ABSTRACT
Chemsex sub-cultures amongst gay men provide us with novel and important lessons about morality, community, and the human condition. Drawing on theories of relational ethics, Deleuzian philosophy, and queer theory, this final chapter contends that the promiscuous, penetrative encounters of chemsex generate a “visceral solidarity” from the materiality and porosity of the body so readily produced in chemsex. Visceral solidarity's disruption of rigid boundaries and disciplinary discourses holds the potential to engender a transformative political morality – one that values shared precarity and mutual penetration over dominant notions of liberal individualism, responsibilisation, and isolation. By embracing the moral lessons of chemsex, visceral solidarity can point us towards more capacious, liveable, and pleasurable lives.
