In the comment section to THIS post from 2009, I mentioned a disastrous
equation that was becoming entrenched since 2004. That’s over a decade ago. Here’s the equation:
Gender imbalance that favors BM students at HBCUs [According to Understanding Gender at Public Historically Black Colleges and Universities: A Special Report of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, Inc., “Females are a majority (63%) of the total number of students enrolled at the 45 public Historically Black Colleges and Universities. . .” pg. 10.]---
+ the resulting increased amounts of man-sharing by BW students on these campuses
+ Washington, DC replacing San Francisco as an HIV/AIDs capital (so dating BM from off-campus in DC is also HIGH-risk given the epidemic conditions there)
+ the inherent homophobia of the AA community, particularly the Black South where the bulk of these HBCUs are located
+ the resulting increased closeted, “down low” behaviors by a percentage of BM students who might feel freer to self-identify as gay/bisexual if they weren't at HBCUs
+ a spike in HIV infection rates among Black students that was briefly reported on in 2004
+ fewer “degrees of social separation” between AA college students/graduates and HIV+ jailbirds and drug addicts
= HBCUs becoming HIV/AIDS magnets and centers (“Black colleges seek to stem HIV cases”)!
Here are a few comments from that 2009 blog post conversation:
KM said...
So, if you wanted to date in the BC (which I didn't because even though I didn't know of the BWE blogs back then, I DID know who was asking me out on real dates (WM) and I chose that over being asked out to hook up (BM)), and once you took out the out gay men, there were 3 women to 1 man. Then the men who were already dating out, that reduced the number to 4 to 1.
So women were competing to see who could do splits, hang on the ceiling fan, anything to keep a black man. People who would tell me that they wouldn't ever have sex w/o a condom but then would be pregnant within months b/c they didn't insist on one b/c they wanted to keep their man. Threesomes, getting trains ran on, etc. only to get that HIV test and show up HIV+. Knowing full well who were on the DL but still having sex with them. Then even though it was a rural school, there was still a remnant of the Black criminal element that managed to find their way up there (only to get arrested sooner rather than later b/c the police up there didn't play) and some BW got entangled with them.
BW are playing Russian Roulette with their sexual lives and their health (physical and mental). If any of you have female daughters about to go to college, PLEASE educate them because no matter where you go now, its real and these dangers are out there. And I'm doing my part by talking with the young ladies I know from church and at work about what is going on. Knowledge is power.AUGUST 25, 2009 AT 7:50 AM
Khadija said...
You said, "Honestly, the same problem is going on at PWIs (I attended one), its just greater at HBCUs."
This is true. Here's the SIGNIFICANT difference between the 2 scenarios: On HBCUs, BF students are marooned with no real dating alternatives other than the BM students that they outnumber. Meanwhile, at PWI there ARE literally thousands of other men to choose from---there ARE alternatives---that is, if these young women would simply drop the "nuthin' but a BM" programming.
You said, "and once you took out the out gay men, there were 3 women to 1 man. Then the men who were already dating out, that reduced the number to 4 to 1.
So women were competing to see who could do splits, hang on the ceiling fan, anything to keep a black man. People who would tell me that they wouldn't ever have sex w/o a condom but then would be pregnant within months b/c they didn't insist on one b/c they wanted to keep their man. Threesomes, getting trains ran on, etc. only to get that HIV test and show up HIV+. Knowing full well who were on the DL but still having sex with them."
This is what "nuthin' but a BM" ultimately leads to for AA women.
You said, "BW are playing Russian Roulette with their sexual lives and their health (physical and mental). If any of you have female daughters about to go to college, PLEASE educate them because no matter where you go now, its real and these dangers are out there."
Yes. And these risks are GREATLY INCREASED at HBCUs due to the "nuthin' but a BM"-desperation dynamics that you described in detail.
________________________
You better recognize that you CAN’T
trust anybody except yourself—especially not Black men (including gay BM
activists)—to act in a responsible manner regarding HIV/AIDs
As I said in another post from 2009:
Many Gay Black Male Activists Are SOLELY Focused On Avoiding Accountability For Their Group's Part In The Spread of HIV/AIDS---They DON'T Care About Public Health Or Safety
It's been disturbing to see that many gay Black male activists don't seem to comprehend the ethical insanity of down low gay men deceiving women, using them as involuntary cover stories, and thereby endangering these women's lives without their knowledge. Let's get real: Most women across the board are not going to insist upon their husbands wearing condoms. Period. The only thing many gay Black male activists are focused on is ducking and dodging having any level of accountability for this plague being assigned to gay/bisexual Black men.
I've read all sorts of utterly irresponsible statements from gay Black male commenters and activists. I'll just mention one such activist named Keith Boykin. I read his book Beyond The Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America. His book is basically several hundred pages of "Don't blame us gay/bisexual Black men for being involved in spreading this plague." Read the following essay to get the flavor of the book. 10 Things You Should Know About the DL
No matter what the issue (violent crime, drug addiction, etc.), irresponsible African-American "thinkers" consistently argue that focusing on elimating our own destructive behavior is a distraction from the so-called REAL issue. And somehow the so-called "real" issue is always something that is outside of our control. This posture of ducking and dodging any responsibility for the negative results caused by negative behaviors is a tradition. It's a tradition with African-American males, and the African-American collective in general. Protecting an image is more important than the African-American lives that are lost. This posture is ethically insane.
The “AIDS faces” are going to make a comeback in the not-too-distant
future
I was in high school and college during the 1980s.
I saw AIDS wipe out an entire generation of gay men of all races and those straight
African-Americans (and others) who got caught up in that plague.
I saw the 1994 [M]Essence cover story featuring Rae Lewis-Thornton’s struggle with HIV/AIDS. That poor woman has been suffering ever since.
I saw how
Blacks had NO organized, effective, or even honest mass response to the AIDS
plague.
I saw how
Black activists were more interested in passively discussing conspiracy theories than in mobilizing
to (1) help afflicted Black folks or (2) protesting to speed up the search for
medication and a cure.
During the 1980s and 1990s, I saw how White gay men (such as playwright
and activist Larry Kramer) in groups such as ACT-UP were the only demographic consistently
speaking out and protesting to speed up the medical research needed to invent HIV/AIDS
medications.
I can’t
emphasize enough that Black folks living
with HIV/AIDS (including straight Blacks) owe the (mostly White) gays who
participated in ACT-UP a great debt. These medications wouldn't have
been as available without their efforts. And I don't recall seeing or hearing
of many Black gays participating in those initiatives.
I remember what friends and I at
the time referred to as the “AIDS faces” [facial lipoatrophy] and the wasted
away-scarecrow-like “AIDS look” that many of the infected people had during
that era.
All of this was before there were
the modern “facial filler” cosmetic surgeries and modern medications that help
HIV/AIDS-infected persons maintain a more or less normal facial appearance.
Medical care is expensive. During
an era of economic decline, many medications and procedures become too
expensive for the average person.
Unfortunately, I expect those “AIDS faces” to make a comeback in the not-too-distant future. If you’re
wise, you’ll take preventive action right now to make sure you and your loved
ones never have “AIDS faces.”