Chemsex in MSM* biographical experiences
Abstract
Chemsex is a cultural phenomenon more known in recent decades. In light of the latest research, it can be extracted from other forms of sexual activity under the influence of psychoactive substances. Its primary characteristic is an intensification of sexual sensations and the prolongation of sessions (Bourne et al. 2014; Steward 2019). This phenomenon has been observed, above all, among men having sex with men (MSM) and usually involves gay milieux in metropolitan areas.
The material presented in the article at hand emerged from qualitative research data gained through in-depth interviews bearing great narrative potential. This social sciences methodology facilitated analysis of the biographical experiences of five males who moved to the Polish capital as young men. It was in Warsaw (Poland) that they began their lives in the world of the city’s gay subculture. Their life stories, although diverse, do exhibit similarities – for instance, a need to break out of a smalltown environment and to live in a vast, anonymous space. Anonymity removes the odium of “Otherness” and permits a lived experience of freedom.
Analysis of biographical narrations reveals many parallels in the lives and experiences of our interlocutors who had encountered multifold stigmatization due to conflicts and a lack of acceptance in their families, childhood sexual abuse, as well as various forms of aggression and exclusion. The issue of chemsex has here been presented contextually with reference precisely to the discrete emotions and experiences of the interviewees. From a comparative perspective, certain aspects surfacing in the biographical narratives have been taken into account – e.g., discovering homosexualism, metropolitan lifestyles, (un)awareness of chemsex consequences, as well as a sense of agency and control over one’s own life.
Keywords
chemsex; MSM; homosexuality; stigma; gay subculture; biographical experience; childhood trauma; agency,; social control
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