Bugchasing , also known in slang as charging , is the practice of pursuing sexual activity with HIV-positive people for contracting HIV. Individuals involved in these activities are referred to as bugchasers. This is a form of self-harm. Criminals look for an HIV-positive sexual partner for the purpose of having unprotected sex and becoming HIV-positive; gift giver are HIV-positive individuals who adhere to bugchaser attempts to become infected with HIV.
Bugchasers point out various reasons for this activity. Some bugchasers engage in activity for the excitement and intimacy inherent in pursuing such harmful activity, but do not implicitly want to have HIV. Some researchers argue that such behavior may stem from "resistance to predominantly heterosexual norms and customs" due to the defensive response by gay men to reject stigmatization and rejection by the public.
Some people consider bugchasing "very erotic" and infected actions through "fuck of death" as "the ultimate taboo, the most extreme sex acts remaining." People who are HIV negative and in association with an HIV-positive person may look for infection as a way to stay in contact, especially when an HIV-positive partner may want to break up to avoid infecting a HIV negative partner.
Others claim that some lonely people want a parenting and social service community that supports people with HIV/AIDS. It has also been used as a form of suicide.
Video Bugchasing
Aspect
By design, the pursuit of bugs involves unprotected sex, but members of the saddle subculture are not always bugchasers. The difference is the intention:
In reviewing unpublished unpublished published and published material about bugchasing, as well as general health speculation, a common theme emerged - a row of bug hunters with barebackers.... Although both groups share some of the same practices, ie unprotected anal sex (UAI) , there are differences that differentiate the pursuit of bugs... although all bug hunters are indeed barebackers, not all barebackers are bugchasers.
In simple terms, bugchasers engage in unprotected sexual intercourse, and look for a partner with HIV, because they want an infection. Barebackers engage in unprotected sex because they prefer the sensation but generally prefer not to contract STIs. While the actual activity is the same for both groups, both do not have the same psychology. Barebackers conceptually have the same motivations as heterosexual couples who use the method of birth control without barriers (more pleasant sex), and, unlike bugchasers, do not deliberately seek an HIV-infected partner.
Because many "bug bugs" seem to seek out the community and sympathy experienced by HIV people, comparisons have been drawn with Munchausen syndrome.
Maps Bugchasing
Research
Over the last decade, researchers have sought to document, explain, and find solutions for bugchasing. Dr. DeAnn Gauthier and Dr. Craig Forsyth submitted his first academic article in 1999. They explored the emerging trend of gay men away from condoms and the development of barebacking subcultures. They also noted through their qualitative research that some barebackers were looking for HIV.
Dr Richard Tewksbury was one of the first researchers to recognize online chase bugs and that bug hunters use the Internet to help their seroconversive efforts. In his more recent research, he provides a solid analysis of what hunters and gift givers do in their behavior, attitudes, and demographics.
Drs. Christian Grov and Jeffrey T. Parsons' (2006) research using internet profiles of 1,228 bug hunters and gift givers identified six subsets of bug hunters and gift givers.
- "The Committed Bug Chaser" includes men who indicate they are HIV-negative and are looking for an HIV-positive partner. Of committed hunters who suggest the desired sexual positions, the majority are buttocks (62.2 percent anal receptive). Only 7.5 percent of the sample is classified as a committed bug hunter.
- "The Opportunistic Bug Chaser" includes men who are HIV negative and indicate that their partner's HIV status is not important. Most of these men are versatile (43.6 percent, meaning anal receptive and anal insertive) or buttocks (46.3 percent). In total, 12.1 percent of their samples included opportunistic bug hunters.
- "Committed Gift Makers" include HIV-positive men who also indicate they are looking for an HIV-negative partner. In particular, only five men of all 1,228 samples fall into this category.
- "Opportunistic Givers" include men who indicate they are HIV-positive and that their partner status is not a problem for them. Most of these men (61.8 percent) are versatile. Opportunistic Gift Giving accounts for 26 percent of the sample.
- "The Serosorter" Although all the men of Drs Grov and Parsons samples indicate that they are gift-givers or bug pursuers on their Internet profiles, behavioral intentions are inconsistent with the identity of the giver/bug-giver. Some HIV-positive men (8.5 percent of the total sample) showed preference for other HIV-positive men. Meanwhile, some HIV negative men (12.5 percent of the total sample) showed preference for other HIV negative men. Although it has indicated that they are bug or prize pursuers, these people are doing serosorting for couples who have similar HIV status.
- "The Ambiguous Bug Chaser or Gift-Giver" includes men who indicate they are unaware of their HIV status and therefore it is difficult to determine whether they are looking for pursuit or reward. This category is 16.3 percent of the sample.
In total, Drs Christian Grov and Jeffrey T. Parsons concluded that the pursuit of bugs and gift-giving might occur among selected individuals. Furthermore, their study found that there was substantial variation in intent to spread HIV (with some not intending to spread HIV) among those who indicated they were gift-givers or bug hunters.
Dr. Mark Blechner found that some bug hunters feel lonely and alienated, and see HIV as a way to be part of a community that gives rise to sympathy and public care. Other bug hunters are overwhelmed by HIV-infected anxiety that they think it will be a relief from the anxiety to become HIV-positive and "settle with." And most recently, Dr. David Moskowitz, Dr. Catriona MacLeod and Dr. Michael Roloff tries to explain quantitatively why bug hunters are pursuing HIV. They claim that people looking for HIV are more likely to be sex addicts. These people have spent their previous sexual high stems by engaging in other risk-taking sexual behavior, and are now turning to the pursuit of bugs to achieve high risk-oriented.
Dr. Bruce D. LeBlanc (2007) conducted an exploratory study involving survey responses from self-identified bug hunters, one of the first published studies involving the immediate response of this identified group. His findings challenge "common sense" and research findings about bug hunters. Examining the psychological and social motivations for seeking HIV, the most frequent response is that individuals can not identify psychological factors (internal thought processes) or social (interactions with others) to seek HIV. Regarding the motivation to look for infection, the most frequent response is to see being infected as sensation, heat, or erotic, as well as seeing semen through the same lens. Some respondents identified "solving it" as a driving factor.
Some limited identification becomes part of the "community" or "brotherhood" identified. Other variables studied include methods for finding a partner, sexual behaviors performed while looking for infection, the average number of sexual partners, the length of time they will look for infection and life events change if they are successful in becoming infected with HIV.
Medical response
Bugchasing has, more recently, been taken more seriously by medical health promotion agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control, which organizes workshops on the topic, hosted by Drs. Michael Graydon of Carleton University, Ottawa, at the National Prevention STD 2004 Conference.
In mainstream media
The phenomenon of bugchasing/giftgiving received press coverage and fame after Rolling Stone magazine published an article in 2003 by a freelance journalist, Gregory Freeman, entitled "Bug Hunter: Men who want to become HIV". The article quoted San Francisco healthcare director Dr Bob Cabaj, who said that as many as 25 percent of new HIV infections each year (about ten thousand people) came from men who had contracted them on purpose. Cabaj debates the citations attributed to him, but Rolling Stone stands behind the story. Dr. Marshall Forstein, director of mental health and addiction services at Boston Fenway Community Health, has reportedly said that clinics regularly look at insect hunters and warn that it is growing. He called the statement "fully artificial," but Rolling Stone also stood behind them. Steven Weinstein, then editor of New York Blade, an established gay newspaper, called the article "less true" and linked it with the Rolling Stone editor (whom he do) not name) was recently recruited from a competing "mag mag" who wanted to create a sensation for himself.
Following the article, the Human Rights Campaign issued a warning of action, calling on its members to "PROTEST PROTEST ROLLING STONE 'BUG CHASING' PROTEST PROTEST." Critics criticize the use of disputed figures by conservative organizations. For example, the Traditional Value Coalition uses articles to urge the Centers for Disease Control to reduce AIDS funding.
Writer/director Daniel Bort made a 2003 short film about a subject called Bugchaser, popularized at the 16th Annual Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and was shot primarily at New York sex clubs. In an interview with the Austin Chronicle, he explains: "The declaration of facts from a series of articulate people seems absurd... very affecting me, I have to find out the reasons why people like it will seek suicide in an almost symbolic way. " At the Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, the film is featured with accompanying documentary The Gift by Louise Hogarth.
HIV-positive man Ricky Dyer, who investigated the phenomenon of a real bug chase for the BBC 2006 program, I like to be HIV , says that the feeling of being content about the reality of living with a virus may be one of the reasons. why infection rates increase. However, the BBC also describes bugchasing as an internet fantasy more than reality, saying that, "Dyer found that the majority of talks are pure fantasy." The article also cites Will Nutland, head of health promotion at the Terrence Higgins Trust, which says, "The concept of 'gift giving' and 'bug hunters' must be based more on fantasy than reality," and Deborah Jack, chief executive of the National AIDS Trust said, "There is very little evidence from people trying to become infected with HIV."
In the Showtime series Queer as Folk , former student Professor Ben Bruckner asked Ben to infect him with HIV, wanting to experience a "gift". Ben refused and wrote a short story about the incident.
In the NBC series ER , Season 7, Episode 13, Dr. Malucci treats a gay man who wants to contract HIV from his positive partner. Malucci asked the HIV-negative patient if he was "chasing bugs".
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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