Wanting HIV Is 'Such a Hot Choice

Exploring Bugchasers' Fluid Identities and Online Engagements

Bibliographic Data

ID2153302
AuthorsJaime García-Iglesias (0000-0002-8841-5635, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume41
Issue10
Pages1232-1243
Publication date2020-10-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDeviant Behavior (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0163-9625 • E-ISSN: 1521-0456
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01639625.2019.1606617
OpenAlexW2936618330
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited30

Bugchasers are gay men who fetishize HIV infection and use the internet to discuss their fetish. Previous research considered bugchasers' online engagements as proof of their sexual identities. This paper contests that view the through the exploration of three cases: Scott, a committed bugchaser; Marvin, who uses the internet as 'bugchasing entertainment' but is not a bugchaser; and Milo, whose bugchasing feelings are blurry and evolving. All three men use the internet in diverse significant ways from pure entertainment to it being a key part of their daily life. In presenting and analysing these three cases, this paper complicates identity-based assumptions of bugchasing, and presents ways in which gay men engage with social media in the pursuit of sexual pleasure

Advertising · Aesthetics · Art · Computer security · Entertainment · Feeling · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV · Identity (music · Internet privacy · Key (lock · Pleasure · Political science · Psychotherapist · Sociology · The Internet · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Law · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Medicine · Psychology · Sex work and related issues · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology · Social Psychology