Talk:Circuit party

To the user who eliminated information about drug use and sex at circuit parties, can you explain why you took those parts out of the article? I am not the author of the original text in those sections, but both of them seem to be valid descriptors of what goes on at circuit parties. I've yet to hear of someone who denies that drug use and sex do not exist at circuit parties, and in fact that they are both (with dancing) anything less than a primary raison d'etre of circuit parties. Moncrief 00:48, Apr 2, 2004 (UTC)

Even More Odd....

...is that music and dance are left out. Despite what many (non-attendees) like to believe, the main emphasis at these events is music. Music then equals dance. To attribute sex and drugs to these events is a useless attempt and taking what occurs everywhere and focusing it on gay dance events. If you want a high incidence of sex and drugs, go to any online chat room, AOL, or internet sex site. Go to people's homes, bars, clubs, restaurants, streetcorners, or any place that more than 2 people tend to gather.

If you want to focus on some of the best mix music created, world reknowned DJs, extravagant shows, creative and cutting edges decorations, and more dancing in one night/weekend than you can imagine, then focus on Circuit Parties.

I listen to circuit party music, even though i am NOT gay. Gringo300 17:34, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

famous to whom?

The circuit scene is sub-cultural. Those within the sub-culture fail to see that their DJ's are not "world-famous".

Genesis, Animosity, Revelation

In the late eighties and early/mid-nineties, circuit parties were largely the domain of the affluent, muscular, educated and well-traveled. At the very least, guys were either quite affluent or quite attractive. There were far fewer, such that one could quite conceivably do the whole 'circuit,' though they didn't yet carry that name.

As the nineties progressed and AIDS awareness became celebrity-chic, the parties became more popular and commercialized. The advertisements were almost caricatures of the events without meaning to be. This seeming 'leisure class' would multiply as more and more gay men who were positive were living longer due to protease inhibitors. Thanks to these inhibitors and the activists, many could now go on disability for HIV even though they retained their strength to pump heavy iron and dance the night away. HIV and 'disability,' in affect, created so much of the growth of circuit parties. Suddenly these men had money and all the time to spend it. When they weren't partying, they had all the time for the gym... and all the money for multiple gym memberships.

This is, in large part, what circuit party culture has become.

Large numbers of gay men from their late-twenties to late-fourties equipped with time and money for such lavish events was bound to attract more mainstream attention, if even only mainstream gays.

Yes, they were fund-raisers, but they were raising funds for the very disease many would contract at the parties, in part due to drug use. It became quite the paradox. Resentment was bound to surface, but instead of it rotating around irresponsibility and the abuse of disability, for gay men it seems more about the classic pretty/ugly, rich/poor rivalry. It's sour grapes to 'superiority'.

In the end, the parties are less about the fund-raising for the goers and more about music, sex and escape. They're about gay men who are attracted to handsome men. For those handsome enough to attract such lookers, the parties were fun. For those who weren't beautiful or couldn't afford the events, the parties were shallow and vapid even if they, too, were physically attracted to these guys.

In the 2000s circuit parties are anything from a right of passage for any young gay man, to 'so last millenium'. Whatever the case, the exclusivity is long gone and there seems to be one every week. What's more interesting is seeing how this first wave of out-of-the-closet, beautiful, affluent gay men who survived AIDS is living. These 'founders' didn't expect to be around very long yet their 'party until you drop' culture shaped circuit parties - for those who were perfectly healthy... and for those who, much to their surprise, would still be alive eighteen or so years after they were partying their lives away.

Some have returned to work and still sport physiques that would put a twenty-something to shame. Others, out of shape or over the scene, are hooked on Crystal 'NET-amphetamine' to fill their time. No dancing, no fund-raising, just cutting to the quick: sex and drugs. No personality or getting to know, just images, claimed stats on the Internet and drugs to allow them to skip the 'getting to know' process. These are gross generalizations, but do indeed make up a large percentage of former 'circuit boys'.

HIV had most gay men believing the end was near anyhow. Easy disability stripped many men of any sense of responsibility and provided them with nothing to do and all the money and time in the world to do it. Though not all or even most of these men were on disability, their seemingly care-free spirit shaped circuit party culture. Most of those that were POZ had no idea they'd still be around twenty years later... with nothing to do and very little to account of their years of partying.

As for the current generation, the parties are as drug-fueled as any other party, but not everyone does or needs to get high to participate and have a good time. To demonize these parties and the party goers wouldn't be fair. As they are now so commercial, they far more resemble a typical, urban, gay dance club on holiday weekend.