What is Meant By “Men on the Down Low”?
What is Meant By “Men on the Down Low”? “On the down low.” How does this “hip and happening” term relate to HIV? And what does the term have to do with African American men? More and more the HIV community as incorporated the term into their vocabulary. What does on the “down low” mean in the HIV world and how does it related to HIV and African American men? Answer: The most generic definition of the term down low, or DL as it is sometimes referred to, is the following “to keep information or an activity private” The term is often used to describe the behavior of men who have sex with other men but do not identify openly as being gay or bisexual. These men may refer to themselves as “being on the down low”; “on the DL”; or “on the low low”. The term has most often been associated with African American men. Although the term originated in the African American community, the behaviors associated with the term are not new and not specific to black men who have sex with men.
