"Chemsex" delves deep into London's gay drug and sex party scene. The images and stories leave no one cold - and are exemplary of an international phenomenon.
There are no long explanatory preambles here, the film gets straight to the point. The filmmakers William Fairman and Max Gogarty begin their documentary with an authentic scene from everyday gay life in London. A young guy is sitting on his sofa at home, chatting and shooting up in the meantime. That's how you would describe a heroin junkie. Gays who inject crystal meth, however, have found the chic term "slamming" for it. It just sounds cooler and not so rocked out, as one of the protagonists will explain later. First, however, we observe the effects of the drug. While the guy continues to talk to the filmmakers, his eyes opening wider and wider, he begins to restlessly search for a sex partner on Grindr.
"Chemsex", a production of the online magazine VICE, is not for the faint-hearted. A dozen or so gay men tell their stories in this 80-minute film. Stories of day-long sex sessions under the influence of crystal meth, GHB, ketamine and other chemical drugs, of boundless lust and complete dissolution of boundaries during sex. Thanks to the drugs, says one of the interviewees, he was able to "feel like a porn star". However, the downsides are not left unmentioned, and the men also report on the consequences of their addiction: for example, losing their job, their flat, the associated social decline and, time and again, the health consequences. Almost all of the interviewees have contracted HIV, syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases in the course of their chemsex careers, and the drug use is clearly written on the faces of many of them.
In "Chemsex", they not only talk openly about their experiences, they also share their lives with the film team - and this includes visits to sex clubs as well as chemsex sessions at home, at privately organised parties, but also going to 56 Dean Street for counselling. The NHS sexual health clinic based there is the largest in the UK and the only one that specifically caters for chemsex users. Around 7,000 gay men use the service every year, half of whom have experience of hard drugs and chemsex parties.
The fact that the documentary film "Chemsex" is unlikely to leave many viewers emotionally cold is due to two things: firstly, because the protagonists - all attractive, likeable and mostly still quite young men in their own way - are extremely open, direct and honest about their addiction and their sex and drug lives. Secondly, because the filmmakers neither condemn this form of gay lifestyle nor build it up as a sensationalist story. On the contrary, in view of the many drugs consumed in the course of these 80 minutes, their documentary remains remarkably sober and non-judgemental.
This attitude was certainly also decisive in creating a basis of trust for the interviewees and thus the prerequisite for these intimate insights in the best sense of the word. However, it is also clear that these endless orgies ultimately remain unsatisfactory for most people. According to a survey by David Stewart from the Sexual Health Clinic, gay men have 5 to 15 sex partners during a chemsex weekend. However, these experiences are apparently not really fulfilling. What remains is an emptiness that you then try to fill with even more sex and even more drugs. "Chemsex gave me the self-confidence that I otherwise didn't have," says one of the interviewees.
Internalised shame about one's own sexuality, the feeling of not being desired and loved, being rejected and not being accepted as a gay man by family and society as a matter of course - these are just a few aspects of the complex relationships that have led to this growing chemsex subculture in many international gay metropolises, explains David Stewart. In his counselling sessions, he supports gay men in finding their way out of this "vicious cycle of sex, addiction and dependency".
"Chemsex" cannot explain the phenomenon conclusively, but this documentary definitely helps to understand it better - no more and no less. Chemsex, says co-director William Fairman, is a controversial topic and at the same time a big taboo within the gay scene. "We wanted to start a long overdue debate with this film and hope that people will finally talk about it openly."
"Chemsex". Directed by William Fairman, Max Gogarty. Great Britain 2015, 83 min. (Pro-fun; available as DVD, video on demand and download)
