Framing ‘Chemsexism’: Chinese Gay Men Navigating Stigma and Labelling

In the gay community, chemsex intersects with multiple stigmas that exacerbate marginalization and create layered disadvantages, particularly in China. Despite this, there is limited understanding among researchers and care practitioners about how individuals counter-narrate and manage stigmatizing stress in contexts involving multiple stigmas. This study addresses this gap by using online semi-structured interviews, drawing on a process-oriented understanding of addiction stigma to explore how Chinese gay men construct empirical counter-narratives. These narratives aim to reposition themselves within the intersecting hierarchies of heterosexuality and drug prohibition. The counter-narratives constructed by gay men go beyond personal justifications for sexual drug use, viewing stigma as a power structural product that marginalizes homosexuality and drug use while seeking equal recognition. Participants advocated for the sexual liberation aspect of chemsex as a valid and individualized expression, a way to challenge the heterosexual order's understanding of gay subculture, and a critique of the normalization processes embedded in political prohibitions and health classifications. These narratives highlight the efforts of gay men to legitimize their sexual practices and assert "respect for me" within dominant power structures. Thus, we conceptualize this practice as "Chemsexism," rooted in a participants-centered perspective and the principle of life affirmation and then call for further regional exploration using this framework.