"Down low" phenomenon is not limited to African-Americans, study finds

The media has reported extensively during the past two years on the so-called down low phenomenon, in which African-American men who do not identify as being gay and who have sexual relationships with women also secretly have sex with men. But a study presented this week at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2005 National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta shows that the practice is common among all races. Researchers surveyed 328 men in 12 cities who have sex with men and found that 43% of African-American men, 26% of Latino men, and 7% of white men reported having sex with both men and women but did not tell their female sex partners that they had sex with men. Only one third of all the men said they considered themselves to be gay, and 13% had a steady girlfriend or wife. "To say men on the down low all fit one specific profile, that's a myth," Richard Wolitski of the CDC told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The researchers say that because the down low phenomenon is applicable to all races, the term should not be used solely to describe African-American men who secretly have sex with men. And because most of the men surveyed did not have a steady female sex partner, the slang term should be applied to any man who does not identify as being gay or bisexual but who has sex with both men and women and not just to men who are in committed heterosexual relationships but also secretly have sex with men, according to the study.