The highs and lows of chemsex’s drug-driven orgy scene

BORDEAUX, France (AFP) — David is a psychologist and has been taking part in drug-fueled gay orgies for the past 15 years.

“The sex is crazy — utterly unbridled — which of course is partly down to the drugs but also because you can act out all your fantasies,” said the 54-year-old, who has been in a relationship for two years.

Chemsex — taking drugs to enhance sexual pleasure and performance — “has opened a whole world of possibilities to me,” David added.

“Sex doesn’t have to be limited to two people... There is a whole fantasy and transgressive side to it that turns me on. It is like you are in a porn film.”

Agence France-Presse talked to several French gay men who regularly indulge in the “party and play” scene, mostly in the southwestern city of Bordeaux.

They described how their chemically-assisted group sex sessions sometimes last days, with sexual sensations and stamina boosted by psychoactive drugs they sniff, swallow and inject.

But the growing “high ‘n’ horny” subculture also comes with sizeable risks — some of them deadly.

Most meet online with the “wired play” sessions involving multiple partners — often at the same time — taking place in people’s homes.

Psychologist David said the atmosphere at sessions he has taken part in was “benevolent,” with the hosts keeping an eye on what guests were taking and doing.

“You take your clothes off when you arrive and get straight into the action,” he said.

Having sex with groups of up to a dozen men was a huge “opening up for me after my religious education, where the idea of being part of a couple was drilled into me by my family,” said David.

But there are rules.

When you need a breather, “you might have a cigarette, an orange juice or a sweet... but there is never alcohol because that can be dangerous with some drugs,” he warned.

‘Like a kid in Disneyland’

Supermarket worker Hugo — who asked that we change his name — remembered how he felt like a “kid in Disneyland” at his first chemsex weekend.

“You are on a cloud, in another world, and you don’t have to come down from it.”

“You just marvel at it. You chat, you have sex with the best looking guys, you push the boundaries and there is no judgement — no one criticizes you,” said the 42-year-old.

Every weekend for “two intense years” he plunged into “an extraordinary world.”

“I was addicted to the atmosphere. It was all I thought about all week, waiting for Friday to come. It was like going to the casino, I needed my buzz.”