What is in a label? Multiple meanings of ‘MSM’ among same-gender-loving Black men in Mississippi

ABSTRACT

Men who have sex with men (MSM) and other same-gender-loving (SGL) men continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS, particularly among the Black population. Innovative strategies are needed to support the health of this community; however, public health efforts primarily approach MSM as a monolithic population erasing the diverse identities, practices, and sexualities within and beyond this category. To better understand diversity within MSM in a geographic region with the largest proportion of Black Americans in the U.S.A. and among the most heavily affected by the epidemic, the Deep South, we conducted four focus groups (n = 29) with Black men who reported having sex with other men residing in Jackson, Mississippi. Results suggest multiple overlapping usages of MSM as identity and behaviour, reflecting internalisation of behavioural categories and co-creation of identities unique to the Black community. These narratives contribute to the literature by documenting the evolving understandings of the category ‘MSM’ among Black men to reflect intersections between race, socioeconomic status, sexual behaviour, sexuality, subjectivities, and social context. Findings suggest the current monolithic approach to treating MSM may limit public health efforts in developing effective HIV prevention and promotion programmes targeting SGL Black men in the Deep South.

KEYWORDS:

• African American
• MSM
• identities
• HIV
• U.S.A

Acknowledgements

The authors give thanks to all study participants for their time and effort. We thank Dr Leandro Mena for the informal conversations that helped the initial development of the study. We also thank Nikendrick Sturdevant, Gerald Gibson, and Reginald Stevenson for the recruitment of focus group participants. Finally, we would like to acknowledge Dr Simon Obendorf for his theoretical insights on power relations between gender and sexuality in SGL populations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by APA's (American Psychological Association) ProDIGs (Promoting Psychological Research and Training on Health Disparities Issues at Ethnic Minority Serving Institutions) (PI: Truong) and SPSSI's (Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues) Grant-In-Aid (PI: Truong). Support was also provided by Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development [T32 HD049339] (PI: Nathanson) and National Institutes of Mental Health [R25 MH083620] (PI: Flanigan). This study was also funded in part by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [U01 PS003315-04] (PI: Hickson).