The CNP Podcast · Counter Narrative Project

Bonus Episode - Pleasure and Media Representation (National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2023 #NBHAAD)

February 7, 2023·25 min·5 clips

This special CNP episode, created by Narrative Justice Leadership Lab participants, is for National Black HIV AIDS Awareness Day 2023. Pure and Ben Robinson use the moment to talk about media and entertainment and how representation in media and entertainment has affected how they see pleasure as Black queer men. A listener-discretion notice opens the show. The warning fits the directness of what comes next. Ben starts with his own memory of feeling like an outcast. He describes being outspoken and shy, a dork who did not fit the categories that were rewarded in the 1990s, and says being a Black gay kid made that distance feel even sharper. The discussion stays personal. It keeps circling back to the question of what someone reaches for when very little on screen or in culture feels made for them. Pure and Ben talk about looking for representations that reflected Black queer desire. They add humor to those memories, including the search terms and performers that once stood in for possibility. The humor never gets too far from the point. It sits alongside the seriousness of trying to recognize yourself in media built to sort people into easy categories. The episode also notes how porn has changed. What once lived in the margins is now a mainstream, self-monetized space, with OnlyFans and mainstream artists turning sexuality into a public product. That shift matters because it changes the kind of representation available, but it does not automatically make anyone feel seen. Ben speaks to that gap plainly. Attention can be abundant. Fulfillment is another question entirely. By the close, the hosts return to appreciation, to CNP's mission of shifting narratives about Black, gay and queer men to change policy and improve lives, and to the simple fact that representation can open a door without solving everything behind it. The episode leaves that tension in place.

As heard by us

A candid conversation about pleasure, visibility, and the stories media teaches Black queer men to carry.

This special CNP episode, made for National Black HIV AIDS Awareness Day 2023, traces how media and entertainment shape Black queer men's sense of pleasure.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want a frank Black queer conversation about pleasure, shame, and media.

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