Barebacking

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Barebacking is a term that originated in gay slang to describe acts of unprotected anal sex. The term's usage however, has crossed-over to more mainstream slang to describe any type of penetrative sexual act without the use of a condom.

Contents

1 Alleged Origins of the Term
2 Barebacking among gay men
3 Controversy
4 Barebacking in Popular Culture
5 Heterosexual barebacking
6 Barebacking and prostitution
7 See also

Alleged Origins of the Term

The term "bareback" in equestrianism describes the riding of a horse without the use of a saddle. The logical conclusion for the origin of the word is in this similarity. There is no way to prove what person or organization "coined" the term. However, popular theories do exist. #redirect

The term's existence came from a need to differentiate penetrative sexual acts without the use of a condom.

Barebacking among gay men

Before the discovery of HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s, anal sex with and without condoms was not distinguished (in communication) among men who have sex with men (MSMs). However, as the understanding of pathways for the transmission of HIV/AIDS was further understood, (see HIV for more information); researchers encouraged condom usage as an effective way to reduce HIV transmission.

The gay male community, having been affected the most by this epidemic, mobilized quickly and the practice of unprotected anal sex quickly became taboo within the community. This was the time, when the need for a term to describe the difference between "protected" and "unprotected" sexual acts arose.

Barebacking as a practice is claimed to have become increasingly common again among MSMs in the mid-1990s. #redirect Reasons for this belief are widespread, and include correlations based on: an "upswing" in the level of new HIV infections amongst gay men in younger age groups cited by the CDC and WHO, a more public presence of "bareback" literature, personal ads, and publicity of "rebellious" attitudes towards the practice.

Currently, there is not a medical study that has received enough publicity to cite as a source for the following information but it can be successfully postulated that as a community, gay males are still somewhat marginalized in first-world nations and therefore have not been consistent subjects of medical trials or social studies to figure out the "why's" of risky sexual behavior that aren't subject to political and interpretive controversy.

Gay columnists and editorializers in The Advocate, Genre magazine and Out Magazine during the late 90's and early '00's have made several claims as to why barebacking in first-world nation gay communities as a practice, re-surged in the 1990s.

The advent and relatively noticeable success of protease inhibitors and other drugs for treating HIV infections has changed the perception of HIV infection from an untreatable terminal illness to a treatable chronic malady.
Decreasing effectiveness of health education messages in the gay community fails to promote condom use (see condom fatigue).
Methamphetamines have become akin to a "drug of choice" within gay male (and other) populations; individuals under the influence of meth are less likely to be concerned over potential hazards of their behaviour.
Gay men with opposing beliefs about the practice of barebacking get "more publicity" about their feelings than in the past.
Bareback pornography is available and contributes to the apathy and romanticsation of the practice.

Controversy

Barebacking by gay men is controversial both inside and outside the gay community. Some condemn barebacking and barebackers because they believe that the practice has caused upsurges in of STI and HIV infections among young people and has given bad publicity to the gay community. #redirect

Other commentators say that the publicity that barebacking has received is disporportionate to its pervasiveness, and that any focus by news media or epidemiologists on barebacking has more to do with stereotypes of gay men as promiscuous and irresponsible, along with the larger culture's fear of gay male sexuality, instead of any real change in what gay men are doing. The latter group of commentators may also argue that adult men should be able to engage in the consensual acts of their choosing without permission or apology. This argument ignores the wider societal consequences of bare-backing in maintaining and spreading HIV.

Barebacking has become a fetish among some in the gay community. In addition to bareback pornography (see below), there are websites and discussion boards on the Internet devoted exclusively to barebacking that feature pictures of men engaged in bareback sex, personal advertisements of men seeking bareback sex with other men and erotic short stories involving barebacking. This subculture has developed its own slang terms, such as "breeding" (ejaculation inside the rectum of the receptive participant), "Russian Roulette party" (a group sex party attended by HIV positive persons and HIV negative persons, the latter taking the chance that they may become infected with HIV), "conversion party" (a group sex party where one or more HIV negative persons allow themselves to become infected by HIV positive persons) and "cumdump" (a person who takes loads of sperm from one or more persons in any orifice). Despite this linguistic evolution, it remains the case that bare-backing is a minority activity amongst the gay population and most gay men are ignorant of such related-slang.

Barebacking in Popular Culture

Bareback gay pornography exists, with some bareback films portraying ejaculation in the rectum or on the anus of the models in the films. There are a number of gay pornography studios that produce bareback films. United States studios include Treasure Island Media and Cobra Video. While a number of Eastern European studios supply the increasing demand from homosexual men in North America and Western Europe for bareback pornography, including SEVP and Eurocreme and Czech producers who supply footage to Hot Desert Knights for their "international line". These studios and the stars of their films have often come under heavy criticism for showing, and perhaps romanticising, bareback sex, particularly to young gay men. However, proponents claim the films actually keep barebacking to a minimum in the gay community by providing men with a visual substitute for the actual act.

Some bareback pornography studios say that they do not inquire whether their models are HIV positive, but assume that they are. Other bareback studios claim that they test their models for HIV antibodies and only hire models who are HIV negative. #redirect

Bareback heterosexual pornography in the US has long been the norm and only recently has slightly changed to reflect new restrictions by OSHA that state that requiring models to have unsafe sex in films creates a hazardous working environment.

Heterosexual barebacking

Condom use amongst straight people has dramatically increased during the last 20 years as groups respond to health messages about HIV/AIDS prevention^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. In some groups, the use of a condom has become the norm, and the use of the word "bareback" has gained utility as a way to describe sex without a condom, especially between anonymous or casual partners.

Anonymous or casual heterosexual sex without a condom has not created the moral panic that gay barebacking has. This can be attributed to the fact that gay men have become more organized in STI awareness with the onset of the AIDS crisis during the 1980s and many have developed a strong moratorium on sex without a condom for matters of safety.

Barebacking and prostitution

In the sex trade, the willingness to bareback is a selling point for prostitutes to their clients. In heterosexual prostitution many experienced clients seek out a proverbial "girlfriend experience." Many prostitutes are willing to perform a bareback blowjob (BBBJ) under the belief that it is less risky than other forms of unprotected contact with body fluids.