TheLoop21.com

By: Crystal P. Smith (Add to your loop)
Fri, 06/26/2009 - 00:00

Looking for love in the wrong places, can put you at risk for HIV and other STDs.

(Read more about our Stop Black AIDS campaign.)

One out of every two people living with HIV/AIDS in America is black, and, according to the CDC, both black men and women are most likely to get HIV by having sex with infected men. Still, the mystery question remains: Why is this disease an epidemic in black America?

An array of complex challenges, like high poverty rates, the already high prevalence of HIV and STDs and other socioeconomic factors, including discrimination, high incarceration rates, and lack of access to healthcare certainly are some causes of the elevated rates. But what about promiscuity?

"Risky sexual behavior is how most people contract AIDS, but it doesn't explain the disparity (of the disease) in the black community — what explains it is all the other factors," said Greg Millett, a behavioral scientist in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's division of HIV/AIDS prevention. "The black community has to be even more conscious, because we're at greater risk no matter what we do."

There's a reluctance to factor sexual behavior into the equation because of the over-sexualized stereotype created during slavery when black men and women were sexually exploited for profit and pleasure. Without the proper context or the acknowledgement other factors, the argument could be seen as racist.

"There's this over-sexualization of black people, but in actuality, no, we aren't having sex more than anyone else," said Jennifer Augustine, the director of HIV prevention at the Advocates for Youth center in Washington, D.C. "(Black people) can be engaging in the exact same sexual behaviors as everybody else and still have a higher probability of getting HIV."

Also, there's a big difference in people's definition of promiscuity, as Carla Stokes, founder of a non-profit for young black women, Helping Our Teen Girls in Real Life Situations, pointed out.

"It can be really dangerous to focus on promiscuity, because a lot of people already think that blacks are sexually deviant," Stokes said. "It's not accurate or comprehensive to focus on the sexual behavior without looking at the entire social context."

Why sexual behavior deserves a second look

I get it. Insinuating that disparities exist because blacks are, by nature, promiscuous isn't helpful, but neither is ignoring the fact that risky sexual behavior is the way most people contract the disease. Just as poverty exacerbates already high HIV/AIDS rates, it also contributes to risky sex. Poverty often means less access to quality healthcare, increased likelihood of abusing alcohol and drugs, and low self-esteem.

Phill Wilson, founder of the Black AIDS Institute, explained the connection.

"Poverty destabilizes relationships, destabilized relationships increase the number of partners one has over a lifetime. Casual relationships tend to involve less conversation and more impulse driven behavior," he said. "So what happens is, I have more impulse-driven relationships where there's not a lot of conversation and, as a result, a reduced likelihood that I will protect myself each and every time."

All of these factors, combined with our sex-driven culture, can lead the already disenfranchised to engage in promiscuous or "risky" sexual behaviors.

"I think that pop culture contribues to our perceptions of what is appropriate sexual interaction, and it contributes to our cultural norms," Wilson said. "And so, in pop culture, you have a kind of romanticizing of heightened sexual interaction, and yet there's no conversation about sexual responsibility or to an even lesser degree, what actually happens in a sexual encounter."

Single-parent households, increased high school dropout rates, teenage pregnancy, sexual abuse, and drug and alcohol abuse are all more likely to be present in impoverished situations, just like crime, absentee fathers and unemployment. It all goes hand in hand.

"Black youth are engaging in sexual behavior at younger ages and aren't necessarily getting accurate info to make healthy choices," Stokes said.

Defining promiscuity or inflicting moral standards on a society shouldn't be the goal in fighting black AIDS. Factors that contribute to AIDS are also barriers against sexual responsibility. And the data doesn't lie.

Blacks comprise 69 percent of HIV positive youth ages 13-19, even though they make up only 17 percent of the population according to a report complied by Augustine. Other statistics in that report: Young black women made up 71 percent of HIV infections among all young women ages 13-24 in 2004. Blacks overall suffered from chlamydia eight times more than whites and from gonorrhea 18 times more. Forty-eight percent of black women ages 15-19 have an STI, compared to about 20 percent for white women.

Obviously, the numbers show people aren't taking the necessary steps to protect themselves. And images of black men and women within popular culture don't help, because they send negative messages to both genders about sex. Combining that with single-parent homes, drug abuse and the culture of silence — it starts to make sense. Blacks aren't sexually deviant, but the circumstances in which we are disproportionately represented make it harder to protect ourselves against risky behaviors.

"If all my time is spent on just surviving, then I don't have time to spend on the quality of life — the bar is lower," Wilson said.

What the longer road means for us

A person's risk of getting HIV isn't totally based on her own risk behavior, it's also a function of the pool of disease within her sexual network, or the people she's connected to sexually. Black people's sexual networks are smaller, because they're more likely to sleep with people that they know and who also happen to be black, according to the Advocates for Youth.

"Now that we have a higher baseline epidemic ... our level of action is not sufficient for us to behave at the same level and still protect ourselves," Wilson said.

Being unwilling to address promiscuous or risky sexual behavior is just as much of a factor in the black AIDS epidemic as poverty or incarceration. Talking about our sexuality and increasing individuals' self-esteem is just as necessary in the fight against black AIDS as making sure people get tested for HIV and other STDs.  

"In general, we need to have policy and programs so we can expand access and honest conversations about HIV, STDs, violence against women and girls, and involve girls in their own education — and start it earlier," Stokes said.

Poverty surely isn't getting better anytime soon, with or without a black president, and the black unemployment rate for May was almost 15 percent. In order to fight black AIDS, you've got to be able to talk about the uncomfortable stuff, get past the fear of stigmatizing the black community and realize that, in truth, we've got a longer way to go in terms of building healthy sexual relationships and strong households.

I'm not saying this will fix the problem, but it's surely a step in the right direction.

Photo by Celebdu

Crystal P. Smith is TheLoop21.com's editor. She writes the Inside the Loop blog.

What's the best way to prevent HIV/AIDS?

Abstaining from sex

Using condoms every time

Getting tested often

Refraining from drugs/alcohol

I don't know