Last summer a friend told me about his boyfriend, who wouldn’t stop sniffing poppers. Frustrated, he gave the man a sexual Sophie’s Choice: ‘My nine inches or that bottle.’ The guy chose the bottle, bolted, and we all agreed this was allegorical. What comes between me and my poppers? Not even nine inches.
“Despite massive ambivalence, poppers are one thing we have yet to sell, condemn, or disown in the quest for equality. Consider poppers the homosexual peyote. Their open secret status in the tribe is key to staying power, as so few outsiders, Tallulah notwithstanding, know the first thing about them. In post-gay culture, kink, camp, and open relationships have been willingly sacrificed at the altar of assimilation.
“The sticky bottle is barely hanging on, each exposure to oxygen destroying potency. A fragile rose, whose bloom isn’t meant to survive, but it is still kept, hung upside down in hopes of preserving even a glimmer of former glories. The faintest whiff activating erotic muscle memory; a cheeky wink, a nod.”
— Actor, writer and “rabble-rouser” Jesse Archer extolling the virtues of alkyl nitrite, better known as poppers, in an article for The Advocate.
QJ201
Trust me, straight men that like to get butt fucked by women wearing strap-ons know all about poppers.
hf2hvit
@QJ201: So do all the “straight” men who LOVE gay dick up their ass.
Wilbready
I came out almost 4 years ago and have yet to experience so many things most gays find routine. After only one serious relationship, I fell in love with a great man and we have been together now for almost 3 years. Still have not tried poppers and doubt I ever will!
GayTampaCowboy
And the purpose of this article is WHAT? A brief reference (2nd hand at that)about a
dysfunctional couple with one guy with an addictive personality and his horse-hung
partner’s frustration with his huffing? How that ties into popper-use by gays and
how non-gays don’t seem to know about it is a head-scratcher to me.
I must confess, that sometimes the editors of Queerty just throw items on the site to
fill a spot….how difficult would it have been to conduct a survey, and then
let the readers post their thoughts and experiences!
My partner and I enjoy the recreational use of poppers during our lovemaking. That
said, many of our friends hate poppers (mostly due to the smell or headaches), but in
my life as a gay man, i’ve never met anyone with a “popper addiction.”
On a side note, if the guy in this story does have a 9″-er, i’d want to use some
poppers too!
architect_tim
What kind of article is this?
I will disagree with GayTampaCowboy that there isn’t a “popper addiction”.
I am a recovery addict, and no first hand how popper can mentally be an addiction.
Come on Queerty, step up and be a Gay TMZ or The Economist. Make up your mind, or keep huffing…
petensfo
I clicked through to find out how worried I should be for my guy… personally, I no longer touch the stuff, but I do remember that wonderful feeling.
Scribe38
I always thought this was an older gay male thing. I didn’t know that gays were still doing this crap until a somewhat friend(25), did it in front of me one night. It was the biggest turn off. I don’t blame the guy who did the dumping. If you need to snort any chemicals or be super drunk to sleep with me, chances are you are not going to see me naked.
DB
I don’t think any gay man born after 1980 has actually tried ‘poppers’. I have not encountered them or heard about them outside of historical AIDS films and neither my husband or myself has ever tried them. Huffing of any chemical is associated with the killing of brain cells, so I would certainly say no if the opportunity ever arose to try one.
architect_tim
I get it when people say “I don’t know anyone who ….”
I am so happy in 2013 we have plenty of choices to live in any city, any state and any kind of sexual identification.
My question is are we even more ghettoized that the 1970’s?
Poppers and other chemicals are extremely popular in all age categories and all types of social/economic/political demographics.
Brian
If you take poppers, you’re a loser. You need to get a life.
DerekR
@Brian: Oh F*ck you! You’re a judgmental c*nt and need to get the f*ck off your judgmental high horse.
Different strokes for different folks.
JonahM01
Hey, as long as it’s not the ONLY WAY you can get off, what’s the problem? Sometimes I actually LIKE having sex after a few too many cocktails. Other times, I want to be fully present in the moment, and choose to stay sober.
Moderation, baby, it’s all about moderation…
And yeah, different strokes…
And if it’s nine inches or more…poppers, booze, “G”….Anything to get me relaxed enough to take it, because sometimes a “can-do” attitude is simply not enough!
frshmn
Nice inches w/o poppers… ouchh They work as bottom training wheels if you cant get past initial discomfort. They wear off super quick, maybe leaving a bit of a headache. No reason to be judgmental of someone wanting to use them, but it does get annoying when a guy wont be f****d without them or constantly stopping every 15 seconds for more.
petensfo
@frshmn: “bottom training wheels” 🙂 That’s funny.
The other thing about poppers is that the guys often go soft.
boring
I’m pretty sure Peyote is the homosexual Peyote.
And I’m not a fan of equating a psychedelic plant used in sacred ritual with someone sniffing VHS head cleaner to better take a dick.
Alex
I think this is definitely an older generation thing. My friends and I don’t do poppers and when I do come across guys that do it, its always guys in their 40’s
rcs831
This article is stupid and is interjected like those fools that arbitrarily talk about the make and model of their car to impress people but it makes people feel uncomfortable instead.
Nick
I really disagree with everyone saying it’s an “older” thing. I’m almost 21 and I’ve been using poppers since I was 19.
Before you get on your high horses, no, I don’t do it outside of sex. And even then, I don’t do it every time I have sex – I’ve never even bought a bottle myself! It’s just a thing that if a guy I’m with happens to have a bottle, I’ll ask if I can have some, I’ll take maybe three hits one minute apart, and then I’m good to go. It has very different effects for different people, but it personally makes me horny like a dog in heat.
So if it spices up the sex just a few notches and I’m not addicted to it, what’s the harm?