A Psychoanalytic Reconsideration of Chemsex and Anti-Retroviral Time

This article intervenes in contemporary critical scholarship on the ethics of
chemsex and other so-called ‘risky’ gay male sexual practices through a careful
appraisal of psychoanalytic theory on subjectivity and sexuality. I argue that the
emerging field of critical chemsex studies prioritises contemporary approaches
to ‘bodies and pleasures’ at the expense of subjectivity, leading to an inability
to adequately theorise some participants’ avowed experiences of suffering
from problematic chemsex use. Drawing critically on previous psychoanalytic
scholarship on barebacking, I argue that, contrary to stereotypical depictions,
chemsex may be motivated not by a self-destructive death drive, but rather a
paradoxical attempt to shelter oneself from this drive. This idea may helpfully
counter the psychoanalytic tendency to exceptionalise or pathologise gay male
sexual practices, while also questioning the ethical valence attributed to chemsex.
I conclude with an exploration of Lacanian ethics and the implications this may
hold for critical chemsex studies and public health.