Dl and Black Men

All throughout history since the AIDS and HIV diseases has made its presence known; it has always been looked at and referred to as "The Gay White Men 's Disease". Now, the deadly incurable disease has spread way beyond the white Gay community, it is now being seen at an alarming rate in the African American community amongst heterosexual black women. Many African American men are leading double lives and refusing to admit to their female partners, who believe they are in a relationship with heterosexual men, that they are "Gay", causing the women they are with to contract AIDS/HIV. According to the Center for Disease Control, African American women between the ages of 25 and 44 make up 76 % of AIDS cases and 75 percent of that number was contracted from heterosexual sex. (www.cdc.org) So many are questioning how this deadly disease has gone from a gay white man 's disease to the leading cause of death amongst African American women. Black men almost inherit promiscuity like a trait inherited from a parent; it is a learned behavior that is constantly reinforced by our culture, a culture that has value in the sexual experience of a man. Many believe that the recent rise of "down low" men, in the African American community has become the bridge between black heterosexual, non drug using women and AIDS.(www.alternet.org) Keith Boykin defined "Down Low" as the "men whose public identification is straight, but who have discreet sex with other men outside of the primary relationship. A person who identifies this way would be said to be on the down low". As stated and researched by The Center For Disease Control, sex with men is the leading cause of HIV infection among black men because the study showed 8,780 HIV positive men had all contracted the virus from having sex with another man. Then a survey of the black community reported that only 25 percent of these black men who have sex with men, identified themselves as homosexual, that leaves a large amount of

Cited: King, J.L. On The Down Low. New York: Broadway, 2004. Constantine-Simms, Delroy, ed. The Greatest Taboo. Los Angeles: Alyson, 2001 Edwards, Tamala. "Men Who Sleep with Men-AIDS risk to African American Women." Essence. Oct. 2001 Roberts, Frank. Dancing the "Down Low". 2003. 22 July 2003 http://www.alternet.org/wiretap. Lee, Ryan. "Down Low" Unfairly Blamed for HIV. 2004. 20, August 2004 Kai, Wright. "AIDS and Black New Yorkers". Village Voice Part 2 (2000). 21-27 June 2000 http://www.aegis.com/news/vv/2000/vv000602.htmluard.org/story.php? "Down Low" Lifestyle Causing AIDS Epidemic Among Blacks. 04 Aug 2004.