Bugchasing

Bugchasing is trying to get HIV through sex.^[1] People who try to get HIV are called bugchasers, and they are all men who have sex with men.^[2] It is not entirely understood why people try to get HIV, and bugchasing actions are hard to understand. It is rare.

Motivation and action

Bugchasers are men who have sex with men and purposely try to get HIV.^[3] It is not understood why this happens.^[4]

There are four common explanations.^[5] First, it is thought that some men become bugchasers because they fear HIV infection, which had previously changed how they have sex. This can include things like men abstaining from sex entirely, only having sex with one person, or using sexual protection like condoms.^[6] Second, some men think having HIV is sexy. This means it can feel good to think about it, or that it is the ultimate taboo to overcome.^[7] Third, bugchasers might think having HIV makes them part of a group.^[8] And fourth, bugchasing might be an action against heteronormativity, the idea that everyone is heterosexual. The idea is that bugchasers do not achieve some expectations placed on them, including safe sex.^[9] There is a fifth possible reason—suicide^[10]—but this is not clear or very helpful.^[11]

Either way, people only rarely call themselves bugchasers, and they only try to get HIV even more rarely.^[12] This behavior does not entirely fit in with their identity.^[13] This means that bugchasing actions are rarely based on persons known to have HIV and having sex with them. Instead, a lot of bugchasers have sex in ambiguous situations, where they do not know if their partners have HIV.^[14] In 2005, researchers said there was no empirical evidence that bugchasing existed; they said that bugchasing as an idea and an activity existed, but it was rare.^[15]

Notes

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