Down-low

"Down-low" is a slang term. It is often used to refer to something that is secret or hidden.

One usage is to describe men who have sex with men, but who identify themselves as neither homosexual nor bisexual. This use of the term may have originated in African American slang and this type of sexual behavior exists in all cultures.

Slang Origin

"Down-low" or "DL" is an African American slang phrase used in the United States for "secret information," as in "Keep it on the down-low" (meaning "Do not make it known"). It can now be used most often to refer to secret sexual activity, particularly covert homosexuality by men, but most usages of the term refer to the original meaning of "secret information".

Similar Term

Downe is a term similar to Down-low. Derived from the definition of "down-low" and "Are you downe?," this term was brought in by the Filipino American and Asian American male & female LGBT community. Its origin may be from California or Hawaii. Downe eventually became an all encompassing term for those who identify as gay.

Sexual Behavior

Among some sectors of African American male sub-culture (called "men on the DL" or "down-low"), same-sex sexual behavior is sometimes viewed as solely for physical pleasure. Men on the "down-low" may engage in regular, secret sex acts with other men while continuing sexual and romantic relationships with women. Some have argued that being openly gay may lead to considerable stigma in the African American community, thus leading men to engage in male-to-male sex in secret while publicly maintaining heterosexual relationships.

These men often shun the more commonly-known label "gay" as something that refers only to stereotypically flamboyant and effeminate European-American men. Many African American men have no feeling of connection or commonality with these European-Americans, and find that they have no benefit from the sacrifice required to show loyalty to a minority despised by the larger community that they live in and rely on.

Another possible explanation for "being on the down-low" concerns lost social status in traditionally masculine-oriented or patriarchal cultures (e.g. Greek or Roman). Homosexual men may not necessarily have a moral problem in such a culture, but often lose social rank if they accept a "passive" sexual role. They are viewed as being "less than a man". Further, men in such cultures who take an "active" sexual role with other men (sometimes openly) often falsely believe that their actions are not homosexual. Finally, a childless man can lose status in any culture that places high value on children, especially if reasonable people consider the man likely to remain childless.

The rejection of the label "gay" by men on the "down-low" is thus seen as a combined rejection of the perceived effeminacy of the general gay community, and an effort to preserve a masculine image.

Down-low in popular culture

The slang term down-low entered the mainstream of black popular culture in the early 1990s. The Pharcyde, an underground rap group from Los Angeles, released the song On the DL in 1992. Featuring personal stories that would best be kept secret, it used the term "down-low" in a non-sexual context. In 1993, Salt-n-Pepa recorded a song called Whatta Man that mentioned the down-low. In 1994, TLC recorded a song called "Creep" about a woman on the down-low. In 1995, Brian McKnight recorded his song, "On the Down Low," about a woman named Maxine on the DL. Then, in 1996, R. Kelly recorded a hit single, "Down Low (Nobody Has to Know)", which further popularized the term. All of the songs referred to the down-low as a heterosexual activity.

The term had become widely enough known to appear as comically botched "low-down", in the 2000 comedy film, Meet the Parents when Ben Stiller's character attempts to use hip jargon to promise to keep secret his fiancée's brother sneaking in.

Media Interest

The earliest person to use "down-low" in a homosexual context was George Hanna, who used the words "down-low" in the 1930 song Boy in the Boat about lesbian women.

The first mainstream media account of the down-low as a homosexual or bisexual issue was reported in the Los Angeles Times on February 7, 2001. By the end of the year, numerous major media outlets had reported on the down-low. They included The New York Times (Feb. 11), USA Today (Mar. 15), Columbus Dispatch (Mar. 19), St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Apr. 1), New York Times (Apr. 3), Chicago Sun-Times (Apr. 22), Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Jun. 3), San Francisco Chronicle (Jun. 4), Village Voice (Jun. 6), VIBE magazine (July), Jet magazine (Sep. 8), Essence magazine (October), San Diego Union-Tribune (Dec. 2), and Los Angeles Times (December 7). Nearly all these stories connected the down-low to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the African-American community.

In the summer of 2003, two black gay cultural critics published controversial op-eds that questioned the relationship between HIV/AIDS and men "on the down low". Village Voice contributing writer Jason King published "Remixing the Closet: The Down Low Way of Knowledge" in the newspaper's summer 2003 (June 2003) "Queer Issue" and San Francisco Chronicle contributing writer Frank Leon Roberts published "The Down Low: Coming Out Your Own Way in Black Clubs" in the newspapers' July 23, 2003 issue. Both writers critized negative mainstream media depictions of down low men and argued that the use of the term "down low" was a way for many African American men to admit to having sex with other men without necessarily identifying as "gay" in the traditional sense.

In August 2003, the New York Times Magazine ran a cover story called "Double Lives on the Down Low", written by Benoit Denizet-Lewis. On April 16, 2004 J.L. King, author of On the Down Low appeared on Oprah to discuss his life on the down-low, just days before the release of his tell-all book about the subject. The down-low was also part of story lines on episodes of the television shows Special Victims Unit and ER. Several episodes of The Oprah Winfrey Show were also dedicated to the subject.

Connection to HIV/AIDS

The theory behind many of the media reports on the down-low was that men who were unable to confront their sexual identity were not responding to safer sex messages. Because of the secretive nature of their male-to-male sex, it was thought that they would not use condoms with their male partners.

Despite the numerous media accounts linking the down-low to the black AIDS epidemic, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has never cited men on the down-low as the cause of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the African American community. No extensive research has ever been published about men on the down-low, in part because of the difficulty of identifying the targeted population. A 2003 CDC study of 5,589 men who have sex with men (MSM) found that black MSM who do disclose their sexual orientation were more likely to be safe in some of their sexual practices and more likely to be HIV negative than other black MSM who do not disclose their sexual orientation.

Existence in various cultures

Some journalists and commentators have speculated that the down-low is a mostly African American subculture that may have come about because of stronger stigmas against same-sex behavior in African American communities, and, due to more widespread poverty, a possible greater dependence on traditional family networks for support.

Other researchers believe that this covert bisexuality occurs in all races, especially in the area of gays cruising for sex, which is thought to be practiced by covert homosexuals or bisexuals.

Although the term has been widely used to apply to blacks, some have challenged the notion that the down-low applies only or primarily to African Americans. In his book, Beyond The Down Low: Sex, Lies and Denial in Black America, author Keith Boykin argues that the down-low has numerous meanings, is not specific to African Americans, is not specific to bisexual or homosexual behavior, and is not the cause of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in black America. Boykin argues that the down-low debate demonizes black men, stigmatizes black women and encourages an unhealthy "battle of the sexes" between black men and black women that distracts the community's attention from the issue of HIV prevention, personal responsibility and condom use.

Fictional and popular media references

Several novels by Black gay writer E. Lynn Harris, among them Invisible Life (1991), Just As I Am (1995), and And This Too Shall Pass (1997)
Invisible, 2006 independent film directed by Bill Duke, director of Sister Act 2
Kimberly Elise made a guest appearance on the UPN sitcom Girlfriends, in which she portrayed a woman infected with HIV by a boyfriend who was on the down low.

References

, 11(6), 6.
, July 24, 2003.

External links

LGBT terms | Sexual orientation and identity | African American culture | Bisexual community

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