Abstract
This chapter, “Foreplay,” provides a contextualisation for this book, both in terms of the history of HIV and the histories of sexuality. It then reviews, briefly, existing work on bugchasing, particularly highlighting how scholars to date have understood the new meanings of HIV that bugchasers generate. This chapter moves then to consider its key theoretical influences and describe the positionality of the author. Finally, it summarises the methods employed to conduct this research.
Stories breed stories
—Ken Plummer (1995, 26)
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Seroconversion is the process whereby an HIV infection in the body generates an immunological response and triggers the appearance of HIV antibodies—meaning it can be detected in an HIV antibody test. This process may happen anytime between ten days and several months after exposure and, in some cases, is accompanied by flu-like symptoms that last for a few days.
- 3.
Robinson’s work deals with barebacking, but this particular aspect of their paper can well be applied to bugchasing.
- 4.
This book draws a separation between infecting willing partners (bugchasers) and infecting unsuspecting partners. The latter type is sometimes referred to as “stealthing” and presents a wholly different range of legal, ethical, and social implications that extend beyond the scope and aim of this work.
- 5.
Lee’s piece discusses barebacking pornography, but this particular argument can well be applied to bugchasing.
- 6.
- 7.
By “affect,” this book refers to the emotional part of experience (different from the cognitive one). This is in line with other sociology writers. However, I remain aware of the debates around the use of affect or, rather, “emotion” as a social element—that is, as culturally produced and structured, not simply as internal (see Ahmed 2014). Thus, in my use of “affect” I remain attentive to the experienced sensation and the social element of emotion.
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García-Iglesias, J. (2022). Foreplay. In: The Eroticizing of HIV. Health, Technology and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11352-9_1
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