"Reports reveal that sexual encounters do not essentially belong to the pleasures offered by ecstasy. These reports from the dancing scene are interesting in terms of some of the distinctive features of the sensuality of ecstasy attributed to it within the framework of early rave," Dr. Alfred Springer (Vienna) notes.
- "First, it directs attention to the user´s own body and the pleasure of dancing with expression and empathy. This special component of the ecstasy experience was crucial to the attractiveness of the scene. The feeling of being sexually safe was reported to be an attraction for girls and young women, compared to alcohol-based clubs, which were feared as ´cattle markets´.
- Secondly, ecstasy was regarded within the rave scene as being an antipode to ´rape drugs´, since it suppresses the genital sexual response in the male and stimulates the desire only to ´cuddle up´.
- And last but not least, as regards social and cultural implications, ecstasy eroticism was reported to include a weakening of heteronormativity: people at raves were usually reported to be more tolerant of displays of homosexual affection. This drug-related eroticism is linked to the musical style and contrasted traditional pop-music with raves..."
Markets, methods and messages. Dynamics in European drug research
Fountain, Jane; Asmussen Frank, Vibeke; Korf, Dirk J (Eds.)
