Bugchasing and giftgiving

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Bugchasing (or bug chasing) is a slang term for a subculture of gay men who desire and actively pursue HIV infection. Bugchasers "chase the bug" by seeking sexual partners who are HIV positive for the purpose of having unprotected sex and sero-converting; giftgivers are HIV+ men who attempt to infect bugchasers with HIV.

Bugchasing is not viewed favorably in the gay community. Many people, who consider it a reprehensible activity, seek to eliminate the practice.

Bugchasing

Bugchasers indicate various reasons for their desire to contract HIV, most commonly a sense of inevitability and a desire to take control by being active in their seroconversion. While by their very nature, bug chasers practice bareback sex, members of the bareback subculture are not necessarily bugchasers. To quote:

Some bugchasers organise and participate in "bug parties" or "conversion parties," sex parties where HIV positive and negative men engage in unprotected sex, in hopes of acquiring HIV ("getting the gift"). [Dean, T., 2008. "Breeding Culture: barebacking, Bugchasing, Giftgiving". The Massachusetts Review, Vol. 49(1), pp. 80-94.]

Research

Over the past decade, researchers have endeavored to document, explain, and look for a solution to the problem of bug chasing. Dr. DeAnn Gauthier and Dr. Craig Forsyth put the first academic article forth in 1999. They explored the emerging trend of gay men who eschew condoms and the development of a barebacking subculture. They also noted through their qualitative research that some barebackers were in search of HIV. Dr. Richard Tewksbury was one of the first researchers to acknowledge bug chasing online and that bug chasers were using the Internet to post their interests in seroconversion. In his more recent research, he gave a strong analysis of what bug chasers and gift givers resemble in their behaviors, attitudes, and demographics.

Drs. Christian Grov and Jeffrey T. Parsons' (2006) research using the Internet profiles of 1,228 Bug Chasers and Gift Givers identified six categories of bug chasers and gift givers.

1. "The Committed Bug Chaser" included men who indicated they were HIV-negative and seeking HIV-positive partners. Of the committed bug chasers having indicated a desired sexual position, the majority were bottoms (62.2% anal receptive). Only 7.5% of the sample were classified as committed bug chasers

2. "The Opportunistic Bug Chaser" included men who were HIV-negative and indicated that their partner’s HIV status did not matter. Most of these men were either versatile (43.6%; meaning anal receptive and anal insertive) or bottoms (46.3%). In total, 12.1% of their sample included opportunistic bug chasers.

3. "The Committed Gift Giver" Included men who were HIV-positive that also indicated they were seeking HIV-negative partners. Notably, only five men from the entire sample of 1,228 fell into this category.

4. "The Opportunistic Gift Giver" included men who indicated they were HIV-positive and that their partner’s status did not matter to them. Most of these men (61.8%) were versatile. Opportunistic Gift Givers comprised 26% of the sample.

5. "The Serosorter." Although all men Drs. Grov and Parsons sampled indicated they were a gift giver and/or a bug chaser in their Internet profile, behavioral intentions did not consistently match with bug chaser/gift giver identity. Some HIV-positive men (8.5% of total sample) indicated preferencefor other HIV-positive men. Meanwhile, some HIV-negative men (12.5% of total sample) indicated preference for other HIV-negative men. Although having indicated they were a bug chaser or a gift giver, these men were serosorting for partners of similar HIV status.

6. "The Ambiguous Bug Chaser or Gift Giver" included men who indicated they did not know their HIV status and thus it was difficult to determine if they were seeking to bug chase or give the gift. This category comprised 16.3% of the sample.

In total, Drs. Christian Grov and Jeffrey T. Parsons concluded that bug chasing and gift giving might occur among a select few individuals. Further, their research found that there was substantial variation in intentions to spread HIV (with some not intent on spreading HIV) among those who indicated they were gift givers or bug chasers.

Dr. Mark Blechner found that some bug chasers were lonely and alienated, and saw HIV as a path to becoming part of a community that elicits public sympathy and caretaking. Other bug chasers were so overwhelmed by the anxiety of contracting HIV that they thought it would be a relief from that anxiety to become HIV-positive and "get it over with." And most recently, Dr. David Moskowitz and Dr. Michael Roloff attempted to quantitatively explain why bug chasers chase HIV. They claimed that individuals who look for HIV are more likely sex addicts. These individuals have exhausted the sexual high they previously derived by performing other sexual risk taking behaviors, and now turn to bug chasing to achieve the risk-oriented high.

Dr. Bruce D. LeBlanc (2007) conducted an exploratory study involving survey responses from self identified bug chasers, one of the first published studies involving direct responses from this identified group. His findings challenge "common sense" and research findings regarding bug chasers. Examining psychological and social motivations for seeking HIV the most frequent response was that individuals could not identify a psychological (internal thought process) or social (interactions with others) factor for seeking HIV. Regarding motivations for seeking infection the most frequent response was seeing becoming infection as a thrill, hot, or erotic, as well as seeing the semen through a similar lens. Few respondents identified "getting it over with" as a motivating factor. There was some limited identification of becoming part of the "community" or "brotherhood" was identified. Other variables studied included methods for finding partners, sexual behaviors undertaken while seeking infection, average number of sexual partners, length of time for which they will seek infection and life event changes if they were successful in becoming infected with HIV.

All research mentioned here has been cited below.

Medical response

Bugchasing has, more recently, been taken more seriously by medical health promotion bodies, such as the Centers for Disease Control, which hosted a workshop on the topic, hosted by Dr Michael Graydon of Carleton University, Ottawa, at the 2004 National STD Prevention Conference.

Bugchasing in mainstream media

The bugchasing/giftgiving phenomenon gained press coverage—and notoriety—after "Rolling Stone" magazine printed an article in 2003 by a freelance journalist, Gregory Freeman, entitled [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5939950/bug_chasers "Bug Chasers: The men who long to be HIV+"] . The article provoked a storm of controversy, primarily because—based on the statistics in the article—it suggested that the practice might be relatively common. Fact|date=July 2007 The reliability of that article has since been questioned, as it cited only two sources. One source, who claimed that as many as 25% of HIV+ men had contracted it on purpose, gave his information anonymously. The other source was a doctor who, when confronted, denied the quotations attributed to him in the article. Fact|date=July 2007

Writer Daniel Hill outlined a scenario where such behavior might occur: "In private sex clubs across the U.S. men gather for a chance to participate in what is called Russian Roulette. Ten men are invited, nine are HIV-, one is HIV+. The men have agreed to not speak of AIDS, nor HIV. They participate in as many unsafe sexual encounters with each other as possible, thus increasing their chances to receive "the bug." These are the men known as 'Bug Chasers.'" cite web|url=http://www.alternativesmagazine.com/15/hill.html|title=Bug Chasers|accessdate=2008-07-06|publisher=Alternatives Magazine|year=2000|author=Daniel Hill]

Writer/director Daniel Bort made a 2003 short film on the subject called "Bugchaser", which premièred at the 16th Annual Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and was 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.

HIV positive man Ricky Dyer, who investigated the apparent bug chasing phenomenon for a 2006 BBC programme,"I love being HIV", said that an air of complacency about the realities of living with the virus may be one reason why infection rates have been rising. cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4895012.stm|title=HIV 'bug chasers': Fantasy or fact? |accessdate=2008-07-06|publisher=BBC News|year=2006|author=Richard Pendry ] However, the BBC also described bugchasing as more internet fantasy than reality, saying that, "Dyer finds that the overwhelming majority of the talk is pure fantasy." The article also quotes Will Nutland, head of health promotion at Terrence Higgins Trust, as saying, "The concepts of 'gift giving' and 'bug chasers' are definitely based more in fantasy than reality" as well as Deborah Jack, chief executive of the National AIDS Trust saying, "There is very little evidence of people trying to get infected with HIV."

See also

* Barebacking

References

Further reading

* Blechner, M. (2002) Intimacy, pleasure, risk, and safety. "Journal of Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapy", 6:27-33.
* Crossley, M. L. (2004). Making sense of ‘barebacking’: Gay men’s narratives, unsafe sex and the ‘resistance habitus’. "British Journal of Social Psychology", 43, 225-244.
* Gauthier, D. K., & Forsyth, C. J. (1999). Bareback sex, bug chasing, and the gift of death. "Deviant Behavior", 20, 85-100.
* Grov, C. (2004). “Make Me Your Death Slave”: Men who have sex with men and use the Internet to intentionally spread HIV. "Deviant Behavior, 25," 329-349.
* Grov, C. (2006). Barebacking websites: Electronic environments for reducing or inducing HIV risk. "AIDS Care, 18," 990-997.
* Grov, C., & Parsons, J. T. (2006). Bugchasing and Giftgiving: The potential for HIV transmission among barebackers on the Internet. "AIDS Education and Prevention, 18, "490-503.
* Hatfield, K. (2004). A Quest for belonging: Exploring the story of the bug chasing phenomenon. Paper presented at the National Communication Association Conference, Chicago, Illinois.
*LeBlanc, B. (2007). "An Exploratory Study of 'Bug Chasers'." "Sociological Imagination" Vol 43, No 2, 13-20.
* Moskowitz, D. A., & Roloff, M. E. (2007). The ultimate high: Sexual addiction and the bug chasing phenomenon. "Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity", 14(1), 21-40.
* Moskowitz, D. A., & Roloff, M. E. (2007). The existence of a bug chasing subculture. "Culture, Health & Sexuality", 9, 347-358.
* Tewksbury, R. (2003).Bareback sex and the quest for HIV: assessing the relationship in internet personal advertisements of men who have sex with men. "Deviant Behavior", 25, 467-482.
* Tewksbury, R. (2006). “Click here for HIV”: An analysis of internet-based bug chasers and bug givers. "Deviant Behavior", 27, 379-395.

External links

General press coverage:
* [http://lovelineshow.com/programhighlights?date=20071129 LoveLineShow.com 1:27:05 min] Sexual addicted caller refers to Bugchasing. Dr. Drew responds.
* [http://gaylife.about.com/cs/gay101/a/bugparties.htm Bug Chasers and Gift Giver Parties] from [http://www.about.com/ About.com]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/disclosure/archives/0111_russianroulette/russianroulette.html Russian Roulette] , an article by CBC, first broadcast on November 20, 2001
* [http://www.aegis.com/news/misc/2003/PN030901.html Bugchasers — myth or reality?] from "Positive Nation" magazine, September 10, 2003
* Times Online article: [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1802200,00.html HIV sex parties 'spread disease'] , September 29 2005
* [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/5939950? Bug Chasers: The men who long to be HIV+] — the "Rolling Stone" article
* [http://www.mtv.com/onair/ffyr/protect/news_feature_04_11_03.jhtml MTV.com on the "Rolling Stone" article]
* [http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2003/01/24/3 PlanetOut.com on the "Rolling Stone" article]
* [http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news2003/jan03/jan20/5_fri/news5friday.html "Media Life" magazine on the "Rolling Stone" article] , January 24, 2003
* [http://www.salon.com/opinion/sullivan/2003/01/24/rolling/ Salon.com article on the "Rolling Stone" article] , by Andrew Sullivan
* [http://www.thecinematicverses.com/reviews/thegift.html CinematicVerses.com review of documentary "The Gift"]
* [http://www.advocate.com/html/poll/908_results.asp Poll and commentary] on "The Advocate"'s website
* [http://www.cdc.gov/std/2004STDConf/D-OralSympWorkAbstracts.htm Abstracts for the 2004 National STD Prevention Conference, including Dr Graydon's workshop]
* [http://www.documen.tv/asset/The_Gift.html Documentary 62': "THE GIFT" The Phenomenon of deliberate HIV infection]
* BBC News story: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4895012.stm HIV 'bug chasers': Fantasy or fact?] , 10 April 2006

Fictional movie:
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