Unlimited Intimacy: Reflections on the Subculture of Barebacking

Thank you, Tim Dean, for this brave book. I read it after Beyond Sexuality, which I also liked a lot because it reminded me about some things my parents used to say about Freud in relation to anal health and pleasure. (I grew up in a very healthy clothing-optional family where we openly discussed these things.) I have written about the topic myself, from the perspective of a woman who enjoys that pleasure and the health it brings when practiced in moderation and in a holistic way (see titles below). I admire your courage in studying a subculture that dares to defy cultural norms in such radical ways. It's not a gender-equal or a woman-friendly subculture, but it seems to practice conscious forms of non-monogamy, which it, by-and-large, a good thing in my view. I also appreciate your choice to call the International AIDS Dissidence movement by its own name. Thank you. Namaste, Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD author of Eros: A Journey of Multiple Loves (2007) and of Gaia and the New Politics of Love (2009)

Tim Dean's "Unlimited Intimacy" is a fascinating and provocative piece of work. It is disturbing but asks the reader to reflect on one's disturbance with a Foucaldian sensibility, i.e. to reflect on how regulatory systems create what disturbs us. Maintaining a balancing act between trying to look at barebacking from inside the subculture, without passing judgement either for or against, he challenges the reader to traverse both the unconscious and subversive thrusts of barebacking culture to create a sexual kinship system that takes back male homosexuality from the effects of AIDS, and the cultural imperative to avoid risk, especially health risks, despite the cost of sacrificing one's relationship to pleasure. It also is an encyclopedic reference book on multiple aspects of contemporary gay culture.

This book is a (beautifully written) exploration of some of the meanings that characterize barebacking culture. I especially enjoyed the analysis of barebacking porn, where Dean manages to interpret and probe some of the more obscure representation and desires that animate this genre. Dean is largely non-judgemental of this subculture, which is so refreshing, and he manages to explore some things that empirical HIV social science generally won't go near or touch, just because people aren't quite as articulate in qualitative interviews as their unconscious is imaginative. At the same time, I feel like Dean is occasionally at risk of collapsing the meanings surrounding unprotected sex into a coherent, unitary set of meanings, when surely there are a whole range of reasons for the practice in different contexts, not all of them about building some sort of non-normative gay brotherhood! The latter interpretation sure is imaginative, but as much a fantasy sustained by the author's readings as anything actually 'there' in the subculture. I really enjoyed the read anyhow.

I've a problem with the way the content is presented, as if it was the last word when it's basically an opinion, which makes it difficult to enjoy reading. Still as the subject gains mainstream popularity, it is highly recommended.

It remains controversial, but a highly stimulating read about the nature and attraction of bareback sex and the fetish of HIV.

I'm half amazed the University of Chicago would publish this (I'm only half amazed as someone probably determined that there is no academic discussion over unprotected gay sex so this pseudo-academic dissertation would suffice). Where to start: 1) This was so poorly written that it was difficult to read at points. The author continually would jump from subject to subject without much substantiation to any flow in the book or chapters, 2) He regularly interjects his own expletive sexual romps as if it is relevant (he actually wastes several paragraphs trying to justify why it is relevant but seems to be completely blinded that it is not only irrelevant but obtuse and self-gratifying if not self-justification for his personal risk-seeking behavior), 3) He routinely uses Freudian theories to make the discussion academic based, but forgets that a majority of Freudian theory is disproven and serves mainly to help shape modern psychological theory and not used as the primary source to explain human psychology, and 4) His continual use of swear words and overtly descriptive language is distracting at best. I was recommended this book by a gay blog, which is only depressing to believe this is the height of gay academia over unprotected sex and HIV transmission. Overall, this book was terrible.

Tim Dean has wriiten a fascinating account of one of the most controversial issues of all-time in the gay community: that of barebacking where men choose not to wear condoms while engaging in anal sex. Written with insightfulness, delicacy and sheer knowledge of the subjext Dean doesn't point fingers or state that gay men should be ashamed of performing such an act, but offers the reasons why barebacking has become all the rage since the late nineties even while a deadly disease still larks around the corner. Dean probes into how barebacking started around 1997 when the first round of AIDS coctails started and perhaps that is why so many of us decided to forgo condom use. He also writes about condom fatigue and how we as a culture simply became tired of using protection and that no one was going to tell us how to have sex. He mentions how it is so important for many us us to feel that closeness to our lovers and not to have that "barrier" there and how bareback pornography, starting in 2001, really was a proponent that led many gays into the world of bareback sex. Thought-provoking, yet controversial, I enjoyed "Ultimate Intimacy" to the fullest. Simply a well-wriiten work on still a very touchy topic.

Unlimited Intimacy (UI) is entirely unprecedented in its courage and candor. Though provocative in so many ways, starting with its cover and title, UI is most provocative as a sharply and carefully reasoned discussion of many current topics that are clinically, theoretically, and politically charged, including issues of cruising, pornography, gay marriage, and community most broadly. Briskly written and stunningly smart and wide-ranging, UI embodies a resolutely analytic stance in its efforts to frankly say what people actually do, not just rush to interpret them, and to think out loud about difficult issues that cannot continue to be avoided. UI has immediately joined Dean's other 2 key texts, Beyond Sexuality, and, Homosexuality & Psychoanalysis, in the essential canon of queer theory. It is inconceivable that anyone could write again about psychoanalysis, gender, and sexuality without taking UI and Dean's other groundbreaking work into account.

I watched this play called PIG and this was extremely helpful in looking at "Bug chasing/gift giving" subculture in different ways.

Very intresting book on a gay subculture. A bit out of date

Very well written. Interesting taboo subject

An incredibly interesting book, Dean obviously had done unending meticulous research across the subject matter alongside personal experience and has formed convincing mind-changing opinions with depth and emotion on taboo topics rarely discussed. Fascinating and thought-provoking throughout. My only issue was that he seems to have a rhythm of using easy language followed by sections seemingly purposefully using dense, difficult, enigmatic language to make his points, meaning you have to pick up the dictionary every other sentence when he could easily have used simpler language to the same effect. This kind of difficult elitist language seemed slightly ironic when he argues so passionately about the importance of not othering people through class divides.