereotypes.
One of the findings was that about 59 percent of bisexually active DL men reported having unprotected sex with a woman. The number was also 59 percent of those who didn’t identify with DL. What do these numbers mean to you?
It suggests there is a lot of unprotected sex occurring between bisexual black men and their sexual partners. It’s important to point out that this rate of condom use is not unique to bisexual black men. This is a problem we see across populations and different racial and ethnic backgrounds, among women and men. This is an ongoing struggle in the fight to stop the spread of HIV, and that is: How do we increase the use of condoms in populations where there is significant risk for infection or transmission?
One of the alarming statistics showed that 44 percent of the DL-identified interviewees were HIV positive and that 56 percent of non-DL men were positive. Some of them were unaware of their status until participating in the research. Do you have a gage on how often these men get HIV tests?
We do. It was very similar whether men identified as down low or not. Roughly 90 percent of the men reported that they had ever tested for HIV, so that’s encouraging.
That means having a test within their lifetime, not within a particular time frame?
That’s ever testing. It’s very common to find that around 90 percent of MSM populations report ever testing for HIV. More problematic is when you look at recent testing. You start to find that significant numbers of folks have not had a test within the past year—we’ll use that as a marker because current recommendations from [the CDC] are that all sexually active MSM should receive at least one HIV test a year. Excluding HIV-positive men, we found in our study that one third of men had not taken an HIV test in the past year, and this was true of DL and non-DL identified men.
Finally, of all the findings in this study, what are the most important takeaways?
There are several key finding that are really important. We learned that it would be misguided to think that if we just targeted black men on the down low that we would end the spread of HIV—particularly between bisexually active black men and their female partners.
[Second,] not all black men on the so-called down low are having sex with women, and some men who don’t identify with the term down low do have sex with women—and these two findings really underscore the limited utility of using a label like down low for targeting HIV prevention efforts.
And third, the rate of condom use between bisexual men and women is relatively low—and that is low irrespective of whether or not men identify with this term down low.
So we need to shift our focus away from the down low. It’s been used quite extensively to demonize black gay and bisexual men, and we need to shift our focus on to more meaningful issues that do drive the HIV epidemic among HIV communities of color and particularly among black gay and bisexual men. And those are much bigger issues like poverty and racism and homelessness and crime incarceration rates.
Search: MSM, down low, African Americans, black, women, DL, Philadelphia, New York City, Lisa Bond, American Journal of Public Health
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Previous Comments:
comments 1 - 7 (of 7 total)
Angela Sloan, Cleveland, Ohio, 2009-08-21 01:29:33
I worked in a rehab where 50%of the patients were HIV poz. I did research of my own 50% of the HIV poz males contracted HIV from another male or a woman who slept with a poz bisexual male. I just believe for every case of HIV there is a bisexual male somewhere in the equation. I have a exbestfriend and cousin who is POZ they both deny that they are POZ. The reason i know that they are POZ is because they both went to jail for soliciting sex with POZ HIV results. There HIV status is public record
Juba Kalamka, Oakland,California, 2009-07-30 17:09:36
Kudos,Dr.Bond.Rote, lazy,dishonest screeds of specific racist pathology generalized homophobia don't help so-called DL men or the people they might infect.The misogyny and internalized homophobia attendant to some men's sexual secrecies is often affected by racialized experience,but isn't exclusive to it.Women and men have gotten STI's from other men long before we knew of HIV.Ending social and religious cultures of shame and sexphobia may help change things.Looking for boogeymen won't.
Frederick Wright, Tampa, 2009-07-06 12:17:11
The Term DL or in the closet bi-sexuals was made famous by a black man in a book, remember. And please note that the Black Community and Black Church is still the highest recorded increase in HIV Numbers. Latin folks do not have a term for Bi-Sexual just, Fem or Macho.. Whats up....
Terry W. Lake, Danville IL, 2009-07-05 12:42:23
Down Low. The very term states that anyone of any race whom operates on the DL is not honest about their sexuality and their individual risks they are taking, period. This dishonesty of ones sexuality is the real cause of the spread of HIV and that coupled with ignorance, bigotry, intolerance and numerous other factors are causing the spread of HIV. Unfortunately at large, gay men are less accepted in the African American Culture than are White men thus more black men operate on the DL.
troy lewis, new york city harlem, 2009-07-03 13:45:58
Blackmen are the only that has this stigma put on us their are also white down low men ,latin down low asain down low men middle eastern men and others .But somebody always start with black men and only black men by being str8male think that is wrong on so many levels and and you also can get from a females that came in contact with other str8 males that shot up on low ,having sex with to many partners.The person that did this study she went with all the races not just black men
Frederick Wright, Tampa, 2009-07-02 14:40:39
I sorry Dr. Lisa Bond research doesn't make any since, for the DL is a slang term for in closet Bi-sexual, in that reference non-DL term doesn't exist, yet in this study. To make up a new word to say it is a study is disappointing. I am happy the the black community is becoming honest to move to at least addressing different human sexuality issues in the direction of using a term called bi-sexual and hope they can accept GLBTQ folks in the community in the future with honor
David, Atlanta, 2009-07-02 10:10:34
The DL is hardly a myth. If you've spent any time working in HIV/AIDS, the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming. It's also funny how the lead researcher likes to pretend only black men are being demonized by the media. She's apparently incognizant of the fact that every white poz male who's status is revealed gets pretty much the same treatment. She had a political agenda here, so it's not surprising that personal responsibility or the black community's resistance to reality never came up.
comments 1 - 7 (of 7 total)
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