Transgressive Masculinities in Barebacking Practices

Abstract

This article discusses the homoerotic dynamics and the signs of masculinity that characterize barebacking dates. This discussion is originated from on-line ethnography in the Brazilian context, from 2004 to 2007, considering the experiences and erotic dates exchange the internet makes possible, as it is the case of Orkut communities. Different modalities of barebacking (and barebackers) seem to coexist now, demonstrating that multiple aspects and situations are implicated during unprotected sex. One of these modalities is a form of more extensive and larger contact, in other words, the most extreme or transgressive forms in search of pleasure. However, all the barebackers interviewed seemed to have in common the same discourse about having more free and intense pleasure during unprotected sex, even though, for some of them, this pleasure was intimately linked to a more excessive and transgressive experience, as it challenges the virus, the disease, and the limits of their own life.