Riding Bareback: A Qualitative Examination of the Subjective Meanings Attached to Condomless Sex by MSM.

Riding Bareback: A Qualitative Examination of the Subjective Meanings Attached to Condomless Sex by MSM, Bruce W. Whitehead, University of Calgary, Canada

I examined links between sexual behavior and sexual identity. The subjective meanings attached to condomless sex, or barebacking, were explored through qualitative interviews conducted with men who have sex with men (MSM). I focused on an initial analysis of the interviews, in which two intersecting themes of intimacy and masculinity were identified as central to participants' subjective meanings attached to barebacking. Participants in this study described conflicting relationships to the construct of sexual intimacy as it relates to their sexual behavior. Intimacy was perceived and experienced as being both paramount and illusionary in regards to the sexual intimacy afforded by condomless sex. The participants often framed their behavior in relation to their heterosexual peers and invoked their gender, in terms of masculinity, as explanation for their perceived lack of sexual responsibility. Perceptions of and the internalization of masculinity appeared to be bound up with the pursuit of condomless sex as both a means of achieving and distancing oneself from sexual intimacy.