Inside the Tumblr Craze of Gay Men Fucking While Doing Crystal Meth
Gay men love Tumblr and porn, so it was probably inevitable that gay crystal meth users would start posting videos of naked guys masturbating and/or fucking while using crystal meth. According to a 2006 International Antiviral Society-USA study, gay men in urban areas use meth five to ten times more than the average person. Since the late 1990s and early 2000s, the drug has become a huge problem for the LGBT community, with gay men hosting sex parties where they get high and fuck for hours.
On Tumblr, men celebrate their meth use. They discuss "slamming" (gay verb for doing party drugs such as, but not limited to, meth), "clouds" from meth smoke, and Tina. (As a gay juggalo once told me, gays prefer to call meth Tina because it gives the classy connotation of Tina Turner.) Many guys use terms made famous on Grindr, like "pnp" which stands for "party 'n' play," a.k.a. meth and sex.
Methblr blogs make crystal meth seem fantastical. Some create DeviantArt-style drawing celebrating "crystal clouds," making the drug seem like something out of Fantasia.
The bloggers talk about meth so much, you could call their Tumblrs Methblrs. They use usernames like SlammedAngel, Smokeslut, and Slamhunter. One user namedbbklynlation describes himself as "NSFW - (+) Barebacking Tina smokin Fist fucking watersporting perv pig and now boyfriend to a wonderful fellow pig from the Bx! Only in NEW YORK CITY! These are my favorites that depict mine and his kinky sexual side!"
In a recent post, Slamhunter reblogged a picture of a man bottoming for a muscular white guy who was injecting his arm with meth. "Me being slammed then bred," the user wrote under the image. These pictures are common. A user named Fitslzladposted a video called "Giving lad his first ever slam," and the videos have even crossed over to PornHub. A video called "tumblr pnp" shows a guy getting a handjob while he smokes meth. It's received over 28,000 views.
Methblr blogs make crystal meth seem fantastical. Some create DeviantArt-style drawing celebrating "crystal clouds," making the drug seem like something out ofFantasia. One user even posted a drawing of Peter Pan, the twinky Walt Disney character, smoking meth. (Bobby Driscoll, the child actor who voiced Peter Pan, died of heart failure after battling a severe drug addiction, but methblr gays probably aren't aware of this.) Former gay meth users worry the videos fetishize a massive drug problem that's already sexualized.
In England, gay men have even been throwing chemsex parties, where they fuck on meth and/or other drugs.
"It wasn't that it seemed sexy as I did it or watched guys do it," explains Taylor*, a gay 25-year-old who used to abuse meth. "I think there are men out there that fetishize it though."
According to the National Association of Addiction Specialists, gay males widely use crystal in urban cities, and the massive drug abuse has traveled to Eastern and western towns. In England, gay men have even been throwing chemsex parties, where they fuck on meth and/or other drugs.
The NAAAS credits the problem to several issues. Gay men suffer from more depression, and when a new medical cocktail allowed gay men to live with HIV in the mid-1990s, they stopped seeing sex as a gateway to death, a view they had held since the early 1980s. In 2012, the New York Times hypothesized that major HIV activist Spencer Cox may have died from his drug struggle with crystal meth. Other AIDS activists, including pioneering doctor Gabriel Torres, turned to meth too. HIV activism was their high, and now they had a life to live; but, as playwright Larry Kramer points out, they also had no job, savings account, or passion.
For some younger gays, it's simpler that that. Sex on meth is fun, and it decreases many of their inhibitions. "It just makes sex with strangers really, really good," Taylor says. "You can last longer, and you have this incredible sense of confidence that I've never felt before. You just feel better than you've ever felt before."
Crystal meth increases the length of men's erections. They can keep going for hours. The drug also makes them confident and literally more skinny, a look that's fetishized as much as muscle-bound hunks. Although many gay men fetishize muscle builders, others love skinny anorexic-looking twinks. The logic goes that the closer you look to death, the more guys will think you're hot and want to fuck you. After sex on meth, though, guys suffer from massive comedowns. As "The VICE Guide to Chemsex"said, "[Zombie] can now be used to describe a guy leaving a chillout after three days with no sleep."
"Meth is literally bad for everything."
On Tumblr, though, men have made sex on meth look like both a community and an aspirational lifestyle. Tumblr allows users to post pornography. Their adult content policy encourages users to "Go nuts. Show nuts," as long as they mark their blog as NSFW. But the Methblr community also promotes self-destructive sex involving loads of methamphetamines, making their subculture seem similar to pro-ana blogs. Last year, Tumblr banned "Self-Harm Blogs." In a post, the site said the ban included "content that urges or encourages readers to cut or injure themselves; embrace anorexia, bulimia, or other eating disorders; or commit suicide rather than, e.g., seeking counseling or treatment, or joining together in supportive conversation with those suffering or recovering from depression or other conditions." But Tumblr has yet to censor users who romanticize drug use.
In his bio, Gay Tina Clouds describes himself as "NSFW. Hung lean gay guy here," a description more typical of a Grindr profile than your average Tumblr. He then uses the same of hashtags gays use on their shirtless Instagram photos to explain his drug use: "Love smoking clouds. ;) #gay #tina #crystal #meth #pnp #chem." Like One Direction Tumblr fanblogs, he routinely reblogs other meth users. He, for instance, reposted meth-pup's picture of himself. The caption says, "Watching porn and blowing clouds tonight wishing."
Some users write that they don't want people to copy their lifestyle. "Lovin hoT fun with like minded guys and posting about happy clouds," Tweaksyd writes, before adding, "I am not here to promote some of the practices shown here. If you see any content of yours and wish to have it removed let me know. Always happy to serve." His pictures still make meth look like porn that guys would want to copy, in the same way they try to copy porn stars' geometrically challenging anal sex positions. But doing meth with strangers you fuck on the weekend isn't aspirational. As Taylor says, "Meth is literally bad for everything."
* The source's name has been altered to protect his identity