“make me your death slave”: men who have sex with men and use the internet to intentionally spread HIV

Abstract

This study analyzes the personal ads of an Internet web site solely devoted to unprotected (bareback) sex among men who have sex with men (MSM), in order to identify the profiles of individuals actively and overtly seeking to spread HIV. Although the purpose of the website is not necessarily for spreading HIV, it does provide a medium to exchange such discourses. Analysis of the website identifies 81 profiles of individuals with an overt interest in spreading HIV. In an attempt to better explain and understand this behavior, two theoretical paradigms of deviance are tested (social learning theory and labeling theory). Findings indicate that both theories offer adequate arguments to better understand this behavior. Future research directions and prevention strategies are discussed.

Notes

¹See also Delph 1978; Humphreys 1975; Leap 1999; Tewksbury 2002; Tewksbury and West 2000; Weinberg and Williams 1975 for further information on other ways MSM engage and negotiate anonymous sex.

²This category does not include those youth identified by Scarce (1999) who seek out seroconversion because they want to feel desired.

³This number is inconsistent with Tewksbury 2003 who states there are over 180,000 profiles. His figure is based on the number of profiles ever created. Some may be inactive or have been deleted since the inception of the web site.

⁴This method differs from Tewksbury (2003) as he looked at self-reported HIV status and desired HIV status of partners in assessing intention to spread HIV. The current study at hand looks specifically for discourses surrounding the intentional spread of HIV. Tewksbury's article assess whether bug chasing was the primary purpose of this web site and although he found it is not the purpose of this web site, he found the behavior does still exist. This study analyzes only those individuals involved in HIV spreading discourses. In its qualitative approach, this study differs from Tewksbury's in that it also looks at the guest books of individuals. Finally, this study looks at all profiles present compared to assessing only “new” profiles within a limited time span.

⁵This sample size is small due to very stringent selection criteria. If it was not 100% clear what the intentions of individuals were, they were not included in the sample. This number is also small respective to the total population on this web site. The purpose of this site is not explicitly for spreading HIV, however it is a conducive environment. Currently there exists a small vocal and possibly growing subculture of men wishing to spread HIV present among these individuals. This study wishes to understand why this is happening.

⁶Keyword searches sometimes produced profiles of HIV positive men who were well aware of the seroconversion subculture and did not want to take part in it. For example, a 48-year-old white male listed in his “turn off's” that “you already know from my profile I'm POZ [for HIV] so if you don't care that I am or don't know about yourself … fine, we'll play [have intercourse] but if you are looking for the “thrill of conversion … move on! ” A second example can be seen with a 42-year-old white male who said in his comments section that, “I like to take loads [of ejaculation] from [HIV negative] people, and am OK giving oral loads to [HIV negative] guys, but will not shoot my load in a neg guy's ass. [I am] not into giving the bug to other.”Although the analysis of “Anti-Bug Chasers” is quite interesting, these have been excluded from this study.