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  • 2016-05-18 (xsd:date)
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  • Sex Roulette (fr)
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  • In early May 2016, a number of tabloids around the world published stories about a new trend called sex roulette, in which people gather for unprotected sex with at least one member is secretly HIV-positive. On 16 May 2016, Britain's Mirror and Daily Mail published articles documenting the alarming rise of sex roulette. The former reported that an exotic dancer from Serbia had attested to the existence of the events: A Spanish-language source cited by English-language tabloids seemed to stipulate that the activity was restricted to gay men. That article (translated) mentioned sex roulette, before addressing a single doctor's larger cautionary viewpoint: There is no credible evidence that such an event has ever occurred, much less is on the rise. The claim of HIV-infecting sex parties sweeping the globe is based on vague statements purportedly made by a single physician in Spain, and none of the published articles carried firsthand reports. The closest was a statement made at one time by a stripper in Serbia who simply claimed such events were happening (not that she had ever attended or witnessed one). In 2003, columnist Andrew Sullivan published a piece critical of a related moral panic over what is called bug chasing. While the term remains in the vernacular as a practice in which an individual deliberately seeks out HIV infection, Sullivan took issue with reports that it was a widespread practice: When nearly identical claims surfaced in early May 2016, gay culture site Towleroad compared the concept to the bug chasing panic, pointing out that the rumors are improbable as well as implausible: As with sex bracelets, gerbiling, or tales of lobster-based gratification gone awry, sex roulette (and its predecessor, bug chasing) appear to be solely based on extrapolation. No version of the rumor delved into the fact that HIV remains a dangerous and life-threatening condition most of humanity seeks to avoid. In July 1999, relationship and sex advice columnist Dan Savage dismissed fantastical gay sex urban legends as a thing that existed only in the imaginations of some straight people whose sex lives are so dull, they have to make up bullshit. We contacted Savage about sex roulette, and he told us: (en)
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