Chemsex in Ireland: Increasing Pleasure and Reducing Harms

The integration of drug use and sexual practice has a long history (Race et al., The Future of Drugs: Recreational Drug Use and Sexual Health among Gay and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men. Sexual Health 14(1): 42–50. https://doi.org/10.1071/SH16080, 2017). Different communities have developed specific cultures related to the combination of drug use and sex, and these cultures have evolved, diminished and transformed over time in response to changes in social norms, technology and drugs themselves. One community that has received special attention from researchers, the media and policymakers with regard to its connection with drug use and sexual practices is the LGBT+ community, and this attention has mostly focused on the men in this community (Florêncio, Chemsex Cultures: Subcultural Reproduction and Queer Survival. Sexualities, January, 1363460720986922. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460720986922, 2021; Moyle et al., Pharmacosex: Reimagining Sex, Drugs and Enhancement. International Journal of Drug Policy 86 (December): 102943. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102943, 2020). During the past decade, the emergence of new choices of drugs and new communication technologies that facilitate sex between men has been integral to a new culture of sexual practice that has been termed ‘chemsex’—a term originally intrinsically linked with London’s Gay scene but is now well-known in Ireland and across the world (Stuart, Chemsex: Origins of the Word, a History of the Phenomenon and a Respect to the Culture. Drugs and Alcohol Today 19(1): 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1108/DAT-10-2018-0058, 2019; Van Hout et al., ‘Chasing the Rainbow: Pleasure, Sex-Based Sociality and Consumerism in Navigating and Exiting the Irish Chemsex Scene.’ Edited by Bourne Bakker Bourne, Bryant, Duff, Giorgetti, Glynn, Graf, Hakim, Halkitis, Hammoud, Heiligenberg, Hickson, Hickson, Hurley. Culture, Health & Sexuality 21(9): 1074–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2018.1529336, 2019). This chapter will review the literature on the history of chemsex and how it has been conceptualised, what we know about engagement in chemsex in Ireland and the motivations, sexual practices and outcomes associated with chemsex. It will also present evidence from interviews with men who engage in chemsex in Ireland focused on how they navigate pleasure, harm and harm reduction.