The "down low" black male quickly became a cultural touchstone after the publication of On the Down Low by J.L. King and its subsequent promotion in the national print and television media.
The "down low" refers to males who have sex with other men while otherwise living as heterosexuals.
On Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 4:30 p.m. in 114 Furman Hall on the campus of Vanderbilt University, David Malebranche of Emory University will offer a critique of the assumptions about down low black men, including that they are primarily responsible for the spread of HIV among black women.
The lecture is free and open to the public. It is part of the Smoke, Lillies and Jade Lecture Series sponsored by The Program in African American Studies at Vanderbilt.
"Despite not having any statistics on the sexual behavior of down low black men, the media confidently states that down low black men are the major reason why black women are getting HIV," said Malebranche, assistant professor in the division of general medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine.
"From articles in Jet, Ebony, Essence, The Washington Post and the Times, to featured stories on ER, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Soul Food, down low men were presented as hyper-sexualized vessels of disease who are so mired in self-hate over their homosexual urges that they have rampant unprotected sex and don’t bother to get tested for HIVÖAll of this is just as much a fantasy as the Mandingo stereotype. There are many other factors driving this epidemic that are being ignored."
WHAT: Lecture by David Malebranche, "Deconstructing the Down Low ñ Black Masculinity and HIV in the Black Community."
WHERE: Furman Hall Room 114 on the Vanderbilt University campus
WHEN: 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
Jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu