Nobody is Supposed to Know: Black Sexuality on the Down Low

Description

How the “down low” media phenomenon reinforces troubling representations of black sexuality Since the early 2000s, the phenomenon of the 'down low' - black men who have sex with men as well as women and do not identify as gay, queer, or bisexual - has exploded in news media and popular culture. This book traces the emergence and circulation of the down low in contemporary media and popular culture to show how these portrayals reinforce troubling perceptions of black sexuality. "C. Riley Snorton has written a stunning new chapter in queer theory. This book magnificently extends Eve K. Sedgwick’s concept of the closet to grapple with race, sex, and secrecy. Building on concepts like the ‘glass closet’ and examining the dynamics and geographies of the down low, Snorton makes the startling claim that the down low is not a set of hidden practices but that it actually constitutes the staging of the conditions of Black representability. This is a very important book and it will have an immediate impact on the study of race and sexuality." — Jack Halberstam, author of The Queer Art of Failure Acknowledgments Introduction: Transpositions 1. Down Low Genealogies 2. Trapped in the Epistemological Closet 3. Black Sexual Syncretism 4. Rumor Has It Conclusion: Down Low Diasporas Notes Index