Different ways of taking care of oneself. How Argentinean gay men negotiate COVID-19 protocols for hooking-up

Abstract

ABSTRACT Since the beginning of pandemics, Argentinean gay men continued to have sexual experiences. However, when doing so, they did not just break the lockdown, but renegotiate care practices. That negotiation was part and parcel of engaging in an ephemeral network of mutual assistance. This paper aims to analyse the heterogeneous ways of caring among gay men who looked for other men to have sexual intercourse during the Pandemic lockdown. Based on 11 in-depth interviews with Argentinean gay men – aged from 24 to 45—, we explore how these men renegotiated COVID-19 care measurements when hooking up during pandemic times. Instead of portraying them as careless, we describe different ways in which they renegotiated caring. Considering those arrangements as tactics and micro resistances opposed to the disciplinary official discourse, we analyse actual practices of care that engaged in an ephemeral network of mutual assistance. The paper is organised into four sections. The first section briefly outlines official sanitary measurements in Argentina, characterised by an early lockdown that lasted several months. The second section describes the qualitative methodological approach of the research. The third section lists the theoretical discussions about virtual dating, hooking up and care practices. The fourth section settles the analysis of the ways these gay men developed their tactics becoming “responsible in their own ways”.