Like a everywhere else in the world, in the Caribbean, sexuality is an indicator of the patriarchy of a given community. Sexuality is used by patriarchy, the male dominance within a society, to determine normative standards for both men and women. For men, they are conditioned to view their sexuality as an expression of their manhood and power. A man is not a real man until he has had sex with a woman (whether or not she wants to) and has asserted himself as a virile, masculine individual. However, there is a quality that automatically takes a man out of this patriarchal system and away from “manhood:” homosexuality. In the Caribbean, homosexuality is seen as male weakness, which results in a man becoming feminine, an ultimate insult to masculinity and male power. As a result, male bravado performed by Caribbean male subjects acts as an inoculation against homosexual, aberrant male weakness. This reveals that in the Caribbean, hyper-masculinity is learned so deeply to hide deep homosexuality, it also becomes the method through which homosexuality is expressed.

In the article, “Persuasion and Attitudes towards Male Homosexuality in a University Caribbean Sample," it is stated that “In the Caribbean, parental child-rearing practices and socialization reinforces gender distinctions between males and females. Male homosexuality destabilizes these norms since male homosexuals are perceived as wanting to be similar to heterosexual females."

There is a marked patriarchal oppression of homosexuality in the Caribbean, as it is considered sinful and unnatural, and as a result, it is outlawed in many Caribbean nations. Though there are Caribbean homosexual “underground” communities, without a doubt, it is not openly embraced in the mainstream community. On the contrary, more often than not, Caribbean homosexuals have been violently attacked and sometimes killed when they are exposed, and they can be punished by law. Sodomy laws, laws against the act of anal sex, specifically target the male homosexual community and, in effect, make the condemnation placed on men a societal norm. As quoted in Joseph Gaskins Jr.’s analysis of the historical and legal aspects of homophobia in the Caribbean, “‘Buggery’ and the Commonwealth Caribbean: a comparative examination of the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago," “Sodomy laws exist to brand gay men and lesbians as criminals. Social ordering necessitates the criminalization of sodomy, thereby creating a hierarchy that values heterosexuality over, and often to the exclusion of, homosexuality.

This symbolic effect of sodomy laws is not dependent on their enforcement. Even though very few men and virtually no women ever suffer the full range of criminal sanctions permitted under state sodomy laws, these statutes impose the stigma of criminality upon same-sex eroticism” (Gaskins Jr. 16). The legal standing on homosexuality in the Caribbean puts homosexuals outside of the norm, and their only option becomes pariah-hood.

Those who identify with homosexuality in the Caribbean, openly or otherwise, are thrust out of heteronormative, patriarchal norms, which puts them in danger. As a result, many men submit themselves to heterosexual conditioning, not just as a way to protect themselves and disguise their sexuality, but to also prove their manhood. Socially, homosexual men are not considered “real men” in the Caribbean. In the Caribbean, many aspects of the culture, from music to literature, attempt to program men with aggressively heterosexual imagery, as highlighted in Timothy S. Chin’s discussion of Claude Mckay’s work in “'Bullers' and 'Battymen': Contesting Homophobia in Black Popular Culture and Contemporary Caribbean Literature." “Indeed, McKay's folk heroes reflect and even reinforce dominant sexual ideologies by asserting a masculinity that is predicated on both sexism and homophobia. For example, during one of his stints as a cook working in a railroad dining car, Jake encounters a waiter reading a "French" (clearly a code for homosexual) novel. While questioning the waiter about the book—a story by Alphonse Daudet entitled 'Sappho'—he begins to hum a tune that makes explicit the link between the novel's particular figuration of masculine identity and the sexist and homophobic values on which it depends…" Despite the rumor that Mckay was homosexual himself, Chin states that Mckay never seriously challenged heterosexuality in Caribbean literature, and like many others, hid behind models of heteronormativity and hyper-masculinity in order to protect his manhood.

As researched by Errol Lamont Fields et al., in their research and analysis titled "'I Always Felt I Had to Prove My Manhood': Homosexuality, Masculinity, Gender Role Strain, and HIV Risk Among Young Black Men Who Have Sex With Men," it can be seen that gay Black men who attempt to take on heteronormative sexuality engage in a role of domination that becomes central to their lives as men. “Many overlapping conceptions and definitions of masculinity exist. We focused on the conception of masculinity described as a social construct involving the negotiation of power and authority, in which socially dominant men who adhere to gender role norms subordinate other men, women, and femininity." Heteronormativity creates a kind of a hyper-masculinity. Homosexuality, in accordance with how it is viewed by a heteronormative preculture, runs in opposition to it. However, as homosexuals attempt to adapt to heteronormativity, they create a hyper-masculine subculture within the homosexual subculture. In doing so, male homosexuals attempt to emulate hyper-masculine ideals of dominance, authority, power, and control in an attempt to overcome or hide the femininity that is perceived to be within homosexuality. As stated by Fields, “Expressions of hyper-masculinity and anti-femininity among young Black men and gay men have been associated with increased confidence and esteem, social acceptance, and reduced anxiety about manhood." One could argue that in an attempt to cover their homosexuality, men takes on understated, but hyper-masculine ways in order to compensate for their homosexuality, which becomes more hyper-masculine in its expression, and patriarchal in its value system.

The extremely powerful patriarchal Caribbean system of masculinity exposes feminine homosexual men on multiple levels. However, masculine Caribbean homosexual men can be almost thought of as protected by the same system. The main focus of the patriarchal system seems to be to preserve masculine masculinity; homosexuality under the guise of masculinity becomes identified as something ambiguous, simply because it has a masculine expression. Without the feminine quality that is usually attributed to homosexual expression, the act of same-sex relations becomes something slightly acceptable. In Kamala Kempadoo’s research of sexuality in the Caribbean, “Caribbean Sexuality: Mapping the field," she discusses the conditions of this “accepted” homosexuality: “In many of these studies same-sex relations are not in the first instance claimed as identity but rather as activity, as people disclose information about their practice without identifying or viewing themselves as homosexual, queer, gay, lesbian, or transgender. The studies have also brought to the fore a commonality of bisexual behaviour. According to most of the research on Caribbean men-who-have-sex-with-men, many also have sex with women.” In Caribbean culture, heteronormativity is exemplified specifically in negation to homosexuality; it is only defined in relation to what is considered homosexual and/or feminine, and not masculine. Yet, in certain instances, when homosexualiy is not fully accepted as homosexuality, when it is hidden and kept in the stereotypical “closet," it becomes something else entirely. It becomes a blend between hyper-masculinity and homosexuality that Kempadoo refers to as a bisexuality.

Homosexuality in the Caribbean is most likely in the underbelly of many of the male-male interactions. Whether it is a denouncement of homosexuality, or a subtle acknowledgment, the fear of it is so ingrained in the minds of men that it has become a part of the culture. Homo-social relationships are fairly common in the Caribbean, considering that the Caribbean is heavily gendered. This quite naturally creates a space for homosexual thoughts and feelings to be explored. However, it is not a fully peaceful process in the Caribbean; it must be done in the shadows, and under the guise of heteronormativity. Homosexuality is as natural as heterosexuality, and is not limited to men. Therefore, it stands to reason that it is something that will continue to naturally occur.