Bareback sex, bug chasers, and the gift of death

This research examines barebacking, or unprotected sex. Specifically, we an alyze one form of barebacking, known as bug chasing, in which HIV-negative gay men seek to become infected with the deadly virus that causes AIDS. As a form of sexual deviance, this practice relies on social structures genera ted through recent technological advances in the computer industry that sim plify access to like-minded individuals. The research reports the reasons o ffered by participants for their continued involvement in such a high-risk activity and examines these explanations within the context of the larger c ultural divisions over the meanings of sexual behavior for the formation an d maintenance of personal identities. The sociology of sexual deviance traditionally includes prostitution, homos exuality, and pornography (Clinard and Meier 1998; Forsyth and Fournet 1987 ; Little 1983, 1995). Stripping, transvestism, and voyeurism are sometimes included as sexual deviance (Forsyth 1992,1996; Forsyth and Deshotels 1997, 1998; Fournet, Forsyth, and Schranm 1988). Other forms of sexual deviance, such as sadomasochism and sexual asphyxia (Lowery and Wetli 1982), have be en virtually ignored. Consequently, several unusual forms of sexual practic e remain sociologically "unknown" and are typically excluded from the liter ature. This research examines one recent manifestation of sociologically unknown s exual deviance: the phenomenon of barebacking, especially in the form known popularly as "bug chasing" (Bergling 1997; Gendin 1997; Peyser 1997; Signo rile 1997a). Barebacking is the slang term used to describe sex that occurs without the protection provided by a condom and is usually a term reserved for reference to anal intercourse between gay men. Bug chasing is the term used to refer to the act of barebacking when the participants include both HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay men, and the latter knowingly seek infec tion by the former. With the recent explosion onto the scene of the World W ide Web (WWW), a forum now exists for providing links between like-minded i ndividuals in pursuit of this goal. The following quote is taken from a rec ent posting on the WWW: "We're looking for pot-dudes who want to spread HIV around and neg-boyz in search of sero-conversion"(McCoy 1997:2). In an age when sex education is focused to a large extent on blocking the transmissi on of the deadly HIV virus, such deviant behavior may seem incomprehensible . The purpose of this research is to describe this form of sociological dev iance, with hopes of suggesting explanations for the complex motivations th at lie behind it.