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When Cameron moved to the UK from the Philippines in 2016, he couldn’t believe how openly MSM (men who have sex with men) spoke about barebacking. When he opened Grindr, he saw profiles with the bio “bb only”: common shorthand for solely wanting “bareback”, or condomless anal sex. Other profiles specified a choice for “raw” fucking – another synonym for condomless anal – or used the word “breeding” as a euphemism for “taking a load.”
Cameron was taken back because in his homeland, the idea of enjoying condomless anal sex with multiple partners is “very taboo” due to the rising HIV infection rate. But when he was asked on Grindr to join a secret WhatsApp group for around 250 MSM who appreciate regular barebacking, he was intrigued enough to state yes. “Being in this WhatsApp group has made me realise how pleasurable this kind of sex can be – as long as you recognise both the risks and the pleasures involved,” he says.
When gay men’s health organisation GMFA surveyed 1,500 gay and bi men in 2016, 46 percent said that at least half of their anal sex experiences were condomless. Of this 46
What Is Bareback Sex?
"Bareback sex" is a common phrase in the gay male community that originated in the mid-'90s; it means having anal sex without a condom.
The expression stems from equestrianism: You're said to be riding “bareback” when you're riding a horse without a saddle. When you're riding a man—or a guy is riding you—without a condom, well, that’s bareback sex. (More recently, the term has been co-opted by some straight folks to describe unprotected vaginal penetration, too.)
There are thoughtful risks to having anal or vaginal sex without a condom—STIs being the main one. (Vaginal sex comes with the chance of unplanned pregnancy, but that can be mitigated with other forms of contraception.) Still, there are plenty of people out there who knowingly accept the risk to possess bareback sex with their partners. Some folks speak they hate the feeling of condoms (though we'd argue they haven't initiate the right one yet); others say it makes them feel closer to their partner, or that they like the truth that it's "taboo."
If you're curious about the origins of bareback sex, what the risks are, or how to undertake it safely—or all of the above!—you've come to the right plac
Many gay men enjoy bareback porn, but are concerned about its possible effects on sexual behaviour
Many gay men who observe pornography enjoy and sometimes prefer material in which condoms are not used, but have some anxieties about the potential effects of bareback porn on their own sexual behaviour. However, they largely displace these concerns onto other gay men, seen to be more easily influenced, according to Sharif Mowlabocus of the University of Sussex, speaking at the 2nd International Conference for the Social Sciences and Humanities in HIV in Paris last week.
A second presentation to the conference explored gay men's differing understandings of 'bareback'.
Whereas in the pre-AIDS era, sex without condoms was typical in gay pornographic images, the majority of producers started to ask performers to wear condoms during the 1980s. In the late 1990s, ‘bareback’ videos started to be issued; their producers and actors often outspoken and defiant in the face of public criticism. This started as a niche in the porn market (the imagery was often transgressive in one way or another), but since then, images of sex without condoms have become pervasive.
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