Raw

Without a condom: to fuck raw is to have bareback sex, and "raw only" on a profile means no condoms, ever.

Raw means without a condom. To fuck raw, take it raw or go raw is to have bareback sex, and "raw only" on a profile means exactly what it says. It is the shorter, blunter, more modern sibling of bareback, and on the apps it has largely taken over.

The two words mean the same thing, but they do not feel the same. Bareback still carries the weight of the 1990s debates around HIV. Raw sounds like a menu option: casual, physical, matter-of-fact. That shift in tone says a lot about how gay men's attitudes to condoms have changed.

Where it comes from

Raw has long meant naked or uncovered in English, and slang dictionaries record its use for sex without a condom; Green's Dictionary of Slang lists that sense under the adjective. Nobody has dated exactly when gay men picked it up, but it travels with bareback in the porn and app culture of the 2000s and later. British slang has its own variant, rawback, which Green's finds in 2005.

How it is used today

On Grindr, Scruff and similar apps, raw shows up as a tag, a filter and a question. "Raw?" is often the second message after a picture, and many profiles list "raw" next to their PrEP status or viral load. It pairs naturally with breeding, load and creampie, which are all about what happens when there is nothing in the way.

In porn, raw is a selling word. Titles and studio names use it to promise condomless scenes, a promise that once defined the niche bareback studios and is now the default across most gay porn.

The health side

Raw sex is the same as bareback sex, with the same facts. PrEP, taken as prescribed, greatly reduces the chance of getting HIV from sex, but it does nothing against other STIs. Partners with HIV who are undetectable do not pass it on, which is the principle of U=U. Regular testing, including throat and rectal swabs, is the usual routine for men who go raw, and a sexual health clinic is the place to start PrEP or get PEP after a possible exposure.

Related terms