A circuit party is a large dance event. It extends through the night and into the following day, almost always with a number of affiliated events in the days leading up to and following the main event. Proto-circuit parties in the late s, the precursors of what later became circuit parties, were called disco parties. They lasted only one evening and were held in various large venues in metropolitan areas with large gay populations. They came to resemble underground rave parties in some respects, but differ in that circuit parties are highly publicized and professionally produced, and tend to attract people from a wider age range and a broader geographic area. The start of the circuit has been attributed to many different parties that sprang up during the time-frame of the late s and early s.
In the beginning, we found thirds. My boyfriend and I hit the bars seeking guys we both thought were cute. After we separated, I became the third guy and played with couples across the country. When jealousy flared up, I bowed out. Then I tried small groups. Then bigger groups. Then my first sex club.
M iguel was in the middle of a three-day sex and drug binge when he looked at Grindr and saw an advert asking for people to participate in a film about sex and drug binges. And with that Miguel became one of the central storylines of the new documentary feature Chemsex. And this comes almost a decade after chemsex caused some arguments in the gay community itself, inspiring sadness, attrition, blame and confusion. Chemsex is identified in the film as the habit of engaging in weekend-long parties fuelled by sexually disinhibiting drugs, such as crystal meth, GHB, GBL and mephedrone.