Paper short abstract:

Results of an ethnography about cisgender mens who are adept at "risky" sexual practices, such as bareback and "pig" sex. The aim is to analyze how it is possible to produce knowledge of sexual/erotic practices that challenge the political and subjective effects of disgusting and transgression.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I intend to present some of the results of an ethnographic postdoctoral research, still in progress, in which I follow face-to-face meetings of interlocutors who are adept at "risky" sexual practices, such as bareback sex (without condoms) and so-called "pig sex" (also known as "dirty sex", i.e. a set of sexual practices that involves eschatological elements or what we consider "dirty" or "disgusting"). The events are exclusively for cisgender men and take place in the city of Rio de Janeiro / Brazil. The goal here is to analyze how it is possible to produce knowledge of sexual / erotic practices that challenge the political and subjective effects of disgusting and transgression. It is a research that deals with the limits of what is naturalized to find healthy, safe or "conventional". This research seeks not only to understand the limits of the practices themselves, but also our own analytical tools by putting these issues into question. What are the ethical implications of following a field that deals with practices considered dangerous? How to develop research based on elements such as disgust, revulsion and risk sexualization? What kind of bodily and affective experimentation does such fieldwork produce for the researcher and help (re)think our methodologies?

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