Simon, Arnaud

Occasional sex between men - 2023.


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This article explores the practice of one-off male homosexual encounters, essentially brief sexual relationships that are not usually repeated. The content is based on thirty semi-structured interviews. The hook-up often corresponds to a marked dissociation between the sensual current and the tender current, in the Freudian sense, and is therefore of interest for a deeper understanding of this duality. The way in which contact is made through virtual connections, the locations for hook-up dating and the ability to reflect or not reflect on the encounter, or to suppress the very memory of it, are all discussed. The emotions experienced in the encounter with the other as well as the absence of affect (disaffectation) are then analysed alongside the question of sociability and impressions of the disturbingly strange.