Is There Ever A Right Time For Chemsex?

GHB has suddenly turned up in the news again. Not a total surprise since substances and gay life have been intertwined for years. Which brings up the question of just how dangerous is “G O’Clock”?

This January ended on a sobering note. As we covered at the time, Discovery Channel’s Joel Taylor was found dead on an Atlantis gay cruise.

Greeted with everything from the “well, what do you expect” fisheye to the “clutch your pearls in shock”, allegations of a drug overdose quickly arose from fellow travelers. This led to an FBI investigation and the arrest several people were arrested on drug charges.

As we posted yesterday on The Stall Wall, the toxicology reports for Joel have just been published. It was indeed drugs. a “combination of ecstasy and tricyclic antidepressants,” according to Karixia Ortiz Serrano of the Institute of Forensic Sciences of Puerto Rico, per a piece in Radar Online.

It was drugs. Just not the one everyone thought at the time: GHB.

While the designer drug of the day has changed many times over the years, the effects on our community have not. This is examined when GHB and chemsex were chronicled in the edgy “G O’Clock”, the focus of today’s Qreel Tuesday.

Qreel and NakedSword Film Works’ curator Adam Baran took a deep dive into this controversial film …

Whether it’s the alcohol we need to lose our inhibitions and talk to that super hot guy across the bar, the poppers we inhale to help relax us for sex, or the weed, speed or Viagra that we use to heighten our sexual experiences – the use of drugs and alcohol are something every gay man must confront in our daily lives.

chemsex g oclock nsfwIn Europe, the topic of “chemsex” has become something of a buzzword amongst gays trying to determine how to stay healthy and enjoy themselves responsibly. GHB or “G” has been around for years, but it seems to have taken on new life recently, with more and more people using it as a stay-up-late and go-all-night drug or as a tool to enhance group sex experiences.

Fill a dropper up with the liquid G and squirt it in a mixer and swallow and you’ll have an even more amazing night of sex – or so the promises go. Take the right amount, and you’re good, users say. But take the wrong amount, and the downside might be overdose and death. The question then becomes – given the risks, is it worth it to party and play?

chemsex g oclock nsfw
Mitchell Marion
Mitchell Marion’s extraordinary short “G O’Clock” dramatizes the complexities surrounding this challenging issue.

The film, which blurs the lines between porn and indie film, tells a true-to-life story of an ambulance worker named Alex (Phillip Weddell) who regularly saves the lives of gay men who OD on GHB, but who also attends chemsex parties (“chillouts”) and enjoys taking the drug himself. When he meets a man at a sex party who’s friends’ life he recently saved, the two hit it off and Alex becomes the man’s guardian angel, giving him “safe” amounts of G and looking after him – or so he thinks.

Featuring strong acting, full-frontal nudity and very, very real looking sex from some of the hottest hunks in the UK (including some recognizable porn stars), “G O’Clock” is designed to both tittilate and provoke conversation.

chemsex g oclock nsfwFor director Mitchell Marion, there doesn’t seem to be a right answer or a solution, and he takes special care not to present a morality play. It’s this complex treatment of a delicate subject that earned him acclaim at dozens of major LGBT film festivals last year, including BFI Flare in London, Outfest, Barcelona, and the very prestigious Iris Prize Festival in Cardiff, Wales.

chemsex g oclock nsfwBy not moralizing or crafting something heavy handed, Marion’s film actually can reach then men it’s trying to, without alienating people who need, at the very least, to have a conversation about their partying habits.

Check out the trailer for “G O’Clock” and head over to NSFW to watch it, then let us know what you thought of the film’s treatment of the chemsex issue in the comments below!

[Watch “G O”Clock” at QReel]

 
 
 
 

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8 thoughts on “Is There Ever A Right Time For Chemsex?”

  1. Ugh….so dumb. I’m so glad I never fell into the trap. The bottom line is that gay men can often be very excessive
    with drug use. Not cute. I do love pot during sex and a few shots of tequila…& i have a great time. Never tried anything else and don’t want to. Stay up all night…..?! ..no thanks. Destructive and ageing……

  2. There’s certainly a right time for chem/drug sex: when you decide you want to throw your life away and risk not being clean-anymore.

  3. Loved it. Very realistic. You believe the sex is real and many of the actors are gay including a pornstar or two.

  4. If you need chemicals to grow some balls necessary to approach someone, or to have sex, then not interested. A cocktail or two are fine. But if someone’s doing G, poppers, or anything like that, then GTFO.

  5. Yeah, so Chemex is a coffee making device. And no thanks. Gives me the jitters, makes my pits smell nasty (and they usually smell fantastic) and the breath. No. No Chemex, thanks.

  6. Wait, what? “…the use of drugs and alcohol are something every gay man must confront in our daily lives” you say??? Wrong. Anyone who believes every gay man is a dopehead is living in some sort of alternative universe. I’ve never done any kind of drugs, and I’m not the only gay man who hasn’t. “Chemsex” is pathetic and those who indulge in it have serious mental health issues.

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