Chemsex is the self-explanatory term used to describe the taking of drugs within a sexual context, an activity that has become increasingly prevalent within the gay community. In their film, William Fairman and Max Gogarty interview a number of men all involved in the chemsex world; from frequent ‘slammers’ of Crystal Meth, Mephedrone, GBL users, young guys new to the scene and health care practitioners.

Our guide to the world of chemsex is David Stuart, an affable, non-judgemental staff member at 56 Dean Street, currently the world’s leading authority on chemsex research and care. As he describes in the film chemsex is a result of what he calls a ‘perfect storm’ created by a variety of new drugs hitting the scene, the rise of hook-up apps such as Grindr and most importantly a distressed and persecuted community that’s trying to seek identity in opposition to hetronormativity.

The testimony drawn from victims of this ‘perfect storm’ is both deeply sad and simultaneously horrifying. One man talks of taking too much GBL whilst in the company of two older men, only to pass out and not know what had happened to him in the intervening two hours. He later found out he had contracted HIV. Another young guy, a bondage aficionado from Watford explains how two men had him strapped down when the topic of ‘slamming’ or intravenous drug use came up. At this point he had never ‘slammed’ before and didn’t want to, but they injected him anyway telling him that because he was restrained, they could do whatever they wanted with him. The guy has been a frequent user ever since. As one user in the film points out, drugs loosen people’s moral perspective and in the context of S&M dynamics, this only increases people’s desire to abuse or be abused.

What proves to be most shocking though is the endemic denial that takes place within the chemsex community. Many interviewees don’t see there choices as a problem, despite having contracted HIV as a result or are deeply paranoid to the point of having to check their front door every few minutes to make sure they’re not under surveillance. This denial even drips down to a lexiconical level, as one guy describes, ‘“We’re not injecting, we’re slamming. We use ‘pins’, not needles.” The film’s singular heartening moment is seeing the caption cards at the end to show how nearly all the participants in the film have since given up the lifestyle, though for some there’s a definite air of uncertainty as to whether their restraint is sustainable.

Chemsex is the latest documentary from Vice Magazine’s recently revamped film production wing and what it makes up for in compelling testimony, it sorely lacks in restraint and tact. As to be expected with a Vice production, the film is gluttonously stuffed with confrontational imagery: needles hitting veins, bubbles of blood, half naked men masturbating in squalor, a purely illustrative and degrading aesthetic which very rarely transcends a self-serving desire to be noticed for its own sake. What’s more contemptuous are the slow-motion montages that Fairman and Gogarty cook up, ‘edgy’ mood pieces; dimly lit dungeons, strobe lightning, grunting, leather, flayed flesh, nipple clamps. Not only do these images have very little to do with the chemsex world, other than being generically queer, but they seem to have sprung from the minds of two very hetronormative men with a queasy desire to show how much they ‘get it’. It’s the filmmaking equivalent of your middle-aged dad dancing at a wedding, except in this scenario your dad is a self confessed ‘sub pig’ and he’s being fisted by an angry bear in vulcanised rubber chaps.

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