Downlow Mountain? De/Stigmatizing Bisexuality Through Pitying And Pejorative Discourses In Media Dr. Richard N Pitt, Jr. Vanderbilt University Sociology.
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Slide 1
Downlow Mountain?
De/Stigmatizing Bisexuality Through
Pitying And Pejorative Discourses In Media
Dr. Richard N Pitt, Jr.
Vanderbilt University Sociology
Slide 2
Imagine . . . .
Deny Homosexuality
Men
Living
On The
Down
Low
“I ain’t queer”
Alcohol-Induced
Sexual Behavior
Condomless Sexual
Behavior
Married With Children
(status, security, progeny)
Displayed Markers Of
Masculinity
Men
Living
On The
Down
Low
Slide 3
Sample Magazine And Newspaper
Titles About Black Bisexuality
(2001-2006)
•
“Secret Encounters Of Bisexual Black Men Could Be Creating Wave Of Infected Women”
•
“The Double Life: Former Sailor Dated Women, Also Had Secret Sex With Men”
•
“The Stunned Wife: Preacher Husband Infected Her With HIV – Knowingly”
•
Oprah Winfrey’s “Sex, Lies, and Double Lives”
•
“Deadly Deception”
•
“They’re Bi and They Lie”
•
“The Truth About Bisexuality In Black America: AIDS Epidemic And Social Problems
Create Explosive Situation”
•
“Sisters Should Not Lay Down For The Downlow”
•
“A Down Low Dirty Shame”
•
“Men On ‘Down Low’ Secretly Sleeping With Other Men Endanger Themselves And
Partners”
•
“Why AIDS Is Rising Among Black Women”
–
•
“Black men living on the down low have sex with other men, but don't identify themselves as gay or
bisexual. “
“The Low-Down On The Down-Low”
–
“Come out of the closet, out of the basement. Down-low Brothers, face up to who you are, and let
us live! “
Slide 4
Pejorative Language
•
This DL crap is ridiculous because they are not responsible and it is killing black
women and they don’t want to admit they are GAY, GAY, GAY, AND .....GAY!!!
•
He's trying to justify this behavior and not be classified with being gay. They want
the best of both worlds. It's greed, it's grouped in the same perverted mindset as
child molestation, rape, etc..
•
If it looks like a duck, and it walks like a duck, than it's a duck. Who do these men
think they are fooling? I get it, you can sleep with another man for sex, but you run
back home to your wife, or girlfriend, and you say, "Oh I'm not gay!" Yeah right!
This whole situation is a hot mess.
•
You have to be super careful. Why invest so much of yourself then to find out your
man is gay? It really does turn my stomach. The thought of his thing that was in
my thing and then in some other man. GROSS!!!!! I'm going to go throw up!!!
•
I'm a single black woman, and I wonder if I'll ever be able to find a straight
husband that's not on the DL. And, it's getting to the point to where as much as I
love my black men ; I'm, for the first time, considering seriously dating
interracially. Yes, there are still straight ones out there, but very few. Now, not only
do we have to compete with other women for them, now we have to compete with
DL men trying to turn them on to the lifestyle. What a shame!
Slide 5
Brokeback Mountain
Deny Homosexuality
Gay
Cowboys
In
Love
“I ain’t queer”
“Brokeback Mountain
Alcohol-Induced
is ultimately
not about
Behavior
sexSexual
but about
love . . .
love stumbled into,
Condomless Sexual
love thwarted, love
Behavior
held sorrowfully in the
Marriedheart.”
With Children
(status, security, progeny)
Stephen Holden 2005
Displayed Markers Of
Masculinity
Gay
Cowboys
In
Love
Slide 6
Sample Magazine And Newspaper
Titles About White Bisexuality
(Following “Brokeback Mountain”)
“Many Couples Must Negotiate Terms Of
‘Brokeback’ Marriages”
“On the whole these are not marriages of convenience or cynical efforts to create cover.
Gay and bisexual men continue to marry for complex reasons, many impelled not only by
discrimination, but also by wishful thinking, the layered ambiguities of sexual love and
authentic affection.
''These men genuinely love their wives,'' said Joe Kort, a clinical social worker. Many, he
said, considered themselves heterosexual men with homosexual urges that they hoped to
confine to private fantasy life.
''They fall in love with their wives, they have children, they're on a chemical, romantic
high, and then after about seven years, the high falls away and their gay identity starts
emerging,'' Mr. Kort said. ''They don't mean any harm.''
Slide 7
Pitying Language
•
•
•
•
•
I sincerely hope that Oprah uses this opportunity to educate her viewers on how
difficult it is for someone to reveal their sexual identity and that family members
need to love and support them even when they do not understand exactly what they
are going through.
If someone in my family were to "come out" I would be shocked, but I would be
accepting and supportive. A person's sexual preference does not define who they
are, it's what's inside that truly matters. We want people to stop with the racism &
start to accept people for who they are regardless of thier race or nationality, then
why can't we do the same for sexuality?
I have had the experience of both of my parents (seperately and years apart)
"coming out". My father was very nervous and now that I am older and have lived
in the world where so many closed minded people dwell, I see why. My response to
him even at the age of 11 or 12 was simply that I didn't care. That part of his life
was of no concern to me.
The guest, like many homosexuals, was trying to hide his true identity by marrying
a woman and living a "normal life". Maybe these things wouldn't happen if
homosexuals were accepted. If they were allowed to live like everyone else, than
they wouldn't be pressured to lie and be someone they are not.
Please understand that a person must be ready to accept themselves before they
can ask somebody else too. Maybe your husband didn't accept himself for who he
really was at the time you got married. But through time, things became more
clearly to him and he learned that he wouldn't be truly happy until he became who
he really was.
Slide 8
Why The Differences?
• Different Catalysts For Attention To Issue
• Different Faces Of Black & White Bisexuality
• Different Accounts Of Black & White
Bisexuals
• Different Sources For Media Accounts
• Racist Views Of Black Sexuality And
Misunderstanding Of Black Responses To
Cultural Homophobia
No Room To Be Gay In Black America
No Room To Be Black In Gay America
Downlow Mountain?
De/Stigmatizing Bisexuality Through
Pitying And Pejorative Discourses In Media
Dr. Richard N Pitt, Jr.
Vanderbilt University Sociology
Slide 2
Imagine . . . .
Deny Homosexuality
Men
Living
On The
Down
Low
“I ain’t queer”
Alcohol-Induced
Sexual Behavior
Condomless Sexual
Behavior
Married With Children
(status, security, progeny)
Displayed Markers Of
Masculinity
Men
Living
On The
Down
Low
Slide 3
Sample Magazine And Newspaper
Titles About Black Bisexuality
(2001-2006)
•
“Secret Encounters Of Bisexual Black Men Could Be Creating Wave Of Infected Women”
•
“The Double Life: Former Sailor Dated Women, Also Had Secret Sex With Men”
•
“The Stunned Wife: Preacher Husband Infected Her With HIV – Knowingly”
•
Oprah Winfrey’s “Sex, Lies, and Double Lives”
•
“Deadly Deception”
•
“They’re Bi and They Lie”
•
“The Truth About Bisexuality In Black America: AIDS Epidemic And Social Problems
Create Explosive Situation”
•
“Sisters Should Not Lay Down For The Downlow”
•
“A Down Low Dirty Shame”
•
“Men On ‘Down Low’ Secretly Sleeping With Other Men Endanger Themselves And
Partners”
•
“Why AIDS Is Rising Among Black Women”
–
•
“Black men living on the down low have sex with other men, but don't identify themselves as gay or
bisexual. “
“The Low-Down On The Down-Low”
–
“Come out of the closet, out of the basement. Down-low Brothers, face up to who you are, and let
us live! “
Slide 4
Pejorative Language
•
This DL crap is ridiculous because they are not responsible and it is killing black
women and they don’t want to admit they are GAY, GAY, GAY, AND .....GAY!!!
•
He's trying to justify this behavior and not be classified with being gay. They want
the best of both worlds. It's greed, it's grouped in the same perverted mindset as
child molestation, rape, etc..
•
If it looks like a duck, and it walks like a duck, than it's a duck. Who do these men
think they are fooling? I get it, you can sleep with another man for sex, but you run
back home to your wife, or girlfriend, and you say, "Oh I'm not gay!" Yeah right!
This whole situation is a hot mess.
•
You have to be super careful. Why invest so much of yourself then to find out your
man is gay? It really does turn my stomach. The thought of his thing that was in
my thing and then in some other man. GROSS!!!!! I'm going to go throw up!!!
•
I'm a single black woman, and I wonder if I'll ever be able to find a straight
husband that's not on the DL. And, it's getting to the point to where as much as I
love my black men ; I'm, for the first time, considering seriously dating
interracially. Yes, there are still straight ones out there, but very few. Now, not only
do we have to compete with other women for them, now we have to compete with
DL men trying to turn them on to the lifestyle. What a shame!
Slide 5
Brokeback Mountain
Deny Homosexuality
Gay
Cowboys
In
Love
“I ain’t queer”
“Brokeback Mountain
Alcohol-Induced
is ultimately
not about
Behavior
sexSexual
but about
love . . .
love stumbled into,
Condomless Sexual
love thwarted, love
Behavior
held sorrowfully in the
Marriedheart.”
With Children
(status, security, progeny)
Stephen Holden 2005
Displayed Markers Of
Masculinity
Gay
Cowboys
In
Love
Slide 6
Sample Magazine And Newspaper
Titles About White Bisexuality
(Following “Brokeback Mountain”)
“Many Couples Must Negotiate Terms Of
‘Brokeback’ Marriages”
“On the whole these are not marriages of convenience or cynical efforts to create cover.
Gay and bisexual men continue to marry for complex reasons, many impelled not only by
discrimination, but also by wishful thinking, the layered ambiguities of sexual love and
authentic affection.
''These men genuinely love their wives,'' said Joe Kort, a clinical social worker. Many, he
said, considered themselves heterosexual men with homosexual urges that they hoped to
confine to private fantasy life.
''They fall in love with their wives, they have children, they're on a chemical, romantic
high, and then after about seven years, the high falls away and their gay identity starts
emerging,'' Mr. Kort said. ''They don't mean any harm.''
Slide 7
Pitying Language
•
•
•
•
•
I sincerely hope that Oprah uses this opportunity to educate her viewers on how
difficult it is for someone to reveal their sexual identity and that family members
need to love and support them even when they do not understand exactly what they
are going through.
If someone in my family were to "come out" I would be shocked, but I would be
accepting and supportive. A person's sexual preference does not define who they
are, it's what's inside that truly matters. We want people to stop with the racism &
start to accept people for who they are regardless of thier race or nationality, then
why can't we do the same for sexuality?
I have had the experience of both of my parents (seperately and years apart)
"coming out". My father was very nervous and now that I am older and have lived
in the world where so many closed minded people dwell, I see why. My response to
him even at the age of 11 or 12 was simply that I didn't care. That part of his life
was of no concern to me.
The guest, like many homosexuals, was trying to hide his true identity by marrying
a woman and living a "normal life". Maybe these things wouldn't happen if
homosexuals were accepted. If they were allowed to live like everyone else, than
they wouldn't be pressured to lie and be someone they are not.
Please understand that a person must be ready to accept themselves before they
can ask somebody else too. Maybe your husband didn't accept himself for who he
really was at the time you got married. But through time, things became more
clearly to him and he learned that he wouldn't be truly happy until he became who
he really was.
Slide 8
Why The Differences?
• Different Catalysts For Attention To Issue
• Different Faces Of Black & White Bisexuality
• Different Accounts Of Black & White
Bisexuals
• Different Sources For Media Accounts
• Racist Views Of Black Sexuality And
Misunderstanding Of Black Responses To
Cultural Homophobia
No Room To Be Gay In Black America
No Room To Be Black In Gay America