This book examines sexual fantasies and their influence on everyday life through the stories of twenty-two men who introduce themselves as bugchasers, i.e. gay men who eroticize HIV. The author defines bugchasing, charts its history and contexts, and considers how it has changed in the age of internet and PrEP. Through the participants, their experiences and contexts, this text also theorizes about sexual fantasies, seeking to understand how people define sexual fantasies and use the internet as a space to navigate their desires, meet others, and find support. Chapters also consider the practical implications of fantasy, most notably, how fantasies influence men’s decisions around HIV prevention and care. This book speaks to renewed interest in both the AIDS crisis and the sociology of everyday life to illustrate how fantasies such as bugchasing appear, evolve, and adapt.
This book will be of interest to scholars focused on queer studies, sexuality studies, gender studies, and healthcare.
Author(s): Jaime García-Iglesias
Series: Health, Technology and Society
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 132
City: Cham
Series Editors’ Preface
Acknowledgements
Contents
About the Author
Chapter 1: Foreplay
1.1 Breeding Stories
1.2 Delineating the Context
1.3 Existing Work on Bugchasing
1.3.1 New Meanings for HIV
1.4 Theoretical Influences
1.5 Who and Why
1.6 How to Chase a Chaser
1.7 The Chasers
1.8 The Chapters to Come
References
Chapter 2: What Is Bugchasing?
2.1 The Challenges of Defining Bugchasing
2.2 Bugchasing: Eroticising HIV
2.3 The Face of Bugchasing
References
Chapter 3: Viral Fantasies
3.1 Marvin: Entertainment and Fantasy
3.2 Clive: Bugchasing as a Way of Life
3.3 David: Desires that Come and Go
3.4 Fantasy and Reality
3.5 Fantasy and the Internet
References
Chapter 4: Bugchasing: A Computer Virus?
4.1 Jerk off and Log off
4.1.1 The Importance of the Internet
4.1.2 Masking Identity
4.1.3 Sociality: From Friends to the ‘Bare Minimum’
4.2 But Do They Really Want It?
4.2.1 Finding Information About It and Giving It a Name
4.2.2 Experimenting with Desires
4.3 Viral Spill Over
References
Chapter 5: Medicated Fantasies: PrEP as the Blue Pill
5.1 PrEP and Viral Fantasies
5.1.1 What Is PrEP?
5.2 PrEP among Bugchasers
5.2.1 PrEP as Emasculating and a Chemical Condom
5.2.2 PrEP as ‘Training Wheels’
5.3 PrEP Discontinuation
5.3.1 Milo: The Arousal of Risk
5.3.2 Luke: What If I Don’t Take it?
References
Chapter 6: Medicated Fantasies: After HIV Diagnosis
6.1 Challenges of Exploring the Aftermath of Infection
6.2 HIV Medication
6.3 After Bugchasing
6.3.1 A Bugchasing Afterlife: To Be or Not to Be
6.3.2 Aside: The Gift-Giver
References
Chapter 7: Conclusion: Thinking Virus, Thinking Fantasy
7.1 Retracing Our Steps: Some Key Findings
7.2 Towards a Sociology of Sexual Fantasy
References
Index
