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

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.

Keywords

bisexuality down-low Brokeback Mountain stigma media bias black men

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