Sex and meth: Why 'chem-fun' is rife among the gay male muny HK

Contents:

• SEX AND METH: WHY 'CHEM-FUN' IS RIFE AMONG THE GAY MALE MUNY HK
• GAY PRI
• GAY
• GAY (ADJ.)
• MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH
• SUP? LOOKG? PARTY? A GUI TO GAY APP LGO
• GAY SLANG 101

SEX AND METH: WHY 'CHEM-FUN' IS RIFE AMONG THE GAY MALE MUNY HK

30 Kky Terms Every Gay Man Needs to Know. If gay life was a giant ballroom (and kd of is), kky leathermen have been lgerg the back, the shadows, for generatns. Long before hookup apps like Grdr and Scff, gay and bisexual men seekg sual sex wore lored handkerchiefs their pant pockets ditg what kd of sex they were seekg and whether they were a domant/top or submissive/bottom.

GAY PRI

The lor is pretty extensive and clus var kks and fetish, and is still ed today by gay clothg brands like Nasty Pig and CellBlock 13 — and, obvly, by kky gay men. [RELATED: "30 Kky Terms Every Gay Man Needs to Know"]Our relatnship had started more than a year earlier wh tense monthly BDSM play ssns. That distctly mky, lic aroma, which n only be found the playrooms of gay circu parti and gyms across the untry, lgered the stchg.

GAY

I clarified the two terms my list of 30 kky terms every gay man should know. Tom of Fland’s 1970s drawgs of biker boys, clad impossibly form-ftg leather, solidified leather as a staple of gay culture.

GAY (ADJ.)

Also lled klismaphilia, enema fetish are monly explored amatr gay and straight porn. Beards are so sexually charged and erotilly ialized among today’s scffier populatns of gay men that one might fet the fact that beards are still, technilly, fetish objects. Coprophilia is sexual stimulatn om fec, and while the general populatn’s rponse to is bound to be pretty strong, this fetish is more mon than you might spect, particularly among gay pig players, fistg enthiasts, and kky leather men.

Dpe s populary wh a more niche sectn of the gay male populatn, is generally nsired an unhygienic fetish to explore, sce handlg and nsumg human fel matter rri wh certa health risks. Proment gay clothg brands like Nasty Pig and Cellblock 13 draw their sign spiratn om tried-and-te sports wear, and standard gay circu attire will always feature a pair of football pants wh the ont lacg beckongly open.

Also lled chronophilia (and sometim ageism), the fetishizatn of age is a hotly bated topic gay culture. [RELATED: "30 Kky Terms Every Gay Man Needs to Know"].

MEANG OF GAY ENGLISH

A male wh latent homosexual tennci who enjoys the pany of other mal and listens to German techno mic while wearg a button-down shirt wh the sleev rolled up, the llar popped, and sandals. ‘Crystal meth is for pure sex’, says Pl Schulte, a lol dg unsellor and thor of the recent book, Paths to Revery for Gay and Bisexual Dg Addicts: Healg Weary Hearts.

And ’s disproportnately ed durg sex by gay men, often durg group ssns known as slammg parti. “Straight men and woman obvly take meth as well for sex, but I do believe gay men take to another level, ’’ says Dr Sky L, who spent three years rearchg his 2014 PhD this Experiencg Risky Pleasure: The Exploratn of ‘Chem Fun’ the Hong Kong Gay Communy. “I would say that gay men tend to take meth groups more than straight dividuals.

SUP? LOOKG? PARTY? A GUI TO GAY APP LGO

” Ined, a glance though profil on Grdr and Jack’d (gay social apps) the days reveals ’s not unmon to see guys wrg that they want ‘chem fun’ or ‘high fun’, or otherwise simply ditg wh a pill emotin. “I would say that 70 percent of the guys on Grdr are lookg for chem fun, ” says D, a reverg meth addict and gay man.

But why are so many gay guys, particular, turng to meth? “The gay muny is a stigmatised muny, ” says Schulte.

“In the gay populatn, there is so much more strs and that creat an environment for flourishg addicts.

GAY SLANG 101

I don’t ny that health risks and addictn are part of this group activy, but there is wir ntext where gay men n have a fortable space to socialise and make iends, ee of judgement. Wh few optns and activi for gay men to socialise, he turned to Grdr to fd iends.

A study om an Aids Concern, a longstandg lol NGO, recently published a study showg that 41 percent of gay men the cy did not e a ndom for every sexual enunter. HIV is by no means specifilly an issue solely impactg the gay muny. “Look, I’m gay, ” says Schulte.

There’s a problem, and the gay muny has to take rponsibily for .

Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love. There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia.

'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022. Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife.

The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage".

Has a history of repeatedly sharg unfound nspiraci that man-ma chemils the environment uld be makg children gay or transgenr and g the femizatn of boys and masculizatn of girls. The basels claim that chemils – particularly tap water – uld turn people gay has gaed populary wh nspiracy theorists over the years, most memorably wh nservative rad host Alex Jon, who said chemils the water were “turng the igg’ ogs gay.

McCoy for The New York TimHis Sexualy Don’t Defe Him, but It Can Set Him ApartEric Bach is an openly gay broadster for the Frericksburg Natnals. Three years earlier, while he was studyg journalism at Michigan State Universy, he had publicly e out as gay an say he wrote for the time of the say, he braced for a backlash, but nothg materialized. He worked his way up om ternships to full-time broadstg jobs, and while anyone wh an ter nnectn uld learn he was gay, nobody asked, and he did not say so aga publicly.

It was bil and ugly, filled wh “every gay slur you uld thk of, ” Bach said. It was paful at the time — the worst thg that had happened to him as a gay man, he said — but has reced far enough to his memory that did not e to md an hourlong terview about his experienc as a gay broadster.

As far as Bach knows — and as far as many of his unterparts wh other teams are aware — there are no other openly gay broadsters the sport. McCoy for The New York TimBorn to BroadstLong before he knew he was gay, Bach knew he wanted to be a sports father was a ach, and a love of sports ran through the fay. ”)He began to accept that he was gay durg his sophomore year of high school, but wh that acceptance me worry.

As a multisport athlete, Bach was often locker rooms filled wh chos of homophobic slurs and gay jok. ’”By the start of his sophomore year at Michigan State, Bach was ready to tell his parents that he was gay, tchg his father off guard but nfirmg what his mother had prevly assumed. He did each job to the bt of his abily, and his sexualy never me, he has found that there’s a difference between beg a gay man baseball and beg pletely fortable as one.

“I was sually like, ‘You know I’m gay, right?

That uncertaty mak him feel self-nsc a way he believ is mon for gay people mostly straight spac. “I feel like that’s the burn a lot of gay people live wh — tryg to be perfect for straight people, ” he job requir equent teractn wh the players and the achg staff — addn to his duti as play-by-play announcer, Bach also is the ma public relatns ntact for the team — and he said he hadn’t fully relaxed any of them. The environment is not hostile, but Bach never fets that he is the only openly gay person the room.

Mrer/Frericksburg NatnalsThat feelg is somewhat “self-flicted, ” Bach said, but he believ the solutn is to brg more openly gay people to sports and create a safe environment for those who are already there but have felt necsary to hi their League Baseball has touted self as a place of clivy.

Billy Bean, an openly gay former player, was named the league’s first ambassador for cln 2014 and has sce been promoted to senr vice print and special assistant to Commissner Rob Maned. In Febary, Anrson Comás, a mor leaguer the Chigo Whe Sox anizatn, me out as gay wh a post on Instagram, and the announcement was met wh public support om his club and some people around the cints suggt there is more work to be done.