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crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
To paraphrase Don Cornelius, the former host of Soul Train, “I'll bet my last money” that this doesn't get as much attention as it should:
Heterosexual black men with multiple sex partners – not bisexual men who secretly have sex with men – are responsible for high rates of HIV among black women, according to a senior CDC official. “We have looked to see what proportion of infections is coming from male partners who are bisexual and found there are actually relatively few,” said Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention.
“More are male partners who are having female partners and are injecting drugs or using drugs or have some other risks that may put those female partners at risk of acquiring HIV.” Black women make up 61 percent of all new HIV cases among women in the United States and have an HIV prevalence rate nearly 18 times that of white women. HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death for black women ages 25-34, and 80 percent of new cases are contracted through heterosexual contact. “What we’re seeing is a concentration of the epidemic among the poor, among ethnic minorities and racial minorities in the United States,” Fenton said.
I don't know how to characterize this. I certainly can't call it “good news” for obvious reasons – people are still catching HIV/AIDS. And I'm guessing that folks are going to either ignore this information or engage in arguments that will go off on tangents far from its main point.
Some in the lgbt community will use this situation to unconsciously drive that wedge between the lgbt and African-American communities by misusing their righteous indignation. The point of the above piece is not whether blacks are more homophobic or not. The point is that some people are ignorant in terms of why HIV/AIDS is spreading in the black community. However no one should forget that many of the victims in the black community are young black men who have been isolated from society period, whether that society be the black community or lgbt community.
Instead of useless, hypothetical arguments about the divisions between the black and gay communities, how about focusing on saving these young black gay men.
But in all honesty, the black community has a lot to answer for. The idea that “down low gay black men are causing HIV/AIDS to spread in the black community” was a notion that spread across the community like a wildfire.
And while it was good that black-oriented programs (i.e The House of Payne) are talking about it and BET is featuring commercials telling people to get tested, I can't help wondering if folks would be so concerned if it were only black gay men catching the disease.
It's like the black community is finally catching on because so-called normal people (i.e. black straight women) are in the crossfire.
And after J.L. King's book (On The Down Low) was published, an industry was born but an opportunity to really talk about the actual problems that contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS in the black community (i.e. the dehumanization of lgbts of color) was squandered
Instead, there was a plethora of “how to spot down low men” books, conferences, and seminars across the country.
The most ridiculous (and yes some people actually believed this mess) came from phony black authoress Shahrazad Ali.
Ali, in her book How To Tell if Your Man is Gay or Bisexual, gave a few “tips” on spotting “downlow men,” including:
How does he sleep at night, what position does he sleep in? Does
he sleep like a woman, or like a man? What does he talk about in his
sleep?
You can touch his rectum to see if he has those tell-tale humps
on his anus from having it stretched open with a penis. Then later on
ask him if he's ever had hemorrhoids really bad.
If he asks you to “toss his salad” and you agree, and his legs go
up too quickly, he's probably used to doing it.
With all of this ignorance and eagerness to get distracted out there, you will forgive me if I'm not that concerned about the CDC's latest statement.
It was meant to clarify but unfortunately the communities it's meant to help probably won't even hear it.
And if they do, they probably won't use the information in the correct manner.
22 Comments
This Study May Be the KeyI’m not sure why this study has not been talked about more in the gay media:
The article emphasizes that there need to be more studies. I haven’t heard about anything so far that contradicts this theory.
I have always had my doubts about the sociological explanations regarding blacks and HIV such as racism and homophobia. They just seem too convenient and not backed up by scientifically provable data. I don’t doubt those things play a role but I have long suspected that genetics was the dominant factor. It’s the only thing which ties American blacks with those in Africa and the Caribbean despite vastly different economic, cultural, social and political realities.
ALERT OPRAH TODAY!!!Maybe she will retract some of her statements.
Dr. Fenton’s comments show the danger of speculating without statsI recognize the appeal of the DL theory to explain the extremely high rate of HIV infections among black women, but over the years its been cautioned that there are no studies to back it up.
Dr. Fenton’s remarks are very welcome. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a study to cite which supports his statement about DL not being the primary cause. However, I did find the National Newspaper Publishers Association article which was the source for the NPIN webpage which Alvin quoted:
Official Says ‘Down Low’ Men Not Responsible for High HIV Rates Among Black Women
Excerpts from the NNPA’s interview with Dr. Fenton can be viewed at:
http://www.nnpa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2392&Itemid=94
Did I miss a day of Gender Stereotypes 101?How exactly do men and women sleep differently?
The important thing to acknowledgeIs the role of many black churches in stoking the spiraling numbers. Instead of a head-in-the-sand approach to HIV/AIDS (and sex generally) that keeps men and women from getting the education and information they need (and the constant reinforcement) to slow the carnage.
The Catholic Church does the sameboth here and in Africa.
too badwe can’t have condom dispensers in the bathroom.
God knows we have sex….why not make him proud and wrap it up?
As for the dental dams…we’re on our own there. =]
there is no reason it can’t be both…There might be a genetic reason why people of African decent are more prone to get the disease (it originated there afterall).
But behaviour and a more confined dating pool probably makes things worse.
Black Americans (especially LGBTs) are impacted by a near perfect storm of issues that make the overall situation worse.
1) Homophobia: there is no question that having people force their sexuality underground increases the likely hood that they will engage in risky sexual behaviour
2) Gay Racism: reinforces the need for black LGBTs to keep their sexuality underground since it ensures that the people involved do not have a safe space in which to be themselves.
3) Limited Desireability: Say what you will, but there is a growing amount of evidence that black men and women are sort of compelled to find partners with members of the same ethnicity because we have a harder time on the desireability front with other groups. Black women in particular are somewhat shut out from finding interested partners of other ethnicities. Black men tend to have the same problem (though straight black men have a better chance with white and hispanic women). Thus despite the huge and diverse population within the US, most blacks are restricted to a severely limited dating pool.
4) Poverty: This should be self explanatory. People without good paying jobs, good healthcare and substandard education are simply going to be impacted at greater levels by any non-genetically linked disease.
5) Fractured family and community life: This is one of the areas that separates black Americans from many other communities of color. From a purely socio cultural standpoint, black Americans have more in common with white americans than other communities of color (shocking…but logical). Most black Americans are NOT immigrants. Thus we long ago adopted the individualistic philosophy that dominates the american character. Thus, while we talk about the importance of family and community, its not nearly as cohesive as one might find in other communities of color. There is a distinct irony in the fact that people talk about the “black community” as if it is some sort of hive mind. But on the ground, the level of communication, cooperation, and organized action is increasinly far below that of other communities. This means that as individuals we tend to have fewer fall back positions. You rise and fall on your own accord. In practice it leaves people with much less overall support and makes them more likely to take risks.
CDC report is NOT science….
Because the conclusions depend ENTIRELY on the integrity or lack of it of the self-labeling of the participants and there is NO way of guaranteeing that.
How many of those who identified themselves as “heterosexual” are, in fact, having sex with both genders? 1%? 10%? 25%? There’s simply no way for me, you, the CDC, anyone, to scientifically “know” this without monitoring the participants 24-hrs. a day.
Please stop spreading assumptions as scientific fact.
[Genetic influences, unrelated to sexual orientation, are another matter and ultimately measurable if not now.]
CDC doesn’t use identity markersThe CDC have focused their work on behavioral categories like “men who have sex with men” (MSM) and “men who have sex with men and women” (MSMW). etc.
The original report was published in the American Journal of Public Healthhttp://www.ajph.org/cgi/conten…
“A Review of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis Among Blacks in the United States, 1981-2009″
It a review of the science from the past 30 years.
STOP calling it “science” please!
How do they decide who fits into those “behavioral categories”?
By what the men ASSERT their behaviors are.
That still requires someone to answer honestly about who they’ve had sex with
QuestionWhat’s the difference between “gay racism” and good old fashioned racism?
Just the same, I do make the distinction between “homophobia” and “black homophobia”?
Mind you, I can answer both questions, I’m just wondering what you think, really.
#3Couldn’t that also be because black people like other black people, and like most other groups no matter what they are, tend to like people similar to themselves? Why is it that ‘no one else wants us so we’re stuck with limited to each other’ as if we don’t or shouldn’t want each other to begin with? And since most groups date people like themselves and are limited, whether by desirability or choice, to people similar to themselves in terms of race and social background how come the disease hasn’t affected them in the same way?
Eww, I’m sorry that paragraph just left a nasty taste in my mouth. the other shit I was with you on but that right there I just don’t agree with.
I actually agree with youI mean, I really don’t get attracted to people according to their race exactly, but I have never lacked for white guys being attracted to me and I am not all that cute at all, IMHO
My point was more about…the reasons why HIV is so prevalent amongst black Americans. Part of it is about ethnic concentration. Because the limited desireability factor, there are far fewer options for people within the community to escape the infection beyond a select population. Thus you have set population thats spreading the disease amongst itself with few opportunities to spread beyond that core group. Even people who would be inclined to date beyond the community will find it hard to do so. Thus locking more people into a community that already has high infection rates.
Think of it this way…If I’m in a small room full of people with colds, I’m far more likely to catch a cold myself if I was locked in the room rather than having the option of freely moving between several other rooms where the virus is not as concentrated.
Its just one element of a larger picture.
High rate of incarceration of Black men is key to high HIV rate for Black womenThe difference in behavior between White straight men and White gay men is primarily due to White women having higher standards than White men when it comes to sexual partners. For example, if a typical White straight guy could walk into a nightclub and expect to get laid with little to no outlay in money he would do so and often. This is the deal that many White gay men have. Hence in the White community there is a lot of HIV in the White gay male group and low HIV in the White female group.
Unfortunately in the Black community the sky high rate of incarceration of Black men has led to a lowering of standards of Black women and a high incidence of men coming out of prison with HIV (or down low habits which lead to HIV). Many Black women don’t have the option of White women of picking guys with low risk of HIV. There aren’t enough such men available to allow this option.
The obvious solution is to improve socioeconomics of the Black community so-as to greatly lower the prison population. In the meantime Black women could be as choosy as White women with whom they have unprotected sex. I also feel that many Black women sell themselves short. There are any number of non-Black men with low risk of HIV happy to date respectable Black women. These guys won’t normally beat a path to the Black community so Black women wishing to date them will need to be proactive enough to get involved in the non-Black community.
I’d have to see a study linking disirability to HIV…Because of all the Black and latino couples I’ve seen and Black and white couples I’ve seen I don’t think we’re limited that much. I get where you’re going I just don’t think it has anything to do with desirability of race and if it does this desirability more than likely is linked to self esteem and what those who aren’t considered desirable because of other standards- weight, age, attractiveness, etc.- will do in sexual activity that others who are more self assured will do. If you want to date outside of the black community than it isn’t hard whatsoever; you may not have as many options as say some European-looking latino twink but its not like you don’t have any at all so you’re ‘stuck’ within this HIV dense group. Plus I think you forget that most black women don’t really want to date outside of their race to begin with and would rather just get a box of tissue and a bag of halls and stay in the room with the folks with colds.
I do not know if…there is a study focusing exclusively on HIV rates. However, I do know that studies have been done that show that people who are considered “less desireable” are far more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviour. When you talk about factors like weight, age, etc…race is an obvious extension of that.
Here is a study on this very issue: http://www.physorg.com/pdf1473…
Again, I just want to point out that I’m talking about a series of issues that contribute to the overall problem. One of these alone will not explain the prevalence of HIV among black Americans. Taken together, they create something of a de facto quarantine that makes the consentrartion far more understandable.
If you don’t have a better suggestion, please stop belittling scientistsSurvey research is still science. Yes, there are threats to internal and external validity in any research. Yes, survey methods may suffer from reporting biases. The people who do this kind of research are aware of these limitations; they do what they do because it is possible to do surveys in situations where controlled experiments are impossible and because the information resulting from surveys is useful despite its limitations.
Either propose a practical research methodology that would not suffer from these problems or stop insulting professional researchers by asserting, entirely without merit, that what they do is not science.
You’re assuming that black guys are almost exclusively attracted to white guys and that white guys are rarely attracted to black guys based on race = color of skin.
Race=culture, on the other hand is a bit of a different story.
Still, I’d like to know the answer to the “gay racism” question though. Not picking on you or anything, I would just like a clarity of terminology