bug chaser

Scanning electron micrograph of HIV-1Bugchasing is a slang term for the practice of pursuing sexual intercourse with HIV infected individuals in order to contract HIV. Individuals engaged in this activity are referred to as Bugchasers. Bugchasers may seek HIV infection for a variety of reasons.

Bugchasers seek sexual partners who are HIV positive for the purpose of having unprotected sex and becoming HIV positive; giftgivers are HIV positive individuals who comply with the bugchaser's efforts to become infected with HIV.

Bugchasers indicate various reasons for this activity. Some bugchasers engage in the activity for the excitement inherent in pursuing such a dangerous activity, but do not implicitly desire to contract HIV. Some researchers suggest that the behavior may stem from a "resistance to dominant heterosexual norms and mores" due to a defensive response by gay men to repudiate stigmatization and rejection by society.

Some people consider bugchasing "intensely erotic" and the act of being infected as the "ultimate taboo, the most extreme sex act let." A number of people who are HIV negative and in a relationship with someone who is HIV positive seek infection as a way to remain in the relationship, particularly when the HIV positive partner may wish to break up to avoid infecting the HIV negative partner.

Some workers in the US HIV community report that a number of younger people seek infection as a way to receive benefits, a "free ride," because they would qualify to receive Section 8, Social Security and other benefits from getting infected with HIV. Some contend that this behaviour stems from feelings of inevitability towards HIV among the gay community and the empowerment of choosing when to contract the virus.