It Is Time To End Bottom Shaming
Originally published on advocate.com
“It’s cool, man. I’m clean. I swear.” Admittedly, this uncouth line worked on me more times than I care to recount. During my naive years, I trusted everyone, and no one could do any wrong. Then a friend contracted HIV.
This was also my first time encountering bottom-shaming — it wasn’t long until catty rumors swirled about my friend’s status, and the comments I’d hear always tied back to him being a bottom.
“He should have known better. Bottoms are more likely to contract HIV.”
“That’s what happens when you’re a slutty bottom.”
There was never talk about the top who had HIV and passed it along unknowingly, as is so often the case in transmission. The judgment rested solely on the bottom. When I’ve talked to friends about “bottom shaming,” many don’t recognize it until I share a conversation like this one.
Bottom-shaming is nothing new and has always been partly about power. In fact, there is evidence of bottom-shaming as far back as ancient Greek and Roman societies in which to be “violated” could strip one of citizenship, according to Daniel Pullen, a professor of classics and chairman of the department at Florida State University. According to Pullen, the act of being penetrated was often hurled as an insult. “Aristophanes, the comic playwright, he often has a character that looks out into the audience and talks directly to them,” Pullen says. “And one of his favorite things basically translates as ‘Look at all the gaping assholes.’”
Some of the stigma associated with bottom-shaming is indicative of gender roles. How many times have you heard a straight person ask, “Which of you is the girl in the relationship?” The guy on the bottom is the one being penetrated, which they associate with femininity. In this society, which is more of a handicap — being a woman or being a man who exhibits a trait associated with being a woman?
A close friend of mine who is a trans woman and still in the process of transitioning has been the target of this startling intersection of judgment, as he (he uses male pronouns for now) begins to dress and act more feminine to present better in alignment with how he really feels inside. The ridicule is driven by a bias that being male-identified and exhibiting so-called feminine traits is seen as some backward affront to maleness.
Yet despite the public manifestation of bottom-shaming, there is an underground community of butch tops anonymously seeking fem bottoms. Craigslist, Grindr, Scruff, Adam4Adam, whichever site or app you use, is full of “masc seeking fem.” Many of these same men won’t look the fem partner in the eye in public.
So bottom-shaming has a long history, and no single cause, but it has a new effect. Men who should be among the first to ask their doctor about PrEP aren’t doing it.
For most of my life, I was ashamed to be a bottom, and much of that shame was rooted in history and statistics. A study by the University of California, San Francisco’s Alliance Health Project quantifies the risks of condomless sex associated with your sexual position: Tops have a 1 in 500 chance of contracting HIV from an HIV-positive bottom, while a bottom has a 1 in 50 chance of contracting HIV from an HIV-positive top.
That shouldn’t negate the fact that both parties involved in a sexual relationship shoulder the responsibility equally. Simply because the bottom is more likely to contract a disease shouldn’t mean it is the bottom’s sole responsibility to provide the protection.
But is it smart for the bottom to provide the condom? Of course it is. I always make sure to bring my own protection if the situation arises.
Since bottoms are more at risk of contracting infections such as HIV, we should be the first to take advantage of preventive measures such as PrEP. I am all for a pill that, when taken as directed, reduces the risk of contracting HIV by 99 percent. That’s according to a multinational Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Initiative (iPrEx) study published in September 2012 in the journal, Science Translational Medicine. Yet, according to experts, bottoms, the group at the highest risk, may be less likely to ask their doctor about the drug for fear of being judged for their preferred position in bed. Frank Spinelli, MD, an HIV specialist in New York, told The Advocate that the social stigma of HIV and gay sex lends itself to more secrecy about whether a person is a top or bottom, which is stunting needed conversation.
“The issue with PrEP is, for the most part I think, the person who is the receptive partner has to say, ‘OK, I am the highest at risk for contracting HIV. I’m going to go in and ask my doctor about this,’” said Spinelli. “And then they feel shame about that. There’s this shame of owning up to the fact that I have gay sex. [They] want to feel empowered by it, but they don’t know how to do that.”
Those of us who are bottoms must accept the reality that we’re more at risk, and that when the time comes for sex, we aren’t the one putting on the condom. We should of course talk to each other more often about empowering ourselves to insist on condoms whenever the top has excuses, but PrEP is a chance to protect ourselves.
Would we feel safe even talking to each other about PrEP? If not, in keeping quiet, we are failing each other and the public. San Francisco supervisor Scott Weiner recently came out as being on PrEP. In his coming out column, Weiner said the main thing lacking in the advancement of PrEP is political pressure to ensure the public is properly educated on preventive measures.
Like all other communities, it takes multiple experiences to create a full community. Ours is waging a lobbying campaign already on multiple fronts, versus different factions of people who do not agree with our “lifestyle,” because of who we love. The last thing we need is bottom-shaming driving a wedge between us. It is important we stand together and speak up for the greater good.
We are also fighting a disease of epidemic levels that affects our community more than others. Meanwhile, we have the option to take medication to prevent the spread of HIV. This is one bottom who will be asking his doctor about starting on his own Truvada regimen.
About author
You might also like
I Sometimes Wonder About Love
I sometimes wonder about love… Not the physical kind that flutters away with a warm, passionate night. The other kind… That deep rush of emotions that sates you and then
NIGERIAN WHILE GAY
Yesterday, I went out with a friend. We had hot dogs and soft drinks. Talked. All the while, this fine brother pranced about. He’d leave his post, checking people’s tickets,
BLESSED BODY: AN INTERVIEW WITH UNOMA AZUAH
A few years ago, rights activist, poet and the novelist behind Sky-High Flames and Edible Bones, Unoma Azuah began what seemed like a daunting project: to gather the stories of
17 Comments
Passing By
November 05, 06:50And I’m jus here wondering how my village people made me fall into the 1 in 500 chance as a top. I now respect those people oh! I should go to the village and appease these gods before they make me another statistic sef…
Mandy
November 05, 07:22I don’t believe you can be shamed unless you allow yourself to be. I’m not excusing the behaviour of bottom shaming or mitigating. But at the end of the day, if you are confident in who you are, your sexual role or whatever, I don’t believe stigma or shaming will drive you to extremes that are unhealthy for you.
ambivalentone
November 05, 07:40Azzin!!! Anybody who feels shame allows theirselves to. Its all about pride in oneself.
That said, no statistics for versatiles???
IBK
November 05, 08:28I’ve always felt same too. When you’re being shamed you look them in the face and say “Yes I do so and so, so what?”. You take the power to make you feel bad from them and they’ve got nothing on you.
DI-NAVY
November 05, 08:06Here I am gazing at the model used in this post. his thighs are to die me. That’s one of my goals soonest. Gawd!!!
ambivalentone
November 05, 08:23I need confirmation abeg. Glutes come with fat thighs?
DI-NAVY
November 05, 08:36Those thighs are not fat. They are kind of muscled and shaped. Glutus maximus if i even got the spelling correct is the muscle found in the butt.
Some have fat thighs and flat ass while some have lean thighs with bubble butt. That fellow really worked on his thighs and I early aim at having such firm thighs.
ambivalentone
November 05, 08:55Phew!!! I can go back to dreaming up fat nyash for myself.
Delle
November 05, 10:36He’s got nice thighs, no doubt but with a better-looking ass, he’d have been perfect.
Di-Navy
November 05, 18:40Delle! that ass is perfect ! more than perfect !ever heard of muscle butt?
Kola Gbaski
November 05, 19:55yes you can tell what type of yansh to expect by looking at someone’s thighs. i do that all the time.
Bain
November 05, 09:34simple thing… when you are about to have sex, top or bottom….carry a condom….no matter the statistics,u both can get a disease…so just do the smart thing n save yourself the headache.
Osupa
November 05, 10:18Another insightful article which delves into the subject in an honest and educated way. I enjoyed reading this
Delle
November 05, 10:34Very nice post for such a controversial motion. Like Mandy rightly said, you can only be shamed if you aren’t confident in yourself as a bottom.
I don’t see this narrow-minded idea that being bottom is equivalent to being feminine dying out anytime soon. ?
Nefertiti
November 05, 12:42I for one find immense pride in being feminine and bottom ….i don’t think it’s anything to b ashamed of. It’s all about confidence and grace. I have heads turn when I walk into a place and it’s very satisfying to know that even the very masculine guys most times just wanna b ur frd Cos the air around u is just inviting.. I just believe bottoms (especially the fem ones) have the same grace a beautiful woman had when she steps into a room full of men… I ll advice u just b urself, clean, well spoke , intelligent and KEEP UR HANDS to urself.. U ll b surprised the kinda things that follow?
Nonny
November 05, 18:06#ProudlyBottom
We rule this community!
Kola Gbaski
November 05, 19:57Like Beyonce said, who run the world? Bottoms.
What would we be without Bottoms? You guys/galz make the ‘gay’ world rock!