You’re nervous and excited when you first arrive at the party — one mystery guest just happens to be HIV-positive.
Goosed with the possibility of catching the virus from one of these handsome strangers, you hurdle yourself into the action.
You won’t know if you’ve succeeded in catching HIV for at least a few weeks. Nevertheless, you choose to believe you’re going to catch the virus because you want it more than any of these other wannabes.
If a sea of new articles from the likes of Dazed Digital, The Sun, The Daily Mail, and The Mirror are to be believed, you’ve just attended a “sex roulette” party, a troubling (and probably totally pretend) new trend that puts a new spin on the idea of “bug chasing” or “gift giving.” Even some gay press reported the story as reputable news.
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“Doctors” warn that these nefarious sex parties are “on the rise,” according to The Daily Mail.
Well, one doctor in Barcelona.
Sex roulette parties where one person is secretly HIV positive and nobody is allowed to use condoms are on the rise, warn doctors.
The parties are usually attended by gay men, who are entertained by the ‘thrill’ of not knowing whether they will be infected or not.
Spanish doctors have noted a rise in the parties where attendees often take anti-viral drugs to reduce the risk of transmission.
That last bit is rather perplexing to us: hordes of gay men are flocking to bareback orgies, enticed by the prospect of potentially catching the HIV virus while also decreasing their chances of catching the disease by taking anti-viral drugs? Isn’t that like playing Russian Roulette with an unloaded gun?
Speaking to el Periodico, Dr. Josep Mallolas of Hospital Clinic Barcelona sounds worried about these totally fabricated “sex roulette” parties sweeping across the land.
“There is everything,” he begins. “Sex roulette parties, or sex parties you can only attend if you already have HIV.”
Dr. Mallolas claims some of these parties are known as “blue” parties because that’s the color of anti-viral pills like Truvada.
Kate Morley, a “psychosexual therapist,” has been widely quoted as saying, “Going to sex roulette parties is about the risk, partygoers think the higher the risk, the stronger the thrill.”
“In the case of sex parties,” she says, “the intense high is as you combine orgasm with high adrenaline.”
Do you think this could this possibly be a real trend? Or, like us, do you think this is a sorry attempt to drum up some good old-fashioned gay panic (and plenty of clicks?)
h/t: Queerty
