Chemsex, Inty and Sexual Health among Gay and Bisexual Men - PMC

Contents:

• WHY DO GAY MEN DO CHEMSEX?
• GAY MEN'S CHEMSEX SURVIVAL STORI
• ONE "CHEMSEX" OR MANY? TYP OF CHEMSEX SSNS AMONG GAY AND OTHER MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN MADRID, SPA: FDGS OM A QUALATIVE STUDY
• CHEMSEX AMONG GAY, BISEXUAL, AND OTHER MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN SGAPORE AND THE CHALLENG AHEAD: A QUALATIVE STUDY
• SOCIAL PAL AND CHEMSEX IATN YOUNG GAY, BISEXUAL, AND OTHER MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN: THE PK RPET Y HORT STUDY
• CHEMSEX, INTY AND SEXUAL HEALTH AMONG GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

WHY DO GAY MEN DO CHEMSEX?

Over time, gay men distance themselv om the iends who don’t take dgs and the only ntacts wh gay people are those who engage Chemsex, which rerc the re belief: "All gays are the same. As a gay person, is so easy to grow up to hate ourselv bee of fai who don’t unrstand , relign, or our current society saturated wh overt and vert homophobia matag the re belief: "I'm wrong, " “I’m unlovable.

My hope for our gay muni is that we n learn new ways of celebratg genr, sex, and relatnship diversi, build muni where we foster self-love, self-re, and total acceptance for each other, and create pockets of safe rabow bubbl across the heteronormative world.

This is available to people who live all across Greater Manchter, and is currently fund for Gay, Bi and other men who have sex wh men, whether you intify as a man some or all of the time. Dr Alexandre Aslan, a medil doctor and sexologist leadg on chemsex issu at the St Louis Hospal Paris, said that jt as HIV had transformed gay sexualy the early days of the epimic, chemsex was dog so now. Auch wenn beim Chemsex für viele dam geht, schwulen Sex zu genießen und Fr daran zu haben, geht oft ch um ee Selbstmedikatn für komplexe Themen, die n Gens schwuler Sexualät verhrn, zum Beispiel gellschaftliche und vernerlichte Homophobie, die Awirkungen r HIV/Aids-Epimie f schwule Kulturen or religiöse or kulturelle Scham, die häufig m schwulem Sex verbunn sd.

GAY MEN'S CHEMSEX SURVIVAL STORI

Viele Männer haben aber ch Probleme m Sexualät und Intimät, weil sie beim Heranwachsen m ihrer abweichenn sexuellen Intät und kultureller (or vernerlichter) Homophobie klarkommen msten, efach dazugehören or Ablehnung vermein wollen. Each man intified a multiplicy of cints and feelgs that ntributed to their engagement chemsex, and engagement chemsex was nnected to participants' inty velopment and sire to belong to a gay muny.

Unrstandg 'chemsex' has bee one of the key issu LGBT health and HIV preventn high-e untri, sce has been shown that this form of sexualised dg e rrelat wh higher risks to the physil and mental health of gay and other men who have sex wh men (GMSM) who participate chemsex ssns. Sexualised substance e, or 'chemsex' has been shown to be a major factor drivg the synmic of HIV/AIDS muni of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex wh men (GBMSM) around the world.

ONE "CHEMSEX" OR MANY? TYP OF CHEMSEX SSNS AMONG GAY AND OTHER MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN MADRID, SPA: FDGS OM A QUALATIVE STUDY

Latent class analysis was employed to intify class wh siar patterns of sexualized substance e, and multomial logistic regrsn was employed to exame associatns between class membership and proxy measur of social pal, cludg age of sexual but, bondg and bridgg social pal, nnectedns to the lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny, and outns. IntroductnGay, bisexual, and other men who have sex wh men (GBMSM) nstute a key populatn that ntu to be disproportnately affected by Human Immunoficiency Vis (HIV) on a global sle [1]. Wh muni of GBMSM, young gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex wh men (YMSM) experience a greater burn of HIV risk pared to their olr unterparts, which may be attributed to a higher cince of risky sexual behavrs, sexualized substance e, and barriers to health-seekg behavrs [2, 3] e of amphetame-type stimulants (ATS), particular methamphetame, has bee creasgly prevalent among GBMSM [4].

CHEMSEX AMONG GAY, BISEXUAL, AND OTHER MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN SGAPORE AND THE CHALLENG AHEAD: A QUALATIVE STUDY

Demographic and psychosocial rrelat for popper e among GBMSM clu beg olr, beg HIV-posive, and reportg visg sex-on-premis venu, licensed lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) venu, and g other substanc [19, 23] om the e of typilly illic substanc, heavy alhol e has also been tablished to be mon among GBMSM, pecially veloped untry settgs [24, 25, 26]. The mixed fdgs may be attributed to the varyg ways which muny affiliatn or social pal have been measured or nceptualized var studi, which may span across measur that reflect accs to social works, psychologil feelgs of affiliatn, or even explic forms of affiliatn that pruppose participatn tert groups or regard to alhol e, GBMSM who report a stronger affiliatn wh gay male culture and who have met sexual partners through entertament tablishments where alhol e tak place are more likely to have engaged heavy alhol e [24, 26]. Among YMSM, gay bar attendance, prsn, sensatn seekg, peer risk behavrs, multiple sexual partners, and a younger age of alhol iatn were found to be associated wh heavier alhol e patterns [46, 47] has been a lack of nsens around the nceptualizatn, operatnalizatn, and th measurement of social pal.

SOCIAL PAL AND CHEMSEX IATN YOUNG GAY, BISEXUAL, AND OTHER MEN WHO HAVE SEX WH MEN: THE PK RPET Y HORT STUDY

Sgapore society has largely held negative perceptns of, and attus towards lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) dividuals [52, 53, 54], as well as people who e dgs [55]. To be eligible for this hort, participants had to be HIV-negative or unsure of their HIV stat, between the ag of 18 to 25 years old, Sgapore cizens or permanent rints, and intify as gay, bisexual, or queer men at the pot of recment, which spanned across May to September 2019.

Variable measurThe survey llected socmographic rmatn om rponnts, cludg age ( years), ethnicy (Che vs non-Che), genr (cisgenr vs non-cisgenr), sexual orientatn (gay vs non-gay), and monthly hoehold e (SGD5000 and above vs below SGD5000; SGD5000 is approximately USD3668.

CHEMSEX, INTY AND SEXUAL HEALTH AMONG GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN

However, we were unable to ascerta if this effect is due to the duratn of beg exposed to such sexual works, or the nature of the sexual relatns that take place at a younger age that may be fed by greater power differentials between sexual who also intified as beg gay (vis-à-vis bisexual or queer) or who were olr were also more likely to be the poppers class, pared to the alhol class. The fdgs tie wh a possible narrative that a stronger sense of a gay male inty may be associated wh greater participatn a wir gay male sexual culture that typilly exclus GBMSM who do not intify as cisgenr gay men [63, 64]. Our fdgs also dite that while growg olr the gay muny may lead to exposure to the possibily of substance e, an earlier age of sexual but, and th exposure to sexual works at a younger age is a greater risk factor for chemsex among forward, terventns uld foc on providg YMSM a space to teract and navigate g to terms wh their sexual inti safe and non-sexual settgs.

Add "slammg"—the jectn of crystal meth or mephedrone mixed wh water—to the pot and there's an addnal path for vis like HIV and hepatis C to body-hop on a needle's 's important to note that not every gay dg er has a problem wh chemsex; that chemsex is still a relatively small issue, terms of the number of people engagg ; and that some are able to do so whout affectg their liv too much. But that clearly isn't the se for everyone—the rise of people (mostly, but not exclively, gay men) g dgs durg sex has prompted experts to issue a public health warng about we see the new VICE documentary CHEMSEX, there are var factors volved s rise: The allure of dgs and sex is the obv startg pot, but for many there's more to than that—issu around inty, self-worth, and a sense of wantg to belong all e up regularly.

David Stuart, Substance Use Lead, 56 Dean StreetCompetently addrsg chemsex is challengg, bee though may be perceived as a dg problem, 's more of a sex problem; a cultural problem associated wh how gay men unrstand and pursue sex, timacy, and relatnships.