Sexuality and Sexual Agency Among Heterosexual Black Men in Toronto: Tradition, Contradiction, and Emergent Possibilities in the Context of HIV and Health

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.This article critically examines common understandings of sexuality and sexual agency among heterosexual Black men in Toronto. The findings are based on focus groups and in-depth interviews conducted for the qualitative arm of the broader weSpeak project, a mixed-methods study designed to engage and support heterosexual Black men in Ontario, Canada, in living more holistically healthy lives. Focus groups and in-depth interviews with 69 self-identified heterosexual Black men focused on vulnerability and resilience to HIV, but participants also shared their complex experiences and perspectives related to sexuality and sexual agency, especially in the context of systemic and structural conditions that affect their wellbeing. This article provides excerpts from their narratives to illustrate the complexities and emergent possibilities related to sexuality and sexual agency among heterosexual Black men, which may open up new ways of approaching HIV prevention and health promotion.The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (TE2-138354) and the Ontario HIV Treatment Network (1052) jointly funded the weSpeak research project through a team grant in boys’ and men’s health. Neither funder is responsible for the ideas expressed in the paper