SVU malaise
| | Sigh.
It's really disappointing when a show you like bungles a sensitive issue. For example the episode of Bones this last may (the girl in the mask) that completely mishandled a cross-cultural issue (Oh the Japanese, so very foreign and inscrutable, let us play a vaguely racist musical sting constantly). But then I think, maybe I'm just sensitive to this, not through being Japanese, but through studying Japanese history. Maybe I'm the hyper-aware girl ready to call foul.
Okay, but this episode of Law and Order SVU is clearly not me being touchy. It's called "Lowdown," and if you're familiar with media buzz words surrounding the gay community you have a pretty clear idea where this is going.
The plot: closeted white man (who has AIDS) has affair with black man on the DL (part of a -ring- of DL men who have "poker games"), giving him the bug. He may have infected his wife (they have two children). When his partner asks him to leave his wife, the DL man kills him, makes it look like a prostitute rolled him. Olivia (one of the two main investigators) had dated the victim, gets tested and is negative. ADA tells the wife about the AIDS (breaking the LAW) tells her to get tested. Big deal is made out of anonymous testing (no records, can't let your boss know).
I came out of this episode so pissed. Let me tell you why. First, the DL.
Ah, the "Down low." Probably five years ago or so (when this episode of Law and Order came out), the "down low" was a serious media craze. For those who aren't familiar with the concept, it refers to some bisexual or closeted homosexual African-American men who engage in homosexual activity, but do not identify as gay (openly or no), thus "on the down low" (or DL). Why does the media care? Well, these men can be married, or have heterosexual partners, and the concern is that their activity exposes women who think they are in monogamous relationships to risk (specifically STDs, even more specifically HIV).
Some people at the time were quoting a CDC study linking these bisexual men and their "risky activities" to transmission of STDS to heterosexual women. No such study exists.
Why then does this narrative strike such a chord?
Gay and bisexual men were the first boogey-men for AIDS, and frequently (as in this episode of SVU) are shown as the hidden vector (irresponsible, morally suspect and by extension culpable). We have 25 years plus now of rhetoric that makes the equation Gay men (middle class white gay men), and male homosexual activity/ "lifestyle" (being inherently "Risky") = AIDS. This doesn't follow current CDC trends by any means, but it's a strong strong narrative. Gay men as pariahs, AIDS as the new leprosy (don't even get me -started- on Kaposi Sarcoma as the visual shorthand for AIDS and pariahood).
Do you know who the fastest growing demographic is for HIV infections? African American heterosexual women (Young, too. Across races, infections in the 18-24 age group are on the rise). 2004 CDC mortality statistics places AIDS related diseases in the top 10 causes of death among African Americans. For the general population? It's not even in the top 20. Isn't that shocking?
The episode lays out a "connect the dots" arc of the AIDS crisis. White gay man to black bisexual man to black heterosexual woman. This narrative doesn't follow the evidence. It's an old story dressed up in new clothes
Sigh, just frustrating.
posted by Amber at 5:38 PM
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