book review: On the Down Low
J.L. King's On the Down Low: A Journey Into the Lives Of "Straight" Black Men Who Sleep With Men
This was an interesting read, although perhaps slightly less interesting than it could have been. I was expecting a sociological/anthropological examination of black masculinity, which this is not. It contained too much padding/repetition, and it was a slight book anyway. I wanted case studies and sociology and got instead "my friend told me..." stories and conjecture. But, anyway.
King's argument is that some black men live "on the DL", publicly dedicating themselves to wives/girlfriends, whilst having sex with men on the side. They don't consider themselves gay--in fact, quite the opposite; they consider themselves emphatically not gay. Quote: "Brothers who have sex with other brothers. They're not in the closet; they're behind the closet. They are so far removed from attaching themselves and what they do to the homosexual lifestyle that these men do not consider themselves gay." Due to unsafe sex practices, this is the reason for the increased rate of HIV among black women. (59% of AIDS cases are among women who are black. 75% of these women contracted the disease from heterosexual sex.)
Let me just say that King's views on sexuality do not match up with mine. His views on sexuality (that you're born with your sexual identity more-or-less fully formed) are obviously heavily informed by his religion and to my mind they are a little arcane.
There's a prevalent strain of gay rights rhetoric that frames gayness in heteronormative stereotype. Basically: gay men are strong and MANLY and normatively masculine as well! they're still MEN, they just happen to be gay! Which, if you boil it down to its basics, is assuring men that they still have a right to their male privilege, even if they're gay. (Whereas I tend to think that if you're a gay man, you should also be a feminist and open to ideas of non-normative gender practices. I realize this is naive. ;) King seems to subscribe to this gay-but-still-manly rhetoric. The lines are drawn between men and women. (In fact, one of King's arguments is that heterosexual sex is so drastically different to gay sex that a women could never satisfy a DL man in bed.) King clearly subscribes to the flawed biological argument of "men and women are just DIFFERENT!" This is notable especially in the way that he ascribes a naturally high sex drive to men but not to women. There is no discussion of social theory or the spuriousness of masculinity, despite the fact that the heavily gendered nature of black society is clearly one of the reasons black men are forced to live on the DL.
King makes an interesting point about how black men cannot align themselves with the (white) gay community, because it seems so removed from their lives. He illuminates gayness (or at least, a specific branch of rainbow-wearing, Pride-marching gayness) as being a pigeonhole just like stereotypical heterosexuality. King also initially seems open to the idea of fluid sexuality, as he discusses men who are so curious about sex with other men that they go on the DL. Unfortunately, all of this is reversed at the end of the book when King breaks the DL man down into five categories (the Mature Brother, the Thug Brother, the Professional Brother, the "I Have A Wife/Girlfriend" Brother and the "I'm Just Curious" Brother), shoving everyone into neat pigeonholes.
I also think there's a noticeable gap in the book where King fails to properly consider the race aspect to the DL lifestyle. He states that because black men are already ostracized due to their skin color that there's a burning need not to be ostracized further, but he doesn't expand upon this as much as I'd like.
This was an interesting read, although perhaps slightly less interesting than it could have been. I was expecting a sociological/anthropological examination of black masculinity, which this is not. It contained too much padding/repetition, and it was a slight book anyway. I wanted case studies and sociology and got instead "my friend told me..." stories and conjecture. But, anyway.
King's argument is that some black men live "on the DL", publicly dedicating themselves to wives/girlfriends, whilst having sex with men on the side. They don't consider themselves gay--in fact, quite the opposite; they consider themselves emphatically not gay. Quote: "Brothers who have sex with other brothers. They're not in the closet; they're behind the closet. They are so far removed from attaching themselves and what they do to the homosexual lifestyle that these men do not consider themselves gay." Due to unsafe sex practices, this is the reason for the increased rate of HIV among black women. (59% of AIDS cases are among women who are black. 75% of these women contracted the disease from heterosexual sex.)
Let me just say that King's views on sexuality do not match up with mine. His views on sexuality (that you're born with your sexual identity more-or-less fully formed) are obviously heavily informed by his religion and to my mind they are a little arcane.
There's a prevalent strain of gay rights rhetoric that frames gayness in heteronormative stereotype. Basically: gay men are strong and MANLY and normatively masculine as well! they're still MEN, they just happen to be gay! Which, if you boil it down to its basics, is assuring men that they still have a right to their male privilege, even if they're gay. (Whereas I tend to think that if you're a gay man, you should also be a feminist and open to ideas of non-normative gender practices. I realize this is naive. ;) King seems to subscribe to this gay-but-still-manly rhetoric. The lines are drawn between men and women. (In fact, one of King's arguments is that heterosexual sex is so drastically different to gay sex that a women could never satisfy a DL man in bed.) King clearly subscribes to the flawed biological argument of "men and women are just DIFFERENT!" This is notable especially in the way that he ascribes a naturally high sex drive to men but not to women. There is no discussion of social theory or the spuriousness of masculinity, despite the fact that the heavily gendered nature of black society is clearly one of the reasons black men are forced to live on the DL.
King makes an interesting point about how black men cannot align themselves with the (white) gay community, because it seems so removed from their lives. He illuminates gayness (or at least, a specific branch of rainbow-wearing, Pride-marching gayness) as being a pigeonhole just like stereotypical heterosexuality. King also initially seems open to the idea of fluid sexuality, as he discusses men who are so curious about sex with other men that they go on the DL. Unfortunately, all of this is reversed at the end of the book when King breaks the DL man down into five categories (the Mature Brother, the Thug Brother, the Professional Brother, the "I Have A Wife/Girlfriend" Brother and the "I'm Just Curious" Brother), shoving everyone into neat pigeonholes.
I also think there's a noticeable gap in the book where King fails to properly consider the race aspect to the DL lifestyle. He states that because black men are already ostracized due to their skin color that there's a burning need not to be ostracized further, but he doesn't expand upon this as much as I'd like.