Customer Reviews

Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Black men historically were portrayed as sexual predators. Harper Lee's classic novel 'To kill a mockingbird' after all had a black man standing trial in a deep south courtroom for allegedly assaulting a white woman, also realizing that his fair trial was a long-shot. The father, Atticus Finch became a town pariah only for believing that his client deserved justice.

Yet, America likes to believe that we have moved beyond this and 'Willie Horton'. In our schools, mass media, and pop culture, we desperately want to believe that people are being treated fairly. This and the black community's historic memory of 'savagery/respectabilty' portrayals are not helping the intended audiences.

Keith Boykin clarifies that America is still hung up on the intersection of sex, sexuality, and ethnicity. He also argues the hang-up prevents black men and communities from having a needed dialogue about sexuality and civil rights. Black people who find themselves outside the heterosexual binary are being attacked by the dominant society, but also face resistance from within their own communities. Some black churches who easily grasp (and were in the forefront for) racial equality are silent on sexuality, or worse---promote hatred.

Boykin also takes on the recent inroads which white conservatives are making to black churches to downplay their past support for segregation. Because these same people have attacked and/or are attacking civil rights, Boykin is skeptical of their motives. He believes that the white conservatives are only trying to divide black communities and thus prevent real equality for all communities from being realized. Boykin argues that Black churches should not support movements which argue on behalf of discrimination.

Boykin's book is responding to an earlier work by another author, but this publication is soothing in tone. It wants people to understand that differences have always divided Americans. Such differentiation occurs ironically when the need for unity is especially pronounced. Silence and closed-minds prevent communities from overcoming discrimination in the present and working towards a better future for all.

Boykin's book is a provocative read for all people. For a challenging sex education get this title today!

"Part of what concerned me [about King and the "Down Low" phenomenon being publicized in the media] was that the connection between the down low and black women seemed a bit illogical. There were two ways to look at it. Either the down low was new or the down low was old, but either way it did not make sense. If the down low was new in 2001, it could not have been responsible for an epidemic that was twenty years old. On the other hand, if the down low was old in 2001, then we should have been alarmed about HIV infection rates among black women ten to fifteen years earlier when the epidemic was raging out of control...

"The AIDS community of funders, researches, activists...had a problem...some activists [in the early 90's] decided to market the epidemic for Middle America... 'There was definitely an effort to make AIDS more compelling to the Black community' [Phil Wilson] recalled, 'and that process entailed a de-gaying of the epidemic'..."

Keith Boykin
BEYOND THE DOWN LOW
From Chapter Five
"When a Disease Becomes an Excuse"

"Governor McGreeley [of New Jersey]'s wife must have been going through a full range of emotions the day she stood next to her husband at his press conference...McGreeley also admitted to 'an adult consensual affair with another man' which he said 'violates my bonds of matrimony'. That was the real bombshell...dropped that day...By announcing his affair with another man, Governor McGreeley...proved that the down low is not just a black thing...We should have known that black men were not the only ones who cheated on their wives. Or had we bought into the myth of black male identity that constructs black manhood solely as pathology?"

Keith Boykin
BEYOND THE DOWN LOW
From Chapter Four,
"It's Not Just a Black Thing"

"I believe the recent trend toward demonizing those who are HIV positive for failure to disclose their HIV status sends the wrong signal. It stems from our need to blame other people for our own failures, and it is based in an unhelpful concept of victim-based morality that takes away our personal responsibility and assigns all the blame and puts all the responsibility on those who are HIV positive. Blaming someone else for our own actions will not change our actions, nor will it change the past. By the time you get to the point of blame, you have already passed the point of responsibility."

Keith Boykin
BEYOND THE DOWN LOW
From Chapter Twelve,
"Let's Talk About Sex"

Keith Boykin's heartfelt book BEYOND THE DOWN LOW: SEX, LIES AND DENIAL IN BLACK AMERICA is a scathing critique and passionate love letter to the Black community simultaneously. Simply put, Boykin analyses the structural hypocrisy, denial and irresponsibility that lie at the core of the African-American conversations about class, sex, sexuality, honest communication & true intimacy in relationships, racism and AIDS. It is his profoundly logical belief that these structural hypocrisies--concretized in Black culture by their deification in the fear-based, narcissistic linguistics of much of the Black church--combine with HIV to make any and all spreading of AIDS the seeming epidemic it has become in the Black community--not Black bisexual men in the closet (termed the "Down Low" community of brothers by J.L. King in his book).

Boykin's analyses of the myths in the Black community, those of the dominant culture, the gay subculture in both communities and the immature beliefs regarding honesty, communication and sexual responsibility of many Black women in relationships that Boykin reveals are made more astounding by four things:

1) his actual quoting of Center for Disease Control statistics on HIV and AIDS, the likes of which J.L. King purposely never quotes in his book (for reasons he describes that would have had him sued by King for libel by now if they weren't true)

2) His candid revealing of his life and mores as a gay man and his advocacy for the gay community

3) his blistering critique of both the character and motivation of J.L. King, on the basis of having spoken with him personally on several occasion, and

4) the powerful critique and detailed analysis of the book, ON THE DOWN LOW; a book that Boykin reveals was not actually written by J.L. King, but by a professional Hollywood ghost writer he hired with the express purpose of creating a hysterical media buzz around the topic.

The media hype on the subject of King's product was successfully achieved by this year (when King appeared on Oprah) for the benefit of (what else?) making money on the fears and emotional issues of Black women in particular and the latent racism of white people in general. Nothing sells better than sex...except fear. J.L. King used both to sell his product: ON THE DOWN LOW. Truly, Boykin in BEYOND THE DOWN LOW shows that the whole "On the Down Low" phenomenon has been brought to hysteric proportions in an amazingly short amount of time in the exact same way the Classicist scholar/Reactionary Republican Mary Lefkowitz' uneven, politically biased and scientifically inaccurate critique of Afrocentrism called NOT OUT OF AFRICA did: it combines a topic of emotion-producing complexity (for Lefkowitz: the crisis of integrity in academia and ancient cultural research; for J.L. King: bisexuality in 21st century America) with another simplistic application of the 19th century *Black Buck/crazy Nigga/Mandingo* myth in modern times.

J.L. King's book is still incendiary and important, because it reveals the closet bisexual phenomenon and its actual consequences to people in both the homosexual and heterosexual community (who didn't already know about it), when combined with deceit and HIV. In fact, the only thing that could put ON THE DOWN LOW in its proper context, for the good of the Black community and the world at large, is BEYOND THE DOWN LOW by Keith Boykin.

Read this soon; read it now.

Thoughtful, intellectual, compassionate, and soulful describe Keith's Boykin's new book, Beyond The Down Low. The book is filled with interesting examples that support Keith's point that the down low is only new to the cult-like group now embracing it. Many of us have known about the down low long before it became popular. In fact, what is now considered down low is not really that at all -- at least not in the way it was previously used. Back then, no one would ever acknowledge being on the down low -- it would defeat it's purpose.

Using history, politics, and everyday people, Keith inspires us as a culture to look within ourselves enough to open up about HIV/AIDS and the down low. He asks us consider the plight of black gay and bisexual men and how society has groomed the very down low behavior it now condemns.

This book is truly inspirational, and after you finish reading it, you will have grown.

As an African-American woman who had a 2 year serious relationship with a man whom I later found out was on the "down-low", I was excited to have the opportuntity to read Mr. Boykin's latest book.I felt that the book was provocative, eye-opening and didn't pander to the media hype that has been directed to this subject that so many have identified with the "Black Community" solely. Mr. Boykin has done the research and asked the hard questions that others have ignored ---as to why "straight men" have sex with men or anyone else that may not be true to themselves or those that they love. I find it interesting that the previous review was more of a "personal attack" on the author instead of a critical anaylsis of the book itself and what it states. I have read Mr. Boykin's previous 2 books as well as DL King's book ( which was written in all actuality by Karen Hunter)and can say that Mr. Boykin's success can be based on merit and not on the coat tails of those before him. Congratulations on Mr. Boykin for making NY Time's Bestseller's List for the past several weeks and for giving back to his community by creating open and honest dialogue about the down-low, sexuality , HIV/Aids and recognizing what are the "truths" and "myths" of the black community.

After a year of media hype about the down low, Keith Boykin's book finally gets it right. Mr. Boykin tells his own story, including being wrongly fired from his high school job at Sears, and uses it as an example to show how black men make easy targets to blame for everything that is wrong in our community.

But he doesn't just stop with his own story. He also gives us real facts and figures based on research and reliable information about the down low and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. He not only quotes men and women dealing with the down low, he also quotes doctors and researchers who have studied the issue carefully. This is the first time I've seen a book that deconstructs the media frenzy about the down low. Yes there is a down low, but is the down low responsible for the AIDS epidemic? No other book has ever answered that question as thoroughly as this one does.

As a black man, I'm glad to see a brother who doesn't use his writing to attack and vilify other black men. Instead, Boykin encourages us to stop blaming one another and start figuring out solutions to end the down low and the AIDS epidemic. Best of all, he suggests concrete solutions about what we can do in our own lives to protect ourselves and to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Finally, someone is talking about the down low without all the hype and the sensationalism. This is a very important book that is long overdue!

First of all, much praise to Keith Boykin for his intelligent and FACTUAL look at the down low phenomenon. In Boykin, the black community finally has a messenger who is articulate, engaging, and intelligent enough to cut through all the sensationalism (particularly that of the past year) and deliver a much needed wake up call about sexuality. Boykin gives readers cold hard facts about the down low, the AIDS epidemic, and how the media has spun it all out of control.

Boykin's book comes from a genuine place...the desire to educate and inform the black community on the real issues. I've read all three recent books on the down low (which include J.L. King's title and his ex-wife's newly released account, both ironically written by the same cowriter-go figure! How can that writer live with herself by telling one side of the story, then flipping the script to tell the other side?), and it's clear who's in it for monetary gain, and who's the real deal. This is Boykin's third book, so there was no urgent need for him to get in print...he wrote this book to set the record straight. He is among the foremost authorities-gay or straight- on sexuality in the black community, and with BEYOND THE DOWN LOW, it shows. Well done Mr. Boykin.

I highly rate Keith Boykin's new book, Beyond the Down Low, and recommend it for all who welcome and enjoy a challenging read. Boykin raises the notion of critical thinking to an art form. This book is not for the lazy thinker. Boykin takes on a provocative thesis, one that effectively counter-argues the assumption that Black men are pathological predators who are responsible for the spread of HIV/AIDS among Black women, and successfully defends it with meticulous research and sound reasoning. I am an associate professor of Theatre and Africana Studies at Brown University. I have added Beyond the Down Low to my syllabus for a course (Black Lavender) that I teach on plays with Black LGBT content. As a scholar, thinker, and activist Boykin has deepened and expanded the conversation about Black sexuality in America in terms that serve as a model for the intellectually curious. Beyond the Down Low sets a new and higher standard for thesis composition.

Beyond the Down Low by Keith Boykin was a breath of fresh air in a conversation on sex and race that has grown very frustrating. In a climate where people capitalize on their supposed ability to offer women steps to determine whether their man is gay, Beyond the Down Low refocuses. Keith has broadened the discussion to include men, women, black, & non-blacks, thereby helping to do away with the view of the black man as the sole perpetrator of deceit. Whether referred to as the "down low" or "in the closet", there are communication issues in all communities. Boykin has shifted the conversation so that we deal with the real problem in our community, which is our inability to communicate openly about sex and sexuality. He forces the community to look in the mirror and discuss the hang-ups that exist where sexuality is concerned, which directly affect people's ability to be truthful with themselves and their family/friends. Make no mistake, this book does not just identify problems, it also offers solutions. Beyond the Down Low holds us all accountable for our personal sexual choices as well as challenging us all to become involved in our communities to battle HIV/AIDS. Beyond the Down Low is a call to action. Buy it, Read it, then ask yourself.... Do I have the courage to take on the charge of being responsible for myself, and the humanity to be involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS? This impacts us all!

A compassionate yet analytical look at the Down Low fervor that has been sweeping America for the past three years. Using anecdotes, research and real statistics, the author provides us with the facts to better understand this issue and make our own decisions. His research establishes that the Down Low isn't anything new nor is it unique to African Americans or males. He examines how society's insecurities and hypocrisy about sexuality and fidelity have led us to this sorry point where some women do not trust Black men and suggests how we can begin to regain trust in each other and move forward.
You will fly through the almost 300 page book because the writing flows so well. Anyone who has been following this topic should really pick up this book.

The below 1-star reviewer must have a serious ax to grind with Keith Boykin, but I doubt he really read the book because if he did, he wouldn't have dismissed it as a "so there" response to J.L. King. Maybe he's a disgruntled member of King's marketing team and felt the need to jump to his defense by writing a weak excuse of a "review." "Beyond the Down Low" tells the story the way it's meant to be told: with honesty and backed by facts. King's book was a self-serving mess that reinforced rcaist and homophobic stereotypes while Boykin offers an intelligent and critical analysis that deserves high praise. Keith may not have the luxury to promote his book on Oprah, but it deserves all the success it can get. Give Mr. Boykin his due and buy this book.