ABSTRACT
Chemsex has almost always been examined in regard to its visual or textual representations. This chapter extends the analysis of chemsex to the aural domain. Using queer musicology approaches to a variety of texts – including films, interviews, and academic literature – chemsex is analysed for its ability to penetrate bodies and set up resonant connections, both fearful and pleasurable. In doing so, the “musicality” of chemsex is foregrounded. This allows for the porous and malleable nature of the boundaries between the self and other to be theorised. Such an approach to chemsex lays the theoretical foundations for the remainder of the book, focusing specifically on how chemsex teaches us about novel forms of morality, ones which when recognised and embraced (rather than being silenced and effaced) produce more liveable lives.
