Topic awaiting preservation: Bug Chasers (Page 1 of 1)

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE JAN 21, 2003 17:59:25 ET XXXXX

MAG: 25% OF NEW HIV-INFECTED GAY MEN SOUGHT OUT VIRUS, SAYS SAN FRAN HEALTH OFFICIAL

New ROLLING STONE Managing Editor Ed Needham is set to hit complete controversy with a 4-page report: "Bug Chasers: The Men Who Secretly Long To Be HIV+."

Filed by Greg Freeman, the shock story claims some men with HIV are deliberately having unprotected sex with those who want to be infected!

MORE

"The men who want the virus are called 'bug chasers,' and the men who freely give them the virus are called 'gift givers.' While the rest of the world fights the AIDS epidemic and most people fear HIV infection, this subculture celebrates the virus and eroticizes it," reports Freeman in the February 6, 2003 edition of ROLLING STONE.

At least twenty-five percent of all newly infected gay men fall into [bug-chasing] category, according to one claim in the "special report".

"In this world, the men with HIV are the most desired, and the bug chasers will do anything to get the virus."

Gay groups "aggressively encouraged" Freeman to drop the article.

One sad passage captures a young man in New York City who wants to be infected:

"His eyes light up as he says that the actual moment of transmission, the instant he gets HIV, will be 'the most erotic thing I can imagine.'"

An infector is quoted as saying: "I'm murdering him in a sense, killing him slowly, and that's sort of, as sick as it sounds, exciting to me."

Most AIDS activists prefer to deny the problem exists to any significant extent, says Dr. Bob Cabaj, director of behavioral-health services for San Francisco County and past president of Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. "They don't want to address that this is really going on."

In a gonzo-journalism ROLLING STONE moment, Cabaj claims at least 25% of all newly infected gay men fall into [bug-chasing] category.

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from here: http://www.drudgereport.com/rr.htm
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Has anyone heard of anything like this before? I'm not shocked that this exists but I am surprised about the numbers being quoted in this report.

. . : slicePuzzle

I noticed those stats are from a clinic in San Francisco. Probably not the most representative sample population.

That is pretty sick though.

Bugs: I'm sure there is a small subculture (its a strange sad sick world we live in and a clear sign we live in a decadent society ) but 25%?? 93.7% of statistics are made up on the spot and this seems to have been plucked from a hat in a deliberate attempt to get us talking about it (which we clearly are). You'd need to know more about sample sizes, selection criteria, etc. before you could give this some credence. If it focuses on the problems of HV out there and the fact that people are taking less precautions these days then in some ways that is a good thing (perhaps).

What amuses me is that I suspected you ran across this while looking for reference to your cursor chasers through Google or something??

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

I try to make the topic titles as titillating as I can

A friend of mine reads the Drudge Report every day and usually brings up topics of discussion from it. I figured I had better start reading it to be ready for him That's how I came across this.

Yeah, those figures just seemed suspect to me.

[edit] just got the 93.7% part, very droll ! [/edit]

[This message has been edited by Bugimus (edited 01-22-2003).]

I believe it's actually closer to an even 94% these days. There's been an upswing lately. Sad, actually, since '91 saw an all-time recorded low of 79.5%.

Well, whatever the case, this has me about 67.2% nauseated.

More on the subject, esp. this

quote:

---

Whereas some gay men have continued to engage in unprotected anal sex since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, only lately has there emerged a heightened eroticization, premeditation, and form of structured organizing devoted to the practice of unsafe sex. An abundance of Internet web sites, online chatrooms, e-mail listservs, personal ads, private parties, jargon and slang terminology, and even amateur and professional videos dedicated solely to barebacking have been created in the past two years. A few of these venues extol the pleasures of intentional infection with HIV as well as the open exchange of bodily fluids. Taking place against the current backdrop of sex controversies permeating gay male communities, barebacking has become a lightning rod of political contention in the United States.

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So is it widespread? Good question...it may be, that it is becoming so...at least, this 'barebacking' is...

You know, this is sort of like the cannabalism case here in Germany...of people wanting to be eaten...and meeting on websites, to do just that...

Why they do it? I don't really know.

Actually, I think this issue really plumbs the depths of human nature, which is perhaps why I find it nauseating.

Well, this article clears this mess up. http://salon.com/opinion/sullivan/2003/01/24/rolling/print.html

But why would Rollingstone jump on this story before checking their facts
and take the risk of embarassing their already declining pop music mag?

Whew cleared that up pretty quick didn't he.





.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

quote:

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...I'm not saying we should be unconcerned about this phenomenon. It's not made up. It's been out there for years now. It is a problem, as many actual HIV counselors and officials cited in the piece clearly acknowledge. But the first thing a journalist has to do is find out if the phenomenon exists to any real extent, how significant it is, and how widespread it is...

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So it's about what we thought. It happens but the numbers are unreliable.

Calling Hannity a "gay-hater" tarnishes this guy's objectivity though It's a shame after such a decent article otherwise.