Explain the "Down-Low" Phenomenon

[ottohauser1977]

I have included references to this lifestyle in my first story. But I still don't understand why this phenomenon is so "hush-hush" among black men. I know that homosexual acts are taboo in Prussian society, but is this also the case with black men? I know little of black culture, since I tend to live in mostly white areas. Just what I see on TV and cinema. Which doesn't really address this. Just the occasional news reference to the "down-low" lifestyle, which is where I got what information I had about this.

 

[neonlyte]

I have included references to this lifestyle in my first story. But I still don't understand why this phenomenon is so "hush-hush" among black men. I know that homosexual acts are taboo in Prussian society, but is this also the case with black men? I know little of black culture, since I tend to live in mostly white areas. Just what I see on TV and cinema. Which doesn't really address this. Just the occasional news reference to the "down-low" lifestyle, which is where I got what information I had about this.

You have black men in Prussia?

Hey... it's a starting point, not an insult.

 

[gauchecritic]

You seem to be asking an awful lot of questions about homosexuality for an admitted homophobe.

I don't know about 'black' society but you'll find plenty of different ethnicities on sex tgp sites. (not that I visit them and not that there's anything wrong with that)

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Black sexual culture is really very conservative overall, with a big macho component. The pimp/ho image of rap is a caricature of course, but caricatures tell you something of the ideal in which the man is the promiscuous player and the woman his monogamous property. There isn't a big black gay scene like there's a big white scene, and as far as I know, most gay blacks are integrated into the white scene pretty well.

The republicans used the gay marriage issue to break up the black vote with good effect in the last election, because blacks were dead set against it. As i said: sexually very conservative.

 

[ottohauser1977]

You have black men in Prussia?

Hey... it's a starting point, not an insult.

No, and that's a factor. Oddly, after a decade in America, I just haven't encountered that many blacks. It could be the informal segregation of Southern society, or something like that. Or living away from the inner city. Who knows.

 

[ottohauser1977]

You seem to be asking an awful lot of questions about homosexuality for an admitted homophobe.

I don't know about 'black' society but you'll find plenty of different ethnicities on sex tgp sites. (not that I visit them and not that there's anything wrong with that)

Yes, I do have questions. Not just for my writing. But also for a better grasp of this matter. I went from living in one highly homophobic society to living in yet another one in a short period of time. And while I have observed such an attitude among Southern white Americans, I have lived too far away from most blacks to observe it much. But that is the impression that I get of the taboo. That is, that it is a taboo, though I couldn't be sure, due to my lack of exposure to American blacks at close hand.

Apparently, this is an accurate impression, if Dr. Mabeuse is right.

 

[neonlyte]

No, and that's a factor. Oddly, after a decade in America, I just haven't encountered that many blacks. It could be the informal segregation of Southern society, or something like that. Or living away from the inner city. Who knows.

Ok, I get the questions. I can't help, unfortunately, other than in stereo-typical anicdote.

 

[Stella_Omega]

There are very few black men who post here, and only a few black women.
Not many white men or women are qualified to answer the question!

The writers who specialise in "interracial" are, for the most part, indulging in the stereotypes of the Big Black man and the blond girl, and are certainly not talking about gay black men.

I had to erase my opinion of east Texas-- not polite. And I can't think of a polite way to express my disgust and distress over the endemic bigotry in the area.

But here's something interesting and encouraging to me; You seem to feel that your homophobia is pretty much only culturally-based, and might not be an unchangeable part of your personality. Is that right?

 

[freshface]

But here's something interesting and encouraging to me; You seem to feel that your homophobia is pretty much only culturally-based, and might not be an unchangeable part of your personality. Is that right?

Is there another basis for homophobia besides culture? I thought it was something that had to be taught.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Whoa, Otto, buddy, you've been busy!

And having lived in the Houston area, I fully comprehend the reality of the rampant homophobia.

As for the "down-low" lifestyle, I don't know it that well. Most bisexuals that I know are, like myself, openly so. Yes, I'm bi.

Don't worry. It's not contagious.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Is there another basis for homophobia besides culture? I thought it was something that had to be taught.

I'm asking Otto his opinon on the matter.

 

[freshface]

I'm asking Otto his opinon on the matter.

I know. I was just trying to figure out what other basis there might be for homophobia.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I know. I was just trying to figure out what other basis there might be for homophobia.

Well, my theory is it's a combination of mirror neuron activity causing an empathic response, and cultural indoctrination telling these guys their empathic response is disgusting. The quickest way out of the quandary is to blame someone else....

 

[freshface]

Well, my theory is it's a combination of mirror neuron activity causing an empathic response, and cultural indoctrination telling these guys their empathic response is disgusting. The quickest way out of the quandary is to blame someone else....

You've been hanging around with Dr_M again, haven't you. But you do have a point there. It makes sense that the strongest reactions would tend to come from those feeling most defensive.

 

[Stella_Omega]

You've been hanging around with Dr_M again, haven't you. But you do have a point there. It makes sense that the strongest reactions would tend to come from those feeling most defensive.

Actually, my job-- I've been doing research and retrieval for an anthropologist for about three months! His subject is human instinct towards cooperation or selfishness-- we so obviously have both drives.

 

[freshface]

Actually, my job-- I've been doing research and retrieval for an anthropologist for about three months! His subject is human instinct towards cooperation or selfishness-- we so obviously have both drives.

Interesting. Is he looking at the extremes as part of this? How these instincts appear to work in the Mother Theresas of the world versus the sociopaths? Or how culture and family can influence these instincts?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

OTTO

One of my daughters is married to a black guy. He has gay relatives. I invite these guys to family occasions but my son-in-law wont. They embarrass him.

I understand blacks about as well as any white can. As a group theyre very conservative and very religious; theyre also very docile and very loyal. The public personna is mostly mask. Their society is mostly matriarchal. When dealing with a mob, find the old woman who runs the show, and deal with her about the problem.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Interesting. Is he looking at the extremes as part of this? How these instincts appear to work in the Mother Theresas of the world versus the sociopaths? Or how culture and family can influence these instincts?

His point is that culture absolutely influences these instincts, and that attempting to explain personality and abilities by genetics as a false correlation. Genetics does control millions upon millions of processes in any cell and therefore in a body as a whole; your genes might determine the possible speed with which which muscle fibers can tense and relax, or the potential shape of a wrist joint, or the relative proportion of white blood cells to red. Genes are micro managers.

It cannot define whether you develop the optimum speed of muscle fire instead of becoming a couch potato, or whether your wrist plays piano or tennis, (or if the shape gets altered by some accident in utero) or whether your white blood cells will be successful in fighting off staph infections.

And genetics has nothing to do with your preference for hamburgers over curry, the language you speak, your belief in the afterlife, or the way you present your identity, or the subtleties of your sexuality. All of that is cultural, and you start picking it up from the second of birth, so smoothly that the learning process is invisible...

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Hey, Otto, I don't know if you're aware, but your story is up on another site. If your story is called "What a MILF!" and you're the same ottohauser1977 as on SOL.

By the way, using your real full name in the story. That's gutsy. Is your wife really named Katie? Or is most of this fiction?

 

[CharleyH]

Black sexual culture is really very conservative overall, with a big macho component. The pimp/ho image of rap is a caricature of course, but caricatures tell you something of the ideal in which the man is the promiscuous player and the woman his monogamous property. There isn't a big black gay scene like there's a big white scene, and as far as I know, most gay blacks are integrated into the white scene pretty well.

The republicans used the gay marriage issue to break up the black vote with good effect in the last election, because blacks were dead set against it. As i said: sexually very conservative.

I am not so sure ( and this might be a question) if black men growing up in NA society are on the downlow. I grew up knowing Jamaican men and as far as I knew, Jamaican society seemed built (to me at 16) on men having as many wives or female partners as possible. I could see men being on the downlow if they came from a culture like that. I am not certain that a black man in North America (whose family has been here for as many years as mine) would be more on the downlow than any Asian or white guy being here for the same time.

 

[Safe_Bet]

Hey, Otto, I don't know if you're aware, but your story is up on another site. If your story is called "What a MILF!" and you're the same ottohauser1977 as on SOL.

By the way, using your real full name in the story. That's gutsy. Is your wife really named Katie? Or is most of this fiction?

Wow, Sev! Great job trying to "out" somebody! Hmm, wonder if he KNEW his story was there and HE decided not to share that information. You are SUCH a caring FUCKSTICK for pointing that out to him. "I don't know if you're aware" my ass.

So much for your kind words to new people, huh?

 

[CharleyH]

Wow, Sev! Great job trying to "out" somebody! Hmm, wonder if he KNEW his story was there and HE decided not to share that information. You are SUCH a caring FUCKSTICK for pointing that out to him. "I don't know if you're aware" my ass.

So much for your kind words to new people, huh?

response and future response: Whatever.

 

[Safe_Bet]

response and future response: Whatever.

Very profound. Back atcha sweetcakes.

 

[Stella_Omega]

He uses "A" full name, how do you know it's his real full name?

I use my full name-- Stella Jean Omega you won't find me in any phone book in the country.

(I don't remember who added the "Jean" in there, Throbbs I bet)

 

[gauchecritic]

He uses "A" full name, how do you know it's his real full name?

I use my full name-- Stella Jean Omega you won't find me in any phone book in the country.

(I don't remember who added the "Jean" in there, Throbbs I bet)

Yeah, and that's likely, that a father whose name is Omega could possibly resist naming their child Alpha.