Understanding how gay men construct ‘good’ chemsex participation using critical discursive psychology
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12978331 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Siobhan Healy-Cullen (0000-0003-3843-4966), Adam Shanley (0009-0009-6364-910X, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe – University of Galway), Catrin Noone (0000-0003-4974-9066, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 539-556 |
| Publication date | 2024-01-23 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Psychology and Sexuality (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1941-9902 • E-ISSN: 1941-9899 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/19419899.2024.2308009 |
| OpenAlex | W4391137581 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 66 |
Research to date has focused on the potential issues arising from chemsex and often seeks to uncover what is 'wrong' with those who are motivated to engage in chemsex. Critical chemsex studies reaches beyond this harm-orientated focus and instead adopts a social justice approach that recognises chemsex participants as legitimate sexual citizens. The present study – comprising eight interviews with gay men living in Ireland – is situated within this critical research praxis. Using a critical discursive psychology framework, our analysis demonstrates how participants draw on various interpretative repertoires to discursively negotiate chemsex identities in a bid to position themselves in a culturally intelligible manner. Participants deployed three key repertoires, centred around (i) harm, (ii) essentialism, and (iii) ethics. These repertoires are deployed in an interweaving manner to ultimately construct a dynamic, hierarchal continuum of chemsex participants – from flourishing, to flailing. Our analysis demonstrates how chemsex participants construct 'other' chemsex users as 'flailing' towards the bottom of the continuum by mobilising repertoires that draw upon prevailing moralistic notions of 'good' sexual citizenship. We argue that the mainstream construction of chemsex as inevitably harmful is restrictive and produces a deficit understanding of chemsex participants, and discuss the possibilities for discursively reimagining chemsex participation
Construct (python library · Discourse analysis · Discursive psychology · Homosexuality · Men who have sex with men · Psychoanalysis · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology
Critical Discursive Psychology
Social Constructionism
Chemsex
Motivations and values associated with combining sex and illicit drugs (‘chemsex’) among gay men in South London
Sexualised drug taking among men who have sex with men
Illicit drug use in sexual settings (‘chemsex’) and HIV/STI transmission risk behaviour among gay men in South London
Crime or culture? Representations of chemsex in the British press and magazines aimed at GBTQ+ men
Psychological and Interpersonal Factors Associated with Sexualized Drug Use Among Men Who Have Sex with Men
Rethinking consent with continuums
Fucking with homonormativity
Is consent enough? What the research on normative heterosexuality and sexual violence tells us
Hanging, blowing, slamming and playing
Pornography addiction and the perimeters of acceptable pornography viewing
Critical chemsex studies
Party-n-Play and online information and communication technologies
Chemsex cultures
‘Scene’ as a critical framing device
The gay scientist
The rise of chemsex
Mediated intimacies
The involuntary confession of euphoria
I am not a drug abuser, I am a drug user”
It’s how we get to know each other”
Responsibility, risk and negotiation in the discourse of gay men's group sex
Chasing the rainbow
Syndemics of stigma, minority-stress, maladaptive coping, risk environments and littoral spaces among men who have sex with men using chemsex
Constructing a ‘target population’
Drugs as technologies of the self
It’s not just the hit itself”
The role of folk pharmacology and lay experts in harm reduction
Chemsex” and harm reduction need among gay men in South London
Erasing pleasure from public discourse on illicit drugs
Stigma as understood by key informants
The rush to risk when interrogating the relationship between methamphetamine use and sexual practice among gay and bisexual men
Social norms related to combining drugs and sex (“chemsex”) among gay men in South London
Pleasure and HIV biomedical discourse
Chemsex behaviours among men who have sex with men
Pharmacosex
Experiences of racism, sexual objectification and alcohol use among gay and bisexual men of colour
The emotional psychologist
Fit to conceive? Representations of preconception health in the UK press
Talk, listen, think’
How do older people normalise their drinking
Chemsex in Lisbon? Self-Reflexivity to Uncover the Scene and Discuss the Creation of Community-Led Harm Reduction Responses Targeting Chemsex Practitioners
Articulating Connections between the Harm-Reduction Paradigm and the Marginalisation of People Who Use Illicit Drugs
How Does Alcohol Consumption Affect Perceptions of One’s Own and a Drinking Partner’s Ability to Consent to Sexual Activity
My Wife Ordered Me to Come
The perils of health promotion and the 'barebacking' backlash
Health identities
Harm reduction and the ethics of drug use
Pleasure, drugs, materiality and tensions in harm reduction in practice
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |