Fucking with homonormativity

The ambiguous politics of chemsex

Bibliographic Data

ID19004526
AuthorsMowlabocu (0000-0003-4663-5821, Fordham University, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume26
Issue5-6
Pages585-603
Publication date2021-03-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSexualities (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1363-4607 • E-ISSN: 1461-7382
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1363460721999267
OpenAlexW3134417465
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited21

One would not typically think of chemsex as a practice structured by the same political ideology that spawned ‘the new homonormativity’. For one thing, the gay press (a key mediator of homonormative thinking) has spilt much ink demonizing both the practice and practitioners of chemsex. Chemsex is framed in opposition to the ‘good gays’ that appear on same-sex wedding invitations or in advertisements for furniture stores or travel companies. Meanwhile, scholars have identified the ways in which chemsex embodies a response to both the political-economic landscape of neoliberalism, and the dominant model of homosexuality. From this perspective, chemsex appears antithetical to the political-economy of late capitalism, and to homonormativity. Building on critical discussions of this sexual practice, this article maps the complicated political terrain in which chemsex operates. Drawing on in-depth interviews with active and former practitioners, I suggest that chemsex occupies an ambivalent position in relation to the politics of homonormativity

Aesthetics · Ambivalence · Art · Capitalism · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Gender Studies · Law · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Psychology · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology · Social Psychology