“But it’s a ‘thing’, you know? It’s sought after.”Ī quick look at the online message boards associated with the Dubai’s gay scene confirms this phenomenon. “Yeah, they’ll ask if you want to use poppers in a way that they wouldn’t in the UK because in Dubai it’s perceived as a secret,” says Geoff. “Or do you like poppers, sometimes – if they are being a little more careful,” Dale says. Whatever.’”Īt this point Geoff joins in: “If you’re chatting with someone online and they want to have sex with you, they may say quite early on “do you have poppers?” You realise that it’s seen as very exclusive and exciting to them, unlike in the UK where we’re like ‘oh, yeah – poppers. Then in Dubai suddenly there were all these people messaging saying: “do you have poppers?” It’s very different from the UK. “I haven’t really used poppers since my early 20s when I first came out.
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When he arrived he was amazed by how “obsessed” the gay scene was with poppers. And the lack of any in a club environment gives the drug a darker, less frivolous aura.ĭale, a 35-year-old lawyer from south London, also moved to Dubai two years ago for work. What’s interesting about Dubai is the scarcity of poppers appears to drive that need.
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This explains why some people ‘need’ poppers, while others remain rather indifferent. But due to the physiological way it facilitates anal penetration, it is more commonly adopted by those who prefer to be the sexually ‘passive’ partner. Or as Geoff puts it: “It serves a purpose in the bedroom.” Of course, the use of poppers during sex isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Importantly, he later notes that when under the influence “anal penetration becomes easier, probably from a combination of muscular relaxation and decreased pain perception.”Ĭrucially it is this that makes poppers the most sought after drug by gay men in Dubai more than coke or ecstasy. “The inhalable nitrites may be the nearest thing to a true aphrodisiac,” Lowry wrote. This “sexual angle” was famously explained by American psychiatrist Thomas P Lowry in his 1982 essay Psychosexual Aspects of the Volatile Nitrites, originally published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. Poppers are purely used for a sexual angle.” “That isn’t really how they are used in Dubai because the gay scene repurposes venues to be a gay venue for a night. “I think what is different is that in the UK poppers get done in gay clubs and it’s a bit fun,” he says. This lack of poppers in a more social environment has changed the drug’s image in Dubai, says Geoff. It also goes without saying there is no kissing in public and certainly no poppers. Sometimes the owners and other straight customers are not even aware – groups of men hanging out together is a common sight in Arab countries where the gender divide is more culturally enforced. Instead, one of the more relaxed hotel bars is adopted for the night. Strict homophobic laws necessitate any gay gatherings to be more clandestine. Whereas gay venues can remain permanently open in the UK and openly advertise their function, things are different in the Emirate of Dubai. However, in Dubai the perception of poppers has shifted. The gay scene adopted it in the 1970s as a fun party drug that offers a quick high. Poppers – or alkyl nitrites in liquid form – have been around for decades, originally sold as a treatment for angina in little capsules that were snapped open – or popped – which is how it got its name. There’s such a weird demand for it and I think it drives people’s behaviour.” And at one point he put it up his nose and burnt the inside of his nostrils – he was so keen to have it. He was so obsessed with having poppers it became the whole narrative while we were in bed. I was having ‘interactions’ one time with an Egyptian guy I met online. People talk about the need for having poppers when they come round and see you.
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“Guys talk about poppers a lot on the apps. “There is such a demand,” says Geoff, a 36-year-old British expat who works for a global bank in Dubai. But that doesn’t stop gay men wanting to get their hands on it. And like paracetamol, codeine and heroin, it is totally illegal. Only the gay men aren’t looking for GHB, crystal meth or any of the other drugs associated with the UK subculture. Like the UK, where the rise of chemsex has been well documented, Dubai is also gripped by an underground drug culture. Invite-only parties take place in the luxury private apartments that line the Palm Islands and most get around the ban on gay mobile apps by downloading a VPN (virtual private network). Expats and locals meet in certain hotel bars, or cruise Deira Public Park looking to see who’s around.
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It’s not even that secret once you know where to look. Gay sex may be illegal in Dubai, but that hasn’t prevented a sizable gay scene flourishing.