Men on the Down Low and The Impact it has on Others - Research Paper Example

Now the paper has taken up a particular target segment which has been the victims of such concern as down low. The African American men make up this category and this problem of down low prevails amongst them through the medium of media attention, social identity and health concerns. Introduction The term “down low” has been defined in general terms as something to keep secret which might include either information or some actions. More specifically the term incorporates men who are bisexual and might call themselves “on the down low”.

This involves therefore a self perception which is associated mostly with the African American men who is often accused to have inflicted AIDS amongst the female members of their community owing to the double lives they lead. The identification of men with down low therefore depends on the health factors, social identification indicators and the media attention. If the men are directly gay then they can come out in the open and admit their orientation in order to lead a desirable life but instead everything seems to be carried out in secret.

The black men are almost unanimously identified with down low. Lynn Harris, in his work Invisible Life focuses on the bisexual behavior of the black people at a time when the media did not give attention to the issue and therefore the people of all races gradually became aware of this. For instance, some men who were engaged in association with women or sexually tied up with men often are worried about contracting HIV and even getting it passed on to their spouses. The “down low” issue has taken up spaces in New York Times and other print media of the nation.

Boykin’s work Beyond the Down Low focuses on aspects which point out that the down low is not a phenomenon but is something about psychological perception. He quotes some statistics from a story “Of the 7,000 black female AIDS cases in 2003, only 118 reported sex with a bisexual male as the method of exposure” (Boykin & Harris, 2006, p. vii) and also says that around 1.6 percent of the women who were reported to have been inflicted with AIDS had relationships with bisexual male despite the fact that more than 100 percent of the public opinion centering on AIDS amongst the blacks were concerned with down low.

Boykin also points out that the rate of AIDS amongst the black female had come down by 6 percent over the previous four years (Boykin and Harris, 2006, p. 107). The tragic stories on black men were ignored though the American women’s cases of AIDS were reported without cross checking the evidence found. Even men were diagnosed with AIDS and reportedly had the highest cases amongst the black community. The media tries to avoid these reports until the case involves a black man who is responsible for infection in a black woman.

This highlights the bias of media with respect to racial difference. The media is selective about reporting the health cases such that the finger is pointed towards black men on the down low. Often black men experience a risk of getting accused of crimes not committed and even has to bear the consequence of the same simply for the color of his skin. Hence in this circumstance perception is treated as a practicality. Authors like Boykin rightly suggests that instead of avoiding the truth and telling lies to the media it is important to solve the