Black male sexual politics: Avoidance of HIV/AIDS testing as a masculine health practice

This paper reports on a study of the effects of the sexual, racial and status identity on health and health seeking behavior among a cohort of African American men. Focus groups and structured interviews were conducted to explore the attitudes of a cohort of African American men about their masculinity and its relationship to their health related behaviors. Their narratives indicate that being sexually active is an important component of masculinity. Both younger and older members of the cohort described their use, intended use, and avoidance of sexual activity as a health behavior to preserve a masculine identity. They stated that avoidance would be especially necessary if they were faced with an "incurable" medical diagnosis that could interfere with the freedom of their sexual activities. A diagnosis of HIV/AIDS, for example, was information they said they would avoid by not being tested for AIDS. Evaluating this behavior within the framework of hegemonic masculinity suggests that the behavior is irrational. To remedy this, the paper considers leading theories of gender and masculinity, including "hyper" and hegemonic masculinity and attempts-with the aid of the men's narratives about masculinity-to formulate a notion of masculinity with greater relevance to African American men. © 2009 Springer Science + Business Media, LLC.