Down-low , sometimes shortened to DL , is an African-American slang term [ 1 ] generally used within the African-American community that typically refers to a sexual subculture of black men who usually identify as heterosexual but actively seek sexual encounters and relations with other men , practice gay cruising , and frequently don a specific hip-hop attire during these activities.
The term down-low originated within the African-American community , and was originally used to describe "any kind of slick, secretive behavior, including infidelity in heterosexual relationships". According to a study published in the Journal of Bisexuality , "[t]he Down Low is a lifestyle predominately practiced by young, urban Black men who have sex with other men and women, yet do not identify as gay or bisexual".
In this context, "being on the down-low " is more than just men having sex with men in secret, or a variant of closeted homosexuality or bisexuality βit is a sexual identity that is, at least partly, defined by its "cult of masculinity " and its rejection of what is perceived as White American culture including what is perceived as White American LGBT culture and terms. Rejecting a gay culture they perceive as white and effeminate, many black men have settled on a new identity, with its own vocabulary and customs and its own name: Down Low.
There have always been men β black and white β who have had secret sexual lives with men. But the creation of an organized, underground subculture largely made up of black men who otherwise live straight lives is a phenomenon of the last decade. Most date or marry women and engage sexually with men they meet only in anonymous settings like bathhouses and parks or through the Internet. Many of these men are young and from the inner city, where they live in a hypermasculine thug culture.
Other DL men form romantic relationships with men and may even be peripheral participants in mainstream gay culture, all unknown to their colleagues and families. Most DL men identify themselves not as gay or bisexual but first and foremost as black. To them, as to many blacks, that equates to being inherently masculine. In his book Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies and Denial in Black America , Keith Boykin states that secret homosexual relations are not unique to African-American men, and in fact occur in many societies and among all races.
