ANYONE CONCERNED that a documentary called Chemsex would be a lurid depiction of drugged-up gay sex will not be disappointed by the opening scene. In it, a young man wearing only underwear injects a needle into his arm. Aroused immediately, he checks his Grindr, grabs his cock and tells the camera that he has to fuck. He is the first of many men seemingly possessed by chemsex – the slang term for sexualised drug use (primarily mephedrone, meth, and GBL) among gay men. Sex on drugs is nothing new, of course, but the drugs have changed, the harm increased, and it’s all been compounded by the advent of mobile apps.
Panicked headlines and righteous moral outrage accompanied Chemsex’s debut last year. In our interview, the filmmakers declined to address the controversy, or the accusations of slut-shaming and lurid sensationalism. Instead their hard-hitting film, or rather those who appear in it, speak for themselves.