Skip to main content
Intended for healthcare professionals
Restricted access
Research article
First published March 2007

Downlow Mountain? De/Stigmatizing Bisexuality through Pitying and Pejorative Discourses in Media

Richard N. Pitt, Jr. [email protected]View all authors and affiliations
Volume 14, Issue 2
https://doi.org/10.1177/106082650601400203

Abstract

This article examines the differing approaches the media took to black and white male bisexuality following a 2001 Los Angeles Times article and Ang Lee's film, Brokeback Mountain, respectively. Using content analysis of more than 170 articles written between 2001 and 2007, the author finds that the media pathologized black bisexuals' behavior while either ignoring or sympathizing with white bisexuals' behavior. While the “Down Low” black bisexual is described pejoratively as a threat to black masculinity and the health of the black family, the “Brokeback” white bisexual (when described as bisexual at all) is described in pitying language as one who is constrained by the society around him. In addition to exposing these differences, the author examines the reasons the media share these different viewpoints of, essentially, the same sexual behavior.

Get full access to this article

View all access and purchase options for this article.

Get Access

References

Denizet-Lewis B. (2003, August 3). Double lives on the down low. The New York Times, SM 28–33, 48, 52–53.
Google Scholar
Grever C. (2001). My husband is gay: A woman's survival guide. Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press.
Google Scholar
Harris E.L. (2004, July). Passing for straight: Brothers who secretly have sex with men explain their attraction, plus women talk about the price of loving a man on the down low. Essence, 156–161, 210.
Google Scholar
Holden S. (2005, December 9). Riding the high country, finding and losing love. The New York Times, E1.
Google Scholar
Johnson J. B. (2005, May 1). Secret encounters of bisexual black men could be creating a wave of infected women. San Francisco Chronicle, A1.
Google Scholar
Marable M. (1994). The black male: Searching beyond stereotypes. In Majors R.G. & Gordon J.U. (Eds.), The American black male: His present status and his future (pp. 69–77). Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
Google Scholar
Ossana D., Schamus J. (Producers), & Lee A. (Director). (2005). Brokeback mountain [Motion picture]. United States: Focus Features.
Google Scholar
Rakieten E. (Executive Producer). (2004a, April 16). Oprah [Television broadcast: “A secret sex world: Living on the down low”]. Chicago: Harpo Productions.
Google Scholar
Rakieten E. (Executive Producer). (2004b, October 27). Oprah [Television broadcast: “My husband is gay”]. Chicago: Harpo Productions.
Google Scholar
Stewart J., & Bernstein S. (2001, February 7). Minority groups facing a tougher fight with AIDS. The Los Angeles Times, B1.
Google Scholar

Cite article

Cite article

Cite article

OR

Download to reference manager

If you have citation software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice

Share options

Share

Share this article

Share with email
EMAIL ARTICLE LINK
Share on social media

Share access to this article

Sharing links are not relevant where the article is open access and not available if you do not have a subscription.

For more information view the Sage Journals article sharing page.

Information, rights and permissions

Information

Published In

Volume 14, Issue 2
Pages: 254 - 258
Article first published: March 2007
Issue published: March 2007

Keywords

  1. bisexuality
  2. down-low
  3. Brokeback Mountain
  4. stigma
  5. media bias
  6. black men

Rights and permissions

© 2007 SAGE Publications.
Request permissions for this article.

Authors

Affiliations

Richard N. Pitt, Jr.
Vanderbilt University Nashville, Tennessee
[email protected]
View all articles by this author

Notes

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Richard N. Pitt, Department of Sociology, Vanderbilt University, 311 Garland Hall, Nashville, TN 37235. Electronic mail: [email protected]

Metrics and citations

Metrics

Journals metrics

This article was published in The Journal of Men’s Studies.

VIEW ALL JOURNAL METRICS

Article usage*

Total views and downloads: 378

*Article usage tracking started in December 2016

Articles citing this one

Receive email alerts when this article is cited

Web of Science: 0

Crossref: 8

  1. The post‐gay debates: Competing visions of the future of homosexualiti...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  2. No brokeback for black men: pathologizing black male (homo)sexuality t...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  3. From “Gay Marriage Controversy” (2004) to “Endorsement of Same-Sex Mar...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  4. An Intersectional Analysis of Television Narratives of African America...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  5. Displacing the Dominant “Down Low” Discourse: Deviance, Same-Sex Desir...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  6. Straight Wives of HIV-Positive Husbands Who Contracted the Virus Throu...
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  7. Muddy Waters: Bisexuality in the Cinema
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar
  8. Representations of Bisexuality in Australian Film
    Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar

Figures and tables

Figures & Media

Tables

View Options

Get access

Access options

If you have access to journal content via a personal subscription, university, library, employer or society, select from the options below:

Alternatively, view purchase options below:

Purchase 24 hour online access to view and download content.

Subscribe to this journal

Access journal content via a DeepDyve subscription or find out more about this option.

Start 2 week free trial
Need help?

View options

PDF/ePub

View PDF/ePub
Download PDF

Also from Sage