Epistemologies of ignorance describe how ignorance influences the production of knowledge. Advancing an intersectional epistemologies of ignorance approach that examines how conscious (or unconscious) ignorance about racism, heterosexism, and classism shapes empirical knowledge about Black men's sexualities, we conducted a critical review of the behavioral and social science research on U.S. Black men, ages 18 and older, for two time frames: pre-1981 and the most recent decade, 2006-2016. Our search yielded 668 articles, which we classified into five categories: sexual violence, sexual experiences and expressions, sexual identities, cultural and social-structural influences, and sexual health and sexual risk. We found that most of the research, particularly pre-1981, centered the experiences of White heterosexual men as normative and implicitly constructed Black men as hypersexual or deviant. Most of the research also color-blinded White privilege and ignored how racism, heterosexism, and classism structured Black men's inequities. We also found notable exceptions to these trends. Black men who are gay, bisexual, or who have sex with men, and research on HIV risk were prominent in the past decade, as was research that emphasized the social-structural (e.g., poverty, heterosexism, racism) and cultural (e.g., masculinity, religion) contexts of Black men's lives and sexualities. We provide 10 recommendations to avoid intersectional epistemic ignorance in future research.
Objectives. To examine negative police encounters and police avoidance as mediators of incarceration history and depressive symptoms among US Black men and to assess the role of unemployment as a moderator of these associations. Methods. Data were derived from the quantitative phase of Menhood, a 2015–2016 study based in Washington, DC. Participants were 891 Black men, 18 to 44 years of age, who completed computer surveys. We used moderated mediation to test the study’s conceptual model. Results. The results showed significant indirect effects of incarceration history on depressive symptoms via negative police encounters and police avoidance. Unemployment moderated the indirect effect via police avoidance. Participants with a history of incarceration who were unemployed reported significantly higher police avoidance and, in turn, higher depressive symptoms. Moderation of unemployment on the indirect effect via negative police encounters was not significant. Conclusions. There is a critical need to broaden research on the health impact of mass incarceration to include other aspects of criminal justice involvement (e.g., negative police encounters and police avoidance) that negatively affect Black men’s mental health.
Purpose of reviewWe review the recent theoretical and empirical literature on structural racism, social determinants of health frameworks within the context of HIV prevention and treatment, and criticism of the national responses to the US epidemic.
Recent findingsIn line with growing mainstream attention to the role of structural racism and health inequities, recent editorials and studies cite ending structural racism as an essential step to ending the US HIV epidemic. Recent studies demonstrate that barriers rooted in structural racism such as incarceration, housing instability, police discrimination, neighborhood disadvantage, health service utilization and community violence, and poor or no access to social services, transportation, and childcare, are barriers to HIV prevention. Recent articles also criticize national responses to HIV such as the ending the HIV epidemic (EHE) and National HIV/AIDS Strategy plans for failing to address structural racism and prioritize community engagement in EHE efforts.
SummaryCollectively, the articles in this review highlight a growing consensus that the US has no real chance of EHE for all, absent a meaningful and measurable commitment to addressing structural racism and intersectional discrimination as core determinants of HIV, and without more equitable engagement with community-based organizations and communities disproportionately affected by HIV.
This study examined associations between structural racism, anti‐LGBTQ policies, and suicide risk among young sexual minority men (SMM). Participants were a 2017–2018 Internet‐based U.S. national sample of 497 Black and 1536 White SMM (ages 16–25). Structural equation modeling tested associations from indicators of structural racism, anti‐LGBTQ policies, and their interaction to suicide risk factors. For Black participants, structural racism and anti‐LGBTQ policies were significantly positively associated with depressive symptoms, heavy drinking, perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, self‐harm, and suicide attempt. There were significant interaction effects: Positive associations between structural racism and several outcomes were stronger for Black participants in high anti‐LGBTQ policy states. Structural racism, anti‐LGBTQ policies, and their interaction were not significantly associated with suicide risk for White SMM.
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