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Mark, a Londoner in his 20s, has become increasingly interested in bug chasing, and engages in unprotected sex with HIV-positive partners. Others, however, are more reticent – and there can be a tension between their fantasies and their actual behaviours. Some of these men do become infected: Gallo, who chased HIV for several years, eventually became HIV positive in 2016. Milo, a Frenchman in his late 20s, stopped taking PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) to engage in casual anonymous sex – “It was a real turn on not knowing what would happen,” he says. Scott, a 58-year-old bug chaser from Melbourne, says it is “very stimulating … sexy, intense”. After all, fantasising about something is very different to pursuing it offline, in the “real world”.įor some, bug chasing is a reality. Journalist Richard Pendry titled his article on the subject “ Bug chasing: fantasy or fact?” And it is a legitimate question. Indeed, this is something that most previous researchers have struggled to consider.
#WHY DO GAY MEN GET HIV EASIER THAN OTHERS OFFLINE#
This reveals how anonymity and mutual encouragement on these sites can create an environment where users’ statements shouldn’t always be taken at face value – they’re not necessarily indicators of offline behaviour. Gallo, a 33-year-old man from California who maintains a semi-professional online presence as a porn performer, argues that the perceived anonymity that many sites foster creates “an environment where can roleplay whatever they want to be … when you’re online, you have other people who are trying to … push their barriers.”
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Given that bug chasers communicate through the internet, researchers have focused on analysing bug chasing websites, establishing that bug chasers are a minority turning to the internet to find sexual partners. And yet another argues that, “as a gay man, HIV had to be part of me, and not having it meant I was not yet complete”. A man from London in his late 60s, identifies HIV with the death of his friends in a way that drives him to desire infection, even if he is not sure why. Luke (the names throughout this article have been changed to protect the interviewees’ privacy), from Seattle, argues that HIV “became … a fear that I associated with sex that I liked”. It is also difficult to identify a single experience or motivation for bug chasing. While one of the participants I spoke with has clear memories of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, another, in his early 30s, grew up at a time when HIV was no longer a death sentence.
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They come from a variety of backgrounds, generations, and countries. Some access bug chasing websites to find hook-ups or masturbate others just spend many hours online engaging with others.īug chasers largely fetishise the HIV virus. For some, bug chasing plays a secondary role within their sexuality for others, it is all they can think about. While they all considered themselves to be bug chasers, their experiences were very different: one 69-year-old man spent his life working for an HIV charity another, younger, participant works as a porn performer. They are known as “bug chasers” because they are literally “chasing” a “bug” – HIV.īut do they really want it? To answer this question, I interviewed men in the UK, US, France and Australia. In fact, a number of gay men, at least online, appear to clamour for HIV. Why would anybody want to get infected with HIV? That is what most people ask when they first hear about “ bug chasing”.