The Penn

"Downlow Mountain: The stigmatization of black male bisexuality and de-stigmatization of white male bisexuality in popular media," was the topic of guest speaker Richard N. Pitt Jr.'s lecture Monday at the HUB Allegheny Room.

Pitt, an assistant professor of sociology at Vanderbilt University, spoke to a crowd of about 40 at 4 p.m during the Men's Awareness Project sponsored event.

Pitt asked the audience to picture two men who deny their homosexuality, have alcohol-induced sex without condoms, display societal markers of masculinity and are married with children. In society, men such as these are called being on the "down low" if they are black.

It is a lifestyle that some in society have put down, said Pitt.

It was brought into focus when studies suggested the rate of HIV and AIDS among black women was shown to be proportionally high, according to the presenters.

Pitt followed by having the audience picture the same characteristics in two white men. Ever since the movie "Brokeback Mountain" came out and brought the issue into society, people are handling it much differently than they would if the characters were black, Pitt said.

Many of the same authors, magazines and even Oprah Winfrey covered the topic with white men using what Pitt calls "pitying" language instead of the "pejorative" language they used for the same topic with a black man as an example.

Whenever they spoke of a black man being on the down low, it was something horrible because of the view of the black man in society.

But whenever they spoke about white men, it was said that they were just being what society pushed them to be [heterosexual].

Sasha King (senior, sociology/theater), brought up the topic that many black men may not want to come out about their sexuality because it is more difficult for them in society already.

Pitt agreed with her and added that being gay and black in a workplace has more negatives than it would for a white gay man.

Pitt also talked about how media outlets such as television portray gay black men.

"Gay black men are depicted as 'snow queens,'" he said. "It's depicted as if it is only positive if attached to a gay white man."

When Pitt raised the question to the audience if a "Brokeback Mountain" could ever be made with black men instead of white, William Davis (graduate studies, psychology) spoke up.

"No, it could not be made," Davis said. "The black churches and conservative groups would be up in arms about it."

Pitt said that he feels that there will never be a time when society will accept bisexuality as the shade of gray between hetero and homosexuality because media has not yet found a way to mainstream sexual orientation.

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