Self-proclaimed "drug" journalist Michelle Lhooq’s article on "chemsex," a term for using drugs in casual sex, was lambasted on social media Monday.
The "Unherd" article "We need to talk about chemsex" attempted to unearth and defend the "underground cultural phenomenon."
"When people gather anonymously to talk about dancing in the shadow of drugs and sex, the energy in the room glows with a warm ball of white light. This feeling, I think, must be the immanence of healing. So much shame and secrecy is still attached to chemsex — a term that refers to using substances such as methamphetamine, GHB/GBL, and newer synthetic drugs such as 3-MMC while engaging in casual and often group sex," Lhooq wrote.
She added, "To evade public scrutiny, the act is often facilitated online using coded language (‘Party and Play,’ ‘PnP,’ ‘Tina’) or even specific emojis (diamond, rocketship). Rarely is this subject discussed beyond hookup apps — and even less so outside the gay male scenes where the term originates from."
Unherd promoted the article on Twitter with a tweet reading, "Is it finally time to destigmatise chemsex?"
The tweet and Lhooq's article were criticized on Twitter for pushing what many considered a ridiculous term.
"And the immature impulsive hedonism continue, unabated: possession by basic biological drive elevated into object of unconscious worship. The worst of an emergent polytheistic paganism. With all the requisite pseudo-intellectual jargon. ‘Chemsex,’" psychologist Jordan Peterson commented.
"Do I want to know what ‘chemsex’ is?" journalist Ian Miles Cheong joked.
Claremont Institute associate editor Spencer Klavan also joked, "Logged on, learned what ‘chemsex’ means, wish I hadn’t, logging off."
Daily Caller news editor Grayson Quay tweeted, "Is it time to destigmatize doing a ton of meth and having gay orgies? No. No it's not."
"Why is @unherd publishing anti-human leftist drivel? Who greenlit this despicable essay?" First Things Magazine associate editor Justin Lee tweeted.
RedState writer Bonchie wrote, "Send the meteor."
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Lhooq has written bylines for New York Magazine and Vice and published a book in 2019 on the mainstreaming of cannabis titled "Weed: Everything You Want To Know But Are Always Too Stoned To Ask." With this most recent piece, Lhooq hoped to bring about the "conversation" to mainstream "chemsex."
"Untangling the ways drugs can modulate pleasure, dampen the voices of our inner critics, and foster a kind of dark intimacy is still such a sensitive topic — and the movement to destigmatise chemsex is, in many ways, still in its infancy. As a woman, I am also not the traditional demographic that is typically ‘allowed’ to even discuss this concept, let alone in these expansive terms," Lhooq wrote.
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She concluded, "As the conversations around chemsex continue to evolve, perhaps our conceptions will also move beyond the current narrative of retreat and resilience."
