A controversial sexual fetish where people actively seek to contract HIV has been explored in a Channel 4 documentary.
It’s a Sin actor Nathaniel J Hall, from Manchester, investigated the world of ‘bug chasing’ and spoke to a ‘chaser’, a man who doesn’t take PrEP – medication which prevents HIV from getting into the body – in his mission to contract the virus.
Elsewhere Nathaniel met another man, a so-called ‘gifter’ with HIV, who is happy to transmit the virus to willing recipients.
Nathan, who is HIV positive himself, became emotional at one point, asking: ‘Why do we feel so s*** about ourselves that we want to do this to ourselves.’
One gay man explained it that it was always on his mind tht he could contract the virus, so his way of dealing with it was to ‘actively chase it’, while others seem to love the thrill of the ‘risk’ of catching the virus through unprotected sex.