Re-thinking chemsex

A post-structuralist approach

Abstract

Chemsex has been treated with much sensationalism from the public opinion and in a very biased way in the academy. This work is a post-structuralist theoretical-methodological proposal to unravel the cultural origin of these pathologizing value judgments. As well as the application of queer methodologies so that chemsex users can self-represent themselves in social research. It presents the state of the question and an analysis of how the different approaches carried out so far represent chemsex users. It then delves into the Western cultural framework from which chemsex is treated in science. Next, chemsex is contextualized in the current era —the pharmacopornographic era—. After that, the liberating potential of chemsex in terms of intimacy and sexuality is explored. Thus appreciating non-negative aspects of chemsex. Finally, queer methodologies are introduced and how they can be applied in this field. This proposal tries to move the debate from the risk paradigm to the pleasure paradigm, thus constructing chemsex from a non-stigmatizing perspective that is reliable to the discourses of chemsex users.