Surfing & Cruising

Less moping, more groping

by Bret Kelly

In the last issue this column had two ads next to it — one for
the Canadian AIDS Society (www.cdnaids.ca) and, below it, one
for the Barracks [www.barracks.com). Although this was likely a
coincidence, I was glad to see them on the same page because
bareback sex is definitely on the rise.

The Internet tends to mirror what goes on in ‘real life’ and I’ve
noticed a trend towards barebacking, whether a top or bottom,
HIV negative or positive.

Egroups has several discussion forums about the subject and
Bareback (www.egroups.com/group/—bareback] is a group with
about 12,000 members. The description reads: “The list for men
who love their sex condom-free, guilt—free, hot, and spermy”. The
5,000+ messages posted. here are guys looking for others to have
sex with, basically a bareback cruising board and not much in the
way of information.

Further travels brought me to BareBacl<City (www.barebackci—
ty.com), “Your one source for everything related to gay bareback
sex,” including profiles, resources, e—mail, chat and a cruising
board. The only thing missing here is health information. I
browsed through the International profiles and found about 30
ads from Toronto, many with personal photos.

Clicking a banner took me to Barebackvideostore (www.bare—
bacl<videostore.com), which, as the name implies, sells bareback
sex videos. I expected the library to be mostly 70s or early 80s
pre—condom porn but was surprised to find all of tlie titles pro-
duced in the last two years. The performers in the videos are for
most part amateur; some couples and a lot of groups. The site is
definitely not for the faint of heart, as the samples (photos and
videos) contain watersports and heavy-duty fisting.

Chat rooms have become another place to seek partners for
bareback sex. Where once it was highly unacceptable to admit
that you are into this practice, members now blatantly use nicks
like ‘RideitRaw’ or ‘Lkng4Loads’. Many chatters claim to be HIV-
but I’ve talked to a few who admit they are positive and enjoy
“sharing the gift.”

A piece of evidence solidifying the theory that barebacking
has become popular is the fact that Yahoo has an entire category
devoted to it:
(http://dir.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Cultures_and_Group
s/Lesbians__Gays__and_Bisexuals/Sexuality/Activities_and_Pra
ctices/Barebacking/). From there I found an interesting article
entitled: Safer BareBacking Considerations (http://gaythai.tri—
pod.com/v1/arch56.htm) by a writer from Poz magazine.