Taking Flight: Narratives, Logistics, and Risks of Chemsex Scenes in the Philippines

ABSTRACT

Chemsex – the use of specific, illicit substances to facilitate and enhance sexual encounters – has been documented extensively across the Global North using qualitative methodologies. Elsewhere, however, little is known about the phenomenon. Our article addresses this gap in the scholarly literature by exploring how chemsex encounters transpire in the Philippines. Through semi-structured interviews, we demonstrate the spatiotemporal nature of chemsex scenes, showing how people move between physical and virtual domains across time as they find sexual partners, procure drugs, and organize and attend the actual encounter. Consequently, the risks faced by chemsex practitioners – to health and to security – are also spatiotemporally plotted within intersecting physical and virtual risk environments, and best mitigated by a form of experiential expertise that is likewise temporally determined. Ultimately, chemsex scenes in the Philippines are distinguished from the rest of the world by the state-led “war on drugs.” We consider our findings in the context of this war, showing how its very real and often fatal threats have shaped the way people navigate chemsex scenes and mitigate the risks through “counterpublic health” measures, and how its prominent ideologies and discourses are reflected in the ways by which people make sense of their drug use.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Paolo Pangilinan for his contributions to participant recruitment and data gathering, and all the anonymous participants who opened up their lives and shared their most intimate stories for the study.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.