| Bugchasing (or Bug chasing) is a term, invented in the 1990s, for the
fetish of a small minority of gay men for becoming
infected with HIV. Whilst doubts have been raised about the existence of the phenomenon,
various gay websites (such as Gaydar) have chat rooms devoted to bugchasers (sometimes known as seekers, looking for "gift" givers), who are
looking specifically to have unprotected sex with HIV-positive men.
It is thought that some men wish to become infected with HIV because they feel guilty
(or even left out) because many of their friends are HIV-positive or because they feel fatalistic about becoming HIV-positive and want to stop worrying about when they might become infected
ordinarily.
Many gay men, particularly seropositive gay men, look down on bugchasers with disdain, as being delusional or simply not
understanding that modern antiviral therapy can still have painful and unpleasant
side-effects. Some gay men are also concerned that bugchasers might "give the
gay community a bad name".
Writer/director Daniel Bort made a 2003 short film called Bugchaser, which premièred at the 16th Annual
Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, on the subject, shot mainly in
New York sex clubs. In an
interview with the Austin Chronicle, he explained: "The
matter-of-fact declarations of a string of articulate, apparently nonsensical people … affected me tremendously. I had to
find out the reasons why such individuals will seek suicide in this almost symbolic way." At the Austin G&L Film
Festival, the film was shown with an accompanying documentary
The Gift by Louise
Hogarth.
Also in 2003, Rolling Stone magazine printed an article by a
freelance journalist Gregory
Freeman entitled "Bug Chasers: The men who long to be HIV+", which provoked a storm of controversy, mainly for the statistics
given in the article, which suggested that the practice might be relatively common. There seems to be little evidence, however,
that bugchasing is the practice of anything but a very small minority.
The issue is, more recently, being taken seriously by medical health promotion bodies, such as the Centers for Disease Control, which hosted a workshop
by Dr Michael Graydon of Carleton University, Ottawa, on the topic at the 2004 National STD Prevention Conference.
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