Liminality and Black Male Bisexuality in America

by Cordero Vigil

The troublesome experience of the Black male bisexual lingers like no other. Not that I’m a statistician, but the identity of a Black male who says that he likes both sexes is always being called into question. Is this one of the influences of American dichotomies?

Bisexuality in the Black community differs from other ethnic groups because of stigmas associated with masculinity. I have personally met with more men outside of the Black race having mates comfortable with them “testing the waters” in comparison to many of my own Black friends and acquaintances. When a Black male fulfills the curiosity of intimacy with the same sex, he is crossing the point of no return.

A Black man’s masculinity suddenly disappears when he states that he’s slept with a man. Whether it is curiosity or not, the intermingling of heterosexuality and homosexuality can only be taboo, which sadly forces a Black man to choose one or the other. However, the idea of two women engaging in intercourse is often eroticized by society, thus the subject of curiosity and bisexuality ceases. The image of a woman on a woman suddenly becomes a spectacle.

What happens next? The transcendent issue of the “down low” appears. This horrid, haunting term seems to surface whenever a Black man discusses the issue of same-sex interaction. Having the desire of engaging in intercourse with the same sex—for the Black male—leads to some affinity with betrayal. Some women may ask “Are you gay?” or “Are you trying to play with my emotions?” And within a moments notice, a Black man is being accused of passing the HIV virus to a woman.

What is the result of this problem? Alienation. Men who desire to “fix” this problem without the knowledge of the female “other” are forced to venture into clubs, looking for what American society knows as a “hookup.” If a Black man wants to hold on to the trivial idea of masculinity given to him by American society, he has to keep curiosity in the shadows. Outwardly demonstrating the desire to explore same-sex sexuality and enacting it only brings more problems than many can bear.

What does the Black man have to choose? An identity? Masculinity? Happiness?