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“Kids these days.” It’s a phrase I use for high schoolers who have more than 1,000 followers on Instagram, those annoying groups of idiots yelling on the subway, and now teens in Spain who are jumping on a trend called “Sex Roulette.”
Apparently these kids are having orgies where at least one unidentified person at the party is HIV positive. Sounds fun, right?
According to Dazed, this is a trend similar to “bugchasing,” a practice in which gay men actively pursue infected men for sexual pleasure.
This time, however, the rules are more open. For example, while some of these orgies are exclusive only to HIV carriers, others “offer blue tablets” that are supposed to prevent the contraction of the virus. “These are non-prescription drugs in Spain and therefore bought on the black market,” French radio channel Equinox explains. According to Barcelona’s Hospital Clinic – which is currently treating around 100 HIV carriers a day – the rise of ‘sex roulette’ has also been linked to a spate of other sexual diseases in the city; including hepatitis C, chlamydia, and gonorrhea. It has also been connected to the notable decline in the amount of young people who are concerned with catching HIV (stats reveal that 24 per cent of 15-25-year-olds are “not afraid” of the virus).
Obviously this is a stupid idea, but partygoers are said to enjoy the danger in it – “the higher the risk, the stronger the thrill.” Those freaky Europeans, man.
And with that, studying abroad in Barcelona just became on everyone’s “not-to-do” list.