Bottom Shaming, Shame Anxiety, and Sexual Wellbeing

Abstract

Bottom shaming refers to the way in which men experience shame due to engaging in receptive anal intercourse, or bottoming. While regularly discussed in an array of online and offline LGBTQ+ media, bottom shaming has seldom been explored academically, as a concept and in relation to the sexual wellbeing of gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men (GBMSM). This article explores what is meant by bottom shaming, how it developed historically and transculturally, and draws on the concept of shame anxiety to theorise ways in which GBMSM can experience shame in relation to bottoming. It argues that shame can be anticipated in both clinical and non-clinical contexts, and that the anticipation of shame due to bottoming can cause a range of anxieties that can impede sexual wellbeing.