b a re • back (ber’bak’) adv., adjA on a horse
with no saddle 2 on a guy with no condom
o you get hard thinking about
raw, skin-on-skin sex? You’re not
alone. More gay men are return
ing to life without latex.
Hundreds of Portland guys
upload profiles to Web sites that specifically
cater to harehacking. Even more go to clubs
and parties or hixik up with like-minded
friends. For them, it’s a conscious decision to
pursue unprotected sex, often with anony
mous partners.
Others, however, are not so deliberate.
They make spur-of-the-moment judgment
calls. Maybe with a fuck buddy who can’t wait
long enough to run out to Freddie’s for rubbers
and lube.
Hidden in between are the ones who decide
to trust a boyfriend who swears he’s clean.
Whatever their reason, guys into harehack
ing think a naked dick up the ass and the shar
ing of a little spunk is a really hot and intimate
way to connect.
But even the hardcore faithful agree that
harehacking outside of a monogamous relation
ship is still fuckin’ risky.
During the past few years, increasing num
bers of men who have sex with men have got
Risky
Business
Portland guys get a rise out of barebacking.
Are they fucking hot, or just fucking up?
by Timothy Krause • Photos by Marty Davis
ten sick as a direct result of hare-hones sex.
We’re not talking about only HIV hut other
sexually transmitted diseases, tixx And fot guys
who are already poz, the proven danger of re
infection hy any number of drug-resistant super
viruses has moved from a distant theory to an
immediate threat.
So what’s going on? How do guys justify the
risk? And what’s our average homy homo to do
if his hoy toy won’t slip on his slicker?
When you ride bareback...
visited three popular barebacking Web sites
and invited 250 guys from the Portland metro
I
area to answer quest inhs anonymously through
e-mail about their sex lives. Fifty-one said they
would; 27 actually did. Here’s what I found hap
pening right here in River City.
On the whole, harehacking tends to be
more common among tops, men who are HIV
positive and those older than 40. Older, poz
tops also typically have more partners and are
more likely to knowingly fuck someone of a
different H1V/STD status. They’re less likely
to use a condom or even check their partner’s
health status.
The full age range of harchackers in my
survey ran from 22 to 66. A little more than
half said they’re HIV-negative, hut two guys
didn’t know. And while tops outnumbered
♦ bottoms 2-to-l, nearly one-third described
themselves as versatile.
Most would sheath their swords if asked,
hut more than half usually don’t. In fact, near
ly half roll on a rubber less often now than just
a few years ago. One out of 10 never uses a con
dom, refusing to have sex if his partner wants
to use one.
There isn’t any lack of partners for these
renegades, either. It’s common for them to
have had some 20 or more sexual partners dur
ing the past year. One guy said he screwed 500,
and his claim didn’t raise an eyebrow among
safe-sexperts.
About one-fourth rarely or never ask their
partner’s status. Young guys, bottoms and
those who are HIV-negative tend to ask more
often, hut less than half actually believe what
their bucking bronco tells them (which is
probably a good thing considering three guys
admitted to lying about their HIV-positive
i status).
Nearly two-thirds of guys have knowingly
barebacked with a partner of a different
HIV/STD status, and a majority mess around
with familiar friends and anonymous
strangers interchangeably. T hat includes