PUBLIC SEX I GAY SPACE

Edited by William L. Leap

lillllllll Columbia University Press I New York

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRE S S

Publishers Since 189 3

New York Chichester, West Sussex

Copyright C 1999 Columbia University Press

All rights reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Public sex/gay space I edited by William L. Leap

p. em -(Between men-between women)

Includes index.

ISBN 0-231-10690-4 (cloth). -ISBN 0-231-10691-2 (pbk.)

1 . Homosexuality. 2. Sex customs-Cross-cultural studies.

3. Public spaces-Health aspects. I. Leap, William. II. Series.

HQ76 .PB 1999

306. 76'62-dc21 98-26490

CIP

Casebound editions of Columbia University Press books are printed on

permanent and durable acid-free paper.

Printed in the United States of America

c 109876 54321

p 109876 54321

"Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places" by Laud Humphreys

first appeared in Society v. 7, n. 3 (1970). Copyright C 1970 by

Laud Humphreys. Reprinted by permission of Transaction Publishers.

Contents

Preface vii

Contributors ix

I ntroduction 1 WILLIAM L. LEA P

1 Recla im ing the I m portance of Laud H umphreys's "Tearoom Trade: I m personal Sex in Publ ic Places" 23

PETER M. NAR DI

2 Tearoom Trade: I m personal Sex in Publ ic Places 29 LAU D HUMPHREY S

3 A H ighway Rest Area as a Socia l ly Reproducible Site 55

JOHN HOLLISTER

4 Speaking to the Gay Bathhouse: Commun icating in Sexua l ly Charged Spaces 7 1

IRA TATTELMAN

5 Beauty and the Beach : Representing Fire Is land 95

DAVID BERGMAN

6 Sex in " Private" Places: Gender, Erotics, and Detachment i n Two Urban Locales 1 15

WILLIAM L. LEA P

7 Ethnogra phic Observations of Men Who Have Sex with Men in Publ ic 141

M I CHAEL C. CLATTS

8 Self S ize and Observable Sex 157

STEPHEN 0. M URRAY

9 Baths, Bushes, and Belonging: Pub l ic Sex and Gay Commun ity in Pre-Stonewa l l Montrea l 187

ROS S HIGGINS

10 Homosex i n Hanoi? Sex, the Publ ic Sphere, and Publ ic Sex 203

JACOB ARONSON

1 1 Private Acts , Pub l ic Space: Defi n ing the Boundaries i n N ineteenth-Century Hol land 223

THEO VAN DER M EER

12 " Livi ng Wel l Is the Best Revenge" : Outing, Privacy, and Psychoana lysis 247

CHRISTOPHER LANE

Index 285

Preface

Public Sex/Gay Space is the prod uct of severa l yea rs of d iscussion a bout the relationsh ips between publ ic location, sexua l practices, and male-cen­tered , same-sex identities and desires. Many of the partici pants in this d is­cussion have subm itted papers for this col lection . Other pa rtici pants chose

not to be represented here, but the i r i nfl uence resonates throughout the col lection i n powerfu l ways . Ralph Bolton and G i l bert Herdt have been par­t icularly important in that regard . Both of them have done much to cham pi­

on the need for deta i led , descri ptive stud ies of sexual practices and sexua l cu ltures , goa ls that this col lection a lso seeks to address.

My thanks to Colu m bia U n iversity Press for support ing this project at a t ime when other presses were much less eager to be associated with its con­tent. Particu lar thanks go to Ann M i l ler, senior executive editor at C U P, for the support she has given to this project throughout its development, and to Alexa nder Thorp (Ann 's assista nt) , Joan McQuary, and B rady McNamara for va luable services during production .

Contributors

Jacob Aronson is the pseudonym of a North American researcher who has

made numerous visits to Vietnam over the last decade.

David Bergman is the author or ed itor of over a dozen books and three vol­umes of poetry, the latest of which is Heroic Measures ( 1998) . H i s Gaiety

Transformed: Self-Representation in Gay American Literature ( U n iversity of Wiscons i n , 1 99 1 ) was designated an Outsta n d i ng Book of the Yea r by Choice and the Gustavus Myers Center for H uman R ights. He ed its the

Men on Men series and is working on a study of the Violet Qu i l l gay writers group. He teaches at Towson U n iversity, Maryland .

Michael Clatts is a medica l anthropologist whose pri nciple area of i nterest

is the development of comm u n ity-based pub l ic hea lth programs. He was one of the fi rst socia l scientists to become i nvolved in A I DS research . S ince 1982 he has cond ucted a n u m ber of stud ies of A I DS preventions issues

among out-of-treatment d rug i njectors , homeless youth, and other groups in New York City.

Ross H iggins is a n anth ropologist and cofounder of the Arch ives ga ies d u Quebec, of which h e has been president since 1975. He has written a num­ber of scholarly and journa l i stic articles on gay l ife , h istory, and community

in Montrea l . He teaches courses in ESL, a ppl ied l i nguist ics, and sexual ity stud ies at the Un iversite du Quebec a Montrea l and at Concord ia Un iversity.

John Hol l ister l ives in the desolate setting of B inghamton , New York, where he has been constructi ng an i nfrastructure to enable the loca l gay popula­t ion to tra nsform itself i nto a more creatively i magi ned com m u n ity. He dwel ls i n cyberspace, runs the g/1/q socia l science e-ma i l l ist (G LQSOC-L) , plays "go , " j umps i nto the mosh pit at 01 shows, and spins websites.

Laud Humphreys, an Episcopa l priest and sociologist, pioneered the study x

of men-having-sex-with-men in pu bl ic places . H i s Tearoom Trade: Imper-

sonal Sex in Public Places (Aid ine , 1970) , in which h is cha pter in th is col- Contributors

lection fi rst appeared , received the C. Wright M i l l s Award of the Society for the Study of Socia l Problems.

Christopher Lane is associate professor of Engl ish at Emory U n iversity. He is the author of The Ruling Passion: British Colonial Allegory and the Para­

dox of Homosexual Desire (Duke, 1995) and The Burdens of Intimacy: Psy­

choanalysis and Victorian Masculinity (Ch icago, 1999) , as wel l as ed itor of

The Psychoanalysis of Race (Columbia , 1998) .

Wi l l iam L. Leap is professor of a nthropology at America n U n ivers ity i n Wash i ngton , D .C . H i s research exa m ines connections between language, cu lture , and power i n lesb ian and gay l i fe i n the U n ited States, Cuba , and South Africa . He is a uthor of Words Out: Gay Men 's English, ed itor of Beyond the Lavender Lexicon and (with El len Lewin ) Out in the Field.

Stephen 0. Murray is a San Francisco sociologist, author of American Gay,

Latin American Male Homosexualities and author or coauthor of ten other books.

Peter Nardi is professor of soc iology at P itzer Col lege (Ca l iforn i a ) . He is coed itor of Social Perspectives on Lesbian and Gay Studies ( Routledge, 1997 ) , In Changing Times: Gay Men and Lesbians Encounter HIV/AIDS

(Ch icago, 1997) , and Growing Up Before Stonewall: Life Stories of Some

Gay Men ( Routledge , 1994) . He serves as book review editor for GLQand is the specia l features coed itor for Sexualities.

I ra Tattel man is a n a rch itect . a rt ist , and i ndependent schola r. He has exh i bited h is photo-constructions and design work i n New York City, Ba lti­more , Wash ington, D .C . , and Boston . H is articles a bout queer space have appeared in the Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, the Journal of Architectur­

al Education, and the Journal of Homosexuality, as wel l as the col lections Queer Frontiers, and Queers in Space.

Theo van der Meer is a fel low of the Fou ndation for H istorica l Research of the Netherla nds Orga n ization of Scientif ic Resea rc h . He is a uthor of De

Wesentlijke Sonde van Sodomie en Andere Vuyligheeden and other stud ies of same-sex sexual ity in the Netherlands.

PUBLIC SEX I GAY SPACE

Introduction

W I L L I AM L. LEAP

How i m porta nt to gay men 's l ives is the pursu i t of ma le-centered sexua l pleasure?1 I s men-having-sex-with-men rea l ly the centerpiece of contem­porary "gay cu lture , " as some authors have recently c la imed? Or does the subject matter of gay desire stretch sexual imagination and erotic practice, and position gay cu lture with i n broader fields of reference-and, if so, what

do those fields of reference actual ly conta in? Questions l i ke these have prompted much d iscussion with i n Gay Stud­

ies/Queer Theory c lassrooms, conferences, and schola rly journa ls . Add i ­t ional ly, much of th is d iscussion has focused on the constructed , negotiat­ed , and s ituated nature of categories l i ke "gay" and "stra ight" and on the

close ties (and the confl icts) l i n king gayness, stra ightness, and other gen­dered identities with c la ims to ethnicity, race, nationa l i sm , class position, and priv i lege . Now, as the i nstab i l ity of these categories has become more

firmly documented , d iscussion turns to the locations with i n which gayness and its re lated c la ims become constructed and negotiated , and , more specif ica l ly, to the pa rticu la r i ntersect ions of location , gay identity, and male-centered sexual practices.

In Public Sex, Gay Space, anthropologists, sociologists , a rchitects, geog­

raphers, l iterary crit ics, a nd h istor ians join forces to explore these i ntersec­tions as they u nfold in parks , truck stops, sec luded beaches, a l l eyways, health c lub saunas, bath houses, bookstore backrooms, and other sites of male-centered sexual opportun ity in the u rba n and rura l U n ited States, Canada , Mexico, G reat B rita i n , the Netherla nds, and Viet Nam . Al l of the locations explored i n this collection are, i n some sense, public places, and for some of the participants, the publ ic nature of the location and its on-site pos­s ib i l it ies i ntensify the power and pleasure of the erotic moment. For other pa rtic ipa nts, pub l ic cond ition erases i nterests in on-site erot ics, and lead them to locate sites sexual privacy elsewhere. And for others, sexual activities become assertions of privacy, the public location of the site notwithstand ing.

One of the themes i n th is col lection is the mu lt ip le mea n i ngs of pub l ic 2

vs . private as this d isti nction appl ies to sites of ma le-centered erotic oppor-tun ities. A related theme centers on the effects wh ich c la ims to a publ ic or William Leap

private location impose have on site-specific erotic practices. Here, d iscus-sions in th is col lection overla p uncomforta bly with the ana lysis of location , gay identity and erotic practices offered in two recent critiq ues of the weak-nesses bespo i l i ng contem porary gay cu lture, e .g. Gabriel la Rote l la's Sexual

Ecology and M ichelangelo Signori le's Life Outside.2

Accord i ng to Rote l la and Signori le , "gay identity" has become synony­mous with an unend ing pursuit of prom iscu ity, sexual risk-ta king, and ult i­mately (given the rea l it ies of the A I DS pa ndemic) wi l lfu l self-destruct ion . They a rgue, further that sexua l r isk-ta k ing is pa rt icu la r ly l i ke ly to occur when men have sex with other men in public locations, that is , i n the same types of sites which are of i nterest to the essays i n this col lection . To coun­teract th is trend , Rote l la and Signori le demand that gay men renounce a l l pa rt ic i pation i n casua l sex with m u lt ip le , a nonymous pa rtners, support a strict pol ic ing of the locations where men-have-sex-with-men, and agree to the aggressive prosecution of anyone found to be part ic i pat ing i n on-site erotic excha nge.3

Rote l la and Signori le use these i ntersections of publ ic s ite, gay identity, and sexua l r isk-tak ing to spea k de l i berately and forcefu l ly i n favor of the close-the-baths/pol ice-the-parks a pproach to A I DS prevention , which has enjoyed considera ble a ppea l with i n the Pub l i c Hea lth com m u n ity (and among some A I DS activists) over the years .4 And by do ing so , they speak i n support o f those who want to curta i l a l l forms of gay-re lated sexual experi­ence, and who wa nt to see the state , and not the c it izenry, become the arch itect and manager of sexual cu lture(s) .

Public Sex/Gay Space did not begin as a response to these expressions of sexual fascism . But respond ing to these claims has become an unavoid­able outgrowth of the stud ies i n sexual geogra phy which the authors of this co l lection now provide . U n l i ke Rote l la , S ignor i le and col leagues, we a re unwi l l i ng to assume that publ ic sex and sexual r isk-tak ing are fundamenta l and inseparable com ponents of gay cu lture. I nstead , we propose to exam­ine the connections between risk-taking and male same-sex desire as these con nections a re attested with i n pa rticu lar locations , and to d raw conc lu ­sions a bout gay-related sexual practices (and A I DS prevention strategies) in eq ua l ly situated terms.

Accord i ngly, this col lection offers ethnogra phic sna pshots of male-cen­tered sex in pub l ic places. 5 Rather tha n ta l k i ng in a bstract or genera l ized terms about gay (and other male) promiscu ity or a bout the publ ic courtsh ip of sexual r isk, th is col lection uses participants' own narratives and , i n some

i nsta nces, the authors ' own voices of experience, to docu ment local ized 3

condit ions pub l ic sexual practices, safety and r isk . Rather tha n assum ing that the partic i pa nts i n pub l ic sex are ( i n some essentia l ized sense) "gay" Introduction

men, th is col lection explores the identities and other self-descriptions of the men who pa rt ic i pate in sex-with-other-men at these s ites , the overla p between sexua l experiences a n d gender- identity, a n d the con nections between sexual practices, ethnic/racia l identity, c lass position and cla ims to

privi lege . F ina l ly, rather that assuming that the "pu bl ic" basis of a " pu bl ic location" i s un problematic , th is col l ection looks ca refu l l y at the locations

where men-have-sex-with-men, exa mines the socia l and h istorica l process-es through wh ich certa i n l ocat ions come to be favored as s ite for sexua l

encou nters , as wel l as the soc ia l a nd h i storica l conseq uences of certa i n sites being designated as sexual ized locations.

Our focus on erotic experiences, part ic ipant identities and the construc­tion of sexual spaces a l igns this col lection with severa l other stud ies of pub­l i c sex and its d i scontents wh ich have a p pea red i n recent months, e .g . , Mapping Desire ( Be l l and Va lenti ne, eds. 1995) , Policing Public Sex (Dan­gerous Bedfe l lows , eds . 1 996) , Queer Space: Architecture and Same-Sex

Desire (Betsky 1 997) , Queers in Space ( I ngra m , Bouth i l lette , and Retter, eds. 1997) , and Stud: Architectures of Masculinity(Sanders, ed . 1996) .

Mapping Desire, for exa mple, focuses on part icu lar insta nces of "eroti­c ized topogra phy, " i nc lud ing phys ica l as wel l as i magi ned loca les , a l l to show how "the spaces of sex and the sexes of space are being ma pped out across the contem porary soc ia l and cu ltura l terra i n " ( Be l l and Va lent i ne 1995: 1 ) . Stud narrows the focus of this theme, by exploring how "the pre­cise organ ization and d istri bution of materia ls , objects and bod ies in space [ena bles] phys ica l structu res [to] assist in the fa bricat ion of masc u l i ne

identit ies at specif ic s i tes and moments i n h i story" (Sanders 1996: 1 2 ) . Queer Space reverses the d i rection o f the a rgument: " because of the par­ticu lar place that [gay men] occu pied [duri ng the 20th century] , " gay men " prod uced spaces which we m ight ca l l q ueer [wh ich] infected and inflect­ed our bu i lt environment, pointing the way toward an open ing, a l i berati ng poss ib i l ity" ( B retsky 1 997: 5 ) . Policing Public Sex and Queers in Space

remind us , however, that efforts toward " bu i lt env ironment" and sexua l ly " l i berati ng poss ib i l ity" occur in the midst of the hetero-mainstream's fasci­nat ion with sexual i rregula rity and provocative d isplay. As Dangerous Bed­fel lows, eds . , expla in ,

Late capita l ism h a s . . . more than a passing interest in sh i rtless m e n with

n ipple ri ngs and bra less women in tight t-sh i rts. For queers espec ial ly, the

late 90's a re not so much a bout identity coming out as a bout sex going

publ ic .

And when q ueer sex goes publ ic , queers wi l l u navoidably f ind themselves

. . . stepping i nto messy debates where Snoop Doggy Dogg's mus ic ,

Madonna's music videos, Mapplethorpe's art, and Hol ly H ughes's perfor-

mance art are a l l on the l ine . ( Dangerous Bedfellows, eds., 1996: 15).

As Dangerous Bedfel lows a lso note, d iscussions of publ ic sex in that col­lection (as is a lso the case i n ours) ra ises q uestions a bout the mean ing of pub l ic , and the sources which give the term its regu latory power. Danger­ous Bedfel lows and col leagues respond to these questions by presenting a work ing defi n it ion of pub l ic sex wh ich h igh l ights the com mona l it ies between homo-sex and pa id-sex, privi leges activities over identities as they

both perta i n to pu bl ic locations, and genera l ly "plays with the d ivid i ng l ine between pub l ic and private" ( 1966: 14) .

Public Sex/Gay Space responds to these questions somewhat d ifferently. As noted , we exa m ine the complex l i nkages between gender-based identi­ties and sexual practices as they unfold in particular (that is , q ueer and not­so-q ueer) locations. B ut we a rgue (and I h igh l ight th is a rgument i n some deta i l below) that the regulatory power of the state has a/ready establ ished a l l o f these locations as public locations, and that c la ims to sexual (and other) privacy are constructed in spite of public regulation . In other words , the con­cern of this collection is not just the contested nature of sexual visib i l ity, the arch itectura l/spatia l representation of mascu l ine identities, or the subversive nature of q ueer loca le , but the com plex i ntersections of these themes as they u nfold i n the l ives of men-who-have-sex-with-men and as they sha pe the partic ipants' c la ims to sexual experience and gendered identities.

Moreover, the authors contributing to this col lection are gay men, and gay su bjectivity has had sign ificant effects on the preparation of these essays . Even before we began the research descri bed i n these chapters , we knew

about the pleasures and dangers associated with sex- in-publ ic-places, either through our own experiences or through the experiences of others. We are writing here about issues which have been, and for most of us sti l l are , closely tied to our personal as wel l as scholarly l ives. These ties have made it d ifficult to frame these essays in terms of detached descr iption , objective commen­tary or other forms of scientific neutra l ity. I nstead , we del iberately try to h igh­l ight the personal , the emotional , the sensua l , and other components of l ived experiences that male-centered sex- in-publ ic-places so rich ly conta ins.6

Overview

The organ ization of this col lection bui lds d i rectly on a com mitment to study "publ ic sex" from an "insider, " gay-positive perspective .

4

William Leap

The col lection begins with Peter Nard i's review of La ud H u m ph reys' 5

classic exploration of men-havi ng-sex-with-men i n publ ic restrooms . Besides bei ng the fi rst American monogra ph to give serious d iscussion to Introduction

male-centered publ ic sex, Tearoom Trade has a lso received attacks because of H u m phreys' seemingly unorthodox research methods, pa rt icu-lar ly his violat ion of i nformant a nonym ity and his d i rect i nvolvement (as "watch queen" and i n other ways) i n the erot ic activit ies he was try ing to

explore. The fol lowing item in this col lection is a reprint of Humphreys' own sum­

mary of h is research find ings ( H u mphreys 1970) ; it a l lows readers to d raw

their own conc lusions regard ing the effectiveness of h is research methods

and fi nd ings. The conti nu i ng va l id ity of H u m phreys' c la ims are attested in Hol l ister's

report on h i s study of ma le-centered publ ic sex in a h ighway rest stop. " Publ ic sex" is sti l l h ighly cooperative and h ighly anonymous, says Hol l is­ter, but those factors provide only part of the s ite's appeal as an male-cen­tered erotic space. Tattelman's descr iption of gay bathhouse arch itecture and Bergma n's reflect ions on publ i c sex at F i re I s land ra ise add it iona l q uest ions a bout "s ite-specif ic a ppea l " ; and l i ke Ho l l i ster, thei r essays

underscore the need to d isti nguish how part icu lar locations provide place (e .g . , neutra l , access ib le terra i n ) for some of its i n ha bita nts, wh i le at the same time functions as space (a constructed , situated , "c la i med' terra i n ) for other i nhabitants .

Lea p's com pa rison of sexua l activit ies i n two d ifferent locations , the locker room of a "stra ight" health c l ub and the backroom of an adu lt/gay adu lt bookstore , reminds us that "publ ic" and " private" a re a lso loca l ly con­structed and may be a pp l ied d ifferently to condit ions at d i fferent sites. Clatts' description of erotic experiences in and around a gay bar in Green­wich Vi l lage d iscloses other ways in which the publ ic/private d isti nction is artific ia l and mis lead ing, and so do the explanations which the men give for their pursu it of publ ic sex in M urray's essay.

The next set of papers explores the com plex connections l i nki ng partic­ular instances of male-centered sexual activities and the surround ing pol i­tics of society and commun ity. Sex-between-men i n a publ ic park i n mod­ern-day Hanoi (Aronson) i nvokes a set of mean ings which are very d ifferent from those growing out s im i lar activities in pre-Stonewa l l Montrea l ( H iggins) or early n i neteenth-century Hol land (van der Meer) . Publ ic, male-centered sexua l practices i n Hanoi resurrect colon ia l and post-colon ia l messages about exploitative homosexual ity. In Montrea l , those practices created ties between men who were otherwise separated by soc ia l and economic differ­ences, and created the basis for c la ims su bseq uent c la ims to a Montrea l

"gay com m u n ity." I n Ho l land , these practices were assigned a series of &

mean i ngs, each reflect ing the Dutch government's increasing attem pt to impose mora l authority on its citizens, and to use gender-related pariah cat- William Leap

egories as sca pegoats when mora l fa i l u res could not otherwise be repa i red . The tensions between gay-ba iting and outing, the two publ ic stances exam-i ned i n Lane's essay, remind us that gay-related transgression and pariah-status a re sti l l a pa rt of today's d iscourse of mora l authority.

And here the col lection returns fu l l force to the critique of gay cu ltura l practices offered by Rote l la and com pany, to offer ou r own reflections on the shortsighted ness o f t he i r c la ims . The essays demonstrate q u ite con­v inc i ngly that ma le-centered pub l ic sex is not, as Rote l la a nd Signori le mainta i n , a spontaneous, unstructu red product of unrestra ina ble bio-erotic u rges , someth ing ma nagea ble only in terms of the regulatory authority of the (patriarcha l ) state. I nstead , as we show in these essays, ma le-centered pu bl ic sex is culturally constructed-with physica l , h i storica l , as wel l as i maginary terra i ns , negotiated r isks and negotiated safety, verba l declara­tions and s i lence, as wel l as gay pr ide, c loseted desire, and heterosexual identity a l l contributing to such constructions.

And so, wh i le none of the authors wil l deny the presence (or even the prominence or the attractiveness) of unsafe sex i n contemporary gay Amer­ica , a l l of us argue powerfu l ly that the reasons why men-stra ight and gay-engage in unsafe sexual practices when having-sex-with-other-men ca n not be red uced to self-conta ined sou nd-bites of journa l istic commen­tary, but are part of a la rger aggregate of socia l and cu ltural practices whose deta i l s sti l l need to be more fu l ly d isclosed .

Understanding Public Sex: Place, Space, and Landscape

The starting point in the d isclosure of those socia l and cu ltura l practices is the d isti nction between place and space. The mean ings expressed through that d isti nction fra me many of the current debates in the study of cu ltura l , a n d specifica l ly sexua l , geogra phy.

M ichel de Certeau ( 1984: 1 1 5ft) expla ins the d isti nction develops th is contrast with the fol lowing example. U rban planners defi ne the geometry of the c ity when they lay out its gridwork of streets and aven ues, designate locations for pub l ic pa rks, and identify other features of the c ity's forma l design . But the inha bitants o f the city reconfigu re that gridwork, and trans­form its abstract, objective geometry i nto a more mean ingfu l and personal­ized configuration of space(s) , each t ime they wa l k through these streets and aven ues as they go from home to work, to the market, to visit friends, and on other urban journeys . Wa lk ing the city is a form of cu ltural practice,

de Certeau observes, and through such cu ltura l practices " place" becomes 7

transformed i nto "space . "7

U nder th is formu lation , place designates a location that has been natu- Introduction

ra l ly formed or constructed , but whose mean ing-potential has yet to be fu l ly deve loped . Space emerges when practices a re i m posed on place, when forms of h u man activity im pose mea n i ngs on a g iven location , and trans-form " neutra l " terra in i nto landscape, that is , i nto a particu lar "way of see-i ng" (Cosgrove 1984: 13ff) relevant to that particu lar loca le .

Echoing a rguments from Raymond Wi l l iams' ( 1973) d i scussion of The

Country and the City , Cosgrove reminds us:

A cu ltura l concept l i ke the landsca pe idea does not emerge unprompted

from the minds of ind ividuals or groups . . . Landscape is a way of seeing

that has its own history, but a h istory that can be understood only as part

of a wider h istory of economy and society. (Cosgrove 1984: 2, 1)

It is possi ble, then , that what some people consider to be a natura l ly formed or "neutra l " terra i n , others wi l l c la im as space by means of particu lar cu l ­tura l practices-or may a l ready have done so . I n fact, H i rsch refers to place

and space as

moments or transitions possible with in a single relationship, analogous to

the experience of a person momenta ri ly los ing h is/her way on a fa mi l ia r

jou rney before relocating h im/herself by reference to an external perspec­

tive ; or to the . . . the 'empty place' which period ical ly f i l ls the foreground

experience before reced i ng into i ts customary background location.

(1995: 4-5)

I n other words , the "ways of see i ng" re leva nt to a pa rt icu la r sense of landscape, as wel l as the d ist inction between place and space itself, a re not static a rra ngements , but topics conti nua l ly bei ng constructed , negotiated , and contested . Th is makes it important for stud ies of cu ltura l geography (of the sort presented in th is col lection) to focus on the read ings which ind ivid­uals give, e .g . , to the u rba n terra i n as they wa l k th rough the streets and avenues of the city-or to whatever the location under study. B ut i t is equal­ly im portant to ask questions a bout context, situation , and personnel : which c i ty (conti n u i ng the focus of de Certea u 's exa m ple) is u nder d iscussion here? Are a l l features of the c ity's terra i n a menable to such read ings? Or do some areas resist attempts to impose such mean ings on their terra in? And how does wa l k i ng through the streets over la p with other com ponents of u rba n opportun i ty structu re? Whose construct ions of landsca pe actua l ly recast the urban terra in and create new and end uri ng c la ims to landscape? Whose constructions, whi le personal ly va luable, a re d isregarded , deva l ued , or erased by the la rger urban aggregate? What relevance does urban land-

sca pe have when a person's health problems, em ployment sched u le , or a concerns with safety l i m it the poss ib i l it ies of movement through the c ity streets? What happens when the person is s imply not i nterested i n wa lk ing William Leap

through the streets at a l l ?

How This Collection Develops These Themes

These and related q uest ions provide the foundation for the d iscussion of male-centered sexua l practices-the subject matter of th is col lection . For exa m ple, David Bergman explores the com plex mean ings that gay writers and other gay men have associated with the sa me "gay resort " ( F i re Is land ) , and shows how the creation of these mean ings d iversify the catego­ry "gay tour ist" relevant to this site .

Tatte lman suggests , i n contrast, that the physica l arra ngements of one gay bath house encou raged patrons from var ious soc ia l and economic backgrounds to make s im i la r assumptions a bout the ava i lab i l i ty of erot ic opportun ities that a re ava i lable there .

C latts shows how h ustl i ng, cru is i ng, and scor ing construct a com plex sexual geogra phy in "the heart of Greenwich V i l lage , " and how money-for­sex , money-for-drugs, homelessness, and lone l i ness further d iversity and i ntensify erotic opportun ities ava i l able with i n th is terra i n . Lea p shows how self-descr ipt ions of patrons' sexual identit ies he lp expla i n the i r confl icti ng assessments of the a ppropriateness of erot ic activit ies at a health c l u b sau na and a bookstore backroom , as wel l as thei r confl ict i ng i nterests i n pursu ing erotic activities a t each location .

H iggi ns shows how the soc ia l bonds formed by men hav ing sex with other men in pub l ic parks in pre-Stonewa l l Montrea l promoted the emer­gence of "gay commun ity" i n that city du ring the years after Stonewa l l , and created the basis for add it ional forms of gay experience. Aronson shows, i n contrast, how men having sex with men in Hanoi's publ ic parks has created a sense of conti nu ity for Hanoi's "gay" men that stretches from the t ime of colon ia l occupation to the more recent years of pol itica l l i beration-even if it has not prompted the emergence of a d isti nctive gay commun ity.

Understanding Public Sex: The Public/Private Distinction

The c la i m s to (gay) space descr i bed i n th is col lect ion are associated i n com plex a n d u n pred icta b le ways with not ions o f place and landscape, with particu l a r sexua l practices and with sexua l identit ies . B ut these c la ims are a lso dependent on a d isti nction between public and private ter­ra i n , and the deta i ls of that d i st i nct ion a lso req u i res some i ntrod uctory comment.

I n genera l usage , public vs. private does not refer to properties i nherent 9

i n any loca le , so much as it specifies two different interpretations (or "ways of seeing, " in the sense of the preced ing section ) of the visi b i l ity or accessi - Introduction

bi l i ty of a pa rt icu l a r loca le ; that i s , public identif ies a location wh ich

appears to be "open , " "access ib le , " and "unrestricted , " wh i le private sug-gests a location wh ich seems more "she ltered , " " sec luded , " or (us ing Sisela Bok's word i ng) , " being protected from unwanted access by others"

( Bok 1982: 10) . Defi ned i n terms of such contrasts , public and private become re lative ,

a l most subjective interpretations of loca l terra i n . And as is a lways the case

with q uestions of la ndsca pe, those i nterpretations a lways have to be read aga inst broader forms of regu lation and control .

The U .S . Supreme Court's ru l ing in Bowers v. Hardwick (478 U .S . 186

[ 1 986] ) speaks d i rectly to th is point.8 Hardwick and h is male sex-partner may have bel ieved that Hardwick's bedroom was a private location and that the presumption of privacy offered them some protection from the state of Georgia's proh ibitions aga inst practicing sodomy. The Court ru led , however, that whi le such a right to privacy certa in ly holds in instances of (heterosexu­

al) marr iage , fa m i ly, and procreat ion , " ' none of [those] r ights bears any resemblance' to a sexua l privacy right-at least for homosexuals" ( H u nter 1995: 8 1 , q uoting d i rectly from the cou rt's decis ion ) . Even though the charges aga inst Hardwick were d ropped and the case never actua l ly went

to tria l , the Su preme Court u pheld the reasonableness of the pol ice officer's intrusion i nto Hardwick's bedroom, and reaffi rmed the regulatory authority of the state as expressed th rough Georgia 's a nti -sodomy statue. U nder­sta ndably, then , Mohr ( 1989: 94) writes : "that a n act occu rs beh ind fou r wa l ls does not give i t even a prima facie presumption of su bstantive immu­n ity from the state. "

Move outs ide of the bed room a n d confl icts between "sexua l privacy" and " pu bl ic authority" become even more acute . David Bel l , writ ing about " publ ic homosex , " has observed :

I n terms of the location of the sex act, then, nominal ly [publ ic homosexl is

tak ing place i n publ ic space: the pa rk, the publ ic to i let, the a l ley, the

beach , the parking lot, the woods, the docks, the street. B ut i n terms of

the identities of the pa rt ic ipa nts, their knowledge of each other, and the

wider 'public' knowledge of the activities that go on in a particular setting,

[ it] ca n be very private, only attracting attention when the l ives and loves

of the rich materia l ize there, or when the police or queerbashers target a

pa rt icu lar site for their own k inds of noctu rnal activit ies. ( 1995: 306,

emphasis mine) .

S im i la rly, Lee Ede lma n , writi ng a bout the "am bigu ity of the [men's room's] positioning" as pu bl ic vs . private space, observes that:

efforts to provide a space of privacy i nterior to the men 's room itself, a

space that would sti l l be subject to some degree of publ ic regulation and

control , had e����J�ged. �y �964 the i ncreasing popula rity of the coi n­

operated toi let stall withih the publ ic washroom.

I ron ica l ly, he conti nues:

( i )t was i n the a nticipated privacy of just such a sta l l that Wa lter Jenk ins

[the White House ch ief-of-staff under President Lyndon Joh nson] would

be spied u pon by representatives of the DC pol ice depa rtment as he

engaged i n i l lega l sexual acts with a H u nga rian born vetera n of the US

Army. (1994: 159).

S i m i la r ly, Dr. Mervyn Si lverman , San Franc isco's d i rector of P u bl ic Hea lth , defended h is October 9 , 1984, decis ion to c lose n i ne of the city's bathhouses (as wel l as th ree bookstores and two movie theaters) by expla in ing that he found it necessary to: " bring to an end commercia l enter­prises that i nvolve explo itat ion for profit of an i nd iv id ua l's wi l l i ngness to engage in potentia l ly lethal forms of recreation " {Murray { 1996: 1 10-1 17) . S i lverman recognized that "a lter ing sexual activity is a matter of i nd iv idua l privacy" but , he conti nued : "when sexual activity ta kes p lace in a commer­c ia l sett i ng, the government has the prerogative and d uty to i ntercede" {cited in M urray 1996: 116, n .60) .

T h e designation "commercia l " in Si lverman's statement responds to the fact that loca l l icensing regulations had previously designated San Francis­co's bathhouses as " private membersh ip c lubs" and not " pu bl ic" fac i l it ies. By identify ing the bathhouses as "commerc ia l " fac i l i t ies, S i lverman envoked the c ity's a uthority to regu late behavior i n commerc ia l settit;�gs , whatever the i ntrusions on privacy which m ight a lso obta i n .

U lt imately, t he Superior Cou rt ru l i ng rejected the county's case for clo­sure and a l lowed the bath houses to reopen . At the sa me t ime, the court's ru l i ng: "ordered (the c l ubs) to remove private rooms, to h i re mon itors to su rvey the premises every ten m i nutes to ensure that no unsafe sex acts were occu rr ing, and to expel patrons observed to be engagi ng in ' unsafe sex practices' " {Murray 1996: 1 17) .

The bathhouses rema ined open , but publ ic sovereignty tri um phed over

" private" space, a l l the same.

Rethinking the Meaning(s) of Privacy

The poss ib i l ity of i ntrusion by pol ice, the threat of attack by q ueerbashers, the "fa lse security" of the bedroom , toi let sta l l , or bathhouse membersh ip ,

1 0

William Leap

the pervas ive presence of regu latory authority-a l l of these rea l ities reframe 11

the mea n i ngs of" pr ivate " and " privacy" as they a pply to s ites of sexua l

practice. I n such setti ngs , and through va rious means , people may c la i m Introduction

" protect( ion) from u nwanted access by others" ( Bok 1982: 10) or attem pt

to esta bl ish "control over the access that others have to one" (Mohr 1992 : 12 ) , but those efforts a re a lways subject to the i ntrus ion , su perv is ion , and/or d is rupt ion of others . I n th is sense, all s ites of sexua l practice are

pub l ic locations, and any c la ims to privacy which unfold there are fictional

cla ims . I use the term "f ict iona l " i n th is statement for severa l reasons. F i rst,

c la ims to privacy are fictiona l in the sense of everyday Engl ish usage : they sta nd i n opposit ion to "fact"-i n th is case, the fact of pub l ic regu lat ion , i ntrusion , and d isruption . At the same t ime, fol lowing arguments from post­modernist l iterary theory, c la ims to privacy are fictional because they refer­ence features which are not " i nherent" in a loca l terra i n , but a re construct­ed , assem bled , and i m posed . U ndersta nda bly, as McHa le has observed ( 1986: 27-33, as cited in Harvey 1989: 56) , "the essentia l trope of fiction

[ is) a techn ique which requ i res a w i l lfu l 'suspension of bel ief as wel l as d is­be l ief.' " C la ims to privacy with i n s ites of sexua l practice req u i re s im i l a r accepta nce o f suspended d i s/be l ief. I n fact, it is on l y through the suspen­sion of d i s/be l ief that sec luded location , "watch q ueen " surve i l lance, non­verba l commun ication , and other space-constructi ng practices are able to su rround s ites of sexual practices with the appearance of safety, security, and "control led access by others" (cit ing Bok's phrasing yet aga in ) .9

But appearances do not necessari ly impose obl igations on the loca l ter­ra i n . C la ims to privacy certa i n ly benefit the partic i pants who pursue sexual activities i n these settings, but these c la ims may not have any relevance for others who share access to these sites, e .g . , men us ing a pub l ic toi let for personal ( rather than sexua l ) rel ief, couples enjoying an picnic in a secluded area of a park or beach, motorists i nterru pting thei r driving at a h ighway rest stop; in some cases, in fact, others may consider such c la ims h ighly objec­t iona b le . So here is another sense in which privacy is "f ictiona l . '' Privacy may be only one of severa l read ings which d ifferent groups of people i mpose onto a given landscape, and it may not be the read ing that the majority of those persons impose. In this sense, the fictional nature of privacy ensures a convergence of opportun ity, vu lnera bi l ity, and danger. U navoida bly, then , assertions of privacy, as they apply to sites of sexual practice, depend heavi­ly on questions of status and privi lege. This helps expla i n why the dom inant figu res in the category " pa rt ic ipant" at these s ites a re more l i kely to be " men , " rather than "wome n . " Th is a lso he lps expla i n why "sex in pub l ic places" is so closely associated with ma le , rather than fema le, identities. 10

How This Collection Develops These Themes 12

Sexual-site-as-publ ic-site, sexual-privacy-as-fiction-these a re the corner-

stone c la ims for the essays in th is col lection . Whi le the sites u nder d iscus- Wllll•m L••P

sion here ra nge rather widely-h ighway rest stops, beaches, health c l ub sa unas, bookstore backrooms, bathhouses, street corners, bus term ina ls ,

parks, and gay resorts, these case stud ies descri be efforts to create oppor-tun ities for sexual privacy in the face of publ ic access, objection , and regu-lation . A l l of these stud ies show how c la ims to privacy created with in the erotic moment extend beyond the boundaries of the sexual site, to become, e .g . , a sta rti ng-point for "gay com m u n ity" i n post-Stonewa l l Montrea l (as descri bed in H iggins's essay) , a rationale for tighter enforcement of " pu bl ic moral ity" i n n i neteenth-centu ry Hol land (van der Meer) , an end uri ng fea-ture of resort geogra phy on F ire Is land ( Bergman) , a basis for ( re)defi n i ng identity in Viet Nam (Aronson ) , or an i ncentive for outing "closeted " officia ls

i n Margaret Thatcher's England ( Lane) . Public versus private becomes a source of tension i n these exa m ples,

and resolutions of that tension play out i n various ways, e.g. , the arch itec­

tura l design of the St. Marks' baths (Tatte lman 's essay) , the isolated loca­tion of the h ighway rest stop ( Ho l l ister) , the invented opportun ities of the health c l ub sauna ( Lea p) , the sexua l ized geogra phy of G reenwich V i l lage (Ciatts) , Hanoi (Aronson) , or early n i neteenth- century Amsterdam (van der Meer) .

F ina l ly, the forms of sexua l privacy explored throughout th is col lection are closely l i nked to transformations of place i nto space (in other words, to the construction of landsca pe) in the sense of the defi n it ion from the pre­ced ing section . In fact, by consider ing privacy as a form of space, these

essays underscore the fict iona l qua l it ies wh ich both "ways of see ing" impose on loca l terra i n .

Understanding Public Sex: Ethnography, Representation, and Ethics

Previously, researchers who stud ied "sex i n publ ic places" remained "at a d ista nce" from the erotic activit ies they were descri b ing , and they descri bed their research fi nd ings i n equa l ly d istanced terms. " Pu bl ic sex" was a form of "devia nce , " they c la imed , whose occu rrence depended on cond it ions of s i lence, identity concea l ment, and a re l ia nce on "fronts " beh i nd which a "soc ia l management of em barrassment" ( borrowing Goff­man's phrase) could then safely unfold .11

The research descri bed here has moved fa r beyond these ea r l ier con­cerns with s i lence, concea l ment, and em ba rrassment. Our goa l i s to unpack the " logic" which underl ies the appea l that men find in having sex

with other men i n pub l ic p laces and the persona l i nvestment some men 13

bring to, and ga in from, these " impersona l " and "anonymous" encounters . We add ress th is goa l by focus ing data-gather ing "at the site" and " i n the Introduction

moment" of the sexual encounter, and by us ing the participants' own voic-es, not the detached im pressions of outsiders, to provide the framework for analysis and i nterpretation of those data .

S im i l a r goa ls and research strategies gu ided the preparation of La ud Humphreys' now-classic Tearoom Trade { 1970a) . H u m phreys' i nterests i n understa nd ing "the socia l organ ization o f impersonal sex" and "the mecha­n isms that make [ i m persona l sex] poss ib le" { 1970a : 14) led h i m to make regu lar v is its to pub l ic toi l ets where men had sex with other men, and to prepare deta i led observations of the range of erotic activities that took place there. On severa l occasions, H u m phreys served as " lookout q ueen " so that other men could enjoy their erotic i nterludes without fea r of sudden i nter­ruption . He a lso conducted fol low-up i nterviews with many of the men he had observed in these setti ngs, el icit i ng information on their personal back­

grounds and other com ponents of the i r l ives . Some of these men (he referred to them as h is "the group of twelve" i n h is book) became key i nfor­mants for the duration of the research period .

Whi le some of these interviews grew out of conversations which bega n at the "tearooms," Humphreys located most of h is i nformants by record ing

l icense-plate numbers of cars parked nearby, retrieving home addresses of the drivers from the Motor Veh ic le Commission, a nd contacti ng them under the guise of conduct ing a "soc ia l hea lth " su rvey. These actions (which Humphreys h imself later admitted were ina ppropriate [ 1975: 230] ), com­bi ned with his seem ing disrega rd for these men's r ights to privacy, h i s descriptions o f activities wh ich partici pants assumed were tak ing place " i n private," as wel l as h i s pa rtic i pation i n those activit ies on more than one occas ion, prom pted col leagues and others to accuse h im of u neth ica l research practices . 12

Today's stud ies of sex- in-publ ic-places take place with i n a c l imate which d iffers somewhat from that which greeted the publ ication of Tearoom Trade.

Broader d i scussions of eth ics i n soc ia l science research, the creation of Codes of Professiona l Eth ics in many academic d isc ip l i nes, and the con­stra i nts of institutiona l review boards and federa l regu lations govern ing the protection of human subjects l im it the extent to which partic ipanVobserva­tion can be employed in such stud ies, without giving fu l l d i sclosure to the resea rch goa ls and obta i n i ng the i nformed consent from the i ntended research subjects .

At the same time, the emergence of lesbian/gay stud ies (and of cu lture/ sexual ity stud ies, more inclusively) as subfields with in many academic dis-

c ip l i nes, the greater visi b i l ity c la imed by gay presence in U .S . society, and 14

the unyield ing urgency of the A I DS pandemic has prom pted an awareness of the l im itations of such constra ints and , in some i nstances, led to a lterna- William Llap

tive proposa ls for ethical com pl iance. 13 U nderstandably, whi le some of the research projects descri bed here may not meet the trad itiona l im peratives of "fu l l d isclosure" and " i nformed consent," a l l of these projects have main-ta i ned h igh standards of eth ica l representation , and those standards have

had vis ible and prod uctive effects on the development of th is col lection. To begin with , the A IDS pandemic, and A I DS-related research , a re rele­

va nt to concerns of these essays , even in those i nsta nces where the resea rcher does not mention the pa ndemic d i rectly. By ident ifying issues which shape male-centered sexual practices i n pub l ic places, the a uthors i n th is col lection are mobi l iz ing i nformation that can be usefu l for effective A I DS ed ucation and can a l so revea l the shortcomi ngs of the pejorative , gloom-and-doom prophecies of sexua l fasc ism . The cha l lenge we face i n th is work is to ma ke su re tha t our data-gather ing, data a na lys is , and research fi nd i ngs actua l ly do address both goa ls. Our efforts to meet that chal lenge esta bl ishes the foundation for the eth ical stance affi rmed in this col lection .

Second, we agree with Ra lph Bolton ( 1996: 1 6 1 ; see note 13), that d is­cussions of eth ics, wh i le certa i n ly i m porta nt, should not become i m pedi­ments to effective inqu i ry. So whi le we would agree to make a fu l l d isclosure of resea rch goa ls and p lans for informant protection prior to begi n n i ng a formal i nterview with a wi l l i ng i nformant, we would be m uch less wi l l i ng to defer any observation of men partic ipati ng in pub l ic sex activities u nt i l we obta ined informed consent agreements from a l l pa rtic ipants. Attempting to do so would i rrepara bly d isrupt the situated intimacy which we are attempt­ing to descr ibe . Moreover, it would l im it our regu lation of on-site identities during subseq uent visits to that site .

At the sa me t ime , we a re eth ica l ly com m itted to safeguard i ng the anonym ity and confidentia l ity of our research subjects , and to that our actions resu lt in "no de l i berate ha rm."

Anonym ity is particu larly an issue for part ic ipants in these " pu bl ic sex" encou nters who actively concea l the ir erotic i nterests i n men once they move outs ide of these setti ngs . If a pa rtic ipant's perspective on the erotic moment is as va lua ble to our research as we c la i m , then it is our job, as responsi ble eth nogra phers, to mainta i n that concea l ment in our research and writi ng. I n some cases ( my fie ldwork i n Wash i ngton D .C . health c l ub locker rooms, for example) , that concea lment means reproducing the condi­tions of "the closet" or other forms of gendered privi lege---cond itions which , in other a reas of our persona l l ives, many of us are eagerly trying to d ispe l .

Avoidance of de l i berate personal harm ra ises an add itiona l , and equal ly 15

d ifficu lt, set of eth ica l concerns. For exa m ple, the pa pers i n th is col lection describe "sex in public places , " but the locations themselves are not always lnlnlduction

common knowledge-or commonly acknowledged-with i n the surround-ing com mun ity, and neither a re the erotic activities ta k ing place there. By identify ing these locat ions and descr i big these activit ies , our resea rch draws outside attention to these sites, and may i ncreases the l i ke l i hood of outside d isru ptions by thr i l l-seek ing spectators , law enforcement offic ia ls , and/or by queerbashers.

Other, eq ual ly serious, forms of d isclosure, with serious conseq uences, could a lso emerge from the pub l ication of our resea rch . Pub l i c health authorities in Wash ington D.C. could use the information of the sort present­ed in my chapter to c lose the health c l ub (or the bookstore) I descri bed , si nce sexual activities at these sites violate l icensing agreements and health

codes. Law enforcement offic ia ls cou ld use i nformation in Hol l i ster's chap­ter or M urray's cha pter to he lp them rid the h ighway rest stops i n u pstate New York or the beaches in San Francisco of sexual " undesira bles . " Mem­

bers of Congress cou ld use the sexua l ly exp l ic it na rratives conta i ned i n Clatts's essay to ra ise new com pla ints a bout federal endorsements of "the homosexual l i festyle, " si nce much of his resea rch has been supported by federa l funds. The description of " homosexual presence" and d isclosure of male same-sex experiences presented in Aronson's essay could prom pt the

Vietna mese govern ment to deny his futu re req uests for visas and/or research permits . I ndeed , Aronson's concerns a bout th is issue, and other forms of reta l iation led h im to adopt a pseudonym and to d isgu ise h is identi­ty in other ways.

None of us can prevent regulatory authorities from pursu ing any of these actions , if they choose to do so. However, we ca n make certa i n that the effectiveness of our presentation offsets any r isks we may incur and which we may i nadvertently i m pose on others, as our resea rch fi nd i ngs ga i n broader c i rcu lation . A com mitment to effective presentation need not com­promise our commitments to anonym ity and avoida nce of del i berate harm ; and that commitment is the f inal component of the col lection's eth ica l stan­dards I want to d iscus here.

By effective presentat ion , I mean noth i ng more tha n descri b ing the deta i l s of ethnogra phic observation concisely, c lea rly, and unambiguously. As far as deta i l s of the erotic moment are concerned , effective descri ptions ra ise severa l issues rega rd i ng la nguage cho ice . Do we use the scientif ic voca bulary, or some form of the vernacu lar, to descri be the detail of male­centered sexual activity? Do men " perform fel latio" at these sites, or "give each other blow-jobs"? Do they "engage in ana l intercourse" or "tuck each

other i n the butt "? The scientific language is more elega nt and less a bra- 18

sive, but does l ittle to convey the rea l ities of the partic ipa nt voice. The ver-nacu lar phrasing coincides with the l ived experience of the erotic moment, William Llap

but the bluntness of such usage is l i kely to a l ienate readers who can benefit from the insights these essays procla im .

Some o f the i ns ights here add ress issues i n A I DS education and with sexua l fasc i sm , as I have a l ready expla i ned . Other i ns ights focus more d i rectly on the subject matter of th is volume: men having sex with men i n pub l ic {a nd private) locales is pa rt o f t h e sexua l cu lture o f contem porary America , whether pa rtic ipants consider themselves to be gay, homosexua l , bisexua l , stra ight, curious, o r horny, how they self-identify is not a barrier to participation i n male-centered sexual practices.

By acknowledging that men have sex with men in pub l i c places, researchers d raw attention to components of ma le sexua l i ty, erot ics, and des i re that a re not consistent with the expectat ions of the hetero-ma in ­strea m . Trad it iona l ly, ma le-centered pu b l ic sex has been assumed to belong to the margi ns and the shadow-worlds of America n sexua l ity, and have been assigned margina l/shadowed status i n forma l d iscussions of sexual themes. U nderstanda bly, as Lee Edelman ( 1994: 132) has noted :

The crucia l q uestion i nform ing the d iscourse of homosexual sodomy i n

America , then, is not s o much what ind ivid uals, o r i nd ividual bod ies, can

be perm itted to do in private , but what these bod ies can publicly be repre­

sented [em phasis i n origi na l ) as being permitted to do i n private ; it is a

question in other words of whether or not sodomy is susceptible [my

emphasis) to representation .

The essays in this col lection to speak d i rectly to Edelman's question . I nstead of position ing their subject matter "at d istance" from heteronormative prac­tice, the essays locate the center of the ana lysis "on the margin " - focusing d i rectly on men-having-sex-with-men in publ ic places, and on the effects of male-centered sexual practices on constructions of space, c la ims to privacy, and broader expressions of gender, desire, and sexual identity. By doing so, this col lection ma kes "sodomy" and other issues connected to male-cen­tered sexual ity suscepti ble to {publ ic) representation , and , fol lowing the tra­d ition of Tearoom Trade, our representation of these issues more publ ic .

ENDNOT E S My thanks t o Brett Wi l l iams a n d L i z Sheehan , to the students i n m y Spring 1997 Lin­

guistics and Lesbia n/Gay Studies seminars, and to the outside reader who reviewed

this collection for Columbia U n iversity Press; their com ments were very helpful as I

prepared the final word ing for this I ntrod uction .

1 . Other recent volu mes addressing weak nesses in gay cu lture inc lude Da nie l 17

Ha rris's Rise and Fall of Gay Culture, And rew Su l l iva n 's Virtually Normal, Fra n k

B rowning's Culture o f Desire, a n d B ruce Bawer's A Place at the Table. While the par- Introduction

t iculars of these studies vary considerably, their arguments (with one exception-see

below) support the position outl i ned forcefu l ly by Rote l la and Signori le : gay men's

efforts to move beyond the constra ints of "the closet" have created lifestyles that are

excessive, i m balanced , and dangerous. Their solution to this problem also para l le l 's

Rotel la 's and Signori le's sol ution : refocus gay culture a round the conventions that

provide mora l sta b i l ity to midd le-class heterosexual ity, e .g . , monoga my, f idel ity,

"marriage , " chi ld-rearing, and e l imination of all forms of publ ic indecency.

Harris is the one author i n this grouping who does not argue in favor of cu ltura l

repa i r. For h im , the sexual (and other) excesses described by other critics are proof

that gay culture has outlived its usefu lness, so we should s imply a l low it to d isa ppear.

2. As alternatives to sexua l promiscu ity, Rotel la and Signorile encourage gay men

to enter i nto long-term monogamous relat ionships, to explore gay adoption a nd

chi ld-rearing, and to pursue other activities which bring gay culture into closer a l ign­

ment with heterosexual norms. These a rguments resemble And rew Su l l i va n 's

defense of "same sex marriage , " and echo Bruce Bawer's proposa ls to help gay men

and lesbians secure their rightful " place at the table . "

3 . Steve Murray ( 1996: 99-124) reviews the debates surrounding the closing of

the gay bathhouses in San Francisco; Eigo ( 1995) reviews s imi lar events in what he

terms "NYC's war on sex . " Alexander ( 1 996) and G i lfoyle ( 1 996) remind us that the

same arguments have been d i rected at publ ic sex i nvolving female prostitutes and

the i r c l ients.

4. Ethnography is the anthropologist's term for a site-specific descriptive study of

human behavior. Soc iologists, economists, and pol it ical scientists address s im i lar

in terests when they cal l for a microleve l , rather than macroleve l , ana lysis of soc ia l ,

economic o r political systems.

5 . Critics of the subjective stance we have adopted here wi l l argue that we need

to protect ourselves (and our readers) from the distortions stemming from our c lose

i nvolvement with these issues, and not celebrate these connections . This d isagree­

ment speaks to a larger debate over a ppropriate research ethics I explore in the final

section of this essay.

6. "Walk ing the city" cal ls to mind references to the n ineteenth-century Parisian

fla neur, the man (gender del i berately chosen) who im posed h is own mean i ngs on

the urban terra in as he leisurely sauntered through the city. Baudela i re once depict� '

ed the flaneur as a man wal king a pet turtle on a s i lken leash. The image speaks to

notions of male privilege-only a select group of men would be in a position to spend time in that fashion . Moreover, as Wi lson ( 1992) and M undt ( 1 995) expla i n , women

as a category could be objects of a (male) fla neur's attention , but women were the

sources of that gaze only under particular (and often social ly deval ued) conditions.

So to understa nd the cu ltural practices at issue i n form i ng "space" as "practiced

place " (de Certeau 1984: 1 1 7 ) , the practices in question have to be fully situated

with in their soc ial and cu ltura l contexts .

7. Hardwick references cond itions in the U n ited States, but the pr incip le here 18

has a much wider relevance. Even in South Africa , where the new constitution guar-

a ntees nond iscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, "sodomy laws" have not William Lup

been repea led , and sexual activity cond ucted in " private" between persons of the

same sex sti l l carries the possibi l ity of arrest and prosecution by " publ ic" authorities.

La ne's d i scussion shows the presence of s im i la r th reats in the U n ited Ki ngdom;

Aronson's description of homophobia in Hano i shows s im i la r th reats persist in Viet-

na m . The point is, as I wi l l argue in the remainder of this section , a "private" location

affords no guarantees of protection from " publ ic" authority, and in that sense, it is

not rea l ly " private" at a l l .

8. Eq ual ly fictiona l , accord ing to th is argument, is the idea that the domestic

sphere (e.g., the home, the fami ly) is a site of privacy, especial ly as contrasted to the

" publ ic" doma ins that l ie outside of the domestic context. This classification of gen­

dered spaces i nto "domestic " versus " pub l ic , " " natura l " versus the "cu ltura l , "

"female" versus " male" spaces was an importa nt early argument in femin ist anthro­

pology (Ortner 1974) and has been a cornerstone of American gender ideology for

some time ( Martin 1992: 1 5-19). But as Sacks ( 1989: 538) expla ins, this classifica­

tion obscures the fact that the domestic sphere is a site of prod uction, as wel l as con­

sumption and emotion , a nd domestic relations are political and economic relations,

and not merely " natura l " social ties. In this sense, "home" and "fami ly" are deeply

em bedded with i n pub l ic economic process, even if they c la im the a ppeara nce of

" privacy. "

9. Esther Newton ( persona l com m u n ication ) expla ins the a bsence of outdoor

cruis ing areas for women i n Cherry G rove (F i re Is land) and in s imi lar locations where

women's presence was otherwise powerfu l ly d isplayed . Even in lesbian/gay-positive

spaces, th reats of d iscovery a nd danger a re sti l l assoc iated with such outdoor

spaces, and those threats are enough to d iscourage women' enjoyment of same-sex

erotics in publ ic locations.

10. Studies using "at d ista nce" research perspectives inc lude Delph ( 1978) ,

McKinstry ( 1974) , Ponte ( 1974) , and Wein burg and Wi l l iams ( 1975) . Styles ( 1979)

reports that he began his studies of gay baths in these terms, but once he found that

his "asexual observation became more and more t iresome, more ted ious, and more

frustrati ng, " he decided to " [give] up observing without sexual i ntent and p lu nged

ful ly into the sex l ife of the baths" ( 1979: 142) . The remainder of his a rticle ( 1979:

142-152) shows how greatly this sh ift in research strategy benefited his inqu iry.

1 1 . For example, journal ist N icholas von Hoffman questioned the mora l legitima­

cy of the project, para l le l i ng H u m phreys's deceitfu l cond uct to that of then U . S .

Attorney Genera l J o h n M itchel l . The chancellor of Washington U n iversity terminated

H u m phreys's teaching contract and his pa rtic ipation in a major research grant, and

attem pted (u lt imately without success) to have h i s doctora l degree revoked .

H u m ph reys responded to von Hoffman a nd other c rit ics i n severa l essays, later

a ppended to the second edition ( 1975) of Tearoom Trade. Peter Nard i (in Nardi

1995 and this volume) reviews the controversy and H u m phreys's responses i n more

deta i l .

1 3 . Ra lph Bolton , whose own h ighly part ic i patory stud ies of gay men's sexual 19

behaviors have a lso been bra nded as " i m mora l " (see h is com ments, 1996: 1 6 1 ) ,

offers the fol lowing suggestion :

Like a l l of you , I must confront ethical issues every day in this epidemic,

i n my persona l l ife as wel l as i n my professional decision-making. It is

my view that whi le these issues are i m portant, we can not spend much

t ime agoniz ing over them; we need to consider them seriously, resolve

them quickly, and then get on with the job as best we can . ( 1 995: 302) .

R E F E R ENC E S Alexander, P. 1996. Bathhouses and brothels: Symbol ic sites i n d iscourse and prac­

tice. In Dangerous Bedfel lows, eds . , Policing Public Sex. City : Pub, 221-250.

Bawer, B. 1993. A Place at the Table: The Gay Individual in American Society. New

York: Touchstone Books.

Bel l , D. 1995. Perverse dyna mics, sexual citizensh ip , and the transformation of inti­

macy. In D . Bel l and G . Valentine, eds. , Mapping Desire: Geographies of Sex­

ualities, 304-3 1 7 .

Bel l , D . and G . Valenti ne, eds. 1995. Mapping Desire: Geographies o f Sexualities.

London : Routledge.

Belsky, A. 1997. Queer Space: Architecture and Same-Sex Desire. New York: Mor­

row.

Bok, S. 1982 . Secrets: On the Ethics of Concealment and Revelation. New York:

Pantheon Books.

Bolton , R. 1995 Reth i n king anth ropology: The study of AI DS. In H. ten Brummel­

hu is , H . Herdt, and G . Herdt, eds. Culture and Sexual Risk: Anthropological

Perspectives on AIDS, 285-3 14.

-- . 1996. Com i ng home: The journal of a gay ethnogra pher i n the years of the

plague. i n E. Lewin and W. Leap, eds. Out in the Field: Reflections of Lesbian

and Gay Anthropologists, 147-169.

Brown ing, F. 1993. The Culture of Desire. New York: Crown.

Cosgrove , D . 1984. Social Formation and Symbolic Landscape. London : Croom

Hel m .

Coxon, A. P. M . 1996. Between the Sheets: Sexual Diaries and Gay Men 's Sex i n the

Era of AIDS. London : Casse l l .

Dangerous Bedfel lows, eds . 1996. Policing Public Sex. Boston : South End Press.

de Certeau , M. 1984. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: U n iversity of Cal ifornia

Press .

Delph , E. W. 1978. The Silent Community: Public Homosexual Encounters. Beverly

H i l l s : Sage.

Dugga n , L. and N . H u nter, eds . 1995. Sexual Dissent and Political Culture. New

York: Routledge.

Edelman , L. 1994a . Capitol offenses: Sodomy in the seat of American government.

In Homographesis: Essays in Gay Literary and Cultural Theory, 1 29- 138.

New York: Routledge.

Introduction

-- 1994b . Tearoom and sym pathy; or, The epistemology of the water c loset. I n 20 Homographesis: Essays in Gay Literary and Cultural Theory, 148-1 70. New

York City: Routledge. William Leap

Eigo, J . 1995. NYC's war on sex: Some notes from the fore (& the aft) . Steam 3 (4) :

414-423.

Gi lfoyle, T. J. 1996. From soubrette row to show world : The contested sexual ities of

Ti mes Square, 1 880-1995. In Da ngerous Bedfel lows, eds. Policing Public

Sex, 263-294.

Gottman , E. 1967. Interaction Ritual. New York: Anchor Books.

Harris, D . 1997. The Rise and Fall of Gay Culture. New York: Hyperion .

Harvey, D. 1989. Postmodern ism. In The Condition of Postmodernity, 3�6. Lon­

don : B lackwel l 's .

H i rsch , E. 1995. Landscape: Between place and space. I n E. H i rsch and M. O'Han­

lon, eds . , The Anthropology of Landscape, 1-30.

H i rsch , E. and M. O 'Han lon , eds. 1995. The Anthropology of Landscape. Oxford :

Oxford Un iversity Press.

H u mphreys, L. 1970a . Tea Room Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places. Chicago:

Aldine. 2d ed . , 1975.

--. 1970b. Tea room trade: I m personal sex i n publ ic places. Transaction [Society)

7 (3): 1 1-26.

H unter, N . 1995. Banned in the USA: What the Hardwick rul ing wi l l mean . In L. Dug­

ga n and N. Hu nter, eds . , Sexual Dissent and Political Culture, 80--84. I ngold , T. 1993. The tempora l ity of landscape. World Archaeology 25: 1 52-157.

I ngram, G . B . , A . M . Bouth i l lette, and Y. Retter, eds . 1997 . Queers in Space: Com­

munities, Public Places, Sites of Resistance. Seattle: Bay Press .

Jacobs, J . ed . 1974. Deviance: Field Studies and Self-Disclosures. Palo Alto: Nation­

a l Press Book.

Lewin , E . and W. Lea p, eds. Out in the Field: Reflections of Lesbian and Gay Anthro-

pologists. U rbana: U n iversity of I l l i nois Press.

Martin, E . 1992. The Woman in the Body. Boston : Beacon Press.

McHale, B. 1987 . Postmodernist Fiction. New York: Methuen.

McKinstry, W. C. 1974. The pulp voyeur: A peek at pornography i n publ ic places. In

J . Jacobs, ed . , Deviance: Field Studies and Self-Disclosures, 30-40.

Mohr, R. 1989. Why sex is private . In Gays/Justice: A Study of Ethics, Society, and

Law, 94-133 . New York: Columbia U n iversity Press.

--. 1992 The outing controversy; Privacy and d ign ity in Gay eth ics. In Gay Ideas:

Outing and Other Controversies, 1 1-48. Boston : Beacon Press.

M u ndt, E . 1995 . The lesbian flaneur. In D. Be l l and G. Va lent ine, eds . , Mapping

Desire: Geographies of Sexualities, 1 14-1 25.

M urray, S . 0. 1996. The promiscu ity pa rad igm , A I DS , and gay com pl ic ity with the

remed ical ization of homosexual ity. In American Gay, 99- 1 25. Chicago: U n i­

versity of Chicago Press .

Nard i , P. M . 1995. "The breastplate of righteousness " : Twenty-five years after Laud

Humphreys' Tearoom Trade. Journal of Homosexuality30: 1-10.

Ortner, S. 1974. Is female to male as nature is to cu lture? I n M . Z. Rosa ldo and L. 21

Lamphere, eds . , Woman, Culture and Nature, 67-88.

Ponte, M . R . 1974. Life in a parking lot: An ethnography of a homosexual d rive- in . I n Introduction

J . Jacobs, ed . , Deviance: Field Studies and Self-disclosures, 7-29.

Rosa ldo, M . Z. and L. Lam phere, eds. Woman, Culture, and Nature. Stanford : Stan­

ford Un iversity Press.

Rotel la, G . 1997 . Sexual Ecology: AIDS and the Destiny of Gay Men. New York: Dut­

ton .

Sacks, K. 1989. Toward a un ified theory of c lass, race, a n d gender. American Ethnol­

ogist, 534-550.

Sanders, J . , ed . 1996. Stud: Architectures of Masculinity. Princeton: Princeton U n i­

versity Press .

Signorile, M . 1997 . Life Outside: The Signorile Report on Gay Men: Sex, Drugs, Mus-

cles, and the Passages of Life. New York: Harper-Col l ins .

Styles, J . 1979. Outsider/insider: Researching gay baths. Urban Life 8: 135--152.

Su l l ivan , A. 1995. Virtually Normal. New York: Vintage Books.

ten Brummelhu is , H. and G. Herdt, eds. Culture and Sexual Risk: Anthropological

Perspectives on AIDS, 285--3 14. Newark: Gordon and Breach .

Wei n berg, M . S . and C. J . Wi l l i ams . 1975 . Gay baths a nd the socia l organ ization of

i m personal sex. Social Problems 23 (2) : 124-136.

Wi lson , E . 1992. The i nvisible fla neur. New Left Review 195: 90- 1 10.

Reclaiming the Importance of Laud Humphreys'

Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places

P E T E R M . N A R D I

Whenever I teach i ntrod uctory sociology, pu bl ishers are q u ick to send me copies of their latest textbooks. Not too long ago, I received an exam ination copy of Sociology by David Ward and Lorene Stone (West Pub l i sh i ng, 1996) . One way I eva luate the q ua l ity is to read how topics on gay men and

lesb ians a re presented . I t i s not u ncommon for texts to leave out such issues or, at most, inc lude a token mention or pa ragra ph . Typical of many,

the Ward and Stone book devotes a "Socia l Diversity" ha lf-page sidebar in "The Fam i ly" cha pter on gay and lesbian fam i l ies. That's rea l ly a bout it for th is 500-page text, except for a half-page titled " I nvasion of Privacy" under the " Eth ica l I ssues i n Soc io logica l Resea rc h " section of the chapter on doing socia l research .

Once aga i n , La ud H u m ph reys' i nfa mous study on " i m persona l sex i n publ ic places" has made the cut. Alas, l i ke many textbooks that d iscuss h is

research , the focus is on the eth ica l questions ra ised by h is methodology. Only two sentences a re devoted to mention ing what the study actua l ly d is­covered sociologica l ly about the men who partici pated in sexual activity in a pub l ic pa rk toi let. (A "tearoom" in America n slang or a "cottage" in B rit ish slang is a publ ic toi let where same-gender sexual acts occur) .

How is it that th is book, more than twenty-five years later, cou ld sti l l be used as an exemplar of eth ica l ly problematic research? What is it that made this study so scanda lous? Debates a rise about H umphreys' "voyeur-lookout" or partic ipant observer role in the tearooms, his record ing of the l icense plate numbers of the partic ipants, h is search for their home addresses and names through public records, and his i nterviews a year later with fifty of them whi le posing as a survey researcher for a study on menta l hea lth . What some have described as an ingenious way to uncover d ifficu lt-to-study forms of h idden behavior, others have attacked as uneth ical a nd an invasion of privacy.

When the study a ppeared as the lead a rt ic le i n Trans-Action, a monthly soc iology magazine (now ca l led Society) ed ited by I rv ing Lou is Horowitz , it

1

was denounced i n a J a n ua ry 1970 Washington Post col u m n by N icholas 24

von Hoffma n as im mora l and a violation of the pa rtic ipants' basic h u ma n rights to i nformed consent: " No i nformation i s va l uable enough to obta in by Peter M. Nardi

n i pp ing away at persona l l i berty" ( repr i nted in H u mphreys 1975: 1 8 1 ) . Sociologists I rving Lou is Horowitz a n d Lee Ra inwater j umped to the defense of H u m phreys' work and methods in a May 1970 ed itoria l in Trans-Action

( repr i nted i n H u m ph reys 1975) . They strongly stated the i r bel ief i n the research and " in its pr inc i p led h u ma neness, in its cou rage to learn the truth and i n the constructive contri bution that it ma kes toward our u nder-stand ing of a l l the issues, inc lud ing the mora l , ra ised by deviant behavior in our society" ( H u mphreys 1975: 185) .

Horowitz and Ra inwater responded that the behavior of tearoom partici­pa nts is not private but publ ic behavior; that fu l l d isclosure of the purpose of the fo l l ow-u p in terviews wou ld have comprom ised the fi nd i ngs a nd research ; and that the researcher's i ntentions in th is case do matter ( "the pursu it of truth , the creation of counterva i l i ng knowledge , the demystifica­tion of shadowy areas of h u man experience , " H u m phreys 1975: 188).

Yet H u m phreys h i mself later had dou bts a bout one port ion of h is methodology. Although he felt that observi ng tearoom behavior was not a

violation of privacy or u neth ica l s i nce it occu rred i n a pub l ic place, he d id come to bel ieve that trac ing l icense numbers and i nterviewing participants

in their homes may have placed h i s respondents " i n greater danger tha n seemed plausi ble at the t ime" ( 1975: 230). If he were to do the study over, H u m phreys wrote, he wou ld spend more t ime cu ltivati ng add itional wi l l i ng partic ipants for the i nterviews.

However, rather than endlessly a rgue a bout these eth ical and method­ologica l issues, let the fol lowing excerpt of h is study rec la im what has been lost over the yea rs , namely the i m porta nt socio logica l fi nd i ngs a bout the partic ipants and what the research has taught us a bout the socia l organ iza­tion of same-sex sexual encounters in publ ic places (see a lso Nard i 1995) . H u m phreys often stated that he wished "other sociologists would give more attention to some of my substantive find ings that I bel ieve provide an i ncre­ment of understand ing of socia l behavior in our society" ( 1975: 23 1 ) .

Sociologica l ly, H umphreys' research contri buted severa l key fi nd ings, as wi l l be seen i n the selection that fol lows . One find i ng was the structure of the col lective action i n the tearooms. H umphreys found that maintena nce of privacy in publ ic setti ngs depends heavily on the s i lence of the i nterac­tion and on a specia l ritua l that must be both noncoercive and noncom mit­ta l . Mak ing ana logies to Gottma n 's work on ga mes , he ana lyzed the encounters i n terms of the flexible roles and standard ru les that character­ize a game. H u m phreys i l l ustrated the col lective actions of position ing, sig-

na l i ng, maneuver ing, contracti ng, foreplay, and the payoff. S i nce there is 25

such a n ela borate socia l structure, he concluded that being propositioned

aga i nst one's wi l l or recru ited i nto homosexual ity i n pub l ic restrooms-as

some antigay rhetoric procla ims-is an un l i kely occurrence. A second important f ind ing from H umphreys' work was that many of the

pa rtic i pa nts i n tea room sexua l encou nters were ma rried ( 54 % ) , were

Roma n Catho l ic (42 % ) , and were pol it ica l l y and soc ia l ly conservative (32 % , as measu red on a soc ia l/economic l i bera l ism sca le ) . In add it ion , based on the i r appearances and demeanor d u r ing the i nterviews , Hu mphreys ( 1975: 135) concluded that most of the part ic ipants put on a " breastplate of righteousness"-"a protective sh ie ld of superpropriety . . .

[with ] a particu larly sh in ing q ua l ity, a refu lgence, which tends to b l ind the aud ience to certa i n of [the wearer's] practices . " The partic i pants-espe­c ia l l y those who were ma rried or were c loseted s i ngle men-engaged i n va rious forms of m in im iz ing revelations a bout themselves through a strate­

gy of i nformation control designed to misd i rect from the i r behaviors . Many of these men took a defensive sh ie ld by advocat ing mora l crusades, endors ing vice sq uad act iv i t ies , and creat ing a presentat ion of self­respectab i l ity.

Another im porta nt sociologica l concl usion was H u m phreys' d iscussion a bout why people engage i n pub l ic sex and what the costs a re . J ust as ga mes of chance attract and thri l l partic ipants , so a lso does the k ick from r isk-ta k ing behavior, as we see a l l too wel l today among those knowi ngly ta k ing a chance with unsafe sexual acts. B ut H umphreys went beyond s im­ple psychologica l explanations and noted the im portance of certa i n struc­tura l reasons: the ava i l ab i l ity, i nvis ib i l ity, variety, a nd i mpersona l i ty of tea­room encou nters. F ina l ly, he ra ised im portant theoretica l and sociologica l

questions a bout the socia l control of sexual behavior and publ ic pol icy. The rea l harm of pu bl ic sex, H umphreys fe lt, was putt ing these men at r isk for blackma i l , payoffs , and destroyed reputations at the hands of the pol ice. This was a strong statement to make i n i ts day-perhaps even to this day­when entra pments were a routine method of pol ice work .

I t is espec ia l l y i m porta nt to remem ber when th is book was written i n order to understand fu l ly the reasons for its notoriety. Tearoom Trade was fi rst publ ished i n 1970 as a revised version of Humphreys' 1968 Ph .D . d is­sertat ion at Wash i ngton U n iversity in St. Lou i s . Re ly ing on the c lass ica l soc io logica l theor ies of Erv ing Gottma n , Harold Garfi n ke l , and Howa rd Becker, Humphreys developed a proposa l to study the socia l structu res of sexua l i nteraction i n a pu bl ic place and the socia l characteristics of those pa rt ic i pat ing i n the behaviors . When he bega n col lect ing h is data in the mid-1960s , there were no "gay stud ies programs, " only a few publ ications

Recllimint lhe

lmportlnce ot "Te1room Trlde"

i n soc io logy and anthropology focus ing on homosexua l ity, and certa i n ly 26

very l itt le by openly gay men and lesbia ns . Psychoa na lyt ic pub l icat ions were a l so widely ava i la b le but , typ ica l ly, these pathologized homosexua l Plltlr M. Nardi

behavior. Furthermore, media i nformation and the pub l ic 's attitudes about gay men and lesbians were a lmost al l negative and erroneous. And the mi l i -ta nt resista nce to rout ine ra ids by the po l ice on gay ba rs had on ly j ust begun : the "Stonewa l l " rebel l ion occurred a scant six months before publ i -

cat ion of the book , and a bout a yea r after com pletion of the d issertat ion research .

I n such a c l i mate , H u m phreys' thesis became a m i nor sca nda l . I t was opposed by Alv in Gou ld ner, a noted professor in Wash i ngton U n iversity's now-defu nct sociology department, which resu lted in some physica l shov­i ng between h i m and H u m ph reys ( see Goodwi n , Horowitz , and Nard i 199 1 ) . There was an attem pt by the chancel lor of the u n iversity to revoke h i s P h . D . degree on the grounds that H u mphreys com m itted a fe lony by observ ing a nd fac i l itat ing fe l lat io ; after that fa i led , an agreement was reached to keep the d issertation from being pu b l ished for at least a two­year period . However, the book vers ion , publ ished by Ald ine in 1970, was awa rded the C. Wright M i l ls Awa rd by the Society for the Study of Soc ia l Problems. Two years later, H u m phreys left h is position at the State U n iversi­ty of New York, A lbany, and joi ned the soc iology depa rtment at Pitzer Col­lege , one of the C laremont Col leges located nea r Los Angeles, where he remained unt i l h is death in 1988 from smoking-related l ung cancer .

More than twenty-five years after its publ ication , Tearoom Trade contin­ues to provide a strong fou ndation and framework for any research done today on publ ic spaces and sexual ity. H u m phreys' work ra ises the k inds of questions that queer stud ies pose today a bout what it actua l ly means to ca l l someone "stra ight" o r "gay. " For exa m ple, other stud ies i n recent years on sex i n pub l i c p laces have confi rmed some of H u m ph reys' f i n d i ngs . Desroches ( 1990) ana lyzed Ca nad ian pol ice case materia ls and i nter­viewed officers a bout a rrests in shoppi ng ma l l restrooms and a lso found that the i nteractions were s i lent and i m persona l , were not coerc ive , and involved married men i n 58 percent of the cases .

An unpu bl ished report from the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Police Advi­sory Task Force in 1992 est imated that a bout ha lf of those ar rested for " l ewd conduct" i n a pub l ic park were heterosexua l ly ma rried men , a lthough on ly 24 percent of those com pleti ng the s u rvey were ma rried (arou nd 75% of those arrested did not com plete the survey) . And in Aus­tra l i a , where publ ic places for sex between men are termed " beats , " Moore ( 1995: 324) wrote that " B risbane-based su rveys from the 1990s show that the majority of men who cru ise urban and h ighway beats are ostensibly het-

erosexual married men with fam i l ies, the same pattern uncovered by Laud 27

Humphreys in h is 1960s study from America , Tearoom Trade. "

Such is the legacy and the enduri ng power of qua l ity academic research Reclalmln1 111•

a nd why the fol lowi ng selection is inc l uded in th is col lection . H u m phreys' lmportlnce or work, for a l l the controversy a bout its methods and fi nd i ngs , rema ins a "Tearoom Trade"

sa l ient part of the i nternational gay stud ies canon and a pioneering model for al l those who conti nue to do research a bout the d iversity of human sexu-

a l behavior.

R E F E R E N C E S Desroches, Frederick J . 1990. "Tea room Trade: A Research U pdate . " Qualitative

Sociology 13( 1 ) : 39-6 1 .

Gay a n d Lesbian Pol ice Advisory Task Force, Los Angeles. 1992 . Questionnaire

Results for 1992 Griffith Park Activity. Unpubl ished report .

Goodwi n , G lenn A. , I rv ing Lou is Horowitz , and Peter M. Nard i . 199 1 . " Laud

Humphreys: A Pioneer i n the Practice of Social Science . " Sociological Inquiry

6 1 (2) : 1 39-147.

Hum phreys, Laud . 1975. Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places. Enlarged

ed . ( 1 st ed . , 1970). Hawthorne, N .Y. : Ald ine de G ruyter.

Moore, C l ive. 1995. " Poofs in the Park: Docu menting Gay ' Beats' in Queensla n d ,

Austra l ia . " GLQ: A Journal o f Lesbian and Gay Studies, 2 : 3 , 319-339.

Nard i , Peter M . 1995. " 'The B reastplate of R ighteousness': Twenty-Five Years After

Laud Humphreys' Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places. " Journal

of Homosexuality, 30(2) : 1-10.

Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places

L A U D H U M P H R E Y S

At shortly after five o'clock o n a weekday even ing, fou r men enter a publ ic restroom i n the city pa rk. One wears a wel l -ta i lored bus iness su it ; a nother wears tenn i s shoes, shorts, and teesh i rt ; the th i n� man i s sti l l c lad i n the khaki un iform of h is fi l l i ng station ; the last, a sa lesman , has loosened h is t ie and left h is sports coat i n the ca r. What has caused these men to leave the com pa ny of other homewa rd-bound comm uters on the freeway? What com mon i nterest bri ngs these men, with their d ivergent backgrounds , to this publ ic fac i l ity?

They have come here not for the obvious reason , but i n a search for " i nstant sex . " Many men-married and unmarried , those with heterosexua l identit ies a nd those whose self- i mage i s a homosexua l one-seek such impersonal sex, shunn ing i nvolvement, desir ing kicks without commitment. Whatever reasons-socia l , physiologica l , or psychologica l-might be pos­tu lated for th is sea rch , the phenomenon of i m persona l sex persists as a widespread but rarely stud ied form of human i nteraction .

There are severa l settings for this type of deviant activity-the ba lconies of movie theaters , a utomobi les, beh ind bushes-but few offer the advan­tages for these men that pub l ic restrooms provide. "Tearooms , " as these fac i l ities a re ca l led in the language of the homosexual subcu lture , have sev­era l characteristics that make them attractive as loca les for sexual encoun­ters without i nvolvement.

Like most other words i n the homosexual voca bu lary, the origi n of tea­room is u nknown . B rit ish s lang has used "tea " to denote " u rine . " Another B ri t ish usage is as a verb, mea n i ng "to engage with , encou nter, go i n aga inst. " Accord ing to its most precise mean ing i n the argot, the only "true" tea room is one that ga ins a reputation as a place where homosexua l encounters occur. Presuma bly, any restroom cou ld qua l ify for th is d istinc­tion , but com paratively few a re s ingled out at any one time. For i nstance, I

have researched a metropol ita n area with more than 90 publ ic toi lets i n its

2

pa rks, on ly 20 of wh ich are i n regu lar use as loca les for sexua l ga mes. 30

Restrooms thus designated joi n the company of a utomobi les and bath-houses as places for devia nt sexua l activity second only to pr ivate bed- Laud Humphreys

rooms in popular ity. Dur ing certa i n seasons of the year-rough ly, that peri-od from April through October that m idwestern homosexuals ca l l "the hunt-

i ng season "-tea rooms may su rpass any other loca le of homoerotic enterprise in vol ume of activity.

P u bl i c restrooms a re chosen by those who wa nt homoerot ic activity without com mitment for a n u m ber of reasons . They a re accessi ble, easi ly recogn ized by the i n itiate , and provide l ittle publ ic vis ib i l ity. Tearooms thus offer the advantages of both publ ic and private setti ngs . They are ava i la ble

and recogn izable enough to attract a la rge volume of potentia l sexual part­ners, provid ing an opportun ity for rapid action with a variety of men . When added to the relative privacy of these setti ngs , such featu res enhance the i mpersonal ity of the sheltered interaction .

I n the fi rst place, tearooms are read i ly accessible to the male population . They may be located i n any sort of pub l ic gather i ng p lace: depa rtment stores, bus stations , l i bra r ies, hote ls , YMCAs, or courthouses. In keep ing with the d rive- i n craze of Amer ica n society, however, the more popu la r fac i l i t ies a re those read i l y access i ble to the roadways . The restrooms of pub l ic pa rks and beaches-a nd more recently the rest stops set at pro­gram med i nterva ls a long su perh ighways-are now attracti ng the c l ientele that, i n a more pedestr i an age , freq uented great bu i l d i ngs of the i n ner c it ies . My resea rch is focused on the activity that takes p lace i n the restrooms of publ ic parks, not only because (with some seasonal variation) they provide the most action but a lso beca use of other factors that make them su ita ble for sociologica l study.

There is a great deal of d ifference i n the volumes of homosexual activity that these accommodat ions shelter. In some , one m ight wa it for months before observing a deviant act ( un less sol itary mastu rbation is considered deviant) . In others, the volume approaches orgiastic d imensions. One sum­mer afternoon , for i nstance, I witnessed 20 acts of fel latio i n the course of an hour whi le wa iting out a thu nderstorm in a tea room. For one who wishes to pa rt ic i pate in (or study) such activity, the pr imary consideration is find ing where the action is .

Occas iona l ly, t i ps a bout the more active places may be ga ined from unexpected sou rces. Ea rly in my research , I was approached by a man (whom I later surmised to be a pa rk patrolman i n pla in clothes) whi le wa it­ing at the window of a tearoom for some patrons to arrive . After fin ish ing h is business at the ur ina l and exchanging some remarks about the weather ( i t had been ra i n i ng) , the man came a bruptly to the poi nt : " Look , fe l low, if

you 're looking for sex, th is isn 't the place. We're clamping down on this park beca use of trouble with the n iggers . Try the john at the northeast corner of

[ Reagan ] Park. You' l l find plenty of action there . " He was right. Some of my best observations were made at the spot he recommended . In most cases,

however, I cou ld only enter, wa it, and watch�a method that was costly i n both t ime and gaso l i ne . After su rveyi ng a cou ple o f dozen such rooms i n th is way, however, I became a ble to identify the more popu lar tearooms by observing certa i n physica l evidence, the most obvious of which is the loca­tion of the fac i l ity. During the warm seasons, those restrooms that are isolat­ed from other park fac i l ities , such as admin istration bu i ld ings, shops, tenn is cou rts, playgrounds , and p icn ic a reas, a re the more popu la r for deviant activity. The most active tearooms stud ied were a l l isolated from recreationa l areas, cut off by d rives or lakes from baseba l l d iamonds and picnic tables.

I have chosen the term " pu rl ieu" (with its ancient mean ing of land sev­

ered from a roya l forest by pera m bu lation) to describe the i mmed iate envi­rons best su ited to the tearoom trade. Drives and wa lks that separate a pub­l ic toi let from the rest of the pa rk a re a lmost certa i n gu ides to deviant sex. The idea l sett ing for homosexual activity is a tearoom situated on an is land

of grass, with roads c lose by on every s ide. The getaway ca r is j ust a few steps away; ch i l d ren a re not a pt to wa nder over from the playground ; no

one ca n su rprise the pa rt ici pants by wa lk ing i n from the woods or from over a h i l l ; it is not l i ke ly that stra ight people w i l l stop there . Accord ing to my

observations, the women's side of these bu i ld ings is seldom used at a l l .

What They Want, When They Want It

The ava i lab i l i ty of fac i l it ies they ca n recognize attracts a great n u m ber of men who wish , for whatever reason , to engage in i m personal homoerotic act iv ity. S i m ple observation is enough to gu ide these pa rt ic ipants, the researcher and , perhaps , the pol ice to active tea rooms. It is much more d if­

ficu lt to make an accurate a ppra isa l of the proportion of the male popu la­tion who engage i n such activity over a representative length of t ime. Even with good sampl i ng proced ures, a la rge staff of assistants wou ld be needed to make the observations necessary for an adequate census of th is mobi le popu lation . A l l that may be sa id with some degree of certa i nty is that the percentage of the male populat ion who pa rt ic i pate i n tea room sex in the U n ited States is somewhat less than the 16 percent of the adu lt wh ite male popu lation Kinsey found to have "at least as m uch of the homosexual as the heterosexual i n the i r h istories . "

Partic ipants assure me that it is not uncommon i n tea rooms for one man to fel late as many as ten others i n a day. I have personal ly watched a fel lator

31

T1aroom Trade:

lmp1rsonal Sex

in Public PIICII

take on three men in succession in a half hour of observation . One respon- 32

dent, who has cooperated with the researcher in a n u m ber of ta ped i nter-views, c la ims to average three men each day du ri ng the busy season .

I have seen some wa iting turn for th is type of service. Leaving one such scene on a warm September Saturday, I remarked to a man who left c lose beh ind me: " Kind of crowded in there, isn't it?" " He l l , yes , " he answered , " It's getting so you have to take a number a nd wait in l ine in these places! "

There a re many who freq uent the sa me fac i l ity repeated ly. Men w i l l come to be known as regu lar, even da i ly, pa rtic i pa nts, stopping off at the same tearoom on the way to or from work. One phys ic ian i n his late fifties

was so punctua l in his appearance at a particu lar restroom that I began to look forward to our dai ly chats. This robust, affable respondent said he had stopped at this tea room every evening of the week (except Wed nesday, his day off) for years "for a blow-job. " Another respondent, a sa lesman whose schedule is flexible, may " make the scene" more tha n once a day-usua l ly at h i s favorite men's room . At the t ime of our forma l i nterview, th is man c la imed to have had four orgasms in the past 24 hours.

Accord ing to pa rt ic ipants I have i nterviewed , those who are looking for i m personal sex i n tearooms a re relatively certa in of fi nd ing the sort of part­ner they want. . . .

You go i nto the tearoom. You can pick up some rea l ly n ice things i n there .

Aga i n , it is a matter of sex rea l qu ick ; a n d , if you l i ke th is k ind , fi ne­

you 've got it . You get one and he is done; and , before long, you 've got

another one .

. . . and when they want it:

Wel l , I go there; and you can a lways fi nd someone to suck you r cock ,

morn ing, noon, or n ight. I know lots of guys who stop by there on the i r way

to work-and a l l during the day.

It is th is sort of vol ume and va riety that keeps the tea rooms via ble as market places of the one-n ight-stand variety.

Of the bar crowd in gay ( homosexua l ) soc iety, only a smal l percentage wou ld be found in pa rk restrooms . B ut th is more overt , gay ba r c l ientele constitutes a m inor pa rt of those in any American city who fol low a predomi­nantly homosexual pattern . The so-ca l led closet q ueens and other types of covert deviants make u p the vast majority of those who engage i n homosex­ual acts-and these are the persons most attracted to tearoom encou nters .

Tea rooms are popu lar, not beca use they serve as gather ing places for homosexuals , but because they attract a va riety of men , a minority of whom a re active in the homosexual subcu lture and a large group of whom have no

Laud Humphreys

homosexual self- identity. For various reasons, they do not want to be seen 33

with those who m ight be identified as such or to become involved with them on a "socia l " basis . Tearoom l'nlde:

Impersonal Sex

Sheltering Si lence In Public Places

There is another aspect of the tea room encounters that is crucia l . I refer to

the si lence of the interaction . Throughout most homosexual encounters i n pub l ic restrooms, noth ing is

spoken . One may spend many hours i n these bu i ld ings and witness dozens

of sexual acts without hear ing a word . Of 50 encounters on which I made extensive notes, only i n 1 5 was any word spoken . Two were encounters in which I sought to ease the stra in of legitimizing myself as lookout by saying, "You go a head-1' 1 1 watch . " Four were whispered remarks between sexual pa rtners , such as , " Not so hard ! " or "Tha n ks . " One was a n excha nge of

greeti ngs between friends. The other eight verba l exchanges were in fu l l voice and more extensive,

but they reflected an attendant circumstance that was exceptiona l . When a

group of us were locked in a restroom and attacked by severa l youths , we spoke for defense and out of fea r. Th is event ru ptu red the reserve a mong us and resulted i n a series of conversations a mong those who shared this adventu re for severa l days afterwa rd . G radua l ly, this sudden u n ity s u b­

sided , and the encounters d rifted back i nto si lence. Barring such unusual events, an occasiona l ly whispered "thanks" at the

concl usion of the act constitutes the bu l k of even wh ispered comm u n ica­tion . At fi rst, I presumed that speech was avoided for fear of incrim ination . The excuse that intentions have been m isunderstood is much weaker when those proposa ls a re expressed i n words rather than signaled by body move­ments. As research progressed , however, it became evident that the priva­cy of s i lent in teraction accom pl ishes m uch more than mere defense aga inst exposure to a hosti le world . Even when a ca refu l lookout is ma in­

ta i n i ng the boundaries of an encounter aga inst i ntrusion, the sexual part ic i­pa nts tend to be s i lent. The mechan ism of s i lence goes beyond satisfying the demand for privacy. L ike al l other characteristics of the tearoom setting, it serves to guarantee anonymity, to assure the i mpersonal ity of the sexua l l ia ison .

Tea room sex is d i st i nctly less persona l t h a n any other form o f sexua l activity, with the s i ngle exception of sol ita ry masturbation . What I mean by " less persona l " is s im ply that there is less emotional and physica l involve­ment in restroom fe l lat io-less, even , than in the furtive action that ta kes place in a utos and beh ind bushes. In those instances, at least, there is gen-

era l ly some verba l i nvolvement. Often , in tearoom sta l ls , the on ly portions of 34

the players' bod ies that touch are the mouth of the insertee and the penis of the inserter; and the mouths of these partners seldom open for speech . Laud Humphreys

Only a publ ic place, such as a pa rk restroom , cou ld provide t�e lack of personal i nvolvement in sex that certa in men desire. The setting fosters the

necessary tu rnover in pa rt ic ipants by its access ib i l i ty and vis ib i l ity to the " right" men . I n these publ ic setti ngs, too, there exists a sort of democracy that is endemic to im personal sex. Men of all rac ia l , socia l , educational and physica l characteristics meet i n these places for sexual un ion . With the lack of i nvolvement, personal preferences tend to be m in im ized .

If a person is going to entangle h is body with another's i n bed-or a l low h is m ind to become i nvolved with another m ind-he wi l l have certa in stan­dards of appeara nce, c lea n l i ness, personal ity, or age that the prospective

partner must meet. Age, looks, and other external variables are germane to the sexual action . As the amount of antici pated contact of body and mind in the sex act decreases, so do the standards expected of the partner. As one respondent told me:

I go to bed with gay people, too. But if I am going to bed with a gay person,

I have certa in standards that I prefer them to meet. And i n the tea rooms

you don't have to worry a bout these th i ngs-because it i s j ust a purely

one-sided affa i r.

Pa rtic i pa nts may deve lop strong attachments to the sett i ngs of the i r adventu res i n i m persona l sex . I have noted more than once that these men seem to acqu i re stronger sentimenta l attach ments to the bu i ld i ngs in which they meet for sex tha n to the persons with whom they engage i n it . One respondent te l l s the fol lowing story: We had been d iscussing the re la­t ive merits of va rious fac i l it ies, when I asked h i m : " Do you remember that o ld tea room across from the pa rk ga rage-the one they tore down last winter?"

Do I ever! That was the greatest place in the park. Do you know what my

roommate d id last Ch ristmas, after they tore the place down? He took a

wreath, sprayed it with black pa int , and la id it on top of the snow-right

where that corner sta l l had stood . . . . He was rea l ly broken up!

The wa l ls and fixtures of these publ ic fac i l ities a re provided by society at la rge , but much rema ins for the pa rt ic i pa nts to provide for themselves . Si lence in these setti ngs is the product of years of interaction . It is a norma­tive response to the demand for privacy without i nvolvement, a rule that has been developed and taught. Except for sol ita ry mastu rbation , sex necessi­tates jo int action ; but i m persona l sex req u i res that this i nteraction be as un revea l i ng as possib le .

People Next Door

Tea room activity attracts a la rge n u m ber of pa rt ic ipa nts-enough to pro­duce the majority of a rrests for homosexual offenses in the U n ited States. Now, em ployi ng data ga ined from both formal and i nformal i nterviews , we sha l l consider what these men are l i ke away from the scenes of impersonal sex . " For some people , " says Evelyn Hooker, a n a uthority on male homo­sexual ity, "the seeking of sexual contacts with other ma les is an activity iso­lated from a l l other aspects of the i r l ives ." Such segregation is appa rent with most men who engage i n the homosexual activity of publ ic restrooms; but the degree and manner i n wh ich "deviant" is iso lated from " normal"

behavior in their l ives wi l l be seen to vary a long socia l d imensions. For the man who l ives next door, the tea room participant is just another

neighbor-and probably a very good one at that. He may make a l i ttle more money than the next man and work a l ittle harder for it. It is l i kely that he wi l l

drive a n icer car and mainta i n a neater ya rd than do other neighbors in the block . Maybe, l i ke some tearoom regu lars, he wi l l work with Boy Scouts i n

the evenings and spend much of h is weekend a t the church . It may be more su rpris ing for the outsider to d iscover that most of these men are married .

I ndeed , 54 percent of my research subjects are married and l iv ing with their wives. From the data at hand , there is no evidence that these un ions are particu larly unstable; nor does it a ppear that any of the wives are aware of their husbands' secret sexual activity. I ndeed , the h usbands choose pub­

l ic restrooms as sexual setti ngs partly to avoid just such exposure . I see no reason to d ispute the cla im of a number of tearoom respondents that their preference for a form of concerted action that is fast and i m persona l i s largely pred icated on a des i re to protect thei r fam i ly relationsh ips.

Superfic ia l ana lysis of the data ind icates that the maintenance of exem­plary marriages-at least i n appearance-is very im portant to the subjects of th is study. I n a nswer ing q uest ions such as "When it comes to mak ing decisions in you r household , who genera l ly ma kes them?" the partic ipants i nd icate they are more apt to defer to thei r mates than are those in the con­trol sam ple. They a lso ind icate that they find it more important to "get a long wel l" with their wives . In the open-ended q uestions regarding marita l rela­tionsh ips , they tend to speak of them in more glowing terms .

Tom and Myra

This ha ndsome cou ple l ive i n ra nch-style subu rbia with the i r two you ng ch i ld ren . Tom is i n h is early th irties-a n aggressive , m uscu lar, and v ir i le­look ing ma le . He works "a bout 75 hours a week" at his new job as a

35

Tearoom Trade:

lmpenonal Sax

In Public Places

chemist. " I am wild a bout my job , " he says . " I rea l ly love it! " Both of Tom's 3&

" rea l ly close" friends he met at work. He is a Method ist and Myra a Roman Cathol ic , but each goes to h is or Laud Humphreys

her own church . Although he c la ims to have broad i nterests in l ife , they boi l down to "games-sports l i ke touch footba l l o r baseba l l . "

When I asked h i m t o te l l me someth i ng a bout h i s fa m i ly, Tom repl ied on ly i n terms of their "good fortune" that things are not worse : We've been fortunate that a rel igious problem has not occurred . We're fortunate in hav­i ng two healthy ch i ld ren . We're fortunate that we decided to leave my last job. Being married has made me more sta ble .

They have been married for e leven yea rs, and Myra is the older of the two. When asked who makes what k inds of decisions in h is fam i ly, he sa id : "She ma kes most decis ions a bout the fam i ly. She keeps the books. B ut I make the major decisions. "

Myra does the household work and takes care of the ch i ld ren . Perceiv­

ing his main duties as those of " keeping the yard u p" and " bringing home the bacon , " Tom sees as his wife's only shortcoming "her lack of d isc ip l ine

in organ ization . " He remarked : "She's very attractive . . . has a fa i r a mount of poise. The best th ing is that she gets a long wel l and is a ble to esta bl ish close relationsh ips with other women . "

F ina l ly, when asked how h e th i n ks h i s wife fee ls a bout h i m a n d h i s behavior i n the fa mi ly, Tom repl ied : "She'd l i ke to have me around more­would l i ke for me to have a c loser re lationsh ip with her and the k ids . " He bel ieves it is "very im portant" to have the k ind of sex l i fe he needs . Report­i ng that he and Myra have i ntercourse a bout twice a month , he feels that his sexua l needs a re "adeq uately met" in his re lationsh i ps with his wife . I a lso know that, from t ime to t ime, Tom has sex i n the restrooms of a publ ic park.

As an u pward ly mobi le man, Tom was added to the sam ple at a point of tra nsit ion in h is ca reer as a tea room partic i pant . If Tom is l i ke others who share working-class origins, he may have learned of the tearoom as an eco­nomica l means of ach ieving orgasm du ri ng h is navy years . Of late, he has retu rned to the restrooms for occas iona l sexua l " re l ief, " s i nce his wife , objecting to the use of birth control devices , has l im ited h is conjuga l outlets .

Tom sti l l perceives h is sexual needs in the sym bol ic terms of the class i n which he was soc ia l ized : "about twice a month " is the frequency of i nter­cou rse genera l ly reported by work ing-class men ; a n d , a lthough they a re reticent in reporti ng it , they do not perceive this freq uency as adeq uate to meet their sexua l needs, which they estimate are about the same as those felt by others of their age . My i nterviews ind icate that such perceptions of sexua l d rive and satisfaction preva i l a mong respondents of the lower-mid-

d ie to u pper- lower c lasses, whereas they a re u ncom mon for those of the

u pper-middle and u pper classes. Among the latter, the reported perception

is of a m uch h igher frequency of intercourse and they estimate their needs

to be greater than those of "most other men . "

Aging Crisis

Not only is Tom moving into a socia l position that may cause h im to reinter­pret h i s sexua l d rive, he is a lso approach ing a poi nt of major cr is is in h i s ca reer as a tearoom partic ipant. A t the t ime when I observed h im in an act of fe l latio, he played the inserter role . Sti l l relatively young and ha ndsome, Tom fi nds h i mself sought out as "trade , " i . e . , those men who make them­selves ava i l a ble for acts of fe l lat io but who, rega rd i ng themselves as "stra ight, " refuse to reciprocate i n the sexual act. Not only is that the role he expects to play i n the tearoom encounters , it is the role others expect of h im .

" I 'm not toned u p a nymore , " Tom compla i ns . He is ga i n i ng weight around the midd le and losing ha i r. As he moves past 35, Tom wi l l face the

aging crisis of the tearooms. Less and less frequently wi l l he find h imself the one sought out in these meeti ngs. Presuming that he has been sufficiently re inforced to conti nue th is form of sexua l operation , he wi l l be forced to seek other men . As trade he was not expected to rec iprocate , but he w i l l

soon be increasingly expected to serve as i nsertee for those who have fi rst taken that role for h im .

I n most cases, fe l lat io i s a service performed by a n older man u pon a younger. I n one encounter, for exa m ple, a man appearing to be around 40 was observed as insertee with a man in h is twenties as i nserter. A few min­utes later, the man of 40 was being sucked by one i n h is fifties . Ana lyzing the estimated ages of the princ ipa l partners i n 53 observed acts of fel latio, I a rrived at these conclusions: the i nsertee was j udged to be older than the i nserter i n 40 cases; they were a pproximately the same age in th ree ; and the inserter was the older i n ten instances. The age d ifferences ra nged from an insertee est imated to be 25 years older than h i s pa rtner to an i nsertee thought to be ten years younger than h is i nserter.

Strong references to th is cr is is of aging are found in my i nterviews with cooperati ng respondents, one of whom had this to say: "We l l , I started off as the stra ight young th i ng. Everyone wanted to suck my cock . I wou ldn 't have been caught dead with one of the th i ngs i n my mouth! . . . So, here I am at 40--with grown kids-and the biggest cocksucker in [the city ] ! "

S imi lar experiences were expressed , i n more reserved la nguage , by a nother man , some 1 5 yea rs h i s sen ior: " I suppose I was a round 35-or 36-when I started giving out blow jobs. It j ust got so I cou ldn 't operate any

37

Tearoom Trade:

Impersonal Sex

in Public Places

other way in the park johns. I 'd sti l l rather have a good blow job any day, but 38

I 've gotten so I l i ke it the way it is now. " Perhaps by now there is enough rea l knowledge abroad to have dispel led Laud Humphreys

the idea that men who engage in homosexual acts may be typed by any con-sistency of performance in one or another sexual role. Undoubtedly, there are

preferences: few persons are so adaptable, their cond ition ing so und ifferenti-ated , that they fa i l to exercise choice between various sexual roles and posi-t ions. Such preferences, however, a re learned , and sexual repertories tend to expand with t ime and experience. This study of restroom sex ind icates that sexual roles with i n these encounters a re fa r from sta ble . They a re a pt to change with i n an encounter, from one encounter to another, with age , and with the amount of exposure to influences from a sexua l ly deviant subcu lture.

I t is to this last factor that I shou ld l i ke to d i rect the reader's attention . The degree of contact with a network of friends who share the actor's sexual i nterests ta kes a centra l position i n mediat ing not only h is preferences for sex role, but h is style of adaptation to-and rationa l ization of-the deviant activity in wh ich he pa rtic i pates. There a re , however, two reasons why I have not c lassified research su bjects i n terms of their pa rt ic ipation in the homosexua l subcu ltu re . I t i s d ifficu lt to measure accurately the degree of such i nvolvement; and such subcu ltura l i nteraction depends u pon other socia l va riables, two of which are easi ly measured .

Fa m i ly status has a def in itive effect on the deviant ca reers of those whose concern is with contro l l i ng i nformation a bout their sexual behavior. The married man who engages in homosexual activity m ust be much more cautious a bout h is i nvolvement in the subcu lture tha n h is s i ngle cou nter­part. As a determina nt of l ife style and sexual activity, marita l status is a lso a determinant of the patterns of deviant ada ptation and rationa l ization. Only those in my sam ple who were d ivorced or separated from their wives were d ifficu lt to categorize as either married or single. Those who had been mar­ried , however, showed a tendency' to rema i n i n friendsh i p networks with married men. Three of the four were sti l l l im ited i n freedom by responsib i l i ­t ies for their ch i ldren . For these reasons, I have included a l l men who were once married in the "married " categories.

The second determin ing varia ble is the relative autonomy of the respon­dent's occu pation . A man is " i ndependently" employed when his job a l lows h im freedom of movement and security from being fi red ; the most obvious example is self-employment. Occu pational "dependence" leaves a man l it­t le freedom for engaging in d isreputa ble activity. The sa les manager or other executive of a business firm has greater freedom than the sa lesman or attorney who is em ployed in the lower echelons of a la rge industry or by the federa l govern ment . The sales representative whose territory is fa r

removed from the home office has greater independence, in terms of infer- 39

mation control , tha n the m in i ster of a loca l congregation . The majority of those placed in both the married and unmarried categories with dependent Tearoom Trade:

occupations were employed by large industries or the government. Impersonal sex

Median ed ucation levels and annua l fam i ly i ncomes ind icate that those in Public Places

with dependent occu pations ran k lower on the soc ioeconomic sca le . Only

i n the case of married men , however, is this correlation between socia l class and occu pationa l a utonomy strongly supported by the rati ngs of these

respondents on Wa rner's I ndex of Status Cha racter ist ics . Nearly a l l the

married men with dependent occupations are of the upper-lower or lower-midd le c lasses , whereas those with i ndependent occu pations a re of the

upper-middle or u pper classes . For s i ngle men , the soc ia l class va r iable is

neither so easi ly identifiable nor so clearly d ivided . Nearly al l s ingle men in the sam ple can be classified only as "vaguely middle class . "

A s occu pational autonomy a n d marita l status remain the most i m portant d i mensions a long which part ic ipants may be ranked , we sha l l consider four genera l types of tearoom customers: 1 ) married men with dependent occu­pations, 2) married men with independent occu pations, 3) unmarried men

with i ndependent occu pat ions, and 4) unmarried men with dependent occu pat ions. As wi l l become ev ident with the d i scuss ion of each type, I have employed labels from the homosexual a rgot, a long with pseudonyms, to designate each class of part ic i pa nts . This i s done not only to fac i l itate read i ng but to emphasize that we are descri b ing persons rather tha n mere­ly "typica l " constructs .

Type I: Trade

The fi rst class ification , which inc l udes 19 of the part ic ipants (38 percent) , may be ca l led "trade , " si nce most would earn that appel lation from the gay

subcu lture. Al l of these men are, or have been, married-one was separat­ed from his wife at the t ime of i nterviewing and a nother was d ivorced .

Most work as truck d rivers , mach ine operators , or c ler ica l workers . There is a member of the a rmed forces, a carpenter, and the m in ister of a pentecosta l chu rc h . Most of the i r wives work , at least part t ime , to he lp ra ise the i r median annua l fa mi ly i ncome to $8,000. One i n s i x of these men is black. Al l a re norma l ly masc u l i ne in a p pea ra nce and man nerism . Although 14 have com pleted h igh school , there are only th ree col lege grad­uates among them, and f ive have had less than 12 years of school ing.

George is representative of th is la rgest group of respondents. Born of second-generation Germa n parentage in an ethn ic enclave of the m idwest­ern city where he sti l l resides , he was raised as a Luthera n . He feels that his

father ( l i ke George a truck d river) was q u ite warm in h i s re lationsh i p with 40

h i m as a ch i l d . H i s mother he descri bes as a very nervous , asthmatic woman and th inks that an older s ister suffered a nervous breakdown some Laud Humpbl'eJS

years ago, a lthough she was never treated for it. Another sister and a broth-er have evidenced no emotional problems.

At the age of 20 he married a Roman Cathol ic gir l and has si nce joined her chu rc h , a lthough he c lassif ies h i mself as " la psed . " In the fou rteen years of their marriage , they have had seven ch i ldren , one of whom is less than a year old . George doesn 't th i nk they should have more ch i ld ren , but h i s wife objects to us ing a ny type of b i rth control other than the rhythm method . With h is wife working part t ime as a wa itress, they have a n i ncome

of a bout $5,000. " How often do you have intercourse with your wife?" I asked . " Not very

much the last few years , " he repl ied . " It's u p to when she feels l i ke giving it to me-which a i n't very often . I never suggest it. "

George was cooking ham burgers on a n outdoor gri l l and enjoying a beer as I i nterviewed h im . " Me, I l i ke to come home. " he asserted . " I love to take ca re of the outside of the house . . . . Like to go places with the ch i ld ren­my wife , she doesn't. "

With their mother at work , the ch i ld ren were ru n n i ng i n and out of the door, revea l i ng a household i nterior in gross d isarray. George stopped to ca l l one of the smal ler youngsters out o f the street i n front of h is modest, su bur­ba n home. When he resumed h is remarks a bout h is wife , there was more fee l ing in h is descri ption :

M y wife doesn't have much outside i nterest. She doesn 't l i ke to go out or

take the kids places. But she's an A- 1 mother, I ' l l say that! I guess you'd

say she's very n ice to get along with-but don't cross her! She gets aggra­

vated with me-l don't know why . . . . Wel l , you'd have to know my wife .

We fight a l l the t ime. Anymore, it seems we j ust don't get a long-except

when we're apart. Mostly, we argue a bout the kids. She's afra id of having

more . . . . She's afra id to have sex but doesn't believe i n birth control . I 'd

just rather not be around her! I won't suggest having sex anyway-a nd

she just doesn't want it anymore .

Whi le more open than most i n h is acknowledgement of marita l tension , George's appra isa l of sexua l re lat ions i n the ma rriage is typ ica l of those respondents classified as Trade. In 63 percent of these marriages, the wife , husband , or both a re Roman Cathol ic . When answering questions a bout their sexua l l ives , a story much l i ke George's emerged : at least s i nce the b irth of the last chi ld , conjuga l relatio'ns have been very rare .

These data suggest that, a long with provid ing an excuse for d im in ish ing i ntercourse with their wives, the rel igious teachings to which most of these

fam i l ies adhere may cause the h usbands to search for sex in the tearooms. 41

Whatever the ca uses that turn them unsat isfied from the marr iage bed ,

however, the a lternate outlet m ust be q u ick, i nexpensive, a nd i m persona l . A n y persona l , ongo ing affa i r-a ny outlet req u i ri ng money o r hours away from home-would th reaten a ma rriage that is a l ready shaky and jeopa r­

d ize the most im portant th ing these men possess, their stand ing as father

of their ch i ld ren . Around the turn of the century, before the vice squads moved in ( i n their

never-end ing process of na rrowing the behaviora l opt ions of those in the lower classes) , the Georges of th is study would proba bly have made regu lar vis its to the two-bit borde l los . With a mada m watch ing a c lock to l im it the t ime, these cheap whorehouses provided the same sort of fast, im personal service as today's publ ic restrooms. I f ind no ind ication that these men seek homosexual contact as such; rather, they want a form of orgasm-producing act ion that is less lonely tha n masturbation and less i nvolvi ng than a love

re lationsh ip . As the forces of socia l control deprive them of one outlet, they provide another. The newer form , it should be noted , is more stigmatizi ng than the previous one-thus givi ng " proof" to the adage that "the s infu l a re

drawn ever deeper i nto perversity. " George was qu ite affable when i nterviewed on h is home territory. A year

before, when I fi rst observed h im in the tearoom of a park a bout three m i les

from his home, he was a far more cautious man . Situated at the window of the restroom , I saw h i m leave h i s o ld stat ion wagon a n d , look ing u p and

down the street, wa l k to t he fac i l ity at a very fast pace. Once i ns ide , he paced nervously from door to window unt i l satisfied that I would serve as an adeq uate lookout. After playing the inserter role with a man who had wa ited in the sta l l farthest from the door, he left qu ickly, without wiping or wash ing h is hands, and drove away toward the nearest exit from the park. I n the tea­room he was a frightened man , engaging i n fu rtive sex . I n h i s own back­ya rd , ta l k ing with an observer whom he fa i led to recogn ize, he was warm , open, and apparently at ease.

Weighing 200 pounds or more , George has a protruding gut and tattoos on both forearms. Although m uscu lar and in h is mid-th irties, he would not be descri bed as a handsome person . For h im , no doubt, the aging cris is is a lso an identity cr is is . Only with re l ucta nce-a nd perha ps never-wi l l he turn to the i nsertee ro le . The th reat of such a role to h i s masc u l i ne self­image is too great . Li ke others of h i s c lass with whom I have had more extensive interviews, George may have learned that sexual game as a teen­age hust ler, or e lse when serv ing in the a rmy d u r ing the Korea n wa r. I n either case , h i s soc ia l ization i nto homosexua l experience took place i n a mascu l ine world where it is permissible to accept money from a "q ueer" i n

Tearoom Trade:

lmpenonal Sex

in Public Places

return for ca refu l ly l i m ited sexual favors . B ut to use one's own mouth as a 42

su bstitute for the female organ , or even to express enjoyment of the action, is ta boo i n the Trade code. La u d Humphreys

Moreover, for men of George's occu pationa l and marita l status, there is no network of friends engaged in tea room activity to he lp them ada pt to the changes aging wi l l bring. I found no evidence of friendsh i p networks among respondents of this type , who enter and leave the restrooms a lone, avoid ing conversation whi le with i n . Marginal to both the heterosexual and homosex­ua l worlds , these men shun i nvolvement in a ny form of gay s u bc u ltu re .

Type I pa rtic i pa nts report fewer fr iends o f any sort than do those o f other c lasses. When asked how many c lose friends he has , George answered :

" None. I haven 't got t ime for that. " It is d ifficu lt to interview the Trade without becoming depressed over the

hopelessness of the i r situation . They are a lmost un iformly lonely and isolat­ed : lacking success in either marriage bed or work, unable to d iscuss their three best friends (because they don't have three) ; en route from the din of factories to the c lamor of ch i ld re n , they s l i p off the freeways for a few moments of impersonal sex i n a toi let sta l l .

Such un rewarded existence is reflected i n the portra it o f another mar­g ina l ma n . A jobless Negro, he ea rns only contempt and sexua l rejection from h is working wife i n return for ba by-sitt i ng d uties. The pa perback books and magazines scattered a bout h is l iv ing room supported his comment that he reads a great deal to re l ieve boredom. (George seldom reads even the newspa per and has no hobbies to report . ) No wonder that he urged me to stay for stJpper when my i nterv iew sched u le was fi n ished . " I rea l ly wish you 'd stay awh i l e , " he sa i d . " I haven 't ta l ked to anyone a bout myself i n a hel l of a long time!"

Type I I : Ambisexuals

A very d ifferent pictu re emerges in the case of Dwight. As sa les manager for a smal l man ufactur ing concern , he is i n a position to h i re men who share

h is sexual and other interests . Not only does he have a business associate or two who share h i s pred i lect ion for tearoom sex, he has been a ble to stretch cha nce meeti ngs i n the tea room pur l i eu i nto long-lasti ng fr iend­sh ips . Once, after I had ga ined h is confidence through repeated interviews, I asked h im to name a l l the partic i pants he knew. The names of five other Type I I men in my sam ple were found in the l i st of near ly two dozen names he gave me.

Dwight, then, has socia l advantages in the publ ic restrooms as wel l as in soc iety at large . H is annua l i ncome of $ 16,000 helps in the achievement of

these benefits , as does h i s marriage i nto a la rge and d i st inguished fam i ly 43

and h is education at a prestigious loca l col lege . From h is restroom friends Dwight learns which tea rooms i n the city a re popular and where the pol ice Tearoom Trade:

are c lam ping down . He even knows which officers are looking for payoffs Impersonal sex

and how much they expect to be pa id . It is of even greater i m portance that In Public Places

h is att itudes toward-a nd perceptions of-the tea room encou nters a re

sha ped and rei nforced by the friendsh ip network in which he partici pates. It has thus been easier for Dwight to meet the changing demands of the

aging cr is is . He knows others who lost no self-respect when they bega n "go ing down " on their sexual pa rtners, and they have hel ped h im learn to enjoy the involvement of ora l mem bra nes i n im personal sex. As Tom , too , moves i nto th is c lass of pa rt ic i pa nts , he ca n be expected to lea rn how to rationa l ize the switch in sexua l ro les necessitated by the loss of youthfu l good looks . He wi l l cease th ink ing of the insertee role as th reaten ing to h is

mascu l i n ity. H is soc ia l ization i nto the Am bisexua ls wi l l make the orgasm but one of a number of kicks.

Three-fourths of the married partic ipants with independent occu pations were observed , at one time or another, participating as insertees i n fel latio, com pared to only one-th i rd of the Trade. Not only do the Type I I partici pants

tend to switch roles with greater fac i l ity, they seem inc l i ned to search beyond the tea rooms for more exotic forms of sexual experience. Dwight,

a long with others i n his class, expresses a l i k ing for ana l i ntercourse (both as i nsertee and inserter) , for group activity, and even for mi ld forms of sado­masoch i st ic sex . A fr iend of h i s once i nvited me to an "orgy" he had

pla nned in an apartment he mainta ins for sexual purposes . Another friend , a socia l and commerc ia l leader of the comm u n ity, told me that he enjoys

having men u ri nate in h is mouth between acts of fel latio. Dwight is i n his early forties and has two sons i n h igh school . The school­

bound offspring provide him with an excuse to leave his wife at home du r­

ing freq uent business tri ps across the country. Ma inta i n i ng a l ist of gay con­tacts , Dwight is able to engage wholehearted ly i n the l ife of the homosexual subcu ltu re i n other cities-the sort of involvement he is ca refu l to avoid at home . In the parks or over cockta i l s , he a m uses his friends with lengthy accou nts of these adventures.

Dwight recounts h is fi rst sexual relationsh ip with another boy at the age of " n ine or ten " :

M y parents a lways sent m e off t o cam p in the sum mer, a n d i t was there

that I had my sexual i n itiation . This sort of thing usual ly took the form of

rol l i ng around in a bunk together and ended in our jack ing each other

off . . . . I suppose I sta rted pretty ea rly. God , I was a l most i n co l lege

before I had my fi rst woman! I always had some other guy on the string i n

prep school-some rea l romances there! But I made up for lost t ime with 44

the g ir ls d ur ing my col lege yea rs . . . . Dur ing that t ime, I on ly s l i p ped

back i nto my old habits a couple of t imes-and then it was a once-only Laud Humphrep

occu rrence with a roommate after we had been dr ink ing.

Culminating an active heterosexual l i fe at the un iversity, Dwight married

the girl he had i m pregnated . He reports having i ntercourse th ree or fou r times a week with her throughout their 18 married years but a lso admits to supplement ing that activ ity on occas ion : " I had the seven-yea r- itch and stepped out on her qu ite a b i t then . " Dwight a lso vis its the tearooms a lmost

da i ly:

I guess you m ight say I 'm pretty h ighly sexed [he chuckled a l ittle ] , but I

rea l ly don't th ink that's why I go to tearooms. That's rea l ly not sex. Sex is

something I have with my wife in bed . It's not as if I were committing adul­

tery by getting my rocks off-or going down on some guy-in a tearoom. I

get a k ick out of i t . Some of my fr iends go out for hand ba l l . I 'd rather

cru ise the park. Does that sound perverse to you?

Dwight's openness in dea l i ng with the more sensitive areas of his biogra­phy was typica l of u pper-midd le and upper-class respondents of both the partic i pant and control samples. Actual refusa ls of interviews came a lmost

entirely from lower-c lass partic ipants ; more of the cooperating respondents were of the u pper soc ioeconomic ra nks . I n the same ve i n , worki ng-c lass respondents were most cautious a bout answering questions perta i n i ng to their income and thei r socia l and pol itica l views .

Other resea rchers have encou ntered a s im i l a r response d ifferenti a l a long class l i nes, and I rea l ize that my educational and socia l characteris­tics encourage ra pport with Dwight more than with George . I t may a lso be assumed that sym pathy with su rvey resea rch increases with ed ucation . Two-th i rds o f the married partic ipants with occu pational i ndependence are col lege graduates.

It has been suggested , however, that another factor may be operative in th is i nsta nce: a lthough the upper-c lass devia nts may have more to lose from exposure ( i n the sense that the mighty have farther to fa l l ) , they a lso have more means at their d isposa l with which to protect thei r mora l h isto­ries. Some need only ta p their spend ing money to pay off a member of the vice squad . In other insta nces, soc ia l contacts with police com missioners or newspaper publ ishers make it possi ble to sq uelch either record or pub­l ic ity of an arrest. One respondent has made su bsta ntia l contri butions to a pol ice charity fund , whi le another h i red private detectives to track down a black-ma i ler. Not least in their capacity to cover for errors i n j udgment is the fact that their word has the backing of economic and socia l inf luence. Evi-

dence must be strong to prosecute a man who can h i re the best attorneys. Lower-c lass men a re r ightfu l ly more susp ic ious , for they have fewer

resources with which to defend themselves if exposed . Th is does not mean that Type I I part ic ipants a re imm une to the risks of

the game but s imply that they are bidd ing from strength . To them, the risks

of arrest, exposure, blackma i l , or physical assau lt contr ibute to the excite­

ment quotient. I t is not unusual for them to speak of cruis ing as an adven­

tu re , in contrast with the Trade, who engage i n a fu rtive search for sexua l

re l ief. On the whole , then , the action of Type I I respondents is a pt to be

somewhat bolder and the i r search for " kicks" less i n h i bited tha n that of

most other types of partic ipants. Dwight is not flee ing from an u nhappy home l i fe or sexless marriage to

the encou nters in the parks. He expresses great devotion to h i s wife and ch i ldren : "They're my whole l i fe , " he excla ims. A l l evidence ind icates that, as father, c it izen , bus i nessma n , and chu rch mem ber, Dwight's behavior patterns-as viewed by his peers-are exemplary.

Five of the 12 partic ipa nts in Dwight's class are members of the Episco­pa l church . Dwight is one of two who were ra ised in that church , a lthough

he i s not as active a churchman as some who became Episcopa l ians later i n l ife . In spite of his i nfrequent attendance to worsh ip , he feels his church i s " just right" for h im and needs no changing. I ts trad it ion and ceremony

a re i nte l l ectua l ly and esthetica l ly p leas ing to h i m . I ts l i bera l outlook on questions of mora l ity round out a rel igious orientation that he f inds genera l­ly supportive .

I n an i nterview witnessed by a friend he had brought to meet me, Dwight d i scussed h is re lationsh ip with h i s pa rents : " Father ignored me. He j ust never sa id anyth ing to me. I don't th i rd : he ever knew I existed . " [ H is father was an attorney, esteemed beyond the c ity of Dwight's birth , who d ied wh i le h i s only son was yet i n h i s teens . ] " I hope I 'm a better father to my boys than he was to me, " Dwight added .

" B ut h is mother is a remarkable woman , " the friend i nterjected , " rea l ly

one of the most fa bu lous women I 've met ! Dwight took me back to meet her-years ago, when we were lovers of a sort . I sti l l look forward to her vis its . "

"She's remarka ble j ust to have put up with me, " Dwight added . J ust to give you an idea , one vacation I brought another boy home from school with me. She wa l ked i nto the bed room one morn i ng and caught us bare-assed i n a 69 position . She j ust excused herself and backed out of the room . Later, when we were a lone, she j ust looked at me-over the edge o f he r glasses-a nd sa id : " I 'm not going to lectu re you , dea r, bu t I do hope you don't swa l low that stuff! "

45

Tearoom Trade:

Impersonal Sax

in Public Places

Although he has never had a nervous brea kdown , Dwight takes "an 46 occasional ant idepressa nt" because of h i s " mood i ness . " " I 'm rea l ly q u ite moody and I go to the tearooms more often when my spi rits a re low. " Wh i le La u d Humphreys

h i s periods of depression may resu lt in increased tea room activity, h i s deviant behavior does not seem to produce much tension i n h is l ife :

I don't feel gui lty a bout my l itt le sexual ga mes in the pa rk. I 'm not some

sort of sick q ueer . . . . You might th ink I l ive two l ives ; but, if I do, I don't

feel spl it in two by them.

Un l ike the Trade, Type I I partici pants recogn ize their homosexual activi­ty as ind icative of their own psychosexual orientations. They th ink of them­selves as bisexual or am bisexual and have intel lectua l ized their deviant ten­

dencies in terms of the pseudopsychology of the popular press . They speak often of the great men of h istory, as wel l as of certa i n movie stars and others of contem pora ry fa me, who a re a lso "AC/DC . " Erv ing Gottma n has rema rked that stigmatized America ns "tend to l ive i n a l itera l ly defined world . " This is nowhere truer than of the subcu ltura l ly oriented part ici pants of th is study. Not only do they read a great dea l a bout homosexual ity, they d iscuss it with in their network of friends. For the Dwights there is subcu ltur­al support that enables them to i ntegrate their deviance with the remainder of their l ives , wh i le mainta in i ng control over the i nformation that cou ld d is­cred it the i r whole bei ng . For these reasons they look u pon the ga m i ng encounters in the parks as enjoya ble experiences.

Type I l l : Gay Guys

Like the Ambisexuals , unmarried respondents with i ndependent occupa­tions are locked i nto a strong subcu lture , a commun ity that provides them with knowledge a bout the tea rooms a nd rei nforcement in the i r particu lar brand of deviant activity. This open partici pation i n the gay commun ity d is­t ingu ishes these s i ngle men from the la rger group of u n marr ieds with dependent occupations . These men take the homosexual role of our soci­ety, and are thus the most tru ly "gay" of a l l partici pant types . Except for nm, who was recruited as a decoy in the tearooms by the v ice squad of a police department, Type I l l part ic ipa nts learned the strategies of the tea rooms through friends a l ready experienced i n th is branch of the sexua l market.

Typica l of th is grou p is R icky, a 24-yea r-o ld u n iversity student whose older male lover supports h im . R icky stands at the med ian age of his type, who ra nge from 19 to 50 years . Ha lf of them are col lege grad uates and a l l but one other a re a t least part-t ime students, a characteristic that expla ins the i r low med ian i ncome of $3 ,000 . Because R icky's lover is a good

provider, he is comfortably situated in a m idtown a partment, a more pleas­

ant residence than most of his friends enjoy. R icky is a th i n , good- looking young man with certa i n movements and

man ners of speech that m ight be termed effemi nate . He is ca reful of h i s

appearance, d resses wel l , and keeps an immacu late a pa rtment, fu rnished

with an expensive stereo and some tastefu l a nt iq ue p ieces. Seated on a sofa in the m idst of the th i ngs h is lover has provided for their mutual com­fort , R icky is i m pressively self-assured . He is proud to say that he has found , at least for the t ime being, what al l those part ic ipants i n h is category

c la im to seek: a " permanent" love relationsh ip . Having met h is lover i n a park, R icky returns there on ly when h is mate is

on a business tri p or their relationsh ip is stra ined . Then R icky becomes, as he puts it, " horny, " and he goes to the park to study, cru ise and engage in

tea room sex:

The bars are o .k .-but a l itt le too publ ic for a 'married' man l i ke me . . . .

Tea rooms a re just another k ind of act ion , and they do q u ite wel l when

noth ing better is ava i la ble.

Like other Type I l l respondents , he shows l i ttle preference i n sexual roles. " I t depends on the other guy, " R icky says , "and whether I l i ke his looks or not. Some men I 'd crawl across the street on my knees for-others I would­

n 't piss on!" His aging crisis wi l l be shared with al l others i n the gay world . It wi l l take the n ightmarish form of wan ing attractiveness and the search for a permanent lover to fi l l h is later years , but it w i l l have no d i rect re lationsh i p with the tearoom roles. Because of h i s socia l ization in the homosexual soci­ety, taking the insertee role is neither traumatic for h im nor related to aging.

R icky's l ife revolves around h is sexual deviance in a way that is not true of George or even of Dwight. Most of h i s fr iends and soc ia l contacts a re connected with the homosexual su bcu lture . H is attitudes toward and ratio­na l ization of h is sexua l behavior a re largely ga ined from th is wide c i rc le of fr iends . The gay men c la im to have more c lose friends than do any other type of control or pa rt i c ipa nt respondents . As freq uency of orgasm is reported , th is class a lso has more sex than any other group sampled , aver­agi ng 2 .5 acts per week. They seem re latively satisfied with th is aspect of the i r l ives and rega rd their sexua l d rive as norma l-a lthough R icky per­ceives his sexual needs as less than most.

One of his tearoom friends has recently married a woman , but R icky has no intention of fol lowing h is example . Another of his type, asked a bout mar­r iage, sa id : " I prefer men , but I wou ld make a good wife fo r the right man. "

The vocabulary of heterosexua l marriage is commonly used by those of R icky's type. They speak of " marrying" the men they love and want to "set-

47

Tearoom Trade:

Impersonal Sex

In Public Places

tie down in a n ice home . " I n a surpris ing number of cases , they take their 48

lovers " home to meet mother. " This act, l i ke the exchange of " pi nky rings , " is intended to provide socia l strength to the lovers' un ion . Laud Humphreys

Three of the seven persons of this type were adopted-R icky at the age of six months. R icky told me that h is adoptive father, who d ied three years before our interview, was "very warm and lovi ng. He worked hard for a l iving and we moved a lot. " He is sti l l close to h is adoptive mother, who knows of h is sexual deviance and treats h is lover " l i ke an older son . "

R icky hopes to be a writer, an occupation that would "a l low m e the free­dom to be myse lf. I have a rel igion [ U n ita rian ] which a l l ows me freedom, and I want a career which wi l l do the same. " Th i s , aga in , is typica l : a l l three of the Un itar ians in the sam ple are Type I l l men , a lthough none was ra ised in that fa ith ; and the i r jobs are u n iformly of the sort to which the i r sexua l activity, if exposed , would present l ittle threat.

Although these men correspond most c losely to soc iety homosexua l stereotype , they are least representative of the tea room population , consti­tuting on ly 14 percent of the partic ipant sam ple. More than any other type , the R ickys seem at ease with their behavior in the sexual market, and their sca rc ity in the tearooms is ind icative of this . They want personal sex-more permanent relationsh i ps-and the publ ic restrooms are not where th is is to be found .

That any of them patronize the tearooms at a l l is the resu lt of inc identa l factors : they fea r that open cruis ing i n the more common homosexual mar­ket places of the baths and bars m ight d isrupt a current love affa i r; or they d rop in at a tea room wh i le wa it ing for a fr iend at one of the "water ing places" where homosexua ls congregate i n the parks . They fi nd the anonym ity of the tea rooms su ita ble for the i r purposes , but not i nv it ing enough to provide the primary setting for sexual activity.

Type IV: Closet Queens

Another dozen of the 50 part ic ipants interviewed may be class ified as s in­

gle devia nts with dependent occupations, "c loset queens" i n homosexua l s lang. Aga i n , the label may be a ppl ied to others who keep their deviance hidden, whether married or si ngle, but the covert, unmarried men are most a pt to earn th is a ppel lat ion . With the m , we have moved fu l l c i rc le i n our classifications, for they para l le l the Trade i n a number of ways:

1 . They have few friends, only a m inority of whom are involved i n tea­room activity.

2 . They tend to play the inserter role , at least un t i l they confront the crisis of aging.

3. Ha lf of them a re Roman Cathol ic i n rel igion .

4 . The i r med ian a n n ua l i ncome is $6,000 ; and they work as teach-

49

ers, postmen, sa lesmen, c lerks-usua l ly for la rge corporations or Tearoom Trade:

5.

agencies.

Most of them have completed on ly h igh school , a lthough there are a few exceptiona l ly wel l -ed ucated men in this grou p.

6 . One i n s ix is black.

7. Not only a re they afra id of becoming i nvolved i n other forms of the sexual market, they share with the Trade a relatively furtive involve­ment in the tea room encounters.

Arnold wil l be used as the typical case. Only 22, Arnold is wel l below the median age of this group; but in most other respects he is qu ite representa­tive, particularly in regard to the psychologica l problems common to Type IV.

A routi ne i nterview with Arnold stretched to near ly th ree hours in the subu rba n a pa rtment he shares with a nother s i ngle man . Cu rrently em ployed as a hospita l attendant, he has had trou ble with job sta bi l ity, usu­a l ly beca use he fi nds the job unsatisfactory. He frequently is unoccupied .

Arnold : I hang around the park a lot when I don't have anyth ing else to do.

I guess I 've a lways known about the tearooms . . . so I just started going in

there to get my rocks off. But I haven't gone si nce I caught my lover there

in Septem ber. You get in the habit of going; but I don't th ink I ' l l sta rt i n

aga in-un less I get too desperate.

I nterviewer: Do you make the bar scene?

Arnold : Very seldom. My roommate and I go out together once in a whi le,

but everybody there seems to th ink we're lovers. So I don't rea l ly operate

in the bars . I rea l ly don't l i ke gay people. They can be so damned bitchy! I

rea l ly l i ke women better tha n men-except for sex . There's a lot of the

female i n me, and I feel more comfortable with women than with men. I

understand women and l i ke to be with the m . I ' m rea l ly very close to my

mother. The reason I don't l ive at home is beca use there a re too many

brothers and sisters l iv ing there . . . .

I nterviewer: Is she sti l l a devout Roman Cathol ic?

Arnold : Wel l , yes and no. She sti l l goes to Mass some, but she and I go to

seances together with a friend . I am studying astrology and ta lk it over with

her q u ite a bit. I a lso ana lyze handwriting and read a lot about numerolo­

gy. Mother knows I am gay and doesn't seem to m i n d . I don't th i n k she

rea l ly bel ieves it though .

Arnold has a health problem : " heart attacks, " which the doctor says are psychologica l and wh ich ta ke the form of " pal pitat ions , d i zz iness, chest

Impersonal Sex

In Public Places

pa i n , shortness of breath , and extreme weakness . " These attacks, wh ich 50

began soon after h is father 's death from a coronary two years ago , make h i m fee l as if he were "dyi ng and turn ing cold . " Tra n q u i l izers were pre- Laud Humphreys

scr i bed for h i m , " but I th rew them out, beca use I don 't l i ke to become dependent on such th i ·1gs . " He quoted a book on menta l control of health that drugs a re "unnecessary, if you have proper control . "

He a l so con nects these health prob lems with h i s resentment of h i s father, who was menta l ly i l l .

Arnold : I don't understa nd h i s mental i l l ness a n d have always bla med h i m

for i t . You m ight say that I have a father complex and , a long with that, a

security complex. Guess that's why I a lways run around with older men.

I nterviewer: Were any of your brothers gay?

Arnold : Not that I know of. I used to have sex with the brother closest to my

age when we were l ittle kids. But he's married now, and I don't th ink he is

gay at a l l . It 's just that most of the k ids I ra n around with a lways jacked

each other off or screwed each other in the ass. I just seemed to grow up

with it. I can't remember a time when I d idn 't find men attractive . . . . I used

to have terrible crushes on my gym teachers, but nothing sexual ever came

of it . I just worsh iped them, and wanted to be around them a l l the t ime. I

had coitus with a woman when I was 16---she was 22. After it was over,

she asked me what I thought of it. I told her I would rather masturbate .

Boy, was she pissed off! I 've always l iked older men . If they are under 30, I

just cou ldn't be less interested . . . . Nearly a l l my lovers have been between

30 and 50. The trou ble is that they a lways want sex-and sex isn't rea l ly

what I want. I just want to be with them-to have them for friends. I guess

it's part of my father com plex. I just want to be loved by an older man .

Few o f the Type IV participants share Arnold 's preference for older men, a lthough they report poorer ch i ld hood relationsh ips with the i r fathers tha n do those of any other group. As is the case with Arnold 's roommate, many closet queens seem to prefer teenage boys as sexual objects . This is one of the featu res that d i st i ngu ishes them from a l l other pa rti c ipa nt types . Although scarce in tearooms, teenagers make themselves ava i lable for sex­ual activity in other places freq uented by closet q ueens . A number of these men regula rly cru ise the streets where boys th u m b r ides each afternoon when school is over. One c loset queen from my sample has been arrested for l u ri ng boys in their early teens to h is home.

I nteraction between these men and the youths they seek freq uently resu lts in the sort of sca nda l fea red by the gay com m u n ity. Newspa per reports of molestat ions usua l ly conta i n c l ues of the c loset q ueen style of ada ptation on the part of such offenders. Those respondents whose l ives

had been th reatened by teen-age toughs were genera l ly of this type. One of 51

the sta ndard rules govern i ng one-n ight-stand operations cautions aga inst

becoming involved with such "ch icken . " The frequent violation of this ru le Tearoom Trade:

by c loset queens may contr ibute to their genera l d is repute a mong the bar lmpenanal Sex

set of the homosexua l subcu lture, where "c loset q ueen " is a pejorat ive In Public Places

term . One Type IV respondent, an a lcohol ic whose i ntense self-hatred seemed

a lways about to overflow, told me one n ight over coffee of his lonel i ness and

h is endless search for someone to love:

I don't fi nd it in the tearooms-although I go there beca use it's handy to

my work. But I suppose the [hustler's ha ngout] is rea l ly my meat. I just

want to love every one of those kids!

Later, this man was murdered by a teen-ager he had picked up . Arnold , too, expressed lonel i ness and the need for someone to ta l k with .

"When I can rea l ly sit down and ta lk to someone else , " he sa id , " I begin to

fee l rea l aga i n . I lose that consta nt fea r of m ine-that sensation that I ' m

dyi ng. "

Styles of Deviant Adaptation

Soc ia l isolation is characteristic of Type IV partic ipants. Genera l ly, it is more severe even than that encountered a mong the Trade, most of whom enjoy at least a vestigia l fam i ly l ife . Although pa i nfu l ly aware of their homosexual or ientations , these men f ind l itt le solace i n associat ion with others who share their deviant i nterests . Fea r ing exposure , a rrest, the stigmatizat ion that m ight resu lt from a part ic i pation i n the homosexual subcu lture, they a re driven to a desperate, lone-wolf sort of activity that may prove most dan­gerous to themselves and the rest of society. Although it is tem pting to look for psychologica l explanations of their apparent preference for ch icken , the soc io logica l ones a re evident. They resort to the more da ngerous ga me because of a lack of both the normative restra i nts and adu lt markets that preva i l i n the more overt subculture. To them, the costs (financia l and oth­erwise) of operating a mong street corner youths are more acceptable than those of active partic i pation i n the gay subcu lture . On ly the tearooms pro­vide a less expensive a lternative for the closet queens.

I have tried to make it impossible for any close associate to recogn ize the rea l people beh ind the d isgu ised com posites portrayed in this article. But I have worked eq ua l ly hard to ena ble a n u m ber of tea room players to see themselves in the portra it of George , and others to find their own stories i n those of Dwight, R icky, o r Arnold . If I am accurate, the rea l Tom wi l l wonder

whether he is trade or am bisexua l ; and a few others wi l l be a ble to identify only partly with Arnold or R icky.

My one certa inty is that there is no s ingle composite with whom a l l may identify. I t should now be evident that, l i ke other next door neigh bors , the partici pants in tearoom sex a re of no one type . They vary a long a number of poss ib le conti n ua of soc ia l character ist ics . They d iffer widely in terms of sexual career and activity, and even in terms of what that behavior means to

them or what sort of needs it may fulfi l l . Act ing in response to a va riety of pressures toward deviance (some of which we may never ascerta i n ) , their adaptations fol low a number of l i nes of least resistance.

In de l i neat ing styles of adaptation , I do not i ntend to i m ply that these men are faced with an array of styles from which they may pick one or even a combi nation . No ma n 's freedom is that great. They have been a ble to choose only among the l imited options offered them by society. These sets

of a lternatives , which determ ine the modes of adaptation to deviant pres­sures, a re defined and a l located in accordance with major sociologica l vari­a bles: occu pation , marita l status , age, race, amount of education . That is one mean ing of socia l proba bi l i ty.

Epilogue: The Sociologist as Voyeur

The methods em ployed in this study of men who engage in restroom sex a re the outgrowth of three eth ica l assum ptions: fi rst, I do not bel ieve the soc ia l scient ist should ever ignore or avoid an a rea of resea rch s im ply because it is d ifficult or socia l ly sensitive ; second , he should a pproach any aspect of human behavior with those means that least d istort the observed phenomena ; th i rd , he must protect respondents from harm-regard less of what such protection may cost the researcher

Because the majority of arrests on homosexual charges in the U n ited States result from encounters in publ ic restrooms, I felt this form of sexual behavior to provide a legitimate , even essentia l , topic for sociologica l i nves­tigation . In our society the socia l control forces, not the crim inologist, deter­mine what the latter sha l l study.

Fol lowing this decision , the q uestion is one of choosing research meth­ods that permit the i nvestigator to ach ieve maximum fidel ity to the world he is study ing. I be l ieve ethnogra ph ic methods a re the only tru ly em pir ica l ones for the socia l sc ientist. When human behavior is being examined , sys­tematic observation is essentia l ; so I had to become a partic ipant-observer of furtive, fe lonious acts .

Fortunately, the very fear and suspicion of tearoom participants produces a mechanism that makes such observation possible: a th i rd man (genera l ly

52

Laud Hu11phrert1 I

��

·� I

one who obta i ns voyeur istic pleasure from h is d uties) serves as a lookout, 53

moving back and forth from door to windows. Such a "watchqueen , " as he

is la beled in the homosexual a rgot, coughs when a pol ice car stops nearby Tearoom Trade:

or when a stranger approaches. He nods affi rmatively when he recogn izes a Impersonal Sex

man entering as being a " regu lar. " Having been taught the watchqueen role In Public Places

by a cooperat ing respondent, I p layed that pa rt fa ithfu l ly wh i le observing

hundreds of acts of fel latio. After developing a systematic observation sheet,

1 recorded 50 of these encounters ( involving 53 sexual acts) in great deta i l . These records were com pared with a nother 30 made by a cooperat ing

respondent who was h imself a sexual pa rt ic ipant . The bulk of i nformation

presented in Tearoom Trade resu lts from these observations. Although primari ly i nterested in the stigmatized behavior, I a lso wanted

to know a bout the men who take such risks for a few moments of imperson­

al sex. I was a ble to engage a n u m ber of participants in conversation out­side the restrooms; and , eventual ly, by revea l i ng the purpose of my study to them, I ga ined a dozen respondents who contributed hundreds of hours of interview t ime. This sample I knew to be biased in favor of the more outgo­

ing and better educated of the tearoom population . To overcome th is b ias , I cut short a n u m ber of my observat ions of

encou nters and h u rried to my a utomobi le . There, with the hel p of a ta pe

recorder, I noted a brief descri ption of each partic ipant, his sexua l role i n the encounter just observed , h is l icense number, a n d a brief description of

h i s car. I varied such records from park to park and to correspond with pre­viously observed changes in volume at various times of the day. This provid­ed me with a t ime-a nd-place-representative sam ple of 134 part ic ipa nts . With attrition , ch iefly of those who had changed address or who d rove rent­ed cars, and the add it ion of two persons who wa l ked to the tea rooms, I

ended up with a sample of 100 men, each of whom I had actual ly observed engaging in fel latio.

At this stage , my th i rd eth ica l concern imp inged . I a l ready knew that many of my respondents were married and that al l were i n a h ighly d iscred­ita ble position and fearfu l of d iscovery. How cou ld I approach these covert deviants for interviews? By pass ing as deviant, I had observed their sexual behavior without d i sturb ing i t . Now, I was faced with i nterviewing these men (often i n the presence of the i r wives) without destroying them. Fortu­nate ly, I he ld a nother resea rch job which placed me i n the pos it ion of prepa r ing the i nterview sched u le for a soc ia l health su rvey of a ra ndom se lection of ma le su bjects throughout the com m u n ity. With perm iss ion from the survey's d i rectors, I could add my sample to the larger group (thus enha ncing their anonymity) and i nterview them as part of the socia l health survey.

To overcome the da nger of having a subject recogn ize me as a 54

watchq ueen , I changed my ha i r style, attire, and automobi le . At the risk of los ing more tra nsient respondents, I wa ited a yea r between the sam ple- Laud HumphrtJS

gathering and the i nterviews , du ri ng which t ime I took notes on their homes and neigh borhoods and acq u i red data on them from the c ity and cou nty d i rectories.

Having randomized the sam ple, I completed 50 interviews with tearoom partici pants and added another 50 i nterviews from the socia l health survey sam ple. The latter control group was matched with the participants on the bases of marita l status, race, job classification , and a rea of residence .

Th is study, then , resu lts from a confl uence of strategies: systemat ic , firsthand observation , i n-depth i nterviews with ava i la ble respondents, the use of a rch iva l data , and structured interviews of a representative sam ple and a matched contro l group . At each level of resea rch , I a p pl ied those

measures which provided maxi m u m protection for research su bjects and the truest measurement of persons and behavior observed .

A H ighway Rest Area As a Socially Reproducible Site

J O H N H O L L I S T E R

Topography of Ambiguity and the Col lective Private Sphere

I came out of the c loset in the ea rly 1980s through the gay student organi­zation on my cam pus. I u nderstood that homophobia was an oppression s im i la r to and intersecting with others, and that if a l l gays wou ld come out

we could support each other i n resisti ng oppress ion . I ca me to terms with my sexual ity through read ing books on gay l ife , which were sti l l few. When I found Humphreys' ( 1975) study of "tearooms , " I had a l ready heard rumors that such places sti l l existed . Baffled that the majority of gay people d id not

seem to fi nd activism to be as necessary and des i rable as I d id , I saw tea­rooms as a n outc ropp ing of some h idden , a lternate gay u n iverse. I assu med they were a l itera l man ifestation of the closet, where anonymous

men grasped for each others' gen ita ls under toi let sta l l s without even see ing each others' faces. There was a very busy tearoom downsta i rs from the gay student office (th is was before the consol idat ion of the lesbia n , bisexua l ,

a nd transgender secessions) but I knew few who admitted to using it. When I moved to B i ngha mton , New York, for graduate schoo l , I hea rd

gossip about friends of friends who were seen at a rest a rea just outside of town. It seemed a risky place with queerbashers, a busive pol ice, and fata l d iseases. For a fie ldwork class, I took the chance to explore this world and bega n an ethnography of the nearby rest a rea . Although I have not reached the point where I can confidently decla re what the truth of cruis ing sites is , I

have found that these sites va ry too much , both by location and by t ime of day, to accommodate any easy genera l ization .

S i nce gay stud ies has been a n ach ievement of the orga n ization-based gay movement, reflecting the debates and perspectives of organ izers con­cerned with chal lenging homophobia and securing a futu re for gay people, the custom for sexual release among a nonymous men often referred to as pu bl ic sex poses some puzzles. The notion of gayness marked by the

3

metaphor of the closet and com ing out is often understood in contrast with 56 the homosexual ity of the sexual underground . I n order to bridge the tension or d isparity between the world I came out i nto with the world I encountered John Hollister

in the course of the research , I increasingly found usefu l a notion of s ites as a un it of ana lys is for gay h istory rather tha n the identities of i nd iv idua ls or the d iscourses of a cu lture i n a particu lar era .

The rest a rea was constructed i n 1968 and c losed i n 1994 and was located a long an i nterstate h ighway nea r a c ity of 250,000. I t was lewd ly referred to as " Lo l l i pop Heaven" i n Bob Damron's Address Book (a guide­book for gay men ) , a lthough I never heard that name actua l ly used . Differ­ent groups of friends had their own n icknames for it. From the h ighway exit,

the road forked , with a sign pointing trucks to the left and ca rs to the right. A sma l l lodge hous ing the restrooms and vend ing mach ines was located between the parking a reas for cars and for trucks. There were three picnic tables on either s ide of the bu i ld ing on the traffic island . On the other side of the parking lot for cars from the restrooms was a wooded area with six more p icn ic ta bles , and beh i nd it a steep s lope lead ing down to a row of trees , and below that a paved tra i l that fol lowed a river to a point a bout a q uarter mi le u pstream . Accord i ng to a sign at the bottom of the slope, the path and pa rk were c losed after dark , and that c losure was the reason the pol ice would c ite in threaten ing a rrest.

Severa l groups coexisted at the sa me location but rarely interacted or confl icted with each other: the pass ing motorists who stopped qu ickly, used the fac i l it ies, and moved on , or s lept for the n ight in their cars; the truck d ri­vers; and the men who sought to get off with each other. A ma i ntena nce man would keep guard unt i l 10 P. M . , and a pol ice ca r would come through a few t imes each n ight flash ing l ights and observ ing each ca r. On hol idays when traffic was heavy, volunteers would set up a stand to serve coffee and donuts.

Dur ing dayl ight hours it was easy to m iss the s ingle, mostly older, men sitt ing a lone at the p icn ic ta bles, or assume they were ti red long-d istance drivers , or picnickers from an adjoin i ng park. Late at n ight, especia l ly after the ba rs c losed , severa l men wou ld wander a mong the trees , a nd many more wou ld sit a lone i n the i r cars. A few cars wou ld conta i n sma l l groups . One or two would s i t for lengthy periods in the sta l ls i nside the men's room , or stand at one of the u rina ls . Often a man would wa lk slowly and del i berate­ly a long the l ighted sidewa lk looking i nto each of the cars. Or a man would get out of h is car, wa l k ins ide, and then back , only to return a few m inutes later. A na ive observer m ight assume he had a serious bladder problem .

When he wa lked i n , any sexua l activity inside would cease as the partic i­pa nts ascerta i ned whether he was a man looking for sex, and perha ps

i nterested in anyone there at the moment or just a passing motorist. A man outs ide m ight have noticed h im a nd fol lowed h im in . Outs ide, a cru iser wou ld stand at a tree, and wa l k towa rd someone he was i nterested i n . I f they both moved toward each other, they could assume mutua l i nterest and consent. Or he could s it for a wh i l e at one of the p icn ic ta bles wa it ing for men to come u p and chat-perha ps a friend who was a lso out for the same purpose, or someone who was i nterested in h im . If they planned on making sexua l contact, they m ight move to a p icn ic ta ble that was out of v isua l ra nge of the park ing lot, or i nto the woods beh i nd the rest a rea , or even

drive off to one of their homes. I observed the site most i ntens ive ly, at least twice weekly, in Spr ing

1990, then period ica l ly afterwa rds , pa rticu la r ly d u ri ng s u mmer 1994 shortly before it was c losed . For the majority of the 1 990 observations , I stayed i n my ca r. I n 1994 I observed from the p icn ic ta b les . I a lso observed , and confi rmed activity at, fou r men 's toi lets in the sa me urba n area , ten rest a reas , a n d tw o parks with i n a two-hour rad ius , a n d a cru isy

tra i l a long a stream j ust outs ide a nearby col lege town that i s most active on hot summer afternoons. For the sake of comparison with the rura l and smal l -town sites, I a lso observed cruis ing parks i n five major North Ameri­ca n cit ies.

I interv iewed men who were wi l l i ng to speak a bout rest a rea cru is ing. I found eight pa rtici pants by ask ing a rou nd a mong men active i n loca l gay commun ity organ izations, and then an add itional twelve men from 1995 to 1997 sol ic ited from a notice in the loca l gay newspa per. A l l were wh ite ,

most in their 40s. A l l were gay-identified except for two who defi ned them­selves as bisexual and were married to women . For the i nterviews, the sam­ple was l im ited to men who took the i n itiative i n contacting me, and so was not representative . Because of the sensitivity of the topic, I was not wi l l i ng to i ntrude on anyone's privacy. However th is method has enabled me to pool

the i ns ights of severa l pa rtic i pa nts so as to deve lop a fu l ler p ictu re tha n what I could have pieced together from my own observations.

I do not keep any records that could i ncri m i nate a nyone , and I a pproached the f ie ld s ite as a potentia l partic ipant ho ld i ng out for some­thing better to come a long. There is no room for neutra l observation without d isru pt ing the scene . As a gay ma n , I was enough of an i ns ider to obta i n i nterviews , but having come out through the world o f gay activism I began as an outs ider to that pa rticu la r scene and beca me i n it iated through the research itself. I had to stop tak ing notes i n the field when a rumor began to c i rcu late that I was writ ing down names of people to pr int i n the loca l gay newspaper. I i nterpreted this as an expression of anxiety about activism as a threat to c loseted gays' strategies of surviva l .

57

A HllhWIJ Rest Area

as a Socially

Reproducible Site

Writing a bout so-ca l led pub l ic sex r isks exposing a secret that many of 58

the partic i pa nts wou ld prefer to rema in u nexa m i ned . One of the men I in te rviewed told me how " it is n ice that there a re such secrets left i n the John Hollister

world . " Laud Humphreys has a l ready revea led their existence to academic aud iences through Tearoom Trade { H u m ph reys 1975) and I trust that q ueer readers are at least vaguely awa re of them . Severa l websites {most nota bly http://www.cruis i ngforsex .com/) provide deta i l s on numerous spe-cific locations. But my primary field site was closed down , and others have been i ncreasingly restricted . New s ites a re not inevitably replacing the old . It is very possi ble that it is a d isa ppearing custom. Many gays, fearing that so-ca l led publ ic sex may play a role in the AI DS epidemic, actual ly support its suppression , and are wi l l i ng to trade in the sexual underground for i ncor-poration i nto the state-sanctioned kinsh i p system .

I have not specifica l ly researched publ ic toi lets because very few actua l­ly a l low for the n iche of an observer such as the "watchq ueen ro le" that Laud H umphreys { 1975) fou nd so conven ient. 1 I was for a long t ime skepti­ca l of the rel iab i l ity of Tearoom Trade. H u m phreys c la imed to have played the part of a "watchq ueen "-a voyeu r and lookout. I had never observed a nyone in such a role u nt i l I saw such a convention i n place i n an u rba n pa rk men's room in January 1996 and rea l ized the extent of variation in the customs based on location and a rch itecture , a lthough I have not seen a la rge enough sam ple of such places to confidently demonstrate that.

As I beca me more fa m i l i a r with the scene a nd got out of my car, it seemed that the men were stepp ing outside of the i r l ives , reta i n i ng on ly their gender. I t seemed anarch ic , a whol ly d ifferent world , l i ke a n a rcha ic holdover from some ancient custom. Its apparent outsideness ca l led atten­t ion to the nature of the ins ide , spea ka ble soc ia l rea l ity. J ust as the men slowly beca me visi b le or one's eyes grew used to the dark, I started to see some fa int traces of structures and cycles that were para l le l to those of any other setting, and were fu l ly meshed with other socia l processes .

Cru is ing is not j ust a repertory of techn iq ues. It ca n not be sepa rated from the locat ions where it ta kes place. Cru is ing as an activ ity may take place anywhere, but men wi l l have a far greater chance of success i n a spot where a steady strea m of other men expect to f ind each other, and it is i n these spots that men learn the techn iq ues. Com mun ication and consum­mat ion ta ke p lace us ing the ava i l able props . Use of cond ucive spaces is centra l to a l l cruis ing.

Outdoor noncommercia l cru is ing a reas a l low for a greater variety i n roles and for a more elaborate socia l structure than a smal l tea room where there may be room for on ly two or three men. I n commercia l sites , especia l ly gay baths and sex c lubs , part ic ipants do not need to figure out who is there to

cru ise and who shou ld not be awa re that cru is ing is go ing on . They on ly

need to esta bl ish who is ava i lable and interested . I n moments when a l l the

people at a cru is ing s ite are pa rt of the ga me, especia l ly late at n ight, parks resem ble bathhouses more c losely with the sa me order of the orgy, the same etiq uette of i nviti ng men or fending them off, the same com binations

of bod ies. An orga n iz ing featu re of cru is ing s ites is a topogra phy of degrees of

ambigu ity. In some spots it is obvious to i n itiates why one is there ; in others it is much less certa i n . One's specif ic locat ion and pattern of movement among areas convey i nformation a bout one's ava i l ab i l ity. In outdoor cru is­

i ng sites, there are two common patterns. One pattern is d i spersed . In two of the la rge u rba n pa rks I looked at,

there was a woodsy area with bou lders and bushes to h ide beh i nd . There are severa l a reas just outside of view of the main paths. Those who were not cru is ing were either j ust wa lk ing from one side to the other or were obvious­

ly natura l i sts. I assumed that any s ingle man stro l l i ng slowly was looking for sex . I found I could convey interest by enteri ng one of the less a mbiguous bushes, and convey lack of i nterest by wa lk ing faster and along main paths . One can express i nterest or ava i lab i l ity by moving a mong these zones.

The second pattern is one where men l i ne the paths. In two other parks, there are certa i n wel l -trodden paths with th ick brush on either s ide . Men

who may have stud iously ignored each other on the tra i l s would fol low each other i nto the bushes. The fi rst, d ispersed pattern is closer to what I found in Lol l i pop Heaven .

Awa reness of these zones ena bles cru isers to separate fe l low players from i ntruders of va rious k inds . I n the woods near a col lege town , the prin­c i ple cru is ing a rea is at a spot where the strea m d iverges from the ma in tra i l . Most people wa l k ing a long the tra i l a re ti red and too concerned with reach ing a waterfa l l upstream to look carefu l ly through the fol iage . The few exceptions are very obvious: natura l i sts tend to carry such props as binoc­u lars and f ieldgu ides, and f ishermen have fish i ng poles. Even " hetboys" out to look at the "faggots" wi l l wa l k in a more boisterous , less de l i berate ma nner.

At the rest a rea , it is ambiguous why any particu lar man would stop. He cou ld a lways be a t ired long-d istance driver. There is enough ambiguity that even an outsider who recogn izes one of the cruisers is not l i kely to suspect h is reason for being there, even knowing that it may be a cruis ing area . Yet at the same t ime, men who are fam i l ia r with the place and its customs wi l l be able t o d isti nguish among the possib le pu rposes o f new a rriva ls based on where they park and how they wa lk . At Lol l i pop Heaven , nearly a l l ca rs conta in ing a man with a wife and kids wi l l park in a spot close to the toi lets .

59

A HlpWaJ Rest Area

as a SociaiiJ

Reproducible Sill

Most ca rs with si ngle men park across the lot, fac ing the picnic ta bles and eo bushes, though I have not found the same pattern at a l l s ites and hours . Few non i n itiated people w i l l casua l ly wa l k away from the wel l- l it parking lot John Holliltlr

i nto a dark park with unknown men stand ing aga inst the trees, especia l ly if they have no prior knowledge as to why they are there.

Once non partic i pa nts a re identif ied , the sa me methods sepa rate out who is sexua l ly i nterested and ava i l a b le . Com m u n ication ta kes place i n re lation to the space, a n d the l i kely poss ib i l it ies for the use of that space .

Partic ipants reach concl us ions as to a man 's sexua l ava i l ab i l ity based on how he a pproaches and occu pies the space, and they use the space in ways that the other man m ight recogn ize. The superficia l s impl ic ity means that a viable form that can often be repeated even though the prec ise mea n ings for participants may vary considera bly. As a form , cru is ing sites a re a poss ib i l ity that is end lessly red iscovered . R itual ized understand ings make it possible to attach mea n ings to those few gestures in particular s ites that convey so a la rge piece of i nformation as sexua l desi re and consent.

The commun ication is ra rely so obvious or d i rect as to expose the situation to someone who is there by accident, or who may respond violently.

One's a bi l ity to grasp the tota l ity of possible mean ings may be more effec­tive than one's physica l appearance in fi nd ing partners . The question "why else could he be there?" ca ptures the reason ing that severa l i nterview sub­jects expressed . Mean ing is drawn from a mutual perception of the tota l ity of l i kely signa ls so that the s imple act of wa lk ing down a path i nto the woods without even a glance may be an i nvitation for a nearby man to fol low. One man I interviewed spoke a bout taking the trouble to learn a l l of the cars of the regulars , and then wa lk ing slowly up and down the sidewa lks checking each car and accounting for its occupant before taking the risk of seeking contact with someone. The sa me subject fou nd that ca r recogn it ion is a common sk i l l : when he del i berately borrowed a d ifferent car, other regulars who had always ignored h im wou ld treat h im as fresh meat and i n itiate contact.

The topogra phy is defined not only by the problem of separati ng out pur­poses for anyone's presence, but a lso by outside th reats , pa rticu la rly the pol ice . I i n it ia l ly assu med that the rest a rea was a particu la rly da ngerous p lace and so was surprised that the men appeared much at ease. But the constant th reat of harassment by the pol ice, and violence from queerbash­ers and other sexua l predators produced d ifferences i n the degree of safety in using specific spots . Men I interviewed mentioned at most two i ncidents of queerbash ing, and two of a busive sex at the rest a rea , but they control led their r isk as much as they could . Pol ice were more of a nu isance that forced the scene to rema in camouflaged and to l im it use of the surround ing woods and park, rather than the overwhelm ing danger they may be elsewhere.

At Lol l i pop Heaven , the pol ice would use trespassing laws to arrest men found in the adjoin i ng park, so few ventu red down there. I d id find pi les of used rubbers i n p laces where the bushes were th ick enough to concea l men from sea rch l ights, but the overa l l effect was to l i m it cru is ing to the

immediate vic in ity of the parking lot , with much of the sex taking place else­where. I t took just long enough for head l ights of ca rs (wh ich cou ld be the

pol ice) to a ppear for men to wa lk from the bottom of the slope back to the

picnic tables where it was at least lega l to stand , so some ora l sex took place at the row of trees . I f the police d id a rrive, some men wou ld d rive away

immed iately, others would just sit or stand and wa it for the pol ice to leave. Some of the cru isers bel ieved that the bars were fa r more dangerous,

whether for antigay violence or for the r isk of being seen wa lk ing i n . I n one's home one takes more of a chance with a complete stranger. The constant

presence of a few other men at the rest a rea , many of whom are regu lars and fa m i l i a r with each other, does provide some safety. One man I i nter­viewed was on ly ha l f jok ing when he a rgued that the R a m bles in Centra l

Park was the safest place in New York City at n ight. M uch interest in the structu re of the sexua l underground revolves

around questions of publ ic health and whether its existence aggravates the A IDS epidemic . Severa l of my i nformants reported that sexual activity at the rest a rea decl i ned sign ificantly after A IDS h it the area in the mid 1980s but picked up aga in now that it is widely bel ieved that certa in sexual practices are safe . Logistica l ly it is d i fficu l t to engage in any sexua l acts that wou ld ta ke longer than a few seconds to d isengage and camouflage oneself. I t i s

proba bly less risky to engage in sex there on the spot than to take someone home, where one has more room and more freedom to get carried away. The men seemed aware of safer sex and the existence of the A IDS epidem­ic , but I expect that was because they were reached by genera l ized media campa igns .

Cruising areas vary considera bly i n gregariousness and gestura l reperto­ry. Si lence a l lows partners to be generous in eva luating each other as desir­

a ble, especia l ly when they can barely see each other. Di rectness and open­ness of conversation is proportiona l to the security of the site . In classic tea­rooms, spoken words may clear the room out as qu ickly as the arriva l of a pol icema n . I n parks and rest a reas , some l ight conversat ion a bout the weather may i n itiate an otherwise si lent contact. On ly i n the most secure sites is conversation l i kely to be routine, casua l , and refer to sexual contact. S i nce tea room cruis ing involves so l ittle spoken language , and is so rarely spoken a bout by its pa rtic ipa nts, there is no com monly recogn ized lan­guage to ta l k a bout i t . The word "tea room" itself was not recogn ized by many of my informants and may be passing out of gay slang.

81

A Hipway Rest Area

as a Socially

Reproducible Site

I have found no way to determine if men who cru ise tea rooms, pa rks, 82

and rest areas a re in a ny way demogra ph ica l ly d ifferent from a ra ndom sam ple of men i n the a rea , or even from men i n other gay s ites . They va ry John Hollister

considerably by location . The rest area men a re a lmost a l l white, as is the su rrou nd ing popu lation , wh i le the rac ia l mix was a lmost ra ndom in two of

the la rge urban pa rks I looked at. In a col lege town , I found a d istinct d ivi-sion between two outdoor cruis ing areas-in one the men were mostly from the col lege , in the other they seemed "town ie , " and proba bly from the near-by countryside.

The cru isers a lso va ry considera bly by t ime. At Lo l l i pop Heaven there were sh ifts. The men who cruised in the early evening appeared to be most­

ly h usbands on their way home from work . This was confirmed by two hus­ba nds I interviewed . Later i n the even ing, the men were i ncreasingly gay­

identified . After last ca l l at the ba rs , the sh ift I observed most frequently, the cru is ing was the most overt as other traffic was m i n i m ized . M a ny of the men were from the gay bars a lthough the i r sta ndards for a partner had d ropped precipitously.

The pattern of sh ifts shows the extent to which these places a re articu­lated with work, le isure , and household sched u les and so a re not enti rely set outside other socia l structures. A fu l l socia l h istory would take these into account (Howard 1995 and Chauncey 1994 are two inqu i ries in this d i rec­t ion ) . The men had the sa me a ims . Not a l l reported gett ing off as a ma in goa l . Many sa id they hoped to meet a lover there, and a few actua l ly suc­ceeded i n fi nd ing one. Some just went to see friends, particula rly recover­i ng a lcohol ics in an a rea where ba rs a re the hegemonic gay meeti ng site . Some met regu la rly with the same people and sat at picnic ta bles watch ing who was fo l lowing whom , and occasiona l ly i nterven i ng if someone was threatened by a predator. Most went a lone. This d ifference in pu rpose gen­erated an ongo ing tens ion between i nd iv idua ls who com pla i ned a bout "c l iq ues of q ueens" whose conversation i nt im idated them , and those c i r­cles of friends who mainta i ned their socia l l ives there .

A contrad iction between a h iera rchy based on whether there is a sel ler's or buyer's market for one's body sha pe and a h iera rchy based on fam i l iarity with the scene m ight be centra l to its socia l structure-resu lt ing i n the con­struction of the aggressive trol l . In most sett i ngs , the regulars set the rules and i n itiate or deter newcomers . Fa m i l ia r ity with the very subtle games of outdoor cru is ing, and the poss ib i l i t ies of specif ic s ites , a re necessary to succeed . But as in most gay male sett i ngs, the young, the muscu lar, and the unfam i l ia r are more l i kely to be sought as partners. Th is contrad iction accou nts for the freq uency of o lder men who act as if they own specific sites, or at least that is how younger cru isers often i nterpret them .

The question of whether the men are gay, closeted , bisexua l , or stra ight &3

i s i rrelevant to the structure of the rest a rea but is among the most freq uent-ly asked . With the com partmenta l ization of l ives in d i fferent sett i ngs with A Hipway Rest Area

d ifferent demands, how many people would consistently see themselves as as a socially

" rea l ly" gay or stra ight in a l l sett ings? The meta phor of the closet does not Reproducible Site

fu l ly cover the problem of presenti ng oneself in d ivergent manners in d iver-gent sites . How a man conducts and understands h imself in the rest of h is l ife is less im portant than what strengths he brings to the site i n terms of the

extent to which he may fit others ' profi les of a desirable or safe partner, h is

ab i l ity to socia l ize with others to the extent that he can rely on the i r support in a crisis, or on their knowledge to improve h is ab i l ity to use the space .

Publ ic sex is neither publ ic nor sex. The colloq u ia l "getting off" captures the spi rit of the sexual encounters better tha n "sex . " "Getti ng off" refers to ma le-centered sexua l release and lacks the normative connotat ions of

"sex" which forms a compromise or tension between mean ings of sex wide­ly attr ibuted to men and to women and so is effective ly heterocentric. The expectat ions of sex-good sex vs. bad sex , rea l sex vs . i m itation , sex as

cement for re lationsh i ps versus sex as recreation-may obscure the signifi­cance that truckstop sex has for most of its partici pants . F ind ing a descrip­tive rather than normative language is closer to impossible for sexual ity than just about any other topic.

Li kewise, the concepts of " publ ic" and " private" ca rry impl ications as to where sexual behavior is appropriate. Rest areas and other setti ngs where cru is ing takes place a re norma l ly and normatively coded as pub l ic . S i nce " pu bl ic" by defi n ition excludes sexual activity, and "privacy" is by defi n ition the context i n which sex is appropriate , referr ing to rest a rea cru is ing and consum mation as pub l ic sex is i ronic or even oxymoronic , even though the sh ie ld ing bathroom sta l l s or bushes at n ight provide are more effective than the wa l ls of many bedrooms. The term in gay-prod uced writi ng, "sem i-pub­l ic sex , " is a compromise rather than a descri ption . Rest area cruisers take great ca re in camouflaging themselves. The few who don't a re as effective in i nduc ing others to leave as a pol iceman . H u m phreys ( 1975) document­ed the self-regu lation of tea rooms, and the sites I observed were concealed from nonpart ic ipants .

If us ing the pub l ic/private d isti nction to descri be or eva l uate the action in tea rooms, pa rks , and rest a reas is as com pulsory in writi ng a bout them as add ress ing the question of whether the men a re rea l l y gay or stra ight, then maybe a phrase l i ke the "col lective private sphere" would work. Such a term i nvites com pa rison with computer chats where people write as if they are a lone, i n private , shari ng private thoughts with others known only by their hand les or screen names. Pa rtic i pants may appear to their spouses

or housemates as s im ply sitt i ng at the ir term ina ls , work ing or convers ing 64 with fel low hobbyists, an am bigu ity para l le l to that of parks where one may s im ply be goi ng for a wa lk , in a tea room us ing the fac i l it ies, at a rest a rea John Hollister

stopping after a long drive. I n fact, they may be making arrangements with strangers to meet.

I i n itia l ly a pproached noncommod ified outdoor cruis ing s ites as a con­trast to the lesbian and gay orga n izations that structu red my own com i ng out, and m uch of my l i fe s ince then . The contrast between them is so stark as to bring out the pa rticu lar features of each . The worlds of tearooms and of orga n izat ions a re as sepa rate from each other as e ither is from other doma ins of l ife . It is a lmost a bsurd they should be com bined and conflated in a s i ngle "gay, lesbian , a nd bisexua l h istory. " They are d ifferent activities that gay men may ta ke part in at d i fferent moments, but they a l so r ide tra ins , attend schools, hold jobs, and so forth . There is of course some rela­

t ion ; cru is ing m ight bring a bout the crit ica l mass of people and density of networks who know each other that makes ba rs and then orga n izat ions viable, and anecdotes about cruis ing sites is an occasional topic of conver­sation among gay people in other settings .

The gay of activism is as eva ngel ica l a construction as heterosexual ity: a nyone who desi res a body of the sa me sex is gay, lesbia n , b isexua l , or queer and ought to come out. The gay of the tearoom is the reverse . Wh i le a ny man may jo in i n the act ion at a tearoom , I doubt that many cru isers bel ieve that every man should pa rtici pate . In an activist orga n ization , gay­ness is an a lmost asexua l vocal declarat ion of one's identity, wh i le in the tea room it i s an unspoken-even unspeaka ble-m utua l recogn it ion that precedes relatively efficient sexual gratification. In the world of gay organ i ­zations, where publ ic declarations a re privi leged , f ine d isti nctions between "gay" and " bisexua l " and "queer" can become major points of contention . I n a tearoom, such d ist inctions are a bsurd except as a possi ble element of part ic ipants' fantasies a bout each other.

The socia l reproduction of gay organ izations is very easy to trace, as they leave written records of their rhythms through their own function ing: m in ­utes , newsletters, annua l reports, by- laws . Organ izations assu me the exis­tence of motivated vol unteers wi l l i ng to work even if they don't feel l i ke it. They may be formal ly i ncorporated by the state, and in a sense function as a state, bu i ld ing and mainta in i ng the i nfrastructures of a community. Whi le gay organ izations req u i re consta nt i n puts of active wi l l , tea rooms req u i re on ly a steady strea m of pa rtic i pants, and the very occas iona l man who is i ntrepid enough to dr i l l the glory holes and peepholes between sta l l s .

Whi le the gayness of organ izations is often compared to race or ethn ic ity as the marker of a status group , the unspoken gayness of tea rooms more

c losely resem bles such stigmatized or i l lega l activit ies as d rug use, and &5

often over la ps with the m . I n one case I found a cu ltu re of "twea kers" or

crysta l methamphetam ine users search ing for or se l l i ng the chem ica l us ing A Hlatnr•J Rest Ana

a cruis ing s ite for camouflage, just as cru is ing norma l ly depends on other as a SoclaiiJ

activities for concea lment. Reproducible Site

Orga n izat ions genera l ly va l ue cosexua l i ty, a nd see ma le and fema le

homosexual ity as para l lel . Many have ma le and female cochairs , a nd strive to attract eq ua l n u m bers of mem bers, even if i n practice most groups are i m ba la nced one way or a nother. Cru is ing a reas a re exc lusively ma le doma i ns ; any woman is automatica l ly assumed to be an i ntruder. When a woman wa l ked her dog i nto the woods at a rest a rea , men d i spersed or

ca mouflaged themselves as bysta nders. Truckstop and park cru is i ng a re rooted in the old domination of publ ic space by men, and in the gendering

of adventure and of ra pe, which I suspect are the reasons why tearoom sex among women is so ra re , rather tha n because of some i n nate d ifference between women 's and men 's sexua l i ty. H u nt ing is a common meta phor

when cruisers do ta lk a bout their experiences. Organ izations are based upon a conception of homosexual ity as a plau­

s i b le basis for form i ng a group . They a re based on the assumption that

there is more to being gay than who one wants to make love with . I suspect ( but ca nnot confi rm) that most tea room pa rtic i pa nts fi nd it as a bsurd to orga n ize on the bas is of homosexua l i ty as m ight a med ieva l Europea n or one of the "Sambia" of New Gu inea .

Although there is a more extensive fol klore a bout tea rooms a mong gay men than a mong heterosexua ls or lesbia ns , gay- identif ied men who use

tea rooms are as secretive a bout it, a nd even the conversations they have at the rest a rea itself ra re ly betray the reasons why they a re there . Even gay activists wi l l concea l their identities at the tearoom as thoroughly as a Ba p­t ist preacher. 2

The Social Reproduction of Sites

I t is on ly p laus ib le to com bine with i n a s i ngle fra me the sexua l under­ground , the lesbian and gay socia l movement, and a variety of other forms for understand i ng oneself and orga n iz ing one's activit ies in re lat ion to desire for others of s im i la r anatomy because of the extent to which gay and lesbian i nstitutions have projected an " imagined commun ity" i n the sense of Bened ict Anderson 's ana lysis of nationa l ism . I magined commun ities a re fictions that a re ena bled by the tech nology of pr int ing and that should be j udged by the creativity in which they are i magined rather than the truth or fa lsity of their construction (Anderson 1983: 1 5) .

The i magined commun ity is susta ined by the gay press. The gay press 88

reprod uces perspectives which a re most p laus ib le in the spati a l ly dense networks of the North American urban gay- identified neigh borhoods where John Hollister

that press has its la rgest market. If we suspend this sense of the gay neigh-borhood ( Levine 1979; Caste l ls 1983; M urray 1996} as the h ighest form of gay development with hundreds of organ izations and bars, and refra i n from ta k ing sma l l -town and rura l gay l ife as j ust i m pover ished i m itat ions or underdeveloped peri pheries, then the centra l ity of a starkly l im ited number of soc ia l ly reprod uc ib le s ites to gay l ife becomes very evident. And i n

retu rn i ng to those cit ies , that pro l iferation of i nst itut ions is too eas i ly red uced to variations on a few themes, a lthough a visibly gay neighborhood m ight be ana lyzed as a site of its own .

What keeps an organ ization going is d isti nct enough from what makes a cruis ing site viable that their h istories are effectively d istinct. How homosexu­

a l ity is understood and organized is not the result of cu ltura l forces that oper­ate on the level of an entire nation in a particu lar epoch , nor on the level of i nd ividual bra ins, but rather the part icularities of the loci of social interaction where ind ivid uals identify themselves and feel desire. How this takes place in cruising sites, organ izations, bars, and so forth, d iffer enough that each is best understood separately. Each site has its own impact on sexual ity.

It does not seem to make sense s im ply to categorize d i fferent k inds of homosexual people accord ing to c lass and race and gender a long the meta phor of the colors i n pla id , with each tone intersecting with another to prod uce a specific , essentia l type. These i ntersections do not exist i n the ether: the intersections a mong them are constituted very differently in each site , and overlapping oppressions can be most effectively chal lenged at the level of the site where the oppressions do the most damage. It is the differen­tiation of accessib i l ity and what ski l l s or tra its a re va l uable that accounts for the variation in experiences that are marked by race and class and education and cu lture, etc . A tearoom can 't demand three forms of I D . An i ntel lectua l conversation won't pass in a bar. Any conversation won't pass i n a tearoom.

S ites are a l l of the specific scenes we pass through i n the course of a day or i n the course of our l ives . They m ight inc lude a d inner ta ble, a h ighway, a com bi nation of TV and viewers, a workplace, a school , a conference. What passes as the "gay, lesbian , and bisexua l " commun ity is actual ly an aggre­gate of ba rs , tea rooms, com puter bu l let i n boards , activist orga n izat ions, support groups , faerie gatheri ngs , music festiva ls , domestic pa rtnersh ips , and so forth .

Each site is , in a sense, an organ ism that draws people in and resha pes them . As one participates, one develops a stake in the game, in one's posi­t ion i ng re lat ive to others with i n it , whether it be a struggle or more of a

dance. One ca n affect its shape and textu re by s im ply bei ng there and &7

obeying its rules, and even more in i nfl uencing how others act in it. In some fields the struggle is more acute, part icularly in those that have a strategic A HI1hwayRest Area

place i n the la rger economy, or which may monopol ize a specif ic need . as a soclally

Each site has its own logic of reprod uction-its own means of perpetuating Reproducible Site

itself, as wel l as its own cond itions of existence. It begi ns at some point i n h istory, and lasts as long as its pa rt ic ipants have a reason to care, and a s long a s its conditions of existence permit.3

Sites a re not j ust locations, or scri pts del ivered on part icular stages: the spatia l and cu ltura l aspects of s ites are u lt i mately i nsepa rab le . S ites a re processes of socia l reproduction. I could create some nasty neologism such as "situa l itizations" but wi l l use the more i ntu itive but potentia l ly m islead ing "s ites" as a courtesy to the reader. I use "soc ia l reprod uction " i nstead of "socia l construction" because the latter e l ides and conflates very different socia l processes, while trapping scholars in a futi le debate over whether any

given process is constructed or essentia l . Socia l reproduction as a focus for conceptual iz ing cont inu ity in Marxist theory origi na l ly referred specifica l ly to

those processes that are necessary for the surviva l and expansion of capital­ism, part icu la rly around ra is ing ch i l d ren i n homes and schools for their appropriate posit ions i n the d istri bution of la bor. But the phrase is often enough used loosely for any processes of conti nu ity, and that is how I want

to appropriate it. Andrew Parker has referred to it as the site of heterosexism with in Marxist theory (Warner 1993) . M ichele Barrett notes that social repro­duction is conflated with biologica l reprod uction , basica l ly a pun ( Ba rrett 1980) . Thus, there is some "q ueering" mischief in using its use here.

Sites are researchable or operationa l izable from three aspects, each cor­respond i ng to sharp l i m its on the via b i l ity or soc ia l reprod uc ib i l ity of a ny given site, and those l im its account for their sa l ience in constructing people:

1 . The actua l engagement of bod ies at specific places and times: physica l poss ib i l ities of space and t ime are further l im ited by such socia l materia l condit ions as land markets , a rch itecture, rhythms of work and le isure, and patterns of access ib i l ity.

2 . Construction of mean ing: a ) socia l recognizab i l ity in the sense that critica l masses of potentia l partic ipants wi l l recognize com patible poss ib i l ities i n a part icular location-a site only exists as a site to the extent that it is socia l ly defi ned and recogn iza ble; b) commun i­cation and structure with i n the site .

Each site susta ins pa rticu lar forms of commun ication, and reprod uces d isti nct but contesta ble laws for what k inds of state­ments may c i rcu late, what is imaginable and speaka ble, and what

is s i lenced or repressed . It presumes particu lar constructions of the body and the self, and reproduces those constructions in its part icipants. How people act and what they say is i nevitably a per­formance with i n specific sites in relation to loca l power re lations and the d istribution of strengths, whatever other mean ings those gestures may have , though the extent to which one is engaged in

the politics of a particu lar site varies considerably. The bou ndaries among sites are less clear than they seem. Categorization is a socia l process , and the very act of defin ing particu lar s ites is an i ntervention with i n them. Each observation and descr iption of a s ite is an engagement with in it. Cu ltura l imaginabi l ity is not inf in itely polymorphous. There are few sites that critica l masses of people wil l be a ble to recogn ize and use .

3 . Context: what outside forces shape i t and make i t possib le . I n the case of cruis ing sites, these inc lude the pol ice and queerbashers who force it to take on its camouflaged form . Also, th is covers a si lent war of a rch itects , some of whom may perha ps de l i berately design pu bic bu i ld ings and parks to make them more cond ucive for cru is ing, wh i le others, perhaps fol lowing the advice of Delph ( 1 980) , attem pt to rebu i ld bathrooms, rest a reas and parks so as to deter cruis ing. On a larger sca le is the whole h istory of pub l ic transportation .

If there is anyth ing d isti nct a bout sites commonly coded as gay, or even queer, it m ight be that the c loset or the tactica l com pl ications of a double l i fe l im it the extent to which ind iv iduals can wi l lfu l ly contr ibute to the main­tenance of those sites .

My conviction that a s ite-centered ana lys is of gay l ife is theoretica l ly, practica l ly, and pol it ica l ly usefu l is the resu lt of work ing for severa l yea rs bu i ld ing gay and lesbian commun ity organ izations in a town where organiz­i ng feels l i ke bu i ld ing a fi re with wet wood . To what extent do socia l move­ments rea l ly act on behalf of the people they imagine they represent? Why don 't most gay people find activism as com pe l l i ng as do the activists? Specifica l ly, what is the relationsh ip between gay activism and other, possi­bly older, socia l scenes organ ized around homosexua l ity.

At my most pess im istic I fea r that organ izers a re not em powering oppressed peoples so much as attempting to colon ize them. Bu i ld i ng a few new spaces, and coord inating a mong them through the development of a gay press , is both d i fficu lt and im portant for i ncreas ing the means of gays and lesbia ns to support each other and ga i n confidence in confronti ng homophobia in other areas of our l ives. I n this context, arguments about what gays really a re , and what words should be used , r ing scholast ic . I t seems

68

John Hollister

wasteful to fight over imposing utopian standards when it is nearly impossible &9

to bui ld any kind of gay-positive sites at a l l . The d isti nction between rad ica l and ass imi lationist politics that is so prominent in 1990s queer political writ- A Hipway Rest Ar�a

i ng seems i rreleva nt when the most d isti nctive gay institution-the sexua l as a Socially

underground-is a lso molded to the preva i l ing gendered order. Reproducible Silt

The s ites of the u n ivers ity and the act iv ist grou ps that structure gay

stud ies or q ueer theory ca rry with them some b l i nders that may l i mit the accuracy of the work, and the effectiveness of the polit ics. They are born of word-based sites and don 't travel we l l outside of them . Queer theory and

gay stud ies may be a mong the most reflexive of academic fie lds , but do not ta ke into account how the fie lds of activism and academia themselves are situated relative to the people written about. An activism that seeks to mob i l ize outs ide of a few enc laves, and a h i story that i nc l udes and respects com m u n ities as they a re rather tha n how one wou ld l i ke to pre­sent them , wou ld be more sensitive to the d ifferences a mong the sites i n

t he landscape. Differences a mong the k inds of frequent ly viable sett i ngs , l a rgely

defi ned by the poss ib i l ity of ma le-to-male sexua l contact, account for at

least some of the permanent instabi l ity of sexual categories and the contra­d ictions and a m biguit ies i n the ways that homosexual ity is organ ized and understood . There is no sta ble match a mong sexua l practices, identit ies,

and the words to describe them because they cannot be reduced either to types of i nd ivid ua ls or to pa rticu lar d iscourses of a n era . Rather, they a re by-prod ucts of soc ia l processes that ta ke place i n part icu l a r locations . Therefore terminological debates cannot be permanently resolved . The l it­eratu re prod uced through q ueer stud ies may ana lyze "gay, lesbia n , and b i sexua l " identit ies i n genera l , and occasiona l ly observe how they may i n tersect with race, gender and even class, but it does l ittle to account for how ja rr ing the contrasts a mong their mea n i ngs in d i fferent sett i ngs ca n get . The "gay" of a lesbia n and gay soc ia l movement orga n ization , the "gay" of a cru is ing a rea , and the "gay" of a gay ba r a re d ist i nct entit ies. I ndeed , speak ing of cruis ing a reas as "gay" at al l r isks i m posing the fan­tasies o f outsiders, whether they be gay o r heterosexual- identified . What i t means to be gay is site-specific.

E N DNOTE S Tha n ks on previous d rafts to Terence K. Hopk ins , Mart in M u rray, Evelyn Naka no

G lenn , Wi l l iam Lea p, and the aud ience at the 1994 l nq ueery/l ntheory/ l ndeed : 6th

North American Lesbian , Gay, and B isexual Studies Conference at the U n iversity of Iowa , Iowa City. Thanks to the men I interviewed , who made suggestions as to what

to look for. Errors, m isjudgments, and theoretica l hubris are my own .

1 . For d iscussion of the eth ics of such f ieldwork, see Bolton ( 1 995) and the 70

debates a ppended to H u m phreys ( 1975) .

2. For late 1970s exam ples see Delph ( 1978:30). John Hollister

3. My sense of sites has been sha ped by the combination of field and ha bitus in

the work of Pierre Bourdieu ( 1980) , though I am using it in a more specific sense than

I th ink Bourd ieu intends; Connel l 's ( 1987) "settings" as contexts for the enactment of

gender; DeCerteau's ( 1984) "spaces" ; Harriet Fried man's ( 1 980) "forms of prod uc­

tion" as a strategy for conceptua l iz ing recurr ing patterns of soc ia l orga n ization in

terms of both loca l , especial ly household , relations and global cond itions of existence;

and the relation between discipline and d iscourse i n M ichel Foucault (esp. 1975).

R E F E R ENC E S Anderson, Bened ict. 1983 . Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and

Spread of Nationalism. London : Verso

Ba rrett, M ichele. 1980. Women s Oppression Today: Problems in Marxist Feminist

Analysis; London: Verso

Bolton, Ra lph. 1995. "Tricks, friends, and lovers: Erotic encounters in the field . " I n

Ku l ick and Wi l lson , eds . , Taboo: Sex, Identity, and Erotic Subjectivity in

Anthropological Fieldwork, pp. 140-£7. New York: Routledge.

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1980. The Logic of Practice. Stanford : Stanford Un iversity Press.

Castel Is, Manue l . 1983 . The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-Cultural Theory of

Urban Social Movements. Part 3: City and Cu lture: The San Francisco Experi­

ence. Berkeley: U n iversity of Cal ifornia Press.

Chauncey, George. 1994. Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of

the Gay Male World: 1890-1940. New York: Basic Books.

Con nel l , R. W. 1987 . Gender and Power. Stanford : Stanford Un iversity Press.

De Certeau , M ichel . 1984. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: U n iversity of Ca l i­

fornia Press.

Del ph , Edwa rd W. 1978. The Silent Community: Public Homosexual Encounters.

Beverly H i l ls : Sage.

Foucault, M ichel . 1975. Surveiller et Punir. Paris: Gal l imard .

Friedmann, Harriet. 1980. "Household Prod uction a n d the National Economy: Con­

cepts for the Ana lysis of Agra r ian Formations . " Journal of Peasant Studies

7(2) : 1 58--84.

Howa rd , J o h n . 1995. "The L ibra ry, the Park, and the Pervert: P u bl ic Space and

Homosexual Encou nter in Post-World Wa r I I Atlanta . " Radical History Review

62: 166-87.

H u m phreys , La ud . 1975. Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places. New

York: Ald ine .

Levi ne , Martin P . 1979. "Gay Ghetto . " In Lev ine , ed . , Gay Men: The Sociology of

Male Homosexuality. New York: Harper and Row.

M urray, Stephen 0. 1996. American Gay. Chicago: Un iversity of Chicago Press.

Warner, M ichael . 1993 . Fear of a Queer Planet: Queer Politics and Social Theory.

M i nneapol is: Un iversity of M i nnesota Press.

Speaking to the Gay Bathhouse:

Communicating in Sexual ly Charged Spaces

I R A TAT T E L M A N

Gay bathhouses are pa rt of the emergence of a gay male commun ity i n the

latter half of the twentieth centu ry. The baths provide a publ ic place where a wide mix of strangers can come together. Men from vastly d ifferent emo­tiona l , sexua l , and physical worlds a rrive at the baths wanting to make con­nections with other men. Tolerant of d ifference, open to a d iversity of uses, the pu b l ic terr itory of the bathhouse gives men the space to defi ne , sup­port, or flaunt their sexual i nterests . Through voyeu rism and exh i bition ism, consu m ption and contro l , tacti l i ty and motion , and a uthority and inc l i na­

tion , men undergo a publ ic transformation by projecting, acti ng u pon , and maybe even transcending their imagin i ngs and des i res. As one factor i n the development of a gay identity, the baths offer va riety and opportun ity, and propose new ways to explore relationsh i ps between men . With i n the

spaces, one can defy conventions through the prom ise of sexual relations; des ire is mu lt ip l ied and sexual d iversity is promoted .

As vita l sites of everyday actions and spat ia l function i ng, the baths pro­vide the safety and freedom with i n which to enjoy a mu lt ip le set of i nterrela­t ions. Those i nteractions are made poss ib le through a system of codes and behaviors. Th is pa per investigates the network of procedures and practices that govern com mun ication with in the baths.

Baths a re sites of eroticism and pleasure that try to appear t imeless and sepa rate from the world . In th is space with water, naked men, and sexua l ly cha rged situat ions , behavior is isolated and , as a resu lt , performed with more a bandon and candor. The infrastructure of security, the placement of a support staff, and the spatia l juxta posit ions of activities make th is possi ­b le ; the construction of the baths suggests certa i n paths and poss ib i l it ies. The choreogra phy of the spaces, the ma rks and bou nda ries that i nd icate what is seen/scene a nd not seen/scene a re pa rt icula rly relevant in th is cu l ­ture of look ing a nd touch i ng but a l so , look ing and not touch ing , or even touch ing without looking.

4

I n an attem pt to brea k the ba rr iers that sepa rate people , the baths 72

equal ize patrons through a un iform dress code: a white towel is d istri buted at the poi nt of entry, and through the d i m ness of l ights , a theatrica l ly lra Tatttlman

designed l ighting scheme favors the other senses over sight. By entering the bu i ld ing, one accepts a position in the performance and rituals of the space .

Com m u n ication a mong patrons often occurs through codes such as body p lacement , hand gestures, and towel a rra ngement, rather than words . Th is should not i m ply that the baths are s i lent . The bou nda ries of the i nterior spaces, which are clearly a rt iculated and developed i n relation to the body, form an exact but i ncom plete enc losure; the wood pa nel d ividers between cu bicles, for example, never reach the cei l i ng. Even when a room is closed to view, it is never closed to sound . As a resu lt, one's erotic

utterances are l i nked to al l others that a re ha ppen ing at the same time. As a gay man who went to h is fi rst bathhouse i n 1980, I am i nterested i n

the baths because they are places where mainstream society comes u nder question . Because patrons feel protected , new strategies of exploration and exchange are possib le ; d iverse relations between men happen . By focusing on the rules of i nteraction , the cond it ions of operation , and the strategies determ ined by the movement of a body through the bath house, I plan to defi ne these spaces of gay male affi l iation .

Gay Male Desire

Men 's des ire for other men has created a landsca pe of sex spaces. Sex ta kes place in pa rks, a l l eys , restrooms, and rest stops. Licensed venues a l so survive, whi le dependent on lega l status, soc ia l custom , and loca l health depa rtments . These commerc ia l sex esta b l ishments inc lude adu lt theaters , video arcades, bookstores, bars, and bathhouses.

Pub l ic law off icers and health offic ia ls , as "p rotectors" of the genera l publ ic , seek ways t o regu late these sex spaces. They argue that sex, espe­c ia l l y between men , is not a private issue. Anti -sodomy laws and A I DS­related closings back them up .

(Stud ies have suggested that men are l i kel ier to have safer sex i n publ ic setti ngs than i n private ones. Articles that d iscuss these stud ies include "Gay Baths Revisited " [ Bolton , Vincke, and Mak 1994] , "NYC's War on Sex" [ Eigo 19951 , and "Why Gay Men Are Having Unsafe Sex Aga in " [Warner 1995] . )

With Bowers vs Hardwick, the U .S . Su preme Court decided that an ind i­v idua l does not have the r ight to engage i n certa i n sexual acts whether in " private" or " publ ic" spaces. And i n a recent decision , the Georgia Supreme Court ru led that wh i le citizens have the right to privacy, the state has a more important right to further "the moral welfare of the publ ic" ( "Georgia Hangs on to Sodomy Law" : 23) . Sexuality is legislated and socially controlled .

Homophobia conti n ues to flour ish , rema i n i ng i m p l icit in much govern- 73

ment legislation cover ing female and male sexual ity, and freq uently

expl icit i n the right-wing press , i n school playgrounds , at the pu l pit , in speakinl to the

men's c lubs and in the mi l itary. (Forrest 1994:104)

As a resu lt, the separation between publ ic and private ca n be descri bed as

an artific ia l construction . The homophobia i m p l ic it i n the den ia l of a pr ivate gay male rea l m is

often based on fea r of objectification and visual desire. The debates center on the d iscomfort that a stra ight man feels when looked upon by a gay man , the bel ief that t he stra ight man w i l l be either sed uced or forced to protect h i mself aga inst the invad ing gay male. This logic impl ies that the voyeuristic gaze or look is ava i la b le between people of the sa me gender and has a n overwhe lming force . ( I use the term "gaze" a s theorized in "Visual Pleasure and Narrative C inema" ( M u lvey 1989) and " look " as theorized in " Fass­b inder and Lacan : A Reconsideration of Gaze, Look , and I mage" [S i lver­

man 1992 ] . ) I n rea l ity, wh i l e some homosexual sol ic itat ions rely on t he la nguage of

the body, that language needs to be learned in order to send a message and to ascerta in whether the other ind ividua l is i nterested . These gestures and

signa ls guarantee that people who do not want to have sex are not put i nto uncomfortable situations and that those who do participate, do so wi l l i ngly.

Wh i le the d isti nctions between pub l ic and pr ivate ca n be a rbitra r i ly d rawn , some a rgue that responsiveness and consent are a s ign of privacy in the sexual rea lm . R ichard Mohr writes:

We need to abandon the idea that i n order for sex to be considered pri­

vate, it must be hidden away behind four wal ls . It is not geography or mere

physical enclosure that makes sex private . . . . The sex act creates its own

i nterpersonal sa nctua ry which in turn is necessary for its success . . . . If

the part icipants are a l l consenting to be there with each other for the pos­

s ib i l ity of sex polymorphic, then they fulfi l l the criterion of the private in the

rea lm of the sexual . ( Mohr 1996: 17-18)

For ma ny, gay l i beration was pri mar i ly a bout sexua l expression . Gay men used this freedom to develop erotic environments that celebrated

communa l sex options. These spaces offered new socia l structures, plea­sure practices and changing defin it ions. To make a sexual choice in front of others, who by thei r presence were i nvolved conti ngently and a pplauded the ab i l ity to make these k inds of decis ions, beca me an i m petus for self­sufficiency, a redefi n it ion of who the gay man is and what he ca n do. Sex between men (especia l ly in safe envi ronments) created growing opportun i­ties for resista nce, strategic posit ions from which to construct the " mean­ing" of one's existence .

Gay Bathhouse

As the title of Wei nberg and Wi l l iams's article "Gay Baths and the Socia l 74

Orga n izat ion of I m persona l Sex" i m pl ies , the authors be l ieved activit ies between ind ivid uals i n the baths were unconnected and detached : " Deper- lra Tattelman

sona l ization and objectif ication a re sa l ient featu res of our part ic ipants' ideals regard ing impersonal sex" ( 1979: 1 79) .

They l i nked gay male desi re to the anonymity of commod ification and the mass-production of consumer cu lture by writ ing that "gay baths are seen to provide 'easy sex' i n the same way that neighborhood shopping centers pro­vide 'easy shopping' " { 1979: 1 78) . What th is and other stud ies of the t ime period fa i led to rea l ize is that sexua l expression has the potent ia l to bond men together, a socia l i nteraction through physica l ly d i rect i nvolvement.

(The fol lowi ng books, wh ich bega n to study and descri be gay male desire, a lso highl ight the im persona l nature of gay baths. They inc lude The

Gay World [Hoffman 1968] , The Homosexual Network [ R ueda 19671 , and Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation [Altman 1974] . )

Whi le pa rt ic ipa nts i n 1975 m ight wish to "concea l the activity o r avoid i nvolvements" {Weinberg and Wi l l iams 1979: 1 74) , by the late 1970s , men were l i n ing up to get i nto the baths and arriving at the baths in couples. Sex­ual preferences were openly placed on the street; the i ntersection of private l ives and pub l ic personas, commerc ia l property and pub l ic op in ion , con­tested the l im ited experiences and practices that were ava i lable to gay men.

I t ' s d i fficu lt to report honestly a bout what happened at the baths of the

East Vi l lage i n the late seventies. There were so many of us do ing thi ngs

we were emba rrassed by, yet we were a lso fi n d i ng the expression of

dreams we'd dreamt for our enti re l ives . (Jones 1975: 1 53)

Wein berg and Wi l l iams bel ieved that if one does not speak ( l im it ing ver­ba l com m u n icat ion is one of the ru les with i n the bath house ) , a ny excha nge that ta kes place is i m persona l and not very i m porta nt . Th is paper a rgues that the phys ica l honesty and expressiveness of the baths offered both contact and comfort . These mea n i ngfu l sett i ngs i nvolved an array of bod ies and actions. These men may have been more open to new experiences and relaxed beca use mem bersh i p ca rds a nd/or adm iss ion fees a l lev iated some of the a nxiety su rrou nd i ng unexpected vis itors and pol ice surve i l lance. The con nections and attachments that were ignored by most stud ies led to vis ib i l i ty and assertiveness. I t is t ime for the bath­house to come out.

Here, you are not wicked for fee l ing lust. Here, you can look freely at what

you desire, get aroused and .shoot a load . Most i m portant, here you can

bring out i nto the open a pa rt of you that is completely rea l , but doesn't

usually get to come out and play. ( Mad ison 1995: 102)

/(}

, , , ' , ., . .

, ,,

t

A) c �--------���---L�-L---J �----��---

F I G u R E 4 . 1 . Col l age of St . Marks S i te w i th F loorp l a n

Welcome to the Baths

My d iscussion of the baths uses the New St. Marks Baths as its mode l . Th i s

bath house on the Lower East S ide i n New York City was b u i lt i n 1913 as the

Sa i nt Ma rks R ussia n a n d Tu rk ish Baths . I n the 1 950s, the baths catered to

loca l i m m igra nts in the a rea d u ri ng the day a n d attracted gay men at n ight. I ts su rviva l was dependent on both grou ps.

A turk ish bath , l i ke the Qua ker service, i s a p lace of s i lent meet ing . The

s i lence is s h a red so le ly by m e n , men who come u n iq uely together not to

75

Speaking to the Gay Bathhouse

spea k but to act. More even than the army, the bath is by defi n it ion a 76

male, if not a mascu l ine, doma in . ( Rorem 1967 :188)

I n the 1960s , it beca me exc l us ive ly gay, a lthough cons idered d i rty, poorly l it , and un invit ing. B ruce Ma i lman , who bought and refu rbished the baths i n 1979, wa nted to create a space designed for sex ; anyth ing that d i stracted from the sexua l activit ies and satisfactions of its patrons was

removed . In 1985, the bath house was c losed by the c ity due to H IV and A I DS . The bu i ld ing, wh ich has been boa rded u p ever s ince , was recently sold to a video cha i n that has tu rned the bu i ld i ng i nto a store , cafe , and studio .

Whi le the New St. Ma rks Baths is c losed , many bath houses a re sti l l open a n d popu lar with i n the U n ited States. ( I n some cit ies, gay business­men a re design i ng new ones or try ing to reopen those that a re c losed . )

Accord ing to Steam, there a re at least 6 1 bathhouses currently operating i n the U n ited States. These baths a re open i n eighteen states a s we l l a s i n

Wash ington D . C . a n d Puerto R ico ( " Listi ngs : Spring 1994" ) . They d istr ibute condoms, ho ld H IV awa reness sess ions , and rema i n protected env i ron­ments for male-to-male sexual activity. For these reasons, I have chosen to write about the baths in the present tense.

We are able to i nvent safe sex beca use we have always known that sex is

not, in an epidemic or not, l i m ited to penetrative sex. Our promiscu ity

ta ught us many thi ngs, not only a bout the pleasure of sex, but about the

great m u lt ip l ic ity of those pleasures. I t is that psychic preparation , that

exper imentation , that conscious work on our own sexual it ies that has

a l lowed many of us to change our sexual behaviors . (Crimp 1988:253)

The bu i ld ing is five stories ta l l , pa i nted dark gray. Closed off to the street, the bu i ld ing's doors are anonymous and its windows have steel shutters . A bronze plaque on the front, placed by the h istorical society, remi nds visitors that the bu i ld i ng was the last c ity res idence of Ja mes Fen i more Cooper ( 1 789-185 1 ) , best known for writi ng the Leatherstocki ng Ta les.

[St. Mark's Place] has cafes and ba rs for students and unem ployed actors

and writers . There a re bout iq ues and bookshops, which look tawd ry t i l l

you d raw close and rea l ize many of them are surprisingly expensive. Other

shops cater to what New Yorkers th ink of as punk . . . . At one end of this

short street is a gay bathhouse, a blank facade with only a d iscreet plaque

on the door to identify it . ( B rook 1985:55)

One enters the bu i ld i ng by pushing open a sol id door and c l im bing up a marble sta i rcase with da rk-t i le wa l ls to the fi rst leve l . Because mainstream soc iety often tries to exc lude gay men , to render them inv is ib le , the baths create a des i ra ble, associational space, removed from the rest of the world .

Ira Tattelman

F I G U R E 4 . 2 . Col l age of St. Marks Facade

I ns ide , men search for love , com m u n ity, release, and h u ma n touch ; they a re free to congregate with others who l i ke what they l i ke , or wa nt what they wa nt. Through spatia l exclusivity, the baths esta b l ish an order and orga n i ­zat ion that a utomatica l ly l i n ks otherwise un related bod ies . As spaces of mostly un restricted activity, the interactions with in begi n to d ispel notions of isolat ion, a l ienation , self-contro l , and lone l i ness .

I ssues of class, age, race·, and sexua l orientation create a d i lemma for soc ia l i nteract ion on the street . The baths try to offer someth ing e lse . Wh i le one can a rgue that they i nevita b ly defi ne , exc lude , and l i m it the i r i n hab ita nts (for a d i scuss ion a bout the structu res of power i n the baths, see Bersa n i 1988) , many d ifferent k i nds of men pass th rough the door

77

Speakina to the

Gay Bathhouse

F I G U R E 4 . 3 . Photo of Cafe Cou ntertop

a n d der ive sexua l p leasu re from the act iv it ies of the bath house . The mar­

r ied , gay, stra ight , q uestion i ng , exper i ment ing , a n d enjoy i ng men ( idea l ly,

a heterogeneous c ross-sect ion of men) a re a b le to pa rt ic i pate in the baths

wi thout hav i ng to q u est ion the i r ro le with i n homophob ia , rac i s m , c lass i ­

c i s m , ag i sm , and t h e oth e r p h o b i a s and isms fo u n d outs ide the bath ­

house . A s a resu l t , t h e baths susta i n contra d i ctory not ions o f rea l i ty a nd

des i re .

At the l a n d i n g there i s an a d m iss ions desk a nd to the r ight , a cafe . I f

there is a l i ne of men wa it ing to get ins ide or if a l l the rooms a re ta ken , one

ca n wa it in the cafe . On th is s ide of the cou nter, everyone i s fu l ly d ressed ,

wea r i ng t h e i r street c l othes . Coffee , tea a n d sa ndwiches a re ava i l a b l e .

D i rectly across t h e cou nter a re men eat ing a n d d r i n k i ng i n the i r towe ls or

nude . The i nteract ion a n d sense of ease between these two gro u ps at th is

pa rt icu la r ly fragi le bou ndary, basica l l y a three foot cou nter, defi ne the baths

as much as the sexua l contact that ta kes p lace e lsewhere. No one crosses

the counte r to get to the other s ide a n d no one on the c l othed s ide eve n

cons iders u n d ress i ng .

At the brass-caged cas h i er 's desk ( retr ieved from a d isma nt led ba n k ) ,

the cho ices inc lude a s i ngle roo m , doub le room , or locker. Choos ing a room

gives one a s pace to ca l l one's own . A locker provides a space to hang ones

c loth i ng; no other pr ivate s pace i s gua ra nteed .

The bath h ouse genera l ly costs more tha n a movie but less than a hotel

room . I ts rates a re fa i r l y com pa ra b l e to a m usement parks , major m use­

u m s , and a q u a r i u m s . In a d d i t ion to money, the bath asks for two s igna-

78

Ira Tattelman

F I G U R E 4 . 4 . Photo of Cash ier's Wi ndow

tu res , one fo r registrat ion a n d one fo r va l u a b l e s , w h i c h a re put i nto a

locked safety deposit box . The attenda nt then hands over a towe l , key, a nd

condom .

The stea m baths a re not free , a n d for t h i s reason a lone they a re beyond

the mea n s of m a n y who k n ow what they offer. M ost of them , a l so have

some m i n i m u m safegua rd s of d ecoru m , refus i n g , for exa m pl e , to a d m it

c u stomers who a re obv ious ly d r u n k . Age may a l so i n h i b i t some peop l e

w h o m ight otherwise patron ize them-the demea n i ng possi b i l ity o f being

cast as a lecherous and " d i rty old man" i f you a re past forty-five . N ud i ty,

too , is d i stastefu l to m a n y m e n , pa rt i c u l a r ly to those who a re sens i t ive

a bout the " m a n l i ness" of t h e i r phys iques and a re e m ba rrassed even i n

the approved asexua l atmosphere o f the locker roo m . (Read 1 980:37)

A buzzer u n locks the heavy i n ner sec u r ity d oor that se pa rates the space outsid e from the space i n s i d e . O ne can beg i n to a p prec iate the s ights ,

sou nds , sme l l s . a n d tastes that a re ava i la ble . Off to the left i s a long row of

79

Speaking to the Gay Bathhouse

F I G U R E 4 . 5 . Model of East Wa l l , the P l u m b i ng Wa l l

F I G U R E 4 . 6 . Model of West Wa l l , the C i rc u l at ion Wa l l

d o u b l e lockers with ve ry l i tt le space i n betwee n . To t h e r ight i s t h e cafe .

Around the corner is a n orgy room a nd stra ight a head is a b lack steel sta i r­

case lea d i ng u psta i rs .

The mate r i a l s and co lors of the bat h h ouse a re masc u l i ne : fa ke p i n e

pa ne l i ng , brown carpet, gray pa i nt , and ma roon v i nyl . Materia ls a re d u rab le

and easy to m a i nta i n ; they m ust age gracefu l ly. Sensit iv ity to l ight i s i m por­

ta nt to the a m bia nce of the baths . I l l u m i nat ion is fa i r ly low, the ha l lways a re

bathed i n shades of p i n k and red to · he lp everyone look hea lthy and i nvit i ng.

The i mag i nat ion of the space i s con nected to the sty le and tastes that

i n ha bit a n d susta i n the space.

80

Ira Tattelman

I n the St. Marks one fi nds pointed spatia l relations in the bu i ld ing con- 81

struction . The east wa l l com pares the tight i nd iv idua l rooms of the u pper

floors to the la rge col lective spaces of the lower floors through the place- Speaklne to the

ment of p l um bing and i nter ior "wa l l s " ; one can contrast and relate the Gay Bathhouse

water of the s ink and toi let to the water in the swimming pool or whir lpool , or

the space of a 4' x 6.5' cubicle to the space of a 16' x 26' orgy room. The west wa l l describes the c i rcu lation spaces, a c i rcu it for cruis ing. The

bathhouse i nvites a conti n uous flow of traffic repeated ly passi ng each room, somet imes fi nd i ng a door open and i nvit i ng, someti mes c losed to

view. The baths create a theatrica l experience. Figu res materia l ize out of the

shadows, steam , and long ha l ls . One's eyes begin to adjust to the b lur, d is­

t ingu ish i ng body out l i nes and fac ia l profi les . Obstacles, th i ngs that come between , accentuate the sensuous and suggestive . M i rrors emphasize ind i ­rect contact with the body and flatter the physica l cu lture of urban l ife ; i n

order to part ic i pate , one is req u i red to be on pub l i c d i splay. Screens, sur­faces, and windows delay d i rect i nteraction wh i l e p iq u i ng one's i nterest, coyly add ing u ncerta i nty and fl irtation to the mix. The relationsh ip between stage, props and actors transforms the qua l ities of camouflage, surve i l lance and narcissism that have become stereotypes of gay l ife . Theater and fanta­sy offer a m u lt ip l ic i ty of i nterests , a complex set of relationsh i ps and an

interchangea bi l ity of roles.

Ton ight's top is tomorrow's bottom . We're a l l more interested that the ritual

be enacted than concerned a bout which particular role we assume.

(Wh ite 1980:268)

Walking Through the Baths

On the second , th i rd , and fou rth floors , a na rrow doorway leads i nto the red-toned corridors that separate the long array of n u m bered rooms. The

passageways are as cram ped and constricted as the cu bicles.

The main thing we see are doors. Doors and doors and doors . Each door

has a number. Outside a l l these doors are corridors . Lots and lots of corri­

dors. F i l l ing these corridors are men . Lots and lots of men. They are prowl­

i ng the corridors. (McNal ly 1976:6)

There a re a bout fifty rooms per floor, a sma l l d igita l clock, and two loud­speakers which play music ta pes conti nuously. The music is genera l ly what one hears at a d i sco, loud and with a strong beat. Each room has a door with a la rge black number on it . These repetitive un its m im ic the s ize and safety of closets . I ns ide, the room l ights a re on d immer switches that a l low

F I G U R E 4 . 7 . Computer Drawing of Room Arrangements

one to adj ust the l ight to an a ppropriate brightness or da rkness. The fu r­n i sh ings inc lude a hard , ra ised , m i n i ma l platform bed , sma l l ta b le , bit of floor space, sheet and p i l low, and hook for hanging street c lothes or a towe l . Some baths i ncorporate strategica l ly placed mi rrors , peep and glory holes, windows, or video mon itors . Specia lty rooms might inc lude leather swings, which offer the opportun ity to play theatrica l as wel l as sexual roles. In the St. Marks, the rooms are exactly a l i ke . It is the bod ies that ind iv idual ize the space.

Sexual opportun it ies, which a re em bedded in the ritua ls of the baths, a re often formal ized and si lent. Behavior and mean ing are coded by loca­tion , posture, and d ress with sufficient d istinctions between one and anoth­er. These stand ing rules, sym bols, and expre::;sions are genera l ly fol lowed , understood , and respected . They create a common u nderstand ing, giving coherence and cla rity to the activities.

Although propositions may be defined , even the most blatant advances can be mis interpreted , espec ia l ly w.hen one is unfami l i a r with the context. In an exchange through the eyes and body, there can be an ambiguity and uncerta i nty i n the transmission of messages. A hand motion , a set of eyes

82

Ira Tattelman

F I G U R E 4 . 8 . Col lage of Towel Codes

sta r i ng, or an encou nter on the sta i rs , wh i le com pel l i ng, a re occasiona l ly m isu nderstood .

I n the baths, men are everywhere, their towels knotted with intent. Tow­e ls can be d ra ped long and tight or over the shoulder, folded once or twice to h ighl ight the thighs, knotted at the front so that it opens l i ke a curta i n or at the back exposing the buttocks. Men tend to h igh l ight the area to which they want the most attention pa id . They wa lk a round the labyrinth , c i rc l ing a i m lessly, try ing to master the orga n ization of corridors as if tra pped i n a maze. Where the layout is more com plex, rambl ing and confusing, the traf­fi c flow is more i nteresti ng and t it i l lat i ng. Men sta nd aga i nst the wa l l s , watch ing the parade as wel l as the sequence o f open ing and closing doors. Others rest i n thei r rooms, looking, lying, or smok ing.

We al l rushed to the Baths at that t ime of yea r: the hal ls were f i l led with

c ircu it q ueens and out-of-towners . . . rude old men whose attitude of con­

tem pt always ch i l led me as I sl i pped the money across the counter . . . the

83

Speakina to the

Gay Bathhouse

hot moans and h isses from the rooms you passed , the d ista nt sound of 84 someone being patiently spanked with steady rhythms of a metronome,

the leather q ueens standing i n their red-l ighted doorways in cowboy hats , Ira Tattelman

dangling handcuffs. (Hol leran 1978: 1 52-54)

When rooms a re kept d i m , the patrons are hard l y perceiva ble in the shadows; they a re mere forms wa iti ng. When a room is bright, the person i nside has someth ing he wants to show off. For the men in the room, those who want ana l i ntercourse wi l l lie on their stomach , d isplaying the i r ass. A desire to receive fe l latio involves lying on one's back, spread ing one's legs

and , possibly, fond l ing one's pen is . To convert i nterests i nto i nvolvements, one can arrange oneself so that what one wants is what is shown . The non­

verba l language of the body is one's guide to the adventures of the baths. If one looks long and hard enough , one can locate patrons i n sea rch of any imag inab le sex act or fetish . Wh i le house ru les legis late bathhouse eti ­quette , the convent iona l ru les and regu lat ions of sexua l " normal ity" a re removed . Ass u m ptions and bel iefs a re questioned by the d i spa rate m ix one ca n f ind and the experience of m u lt ip le encou nters with a va riety of partners.

The activities of the baths sha pe the act of cruis i ng, a consta nt search which takes the form of an obl ique glance, a suggestive nod , a long stare, or a q u ick fee l .

You give it a l ittle look, pretending not to look, but being able to see, out of

the corner of your eye only, if anyone else is pretending not to look back at

you . If you see someone else pretending not to look, you look the other

way. Only after a few moments do you look back, to see if he's sti l l looking.

And if your eyes look, at the same moment, you ' l l only let it happen for a

second , and then you' l l look away aga in . ( Kramer 1978:26 1 )

I n cruis ing, who becomes the subject and who the object? I n the exchanges between the man in the ha l l and the man in the room, surely one is depen­dent for defin ition upon the desires of the other. By wa iting i n the room, d is­playing oneself, one offers oneself up as a spectacle to the men in the ha l l . Wh i le some consider th is subord i nation , there a re tra nsgressive ways to perform it.

The man i n the hal lway assembles the repeating frame of doorways and bel ieves he has access to every body beh ind every fra me but he chooses, making a visi ble statement by block ing traffic in the hal lway whi le wa iting for a signa l or invitation . An a pproach m ight i ncl ude suggestive position ing, the d isplay of one's gen ita ls, or a tighten�d towel drawing attention to the outl ine of one's penis . This man ind icates h is interest to a potential partner by paus­i ng in the hall near the opening to the room, wa iting perm ission to enter.

F I G U R E 4 . 9 . "A Corr idor in the Baths"� Douglas B l a i r Turnba ugh

from Strip Show: Paintings by Patrick Angus

The man in the room takes charge of h is doma in , setting the stage with l ighti ng, door position , and body placement whi le wa it ing for someone to advance, to break the rhythm of bod ies passing. Once someone approach­es the door, the man i n the room mainta ins the right to accept, reject, i nvite, or refuse access to the room and to h imself. The contacts are verified with an exchange of eye signa ls .

Once an i nvitation is accepted , the men qu ickly d isa ppear beh ind the door. The c losed door signa ls the room is for occu pa nts on ly, provid i ng a degree of privacy and exclusivity to their activities. On occasion , the men i n the room wi l l leave the door sl ightly aja r, attracting others to watch over the activity or join i n .

I never had occasion to g o t o the baths t i l l I was i n m y 40s . Some of m y

most memora ble sexual experiences took place there . . . . A m a n was

sucking my cock and somehow the door of our cubicle was open . I d idn 't

Speakina to the

Gay Bathhouse

F I G U R E 4 . 1 0 . Col l age of Bath house Corri dors

see a nyone enter the roo m , but sudden ly I was aware of l i ps and tongue

and f ingers a l l over my body. Six or eight men were contr i b u t i n g to my

plea s u re . . . . Hands ca ressed me a l l over. When I came, I came i n su rges.

I t fe lt l i ke a t ida l wave. Whi le i t was ha ppen ing I was sca rcely awa re of who

these men were or what they looked l i ke or what they were doi ng. When it

was over I sat u p on the bed . I tha n ked the men. We chatted i d ly.

( " New Hope for the Heteros" 1 984: 2 1 4- 1 5)

Gett ing Together

Downsta i rs , j u st below ground leve l , a re the br ightest rooms in the b u i l d i ng ,

the wet a rea wh ich i nc l udes com m u na l shower, sa u n a , steam roo m , a nd an

open a rea conta i n i ng p l u nge pool and hot tub. Wood e n benches l i ne the

wa l l where one ca n rest , sta rt up a conversat i o n , or ta ke in the v iew of

ma n ly traff ic . Th is floor i nv i tes a va r iety of peop le to congregate , to comfort

h i nts of reject ion , and excha nge a few words . Men can q u ietly la ugh or ta l k

without d istu rb ing t h e mood o f the p lace. W h i le the conversat ion is genera l ­

ly l ight , w i t h o u t m u c h i nformat ion be i ng exc h a nged , sma l l ta l k can b e

engaging.

[ At the M o u n t Morr i s Baths i n Har lem] I fou n d that the i n c i d e n c e of

a nonymous sex was not as pronounced as I 'd expected . Men asked each

other 's na mes, what t h ey did for a l i v i n g , what t h e i r i n te rests were, fa r

86

Ira Tattelman

F I G U R E 4 . 1 1 . "The Mysterious Baths"© Douglas B l a i r Turn baugh from Strip Show: Paintings by Patrick Angus

more often than one would presume . . . . It seemed , in fact, that there was

more social bond ing ta k ing place than physical bonding.

(Harris 1990: 1 74)

Across from the pool a re la rge m i rrors l i n ing the wood-planked wa l l . The v isua l cha racter of the m i rrors a l l ows one to look and be looked at. The splash of water, the flexing of muscles, and the sensation of towel ing d ry are enervat ing , he lp ing one feel sensua l . There is a never-end ing d i splay of fronts and backs, cou p l ings and uncoup l ings , and the sometimes hard-to­

decipher ru les of attract ion . I n th is space, the barr iers between people seem to break down ; the spectator and spectacle merge .

I n the stea m room , t i led benches are enshrouded by moisture c louds. Above is a p itched meta l ce i l i ng and on the wa l l i s a shower hea d , cold

water on ly. When the room gets too hazy to see, the bathhouse conflates look ing and touch i ng . I n ha bita nts bel i eve that everyth i ng seen can be touched , but sometimes, in the stea m or orgy rooms, one can only see by touchi ng. I n the darkened spaces, with bod ies made s l ick by the m ist, the imagination is enhanced . Propositions are often more d i rect; body contact might proceed from l ight touch ing to gen ita l groping.

I n these com muna l spaces, the nature of desire ca n a lso become rude and demean i ng. Young men can be ruth less in their rejection of older men . At the sa me t ime , those less attractive can persistently gra b at the more attractive to the poi nt of h u m i l iat ion . I ssues of race and c lass a re often

87

Speakinl to the

Gay Bathhouse

88

Ira Tattelman

F I G U R E 4 . 1 2 . Co l l age of Steam Room

F I G U R E 4 . 1 3 . Co l l age of Shower Room

F I G U R E 4 . 1 4 . Photogra p h of Orgy

re prod uced i ns ide the baths a n d exaggerated or ca m py m a n ner isms a re

d iscou raged .

I n my i magi n i ngs a bout the bath h o u ses, the b ig factor I 'd left out was

reject ion . M y v i s i o n s had been boistero u s , rowdy, scenes of c o n v i v i a l

a b a n d o n . But men were consta nt ly be i ng rejected , not chose n , w h i c h is

why the p lace was so s i lent , so th ick w i th long ing a nd d read .

(Weiss 1985: 1 2)

The dorm itory or orgy room is on the fi rst f loor of the St. Marks. Wh i l e the

lack of l ight ing ma kes the bod ies ind ist i nct, the contou rs of the room s lowly

come i nto v iew. I t is furn ished with a n expa nse of mattresses on two leve ls ,

l i ke bunk beds . One ca n make out a l l com bi nations of fuck ing and suck ing ; 1 one ca n touch any body one chooses or ru b one's body aga i nst a nother ; one

hea rs fa m i l ia r and unfa m i l ia r noises, end less music , u rgent moans , ecstat ic

murmur ing, and the jang l ing of keys aga i nst the ir n u m bered brass d isks.

I n the f ift ies , homosexua l ity was a so l i tary pervers i o n . Before a n d a bove

a l l , i t isolated you . . . . But what t h i s [the orgy at the bath s ] experience said

was that there was a popu lat ion not of h u n d reds , not of thousa n d s , but

rather of m i l l i o n s of gay men, and that h i story had, act ive ly a n d a l ready,

c reated for us whole ga l ler ies of i n st i tut ions, good a n d bad , to accommo-

date our sex. ( Delany 1988: 1 74)

In the orgy roo m , the focused cou p l i ngs of men is not so much negotiat­

ed as adapta b le and cont i n uous . T he sec u rity of male affi n i ty c reates a n d

89

Speaking to the Gay Bathhouse

operates a space of i ntimate physica l relations that d issolves one to anoth- 90

er, somet imes offer ing more tha n one ca n i magi ne . A body pa rt reaches out. One may not know who is doing the touch ing, l ick ing, or sucking, but lra Tattelman

one feels adoration . One ca n reach out in wonder to pass th is fee l i ng onto someone else.

Whi le I was sucking on it guys gathered around unt i l 1 could feel a hand

search ing my ass, then a moist cock fi l l i ng that hole, unti l I knew the fan­

tastic feel ing of being entered from both ends, fi l led with cock, thri l l i ng at

every plunge. The room was fi l led with the sounds of cocks fucking moist­

ened assholes and the suck ing sounds of cocks s l i pp ing in and out of

many mouths. ("Sweet Ass at the Baths" : 145)

The surprise is the wi l l i ngness one finds, a wi l l i ngness to be touched , to be connected , to be put i nto a posit ion one wou ld not norma l l y be i n . I n the orgy room, one fi nds people stand ing and sitt ing as wel l as knee l ing, lying down , lean ing, and crouch ing.

If the baths have a h ierarch ica l orga n ization , then the water a rea is the l ife-giving force at the base. The rooms a re the l i m bs stretch ing up to the top . The orgy room , however, is at the center. Here, the nude body is i nscribed exc lusively with sexua l desire.

J i m su rrenders for only moments to the hands, l i m bs , mouths , bod ies.

Only for moments. Here, it doesn 't seem to matter whose coc k , whose

ass, whose body. ! Rechy 1977:265)

Th is desire for another is a lso a desire for oneself. If the body creates the baths , then the baths create the body. The bath house bri ngs people i nto contact with themselves and puts them into the position of the other.

Finishing Up

Also on the fi rst f loor i s a da rkened lou nge . B lack v iny l cush ioned ba n­q uettes l ine three wa l l s with a table at the center. The men i n the lounge are ti red , relaxed , spent. They have retreated i nto this den for a rest.

Whi le one's presence in baths ind icates an ava i lab i l ity, d isplays of sexual expression are not permitted everywhere. Sex genera l ly does not occur in the open ha l lways or TV lou nges, which a re p laces for recu peration . To have an erection in the lounge is unusua l and unwanted . Sometimes, these common a reas inc lude pub l icat ions, loca l l iterature , and vend i ng mach ines. At the St. Marks, l ittle sq uare footage is devoted to th is unprof­itable space .

Wh i le the baths have l i n ks to the outside , through m us ic , condoms, commercia l products such as toi letries and d i ldos, and traces on the body

F I G U R E 4 . 1 5 . Photograph of Locker Area

such as tattoos and jewelry, it is the cloth i ng "that makes the man , " which he l ps one fla unt , tem pt , a nd d i stract. When it is t ime to get d ressed , one fee ls constricted ; one's "street" identity returns a l l too qu ickly.

At the door, one leaves one's towel and signs the recei pt for one's va lu ­a b les. G la nc ing back , the bu i ld i ng looks deserted , even though it never closes . U psta i rs , moving through the ha l lway, an attendant picks up used towe ls , c leans an ashtray, cha nges a bed sheet. The laundry room is con­sta ntly i n motion , c lea n i ng the u n iform for another vis itor. Over the loud­speaker, a voice announces the room numbers for those whose t ime is up.

Over the past ten years, many baths have been d ismantled or d iscred ited . Wh i le my intent is not to idea l ize these spaces, I do hope to a l low them an i mportant place i n the development of gay ma le commun ity.

Men have a lways checked each other out. Society, however, teaches us that sed uction is a form of los ing contro l ; dominant cu lture preaches cau­tion . Men origi na l ly felt the need for a rationale to enter the baths, for partie-

91

Speaklnl to the

Gay Bathhouse

F 1 G u R E 4 . 1 6 . Photograph of Keys in the Office

i pat ing in the activit ies . I ssues of pa ra noia , soc ia l s i lence, and persona l shame were reproduced inside.

I n t ime, however, the baths hel ped gay men accept thei r d ifference from soc iety whi le creating a place for themselves in society. The baths hel ped mu lt iply the col lection of spatia l forms and physica l advances in which and through which gay men make connections. Because people feel safe, they are able to take risks, to experiment. This self-d iscovery is an important pa rt of the development of a n " identity. "

I n the bath house, desire does not have to be curbed or e l im inated . Eye contact can ha ppen anywhere. What fo l lows the eye contact is what mat­ters . I n th is place of abandon , there is no fea r of a rousa l . One f inds a secure place in which to d iverge from a " proper" or "mainstream " course of action . This l i beration chal lenges a heterosexual ly biased cu lture, redefi n ing basic concepts and va l ues, and br inging cha nge to oneself and to society. The a uthority of desire, which ca n be fl u id and varied , is celebrated and with it, very specific forms of language, contact, and consumption develop.

92

Ira Tattelman

These rituals and behaviors are part of a language that on ly the i n itiated 93

ca n understand . Whi le they a re not i ndeci phera ble to people who a re not

pa rt of th is subcu ltu re, they are specific to the men who i nhabit the baths. Speakln& to the

My research deta i l s the construction of these encou nters and systems with- Gay Bathhou11

in this very particu lar space. These rules permit everyone to make a genera l assessment of the motives of others. They he lp shape the bathhouse, pro-

vid i ng a set of d i rections for accompl ish i ng many different ends.

E NDNOTE S 1 would l i ke to than k Shei la Kennedy, Norman Bryson, and Brett Abrams, who each

provided a great deal of support and encouragement d u ring the formation of th is

pa per. I would a lso l i ke to thank Robert R ind ler a nd Debora h Wi l l is , curators of the

exh i bit ion "Tech no-Sed uction" at The Cooper U n ion , where some of the images

included with this text were publ icly d isplayed .

Al l of the col lages, models, and photographs are by I ra Tattelman u n less noted

otherwise.

R E F E R ENC E S Altman , Dennis . 1974. Homosexual: Oppression and Liberation. London : Al len La ne.

Bersan i , Leo. 1988. "Is the Rectum a G rave?" I n Douglas Crimp, ed . , AIDS: Cultural

Analysis, Cultural Activism, pp. 197-222. cambridge: M I T Press.

Bolton , Ra lph , John Vincke, and R udolf Mak . 1994 . "Gay Baths Revisited . " GLQ

1 (3) : 255--73.

Brook, Stephen . 1985. New York Days, New York Nights. New York: Atheneu m .

Cri m p , Douglas . 1988. " H ow t o Have Promiscu ity i n a n Epidemic . " I n Crimp , ed . ,

AIDS: Cultural Analysis, Cultural Activism, pp. 237-7 1 . Ca m bridge: M IT

Press.

Delany, Sa muel R . 1988. The Motion of Light in Water. New York: New American

Library.

Eigo, J i m . 1995. " N YC's Wa r on Sex . " Steam: A Quarterly Journal for Men 3(4) :

414-23.

Forrest, David . 1994. "We're Here, We're Queer, and We're Not Going Shopping. " I n

And rea Cornwa l l and Nancy Lind isfarne, eds . , Dislocating Masculinity, pp.

97-1 10. London: Routledge.

Gay 1-4 ( 1970-1973) . Collected at National M useum and Arch ive of Lesbian and

Gay History, The Center, New York.

"Georgia Ha ngs on to Sodomy Law. " March 15, 1996. Washington Blade 27( 1 1 ) : 23.

Harris , Craig G. 1990. "Com i ng Together in the Baths . " In Frank l in Abbott, ed . , Men

and Intimacy, pp . 1 73-76. Freedom, Cal if. : Crossing Press.

Hoffman, Martin . 1968. The Gay World. New York : Basic Books.

Hollera n , And rew. 1978. Dancer from the Dance. New York : Wi l l iam Morrow.

Jones, B i l l T. 1995. Last Night on Earth. New York: Pantheon Books.

Kramer, Larry. 1978. Faggots. New York: New America n Libra ry.

" Listings: Spr ing '94 . " Steam: A Quarterly Journal for Men 2( 1 ) (Spri ng 1994) : 94 1 1 1-20.

Madison , Kyle. 1995. "An I ntrod uction to the Baths . " Steam: A Quarterly Journal for Ira Tattelman

Men 3( 1 ) : 100--2 .

McNal ly, Terrence. 1976. The Ritz. Copyright c 1976 Terence McNal ly.

Mohr, R ichard C. 1996. " Parks, Privacy, and the Police . " The Guide 16( 1 ) (January

1996) : 1 6--19.

M u lvey, La ura . 1989. Visual and Other Pleasures. B loomington : I nd iana U n iversity

Press.

" New Hope for the Heteros . " 1984 . In Reverend Boyd McDona ld , ed . , Smut, pp.

2 1 4-18. New York: Gay Presses of New York.

Rechy, John. 1977. The Sexual Outlaw. New York: Grove Press.

Read , Kenneth E. 1980. Other Voices. Novato, Calif. : Chand ler and Sharp.

Rorem, Ned . 1967. The New York Diary of Ned Rorem. New York: George Brazi l ler.

R ueda , Enr ique. 1982 . The Homosexual Network. Old G reenwich , Con n . : Devin

Ada i r.

Si lverman , Kaja. 1992. Male Subjectivity at the Margins. New York: Routledge.

"Sweet Ass at the Baths. " 1982. In Boyd McDonald ed . , Flesh, pp. 145. San Francis­

co: Gay Sunshine Press.

Warner, M ichael . 1995. "Why Gay Men Are Having Unsafe Sex Aga i n . " Village Voice

40(5) (January 3 1 , 1995).

Wein berg, Mart in S. and Col in J . Wi l l iams. 1979. "Gay Baths and the Social Organi­

zation of I m personal Sex . " I n Martin P . Levine, ed . , Gay Men: The Sociology of

Male Homosexuality, pp. 164-81 . New York: Harper and Row.

White, Edmund. 1980. States of Desire. New York: Dutton .

Young, Perry Dea ne. 1973. "So You ' re P la n n i ng to Spend a N ight at the Tu bs . "

Rolling Stone 1 28 ( February 1 5 , 1973): 48-50.

Weiss, Ph i l i p . 1985. " I nside a Bathhouse . " The New Republic 193 ( Decem ber 2 ,

1985) : 12 .

Beauty and the Beach: Representing Fire Island

D AV I D B E R G M A N

Gay geography is d ivided between u rban areas l i ke the Castro and Christo­pher Street and resort areas l i ke Provincetown and Key West. South Beach

in M iami or Venice i n Los Angeles straddle those two worlds . B ut the oldest a rea known for its gay and lesb ian i nha bitants that conti nues to d raw les­bian and gay vacationers is Cherry Grove and F ire Island Pines, adjourn ing commun ities on Fire Is land . From their beginn ing as gay resorts , they have

attracted art ists, especia l ly writers , who have depicted F ire Is land i n various books. As I hope to show, these representat ions of F i re I s l and , wh ich inc l ude some of the more famous works of gay l iterature, were not merely m i rrors of gay l ife on the is land , but ways of projecting the image of the l i b­erated gay ma n , a personage newly m i nted and never before c i rcu lated , and of critiq u ing that l ife and image as it was developing. The terms of that cr it ique va ried from one writer to the next, a lthough there was su rpr is ing unan im ity a bout the defects of the hedon istic and aesthet ic ized ethos of the isla nd . Representations of F i re Is land are part icu larly va l uable in gaug­i ng the response to the vis ib i l i ty of homosexua l ity in its most overt form­pub l ic sex. No gay man of my generat ion was u naffected either by the

i mage of what it meant to be a l i berated gay man or the d rawbacks of that representation . Yet as time has passed , it has become a h istorica l task to del i neate the terms that constructed these representation , but a l l the more i m portant to take that jou rney back to F i re Is land .

The boat s l ips from the dock i nto the green , murky cana l , and unt i l the ferry makes its way into the Great South Bay, I can hear the grating sound of winches l ifting or hau l i ng, the squea l of meta l on meta l m ixed with the h igh pitched yowl of a Yorkie sq ueezed beneath the arm of one of the passen­gers . Soon a l l that is lett beh ind . The waters open u p and change color; the blotches of o i l d isa ppear, and the only sou nds are the grumble of the ferry's motor and the swish of spray aga i nst the vesse l . A woman i n front of me is trave l ing with her two sons, ten- and twelve-year-olds I 'd guess, and they s it

5

qu ietly together, pointing at the gu l ls and at some bu i ld i ngs on the Sayvi l le 96

shore . They a re the only two ch i ld ren on the boat, and they seem to know how to behave among adu lts . They are unfazed by the two older gray-ha i red David Be11man

men with thei r arms around each other or the lean college student with long dark ha i r resting h is head on the shoulder of h is body-bui lder boy friend .

I grew u p i n Queens, and on the way out , the tra i n from Man hatta n passed by my old neigh borhood ; yet i n a l l the t ime I l ived i n New York, I never ventu red to Cherry Grove or The Pines, the two gay commun ities on F i re Is land , which seemed to me as a ch i ld as remote and exotic as Zanz­i ba r. Even i n the '70s, when I was i n my twenties and many of my fr iends were making the tri p out to The Pines, I held back . Only now that I 'm mid­d le-aged and l iving i n Balt imore am I going for the fi rst t ime.

The day is hazy, and from the Long Is land shore , I can not see F i re Is land , which is only a short tri p from the ma in land . The rather anxious nar­rator of Ed mund White's fi rst nove l , Forgetting Elena ( 1974), set on an a l le­gorized vers ion of F i re I s land , obsesses a bout "the ga uze" that seems to

hover in the sky, fearfu l that it wi l l "d rift s i lently to ea rth and smother [h im]

i n i t s i ntricate mesh " (38) , but to me it looks more l i ke a theatrica l scri m that wi l l rise on cue. It is part of the theatrica l unreal ity of the place, one rea­son I never before ventured out to F ire Is land and why it sti l l f i l ls me with a

certa i n a nxiety. And I rea l ize as I look at my fe l low passengers , there i s a nother reason I haven 't been out here before : the men , a l l o f them , a re exceptional ly beautifu l , q u ite out of my league.

I am not the only person whom Fire Island has made anxious. The P ines has a lways been a daunting place for those unprepared for its spectacle of beauty. One of the great documents in the h istory of recent homophobia is M idge Deeter's twisted l i ttle essay, "The Boys on the Beac h , " her account of l iv ing i n The Pines before Stonewa l l , that is , before its heyday. Even then the body bea utifu l was the sa l ient feature of gay l i fe in wh ich "f lesh [was never] permitted to betray any of the ord inary signs of encroach ing morta l i ­ty, such as excess fat or flabbiness or on the other hand the k ind of muscu­larity that suggests some activity whose end is not beauty" (38) . Deeter is so unsettled by th is d i splay of male bea uty that she imagines it as a n active attem pt to insu lt, to "mock" and "d im in ish" the heterosexuals , and particu­la rly the heterosexua l men, who a re there and witness it : " Na ked or cov­ered , then , the homosexua ls offered the ir stra ight neigh bors an i ns istent rem inder of the ravages to their person wrought by heterosexual existence" (38) .

I n one of the more bizarre turns in th is stud ied piece of resentment and condescens ion , Deeter bla mes gays for the i r apparent hea lth i ness, as if bei ng bea utifu l were a s in and heterosexual ity a chronic and virtua l ly incur-

a ble d i sease that leads from ch i ldb i rth to the grave i n one steady, una lter­ab le descent. But if Deeter 's response is more tha n a l itt le over the top ,

there can be no doubt that later on The Pines could be i nt im idati ng even to the average run of gay men .

Fred Lem ish , the protagon ist of La rry Kra mer's novel Faggots ( 1978) ,

reca l l s that he " had fi rst come to F i re Is land Pines when he was th i rty. He

wasn't ready for such beauty, such potentia l , such u n l i m ited choice. The place scared h im half to death " (224) . R ichard B ronste in , another charac­

ter i n Faggots feels a si m i lar Prufrockian trepidation :

When he 'd fina l ly sum moned the courage to p ick h i mself u p and off the

beach and have a look around this Forbidden Is land , he'd found all h i s

worst fea rs transmogrified i nto flesh . Oh , so much f lesh! Everywhere!

Everyone was M r. America . And he hadn 't been able to be a M r. Soho Loft.

H is workouts hadn 't worked out at a l l . . . . He cou ldn 't look anybody in the

eye . They ca n see I'm a loser. They can see I 've got the smal lest cock in

ca ptivity. They can just see it! (242)

Of course, a l l of Kramer's Jewish characters suffer from a s im i l a r sense of angst, and one cou ld write th is insecurity off as an eth n ic tra it, but writi ng j ust a few yea rs later, Ed mund Wh ite adm its in States of Desire j ust how int imidated F i re Is land makes h im feel . "As a person of average looks and average i ncome, " he confesses, the place "fi l l [s] me with i nsecurity" si nce

it had become " u n riva led " as "a spectacle of gay affl uence and gay male beauty" (294) . F ire Is land int imidated gay men on three fronts : the aesthet­

ic , the economic , and the sexua l . C lear ly these a ren 't sepa rate-in fact, what is most frighten ing is how they converge-a nd no place epitom ized

their convergence l i ke F i re Is land , and no place problem ized these issues so much as the Meat Rack, the str ip of Nationa l Park between F i re Is land Pines and Cherry Grove , wh ich is the place where outdoor sex has trad ition­a l ly occurred .

No wonder F i re Is land was a sett ing that attracted nove l ists of the fi rst generation of gay writers to emerge after Stonewa l l , pa rt icu la rly the writers who have been col lectively known as the Violet Qu i l l , the short-l ived group that emerged i n 1979, wh ich inc l uded Ed m u nd Wh ite , And rew Hol lera n , Fe l ice Pica no, George Wh itmore, Robert Ferro, M ichael Grum ley, a n d Ch ristopher Cox. T h e is land beca me a focus for the ir most pressing con­cerns: the cu lt ivat ion of bea uty, and pa rt icu la r ly the bea uty of men ; the redefin ing of the socia l structu re to include gay men; and the exploration of gay sexual ity and gay re lat ions.

Although La rry Kra mer wasn 't a member of the group , he is a n a uthor whose work derives from the same h istorica l and cu ltura l moment. and he

97

BeautJ and the

Beach: Representi111

Fire Island

was as we l l a fr iend of severa l mem bers of the Vio let Qu i l l . He he l ped 98

Andrew Hol leran find a publ isher for Dancer from the Dance, and he i nvit-ed Edmund Wh ite to that fatefu l meeti ng in Kramer's apartment that led to David Ber1man

the formation of the Gay Men's Health Cr is is , the oldest A I DS organ ization in the world . Kra mer 's Faggots, which appea red in the sa me yea r as

Ed m u nd Wh ite 's Nocturnes for the King of Naples, Andrew Ho l lera n 's Dancer from the Dance and Fel ice Pica no's The Lure, hel ped esta bl ish gay fiction as a regu lar part of com mercia l pu bl ish i ng. Yet despite h is close con-nection to the Violet Qu i l l , h is work d iffers from it i n severa l ways . The orgy at the Meat Rack, which serves as the c l imax to Faggots h ighl ighted publ ic sex as a particu lar concern , something the Violet Qu i l l never d id . The differ-

ence between Kra mer's representat ions of the Meat Rack and the Violet Qu i l l 's re lative s i lence on the matter is a sign of the confl icts in gay repre-sentat ion which wi l l emerge more sign ifica ntly after the A I DS pa ndemic appears.

F ire Is land's importance for Kramer as wel l as for the writers of the Violet Qu i l l is that it represented a way of l ife for certa i n gay men i n which they were free from the most overt forms of surve i l l a nce and pol i c i ng from stra ight people. More than any place else, F ire Is land was a world made by gay men and lesbians for gay men and lesbia ns. Although under the j u ris­d iction of Suffo lk County pol ice, the Meat Rack was free of pol ice ra ids from the end of the '60s o n ; i ndeed , as related by Esther Newton , gett ing the pol ice out of the Meat Rack was one of the most successful ca mpa igns of the Mattach ine Soc iety. Even before Stonewa l l , lesbian and gay men had enough clout in the a rea to free themse lves of pol ice surve i l la nce and a rrest . The letters that D ick Leitsch , the president of the New York Matta­ch ine Society, wrote to Suffo lk Cou nty offic ia ls a re an excel lent ga uge of how sex out-of-doors was pa rt of that assert ion of gay sovereignty. He cla imed that "these 'raids' are gross violations of civi l l i berties, mockeries of justice , and a blot on the conscience of Suffo lk County" {quoted in Newton 197) . Bened ict P. Vuturo, the stra ight lawyer h i red to defend the men taken in ra ids is reported to have sa i d , " I t's the cops who a re d istu rb ing the peace" {quoted i n Newton 200) . That on F i re Is land the fi rst gay pol it ical activity orga n ized by a homoph i le organ ization should be to protect men having sex i n publ ic ind icates the early l ink between such activities and the way gay men wanted to use the space that they saw as their own . In short, the issue of publ ic sex, at least on F ire Is land , was viewed as a sign ificant part of the enti re issue of how to defi ne gay space .

Space is very much an issue on F i re Is land . The sca le of Cherry Grove a nd to a lesser extent The P i nes is very sma l l . Although F i re I s land in its

enti rety is 30 m i les long, it is on ly a ha lf m i l e wide at its th ickest. Cherry 99

G rove and The Pi nes-at the is la nd 's m idpoint-are a bout a q uarter of a m i le wide. Moreover the a bsence of ca rs in the G rove or The Pi nes keeps BeautJ and lhe

everyth ing with i n wa lk ing d ista nce, or rather stro l l i ng d istance, for noth i ng Beach: Representln1

could be less in the spi rit of these resorts tha n h ik ing. Fire Island

Conseq uently, the two commun ities are shal low stages better su ited for comedy than tragedy, sma l l i ntrigues rather than epic battles. When Wi l lem De Koon ing, who is so closely associated with the Hamptons, another Long

Is land resort down the coast, came to pa int F ire Is land ( 1946) , his homage to the neighboring com m u n ity, he employed h is usua l pa lette of dazz l i ng

ora nge, tea l green , shock ing p ink , and wh ite . He a lso i nc l uded h is usua l Amazon ian women (perhaps given more point i n th is context) ; a head less female lea ns over a nother fema le , bod i less but for her breasts . A th i rd woman with l imbs l i ke tentacles appea rs to be swi mm ing at the top of the pa int ing. The colors, the shapes, the l ight are al l s im i la r to the work he d id i n the Hamptons. What d istingu ishes Fire Is land from those other De Koon­

i ng's pa i nt i ngs is the size (48 .3 X 67 .3 e m ) : the a ra besq ue of women is pressed tightly together-the pleasures dense with i ncident.

S imi larly, the works that the Violet Qu i l l wrote a bout the island-White's br ief novel Forgetting Elena, Fel ice Pica no's nove l l a Late in the Season,

George Wh itmore's short stor ies series Out There and h i s play "The R ights"-tend to be cha m ber works , where each deta i l is ca refu l wrought. Andrew Ho l lera n 's Dancer from the Dance, whose c l i max is set on the is land a lone aspires to the tragic , the epic, a lthough its i ron ic sh immering tone keeps deflat ing such asp i rations . Li ke Ho l lera n , La rry Kra mer ends Faggots on the grand sca le . B ut Kramer's excesses, a lthough meant to be sati r ic , do not q u ite succeed i n their Swiftia n i ntent ions . The cha racters ca n not pu l l themse lves com plete ly away from the spectac le they denou nce. F i re I s land res ists la rge-sca le representat ion , preferr ing the sma l l , lapidary style.

Coupled with the smal l ness of F ire Is la nd's sca le is the density of the l iv­i ng accom modat ions . I n Cherry G rove , pa rt icu la rly, people are t ightly packed i n l ittle houses, shar ing common areas and sometimes bed rooms. And beca use F i re Is land i s essenti a l ly a sum mer resort , the houses a re designed to open outwa rd i nto gardens, pools , and terraces. The resu lt of the sma l l ness of sca le , the dens ity of l iv ing, and the arch itectura l style is that the d isti nction between private and publ ic space is not j ust b lurred , but often completely erased . I n fact, The Pines and Cherry Grove confound the pu bl ic/private d ichotomy i n yet a nother way-the commun ities by being set ott from the ma in land and accessi ble on ly by ferry are removed from the la rger pu bl ic sphere. Many of the a rguments aga inst publ ic sex, particula rly

its deleterious effect on ch i ld ren , do not obta i n i n F i re Is land 's case s i nce 100

no ch i ld (or adu lt, for that matter) would s imply wander i nto the community unaware of its ethos . The Pines and Cherry Grove could become so publ ic a David llf'llllln

space for gay l ife i nc lud i ng gay sex beca use it was so pr ivate, that i s , so removed from other commun ities.

Sex and pa rticu la r ly sex in pub l ic must be viewed as occu pying on ly space on the wide spectrum of activities gay people felt free to perform on Fire Is land and nowhere else. Esther Newton writes about the long trad ition of street d rag-that is, d rag outs ide of a performa nce-that f lour ished in Cherry G rove s i nce the '50s. Com ing to F i re Is land served for many as a

k ind of revelation of what gay l ife could be without the repression of stra ight society. La rry, one of the centra l cha racters in George Whitmore's comedy "The R ights" ( 1980) describes his entrance i nto the harbor of The Pines i n ecstatic terms:

" I ' l l never forget that entrance i nto the harbor, " he tel ls h is ex-lover, who has i nvited him out for the fi rst t ime,

the yachts bobbing i nto view, a wide crescent of yachts skirt ing the bay.

Enchanted older couples perched in the afterdecks dr ink ing-oh , some­

th ing long and cool . Penna nts sna pping in the wind . . . . That extraord i­

nary press of people, That great mass l i n ing the q uay. Waving, welcoming

us, a l l us outlanders to their island . Lithesome boys in l ittle T-sh irts and l it­

tle wh ite shorts. Sta lwart gentlemen in a bbreviated ensembles laced with

leather and chains. Statuesq ue sirens in the fl imsiest of sh ifts . . . . and the

dancers! The dancers and the music! The steady th ump-thump-thu m p of

the engines and our hearts and the music! It was l i ke Bora-Bora or some­

th ing! It was l i ke crossing the ba r. It was l i ke Disneyland and Cleopatra 's

barge a l l rolled up into one. (17!

Men dancing together in publ ic , kissing in publ ic , hold ing hands i n publ ic , these are many of the activities unselfconsciously performed on F ire Is land , wh ich a re h igh ly pol iced outs ide of the I s land . Sex i n pub l ic i s on ly an extens ion o f these other forb idden activit ies given vis i b i l i ty-i ndeed , i t becomes the test of exactly how much visi b i l ity these less proscribed activi­ties are actual ly perm itted .

Wh itmore's references to Bora-Bora , D isneyland , and Cleopatra 's ba rge a l l ude to severa l aspects of the com m u n ity ethos that representat ions of The P ines a lways ascri be to the com mun ity : a pri m itive ritua l i sm crossed with theatrica l ized enterta i nment. Pu bl ic sex is pa rt of both . By em phasiz­ing ritua l as one of the ways gay writers represented F i re Is land , I do not want to suggest that these works parta ke of the carn iva lesq ue i n the way that M i kha i l Ba kht i n uses the term . The seem ing brea kdown of order­and particu larly of sexual order-is rea l ly a n attem pt to esta bl ish a d iffer-

ent h ierarchy, a d ifferent order. None of the writers under d i scussion rep- 101

resents F i re I s l and as a place of ana rc hy, no matter how free it m ight

a ppear. To the contra ry, i t im poses a ritua l ized or aesthetic order on what Beauty and lhe

might seem to be the least su itable of objects . I n Forgetting Elena, a house Beach: Repreuntin1

catches fire. Those attend ing a dance-one of the most ritua l ized activities Fire Island

represented in a l l the works a bout F i re Is land-watch the blaze admi ri ngly from a d i sta nce . A " ma n in the cent i pede costume" remarks l i ke an a rt

cr i t ic , " p ity there isn 't a touch more b lue i n the f la mes . B l ue , be i ng a recessive color, wou ld give more depth , more plastic ity to the whole swirl

and make it much more i m press ive, I t h i nk " ( i ta l ics i n the origi na l , 23 ) . T h i s fi re on F i re I s l a n d i s j udged aga i nst a n aesthetic order and found

wanting. Drugs, too, a re not a l lowed to blaze i n a d isorderly fashion in Is landers'

m inds. The epitome of the gay need to aestheticize experience by turning it i nto a ritua l ized performance was the "contoured " d rug tri p, a rigorous and exhaust ing spi r itua l d isci p l i ne if there ever was one . Here 's how Roger Sansarc, the na rrator of Felice P ica no's novel Like People in History

descri bes d rug taking on F ire Is land :

[We took] a h i t o f window-pane ac id , softened with a few joi nts o f good

grass before we left the house and on the way to the Pines harbor, where

we would catch one of the smal l water taxis to flit us across the black bay

waters . U pon disembarking at Cherry G rove , we'd cosmetica l ly i n ha le a

h it of coke for that " Entra nce Buzz , " i nto the Ice Palace, a sort of last­

m inute blush-on . During the remainder of the n ight, we'd pick ourselves

up with poppers whenever a ppropriate . As a ru le with eschewed a ngel

dust and ethyl ch loride, two popular "enhancers" among our set. But we

a lways carried a l ight hypnotic-Quaalude or Dormidina-to ease our way

off the acid, which could at times become speedy and teeth-clenching.

The tr ick to ta k ing one's down was to do so at the exact point when one

was a bout to be physica lly and menta l ly exhausted , but before one actua l­

ly was . . . . Those who d idn 't contour their d rugs, who took too many ups

or downs, or took them too early were " pigs . " Ta les of extreme piggishness

were gossi ped a bout -"She was found facedown on the edge in the

G rove Meat Rack, out l i ke a l ight! Not even the deer would fuck h im ! "­

and laughed at a l l the fol lowing week . !337)

Pica no's porc ine meta phor suggests the polarities that serve as the aesthet­ic l im its on Fire Is land . One the one hand , there is the smooth "contoured " d rug exper ience-someth ing bea utifu l ly proport ioned , c lassica l ly he ight­ened , and sensit ively contro l led . The " pigs" a re rough , crude, demeaned , insensitive , and wi ld . Picano a l lows no midd leground-and in the a bsence of such a m idd leground rests the great a nxiety of fa i l i ng to perform to the

I s land 's standards . You m ight a rrive th in k ing you were beauty, on ly to d is- 102

cover through some m isca lcu lat ion that you had tu rned i nto a beast " not even the deer would tuck. " David 1111man

I a lso want to poi nt out the casual way that activity at the Meat Rack is a l l uded to i n the passage . I t is not foregrou nded , but rather presented as the predetermined end of an even ing of d rugs and dancing, the fi na l move­ment in the contoured d rug experience properly wru ng to its last drop. The sca nda l is not that one is seen in the Meat Rack hav ing pub l ic sex, but rather that one could not contour the even ing sk i l lfu l ly enough to fin ish it off with the proper sexual release . Pu bl ic sex is viewed as the appropriate aes­thetic conc lus ion to an a rtistica l ly contoured experience. Pica no does not d iv ide sex from the r itua l ized aesthetic of the I s l and 's ethos, rather he makes it the u ltimate test of a person 's ab i l ity to meet i ts esthetic i m pera­tive . To burn out before the n ight is done is to be l i ke the fi re in Forgetting

Elena that lacks the right recessive ti nts . When the Violet Qu i l l speaks a bout F i re Is land , it a lways speaks a bout

beauty-natura l , human , and man-made. The beauty of the beach is what has made The Pines and Cherry Grove attractive to the origi nal vacationers. Ma lone, the hero of Ho l lera n 's Dancer from the Dance "felt he had found Parad ise h is fi rst visit to F ire Is land ; and it took h im th ree or four summers to even admit it was anything else . . . . because nowhere else on earth was natu ra l and human bea uty fused ; and beca use nowhere else on ea rth cou ld you dance in q u ite the sa me atmosphere" (207 ) . La rry in "The R ights" cal ls it an "enchanted is le" out of Shakespeare's The Tempest. The importance of being aesthetic was esta bl ished early i n the h istory of repre­sentat ions of F i re Is la nd . John Mosher, a New Yorker writer, pen ned a series of sketches set on F i re I s land . Col lected as Celibate at Twilight

( 1940) , they conta i n a character, M r. Opa l , a sem iprecious gem of a man , who regards the cottage h e has bu i lt after the Hurricane of the Century dev­astated the is land in 1938.

Mr. Opal 's house was fin ished , his sma l l and perfect jewel of a house was

done at last. So he h imself thought as he sank back in one of the big rat­

tan cha i rs in h is l iv ing room and a ppra ised the sa i lc loth curta ins with

i mmense satisfaction. For the moment, he was a lone and m ight indu lge

h imself to the fu l l , unobserved , in a gratification that was fran kly smug, at

a work accom pl ished , at a creation of his own at last complete. The cur­

ta ins gave the fi na l needed refinement to the estab l ishment. They hung

stiffly from the wooden poles i n glowing melon masses, and had i n th is

place, M r. Opal conc luded , a l most a k ind of elega nce. "A gentlema n 's

house , " M r. Opa l thought in a sudden spasm of self-a ppreciation . " I can

l ive here on this island for decades, for the rest of my l ife . " 022)

Moser was gay, and accord ing to Esther Newton, one of the fi rst gay home­

owners in Cherry Grove . H is pa rties were the fi rst to bring la rge n u m bers

designers and artists out to the Island for the weekend ( Newton 32) .

The work of the Violet Qu i l l that ep itom izes the aesthetic of exq u is ite ,

l u m inous deta i l is Ed mund Wh ite's brief but lap idary fi rst novel Forgetting

[lena . Al l its characters are acolytes i n "a cu lt of bea uty" ( 1 72) and thei r

b i b le is a pu rple book which i nc l udes a chapter on "Aesthetics as Eth ics"

( 1 67) .

One bush , or tree, particula rly interests me because it has th ree d ifferent

leaf shapes, one that looks l i ke an e lm's , another with th ree lobes and a

th ird that looks l i ke a m itte n . This plant has arched over to touch a holly

bush , creating a dark tunnel of waxy greenery and a gri l l of shadows. Our

house, l i ke the others I 've see n , sta nds on sti lts a bove marshy grou n d .

T h e decks a n d walks, bui lt o f rough-cut withered planks, are raised . Long

stra nds of grass have grown up between the slats. Constantly bru ised by

passing feet , the stra nds have withered , tu rned brown , and now l ie l i st­

lessly across the wood , l ike tiny whips in tatters. The immed iate vicin ity is

h i l l ier than the area around the harbor and i n one d i rection I see a black

cottage , t imid ly ostentat ious, perched h igh a bove us, f lying fou r purple

���. �

As readers of Forgetting Elena wi l l recognize, the med ieva l i sm of th is pic­ture of F i re Is land is i ntentional (at one point Elena is described as having "stepped out of a medieva l book of hours" ( 7 1 ) ) . We should recogn ize the dark tower from which fly four purple pennants-purple, the color of roya l­ty and homosexua l ity-as though it were a deta i l i n a Bayea ux ta pestry.

But the castle is only a cottage , and a lthough by contrast it may appear to be perched h igh a bove h i m , its e levat ion is " ti m id ly ostentatious . " Th is exq u isiteness of deta i l cannot fu l l y mask the summer resort on wh ich it is overlaid .

What com pl icates the efforts of the anonymous na rrator of Forgetting

Elena-and for us i n itiates i nto the gay world-is that the ritua ls of the soci­ety are not static , i ndeed they seem constantly to be sh ifting and subject to

revolutionary change. The narrator may hope to f ind some un ifying system, but he d iscovers instead a society " mad for novelty" i n wh ich la nguage is " i nexact, exper imenta l , an amoeba possessing mobi l ity but s l uggish and perfectly adjustable" (72) . This is a society that prefers things "origi nal and complex and el usive" (76) , unaware even that it speaks "a pecu l iar, unfath­oma ble d ia lect" to the outside world (75) . The sensib i l ity cu ltivated on Fire Is land is one that favors su btlety (a lthough with a decidedly theatrica l fla i r) and flu id ity, and thus requ i res a sense of trad ition with a des i re for origi na l i ­ty and freshness.

103

Beauty and the

Beach: Representlnl

Fire Island

To a greater or lesser extent a l l the beauty on F i re Is land is i ngrown and 1 04

cla ustrophobic . The l ushness of the is land is a l l a rt ific ia l , s i nce as an extended sa ndba r it could boast noth ing more fert i le tha n va r ious grass- David Berpan

es-and even these have had to be meticu lously planted and ma inta ined . The wi ld , overgrown fee l of the place i s the work of decades of dedicated homeowners and wel l-paid ga rdeners who have made a k ind of faux-trop-ics east of New York. Moreover, the Meat Rack is an excel lent exa m ple of the a nxiously oxymoron ic aesthetic that domi nates the Violet Qu i l l repre-sentations of F i re I s land . Techn ica l ly it is part of the National Park System ,

and s o respectfu l a re t h e res idents o f t h e preserve-port ions of scru b brush are roped off l i ke old fu rniture in a museum-that the " natura lness"

is completely a rtific ia l . For example, sand dunes are geogra phical features that move qu ite easi ly up and down an u n popu lated coast. They ought to be a fl u id pa rt of the landsca pe, but on F i re Is land , where the shore l ine is

pa rticu la rly fragi le , every effort is made to g lue them to the spot with the adhesive of sawgrass. To the natu ra l ness which is artific ia l ly ma inta i ned is added a fixed fl u id ity. Sex i n the d u nes is no sponta neous express ion of passion , but the h ighly respectfu l use of fragi le terra in . People i n the th roes of sex carefu l ly d id not stray i nto the roped off areas.

I have ca l led Forgetting Elena a novel set on F i re Is land , but it never men­tions the name, and White wrote me that the setting "was on ly very a pproxi­mately F i re Is land . "

T h e sett ing i s i m ported from the world o f com ic operetta , The Student

Prince, for example. But because the setting is so unconcerned with rea l ity, so pleased to be viewed through the Vase l ine lens of the i magination , For­

getting Elena i s , I wou ld a rgue, a better representat ion of F i re Is la nd-a commun ity, after a l l , dedicated to fantasy-than a ny " rea l i st ic" treatment wou ld be. For in this a m bia nce of Lords and M i n i sters, lad ies- in -wa it ing and servants i n l ivery, Wh ite can captu re s imu ltaneously the unreal ity of the resort, i ts strange and magica l beauty, i ts seemingly ca refree hedonism, as wel l as satirize those very qua l ities. I n the same letter that he d istanced the nove l 's is land setting from the actua l F i re Is land , Wh ite descri bes The Pines as "a lways a poetic me lancholy place that com bi ned a heart-rend i ngly bea utifu l landscape and seascape with an i ntense socia l l i fe rem in iscent of h igh school and an a bundant sexual ity. " By i nvok ing the i ntensity, fantasy, and cruelty of adolescence, when passionate friendsh ips are as ephemera l as they are l ife-changing, he has characterized the very ethos o f Forgetting

Elena.

In Dancer from the Dance, Andrew Hol leran strives for a s im i lar effect. Through h i s he ightened lyr ic ism , he spreads across the i s land a kind of

fa i ry ta le magic that he paradoxica l ly hopes wi l l ca ptu re the more sa l ient

rea l ity of F i re Is land i n the '70s .

Down at the beach , in both d i rections, people faced the sea in the lotus

position , med itating. The sky beh ind us was a tumult of gold- and sa lmon­

colored clouds i n the west, and before us the day had already died , unwit­

nessed , to give birth to the primal dream of this particular place, the m usi­

ca l , gl ittering, erotic n ight.

Everyone-everyone except us, and the people med itati ng on the

r idge of sa nd facing the sea-was preparing now for that magica l n ight,

showering, d ressing, locating the pil ls they wou ld take at n ine o'clock after

a l ight supper so that by midn ight the n ight would be even more i l lusive.

(212)

Hol leran 's and Wh ite's strategies are s im i la r. Wh ite's a l legorica l d ream­sca pe develops the magica l , i l l usionary atmosphere wh i le Hol leran evokes

and d iscards-or a lmost d iscards-the detritus of the everyday world . But for both men, F i re Is land is a " pr imal d rea m , " musica l , gl ittering, and erot­

ic , dotted by men as beautifu l as flowers and engaged in a spi ritua l exerc ise that makes them only more beautifu l . The sex that would close the n ight of

i l l usions is merely h i nted at as part of the aesthetic magic of the place. The authors of the Violet Qu i l l bel ieved , however, that the aesthetic that

ruled Fire Is land was superfic ia l and self-destructive, a remnant of the self­hat ing att itudes that preva i led a decade ea r l ier, a tt itudes exemp l if ied i n A lexa nder Good man 's pa rt-pornogra ph ic , pseudo-soc iologica l study, A

Summer on Fire Island { 1966) . B i l l , a n executive from I B M , removes the Ba rbra Streisand a l bums that have been playing conti nuously on the stereo so that he m ight th ink . H is housemate, Charles, sh rieks in horror:

Think! ! ! Then you real ly don't belong here. Get thee back to I B M ! Think ing

is much, much worse that Bartok. There are strict F ire Is land ru les aga inst

it.

Fra n k ly, B i l l , j ust between us gir ls , what is an i ntel l igent, c u ltured

"th i n k i ng" person l i ke you rself doing at Cherry G rove in the fi rst place?

Why wou ld any self-respecting "th i n ker" spend a whole summer a mong

these very sweet, very a mus ing, but genera l ly bird-bra i ned q ueens and

faggots? (43)

Cha rles suggests that B i l l " hand over [ h is] tube of K-Y and [ h is ] beaded bag" and " leave Cherry Grove this m inute . " The reference to K-Y suggests the sex, which is qu ite publ ic even in the mid- '60s .

I n Wh itmore 's "The R ights , " Buddy, a young man whose sole a rt ist ic ach ievements a re h is body and the com position of a d isco song, is not stu­pid ; to the contra ry, he shows h i mself at the conc l usion to be q u ite savvy,

105

Beauty and tile

Beach: Representinl

Fire Island

but he represents a common figure of F i re Is land gay l iterature : the young 106

man caught up in the su perfic ia l ities of the Is land , its a bsence of h istorica l awareness , its m i nd less hedonism . Buddy's ignorance of pol itics is one of David BeiJIIIan

the ways that the powerfu l exerc ise their power. I n Forgetting Elena, The M i n ister of the Left , who is a fr iend of the Va lent ines, a n nou nces rather brusq uely about Elena , " Let's be honest. . . . a l l these fads and styles are so desperately importa nt; it keeps them busy and ma kes them feel they count. But we know it's money and power that keeps the fi rst fa m i l ies fi rst" (82 ) . The power o f the beautifu l is noth ing com pared to the power that keeps the beautifu l as a d iversion . In Dancer from the Dance, Malone, who is present-

ed as the gay idea l of beauty and placid good manners and gives up a suc-cessfu l ca reer as a lawyer to dedicate h i mself to the pursu it of love and

bea uty, becomes in the end a person stri pped of both the love and beauty he desi red . " I n a cou ntry where one is no more tha n what one does (a

country of workers) or the money one possessed , Ma lone had ceased , l i ke us , to have an identity at a l l . He was s im ply a sm i le now, a set of perfect manners, a wistful promise, as insubstantia l as the breeze blowing the ha ir across h is forehead , " and conseq uently the na rrator wonders "why Ma lone had fasc inated us so" (219) .

The crit ic ism of B uddy (and Ma lone) as bea utifu l looking, emotiona l ly placid , and i nte l lectua l ly vacuous is a crit ic ism that has been trad itiona l ly leveled at F i re Is land . And Ma lone-who d id not sta rt out as em pty-head­ed-wa rns the you ng i nte l lectua l John Schaeffer, who has fa l len i n love with h im , of the mora l and spi ritua l risks that the beauty of F i re Is land and its inha bitants holds.

Never forget that a l l these people are pr imari ly a visual people. They are

designers, window dressers, models, photogra phers, graphic artists . . . .

They are v isual people , and they va lue the eye , and their s ins , as Sa int

Augustine sa id , are the sins of the eye . And being people who l ive on the

su rface of the eye , they can not be expected to have minds or hearts . I t

sounds absurd but it's that s imple.

Everyth ing is bea utiful here, and that is al l it i s : bea utifu l . Do not

expect a nyth i ng else, do not expect nourishment for anyth ing but you r

eye-a nd you wil l handle i t bea utifu l ly. You wil l know exactly what you are

deal ing with . (228)

David Leavitt , in his downright stupid introd uction to The Penguin Book

of Gay Short Fiction wrote , "Accord i ng to Dancer from the Dance . . . only the most exceptiona l ly bea utifu l among gay men were entitled to erotic fu l­fi l lment" (xvi i i ) . B ut Hol leran 's point is just the opposite : those entranced by their own beauty, or just beauty itse lf, wi l l never fi nd erotic fulfi l lment , or any other k ind of fulfi l lment at a l l because l iv ing "on the surface of the eye , they

cannot be expected to have m inds or hearts . " For whi le it is true that Hol ler- 101

an , Wh ite, and Whitmore respond to the physica l beauty both of the Is land

and of the men who vacat ion there, they a re terrif ied of the Medusa- l i ke Beauty and the

effect of such bea uty-that it w i l l hol low out the hea rt and the m ind , and Beach: Representin1

tu rn the spi rit to stone. Fire Island

Dancer from the Dance is suffused with an e legiac longing for a lost world in which bea uty and innocence are combined with emotiona l warmth

and an i nte l l ectua l sti mu lat ion , but it is a cautionary ta le a bout m istak ing F i re Is land or the d isco c i rcu it for such an idyl l ic place. The sex, both publ ic and pr ivate-i ndeed , no d isti nct ion is made between the two--which is

part of the aesthetic of the is land , is not separated from the other aesthetic l im its. I t has become a "s in of the eye" ( but not of the body) , and as such, it

wi l l not satisfy. La rry Kramer's Faggots extends th is critique of the F ire Is land aesthetic

by exp l ic it ly l i n k i ng it to publ ic sexua l performance. Kramer sat i r izes the contention that publ ic sex is beautifu l and seeks to revea l it as base, vulga r, exh i b it ion i sm . Leather Lou ie "with h i s hand on the ru bied swasti ka so

smartly medal ioned over h is black leather chest" i ntones i n the origina l I ta l ­i an of M ichela ngelo's d ictu m : "One doesn 't ach ieve i nner d isc ip l ine u nt i l one reaches the extremes of art and l ife" (274) . But it is not clear whether i t is a rt or l ife whose extreme he is pom pously and pretentiously enterta in i ng at the moment. Later in the episode, in a scene that is a haunting rem inder of Malone's speech to John Schaefer, Ti m Di ldough , the new male super­mode l , refuses to have sex . " I wa nt to be looked at by everybody and to pass around my bea uty so the world can a ppreciate my handsomeness , " h e expla ins to one admirer, who tries to engage h im i n conversation , " B ut I don't want to have to ta lk . You would make me ta lk . I j ust want to be seen . And to be worshi ped for my bea uty" (278) . Kra mer, too, is concerned about the s ins of the eye .

U n l i ke Wh ite , Ho l lera n , or P icano, Kra mer mocks the very landsca pe that the Vio let Qu i l l f inds so u nassa i lab ly bea utifu l and em phasizes the tawd ry, grotesq ue a bjectness of publ ic sex on F i re I s la n d . In the mock­voice of a Victorian narrator, Kramer sets the scene:

So, pictu re if you wi l l , a pa rticu larly scen ic nook, s l ightly off the beaten

path, just to one side of the main h ighway th rough these woods, in this vei l

of myth and story, eq uid istant from The Pines and Grove, an open patch ,

trod down b y yea rs o f I nd ian braves , deer, then m e n , su rrou nded b y ta l l

evergreens and r inged with low ones. T h e moon was just a b l e t o kleig it

into atmospheric cofraternal welcomeness . . . . And was there not much

finery everywhere! i ron crosses and swastikas and mi l itary march ing boots

with soles l i ke heavy slabs of darkest bread , Visors and helmets and ca ps

a n d hoods and bayonets and swords and rifles and holsters and bu l let 108

belts plugged ful l with poppers. And on [the host's] belt, the smart execu-

tioner's mask he'd borrowed . . . to later case h is head . Very smart. Very Dlvld BtiJIIIIn

sin ister. As [the host] wished for it to be. (270)

The sarcasm of the passage is suffic iently marked that the conclud ing eva l­uation of the scene, "Very smart . Very s in ister, " is thoroughly i ron ized . The str ing of copu las suggests j ust how stagi ly overblown the scene has become, and the sp l it i nf in itive , "to later case h is head , " is j ust the right touch to make the paragraph 's conclusion awkward and u nga in ly, the very opposite of smart and s in ister. This passage is fol lowed by Dr. I ke Bu lb , an

honored guest, observ ing, " I notice some of our boys over there contem­p lat ing playi ng wi th the i r feces . . . . N ice to see it . I th i n k I ' l l go and jo in them . " Such bana l expressions of pol iteness-more fitt ing for a matron at a Bar M itzvah than for a sad ist at an orgy-makes this publ ic sexua l d isplay s i l ly rather than s in ister, du l l rather than smart.

Yet the orgy episode in Faggots does reach a kind of grotesque c l imax that pushes past its sati r ica l i ntent ions when D i nky Adams , the object of Fred Lemish 's amorous longing, is subjected to the pun ish ing m in istrations of Jack H u m pstone. Tied on a s l ing lashed to fou r trees, D inky is fist-tucked before an admiring crowd . " Look at those doors open , " they cry in amaze­ment , "That guy can rea l l y ta ke it , " and in a k ind of ecstasy, with Jack Humpstone's a rm com pletely i n h im , D inky mum bles: " I can fee l ! " B ut that is not the end of the scene. Kra mer continues:

Dinky just conti nued to jerk up in pleasure and smi le at heaven . The elu­

sive heaven . Now so c lose. Now a l most here. He tr ied to say a few more

words to Jack. "I . . . I . . . I . . . want . . . your . . . other . . . arm!"

(283, el l i pses Kramer)

I am entirely unsure how Kramer wishes us to respond to this passage , but it is certa i n not with una l l ied humor or with a sense of beauty. I can imagine d isgust, or pathos, or horror, or c l i n ica l detachment. There is a kind of sub­l im ity at work here, but it is hard to know what response it warrants.

Like the authors who formed the Violet Qu i l l , Kra mer is attracted to the sexual sub l ime, which they a l ly with publ ic sex on Fire Is land ; but un l i ke the VQ writers, Kra mer ho lds a bove the sexua l sub l ime his own v is ion of a domestic idea l . Accord ing to Kra mer, for sex to be a pa rt of the gay sub l ime, it had to be removed not from love-for there is the l ieberstode-but from domestic affection . Kra mer's vis ion-for a l l its i nsistence on gay pride-is drawn from a deeply Jewish origi n , a sub l ime that is a lso domestic. In Fag­

gots, Abe, a fa bu lously r ich Jewish businessman , is permitted , despite h is h igh ly questionable heterosexual mora ls , to assume the mora l h igh road by

wrestl i ng with h is son , whom he catches performing va rious publ ic scato- 109

logica l acts at the orgy at the Meat Rack. "And God gives now his answer to

Abe, who takes h is younger son and hurls h im to the ground . . . . And the Beauty and the

son knees back in protest and suffocat ion and not q u ite so exper ienced Beach: Representlna

heft . And together they toss and they turn , l i ke some b ib l ica l n ightmare" Fire Island

(287-88) . Kramer's paratactic sty le i m itates the b ib l ica l n ightmare of not

only Jacob wrest l i ng with the angel , but Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. Not

that Kramer wishes to rei nscri be the heterosexual imperative that motivates Abe, but to energize a Patria rcha l bond i ng that has been lost in modern domestic l ife : "The pop has sa id I love you to the son , the scene and dream

of every son who's backed away beneath these shelter ing trees . He's sa id

he loves me. The sheltering vei l now shelters. God has forbidden a fantasy m ight come true! That would be too scary! " (289) . Pub l ic sex, those "shel-

teri ng trees, " is a su bstitute for, and a reaction formation aga inst , the pro-tective arm of the father to his son . Man has come to bel ieve that God has forb idden such protective and n u rtur ing love between men beca use mankind would f ind such love and al l i ts intensity too scary. But it is just the

awesomeness of male affection brought with i n the bonds of fam i ly-such domestic sub l im ity- that Kra mer bel ieves is what gay men need to offset

the destructive appeal of the sexual sub l ime. But Kra mer is a Jeremiah , not a Pol lyanna . Even before A I DS he held up

l ittle hope that gay men would choose domesticity over the sexual sub l ime. Fred Lemish , the nove l 's protagon ist and Kramer's q uasi-a lter-ego, meets up with D inky Adams one more t ime before the novel c loses. They reti re to Fa i ryland , the garden D inky has esta bl ished for I ke Bu lb, and they l ie down

" among some sand and scru b p ines , [where] nestles is growing, a h uge symphony of flowers and pla nters and weeping tubs of wi l lows and man­made stars of l ight a cupolas and gazebos and cozy swings for two and tiny benches for i nt imate p icn ics and breezy la nterns swi nging out to say Hel lo , " in short the Better Homes and Gardens version of Eden (298) . Fred is there with D inky, the latest in a long l i ne of Adams. But it is a d i nky sort of Ada m that Fred is left with , and he rea l izes that once aga in he has bought i nto a fantasy. " If I 'd chosen a rea l person , " he te l ls h imself, "I would have had to face u p to a rea l re lationsh ip . Too scary. Too fu l l of Mom and Pop" (300) . For Kra mer, sex outdoors is associated with a kind of prela psa ria n love that is impossi ble to aspire to; it is the trap that has sed uced everyone from Kubla Khan down .

Publ ic sex in the Meat Rack is sex in nature . The fantasy of having sex out-of-doors is , I th ink , pa rticu larly strong for gay men because for so long sex had to be confined to rooms and beh ind the closet door. The most pop­u l a r pre-Stonewa l l pornogra ph ic books were the Song of Loon Trilogy,

which celebrated outdoor sex between a Euro-American woodsman and h is no Native American lovers. If Kramer rejects sex in the open , it is because he

ma inta i ns a d ifferent way of conceptua l iz ing natu re than the Vio let Qu i l l . David BeriJIIan

Haunted by the Old Testament Prophets, Kramer wants to avoid acti ng con-tra natu ru m ; he ma i nta i ns , i t seems, a bel i ef in the rightness of " natura l law" a n d its set of norms. H i s caveat with the B ible a n d its laws i s h i s bel ief that for some men, same-sex love is not contra natu rum , that gay men are

fol lowi ng their natura l law. I n contrast, the VQ writers understand nature as a force of d iversity and va riety.

There isn 't one tree , but thousands of d i fferent trees. Not a si ngle apple, but dozens of varieties of a pples. Nature avoids u n iform ity particu la rly in sma l l matters-fi ngerpri nts, snowflakes, the wi ngs of may fl ies-where it goes wi ld with poss ib i l it ies. Nature, however, is not wastefu l ; its prod iga l ity is pa rt of its surviva l . Fe l ice P icano art icu lates the tension between these two ways of conceptua l iz ing Nature i n Like People in History when the nar­rator/hero, Roger Sansarc expla ins to h is young lover how shocking A I DS is i n a meta physica l sense to the ha bitues of F ire Is land :

" Nature is usua l ly so tightfisted with what it provides. So very prudent how

it husbands its resources. Why would Natu re go to a l l the trouble to create

such much l uxur ia nce in what after a l l was a group of nonreprod uctive

creatu res? Why create such an extraord inary generation of beautifu l , ta l­

ented , qu i rk i ly i ntel l igent men , and then why let them die so ra pid ly, one

after another? It doesn't make the least bit of sense. It's not natura l . It's not

the way Nature behaves . (416)

Picano can reconci le the tightfisted nature of strict norms with the l uxuriant natu re of gay creativity only by bel ieving that these extraord inar i ly bea utifu l and "qu irk i ly intel l igent men" were prod uced for some specia l m ission . But he can 't reconci le either way of conceiving of Natu re with the wastefulness of A I DS which seems to mock both the economy and the extravagance of Nature.

These two competi ng not ions of natu re-nature as normative and nature as florid ly i nventive-play themselves out in the va rious gay utopias imagined by the Violet Qui l l . F ire Is land is at once an esca pe to the natura l world from the concrete , steel , and glass environ ment o f Manhattan and an entra nce i nto the otherworld ly-a meta physica l d rea m . I n F i re I s l and the most bea utifu l and sym metrica l forms of the male anatomy expose them­selves aga inst a nature where the pines are grotesq uely twisted and stunted l i ke overgrown banza is . The is land is rema rka bly lush , not beca use it has been left untouched , but because its i nhabitants have so carefu l ly fert i l ized the ba rren sands to create their ga rdens. In short F ire Is land is one example

of the denatured nature of the pastora l trad it ion . It is a ta blea u out of 111

Edward H icks 's Peaceable Kingdom pa inti ngs. Yet across this idyll runs a shadow. G iovann i Francesco Guerc ino some- Beauty and the

t i me i n the 1 620s pa i nted a picture, now i n the Ga la ria Cors i n i , wh ich is Beach: Representln1

descri bed by J oshua Reynolds's b iogra phers as showi ng "gay fro l ickers Fire Island

stumbl ing over a death 's head " sitt ing atop a molder ing piece of masonry

(309) . Beneath the sku l l carved i nto the brick or stone are the words , ET I N

A R CA D I A EGO, the voice of Death tel l i ng the inhabitants of a pastora l retreat, " Even in Arcad ia , there am 1 . " G uerc ino meant by the phrase that death can be found even in the idea l pastora l landsca pe. Pa nofsky shows that N icholas Pouss in a ltered the not ion . In Pouss i n , "Arcad ians a re not so m uch warned of an i m placa ble future as they a re i m mersed i n a mel low

med itat ion on a bea utifu l past" ( 3 1 3 ) . Both i nterpretat ion a pply to F i re Is land as a pastora l sett ing where death sta lks and a place to be reca l led as

pa rt of an idea l ized past. At the end of Dancer from the Dance, for example, Ma lone and h is friends scan the crowd at a party, " looking at the new faces

with an odd sensation of death , for they had a l l been new faces once" (226) . This "odd sensation of death " is both the elegiac recol lection of the golden past and the proleptic v is ion of everyone's-even the youngest and most beautiful person 's-im pend i ng dem ise. Ma lone warns Schaeffer that he " no longer l ive [sl in the magic world that i s you rs for ten more yea rs. Adolescence i n America ends at th i rty" (227). Et in Arcadia ego.

Death i n Arcadia-its ch i l l i ng effect is the contrast between the seeming i m morta l ity of youth and bea uty and the austere, u nyie ld ing figu re of the sku l l . Even the ear l iest gay accounts of F i re Is land trade on th is contrast. Alexander Goodman retel ls this ta le of publ ic sex:

A s l im , good-looking boy was being screwed by a big Negro. J ust as the

Negro was about to come, he snapped a popper. He fi rst inha led it, then

he passed it to the boy, then he inhaled it aga in .

The tremendous sti mu lation from the sexual act and the drug tore at

his heart and broke i t . At the height of orgasm, the man d ied .

For several m inutes the boy lay there, not rea l izing that the body a bove

and in h im was that of a dead man . (96-97)

E lsewhere love and death rema i n d i st inct , what is a bove and with i n stay separate , the ecstatic and the fata l u nfused . B ut on F i re I s land they are ind isti nct, insepara ble, comm ingled especia l ly in the Meat Rack.

Once the A I DS ep idemic bega n the Vio let Qu i l l writers turned their backs on F i re Island as a scene for their stories , plays, and novels . The site, which had been such a stagi ng point for the i r ra ids on the, if not i na rt icu late , at

least unspoken , l ife of certa i n gay men, became after A I DS a location of less 112

strategic va l ue . In a sketch he publ ished in his 1987 col lection I 've a Feel-

ing We 're Not in Kansas Anymore, Ethan Mordden dep icts a character David lefllllan

clear ly modeled on And rew Ho l leran on the beach adjacent to the Meat Rack, "ensconced with friends between P i nes and G rove . Between : as if respecting fashion but resenting it . " The character has been " h id i ng from both the swank and the drab , h id ing between , as if i nstituti ng a new sort of gay in which neither pra ise nor blame wi l l be freely given" ( 106) . For Mord-den , Hol leran is trying to use resentment and resistance as a means of fi nd-i ng a midd leground between the swan k and the d ra b-those extremes of gay l ife . But that midd leground-no matter how l ife preserv ing it may be i n t h e Age o f A I DS-ca n not b e bu i lt on t h e sh ift ing sa nds o f F i re I s land regard less of how much beach grass is sown i n the d u nes or how deeply the foundations of the houses have been sunk .

The most damn ing and most powerfu l portra it of F i re Is land gay l ife to emerge s i nce A I DS is A l len Barnett's "The Times as It Knows Us , " a work modeled on Joyce's "The Dead . " Before h is own death from A I DS, Barnett i nterviewed the rema i n i ng mem bers of the Vio let Q u i l l for a n a rt ic le he

never wrote , and h is work q u ite self-consciously conti n ues the l ine of their work. Noah , Perry, Stark, Enzo, Horst, and the narrator, Robert, al l share a house for the summer. Robert's lover, Samuel , has d ied of A I DS . Perry has spoken to a reporter from the New York Times for an a rtic le , " N ew R itua ls Ease Grief as A I DS Tol l I ncreases , " a story that features these friends and the i r co ld response to the pa in of others. Yet "The Times as It Knows Us" does not repud iate the a rt ic le-Enzo's attack of fever is ignored by nearly everyone, i nc lud ing Enzo's lover, an A I DS activist. Only Robert and Sta rk spend the n ight try ing to lower Enzo's tem peratu re u nt i l he ca n be trans­ported to a hospita l . "S ince the deaths bega n , " Robert comments, "the cer­tified soc ia l workers have q uoted Sha kespeare at us: 'G ive sorrow words . ' B ut the words we used now reek of o ld a i r i n chu rches, taste of the d ust that has gathered in the crevices of the Nativity and the Pass ion" ( 1 05) . The old words d o not help , a n d the old places where those words were spo­ken do not he l p e ither. Some new sty le is req u i red-some new mode of speec h , or l iv ing, some new com m u n ity m ust be constructed now that Death is not merely to be found there, but has taken over the place, domi­nati ng every vista , fl itti ng through al l the rooms.

Yet for Barnett , th is new la nguage wi l l come not by denying or eras ing what ca me before , but by tra nsform ing what was most va lua ble from the past: "Th ink of h im, the one you loved , " Robert asks us to imagine, "on h is knees, on h is e l bows , h is face tu rned u p to look back i n yours , h is mouth dark in h is dark beard . "

He was smi l ing beca use of you . . . . You had brought h im , and he you , to 113

that point where you are most your m ind and most your body. His prostate

pu lsed against your fingers l i ke a heart in a cave, mind , body, body, m ind ,

over and over.

Looking down at h im , he who is dead and gone, then lying across the

broken bridge of h is spine, the beachhead of h is back, you would gladly

change places with h i m . Let your weeping be bitter and your wailing fer­

vent; then be comforted for your sorrow. F ind i n grief the a bandon you

used to find in love; grieve the way you used to tuck . ( 106)

The sexual is not for Barnett a denia l of our deepest human ity, but the por­

ta l to it, the passage to that new language, that new style of being which we m ust create in the wake of A I DS. In the phrase "the beaches of h is back, "

i ndeed i n the entire way he turns a natomy i nto geogra phy, Barnett ma kes clear that sex is not confined to a s i ngle space but is part of the la rger, and pub l ic , env i ron ment . I t i s i n the pub l ic v is i b i l ity of gay sexua l ity that h is cha racters begin to learn the lessons that wi l l serve them in the i r communa l

grief. N ights on F i re Is land are dark . Only the heart of a forest is da rker. The

ocea n stretches out , c loa ked in its thick m ist r icher than blood . On F i re Is land no cars prowl the street, shooti ng head l ights i nto the far ends of the room, l i ke two hands fee l ing for the wa l l or f ingering the furn iture . On clear

n ight sta rs m ight, the foam on the crest of the waves m ight g l immer. But the natura l l ight of stars and moon is the perfect l ighting for sex out of doors, showering the bod ies of lovers with its coo l , caressi ng, s i lvery l ight.

It gives even the d riest l i ps fu l lness and moistness . In the moonl ight, the eyes grow wide, sti l l , sensit ive. Men pass a lert to every gesture, every sou nd , not for fea r of bei ng d i scovered , but i n hopes that they may be fou nd . They a re attu ned to the dark beca use they know that darkness is a lso a door inscri bed with a fina l verd ict. Et in Arcadia ego.

Even i n Arcadia , I am .

R E F E R ENC E S Ba rnett , Al len . The Body and Its Dangers and Other Stories. New York: St. Martin 's

Press, 1990.

Bergma n , David . Gaiety Transfigured: Gay Self-Representation in American Litera-

ture. Mad ison : U n iversity of Wisconsin Press, 199 1 .

Deeter, M idge. "The Boys o n the Beac h . " Commentary, September 1980: 35-48.

De Koon ing. Wi l lem. Fire Island. Oil on paper. c. 1946. Margul ies Fami ly Col lection . Good m a n , Alexander. A Summer on Fire Island. Wash ington , D . C . : G u i ld Press ,

1966.

Hol leran . Andrew. Dancer from the Dance. New York: Morrow. 1978.

Beauty and the

Beach: Represent1n1

Fire Island

Kramer, Larry. Faggots. New York: Random House, 1978. 114

Leavitt, David . I ntroduction to The Penguin Book of Gay Short Fiction, ed ited by Mark

M itchel l and David Leavitt. New York: Viking Pengu in , 1994. David Beraman

Mordden , Ethan . I've a Feeling We 're Not in Kansas Anymore. New York: St. Martin's

Press, 1985.

Mosher, John. Celibate at Twilight. New York: Ra ndom House, 1940.

Newton, Esther. Cherry Grove, Fire Island. Boston: Beacon Press, 1993.

Panofsky, I rwi n . Meaning in the Visual Arts. Chicago: Un ivers ity of Ch icago Press ,

1955.

Pica no, Felice. Like People in History. New York: Viking Press, 1995.

White , Edmund. Forgetting Elena. New York: Pengu in , 1981

Wh ite , Ed m u n d . Nocturnes for the King of Naples. New York: St. Mart in 's Press,

1978.

White, Edmund. States of Desire. New York: Dutton , 1980.

Wh itmore, George. "The R ights . " Man uscript . Col lection of Victor B u m balo , New

York.

Sex in "Private" Places: Gender, Erotics, and

Detachment in Two Urban Locales

W I L L I AM L . L E AP

I n th is cha pter I d i scuss two d ifferent types of " pub l ic places"-the locker room and sauna of a commercia l health c lub and the backroom of an ad u lt

bookstore . Each place becomes constructed as a space where men have sex with other men, though each does so in somewhat d ifferent ways. How men go a bout construct ing male-centered erotic space at these sites is of i nterest to the d iscuss ion , and so is why men consider backrooms and sa unas as a ppropriate sites for erotic engagement.

I n that sense, the chapter jo ins the preced ing d iscussions by Tatte lman , Ho l l i ster, Bergma n , and others i n explor i ng con nections between land­sca pe (that is , fol lowing Cosgrove 1985, a "way of seeing" and i nterpreting a pa rticu lar terra i n ) and male-centered erotic practice . Raymond Wi l l iams 0973: 9-12 pass im) rem inds us, however, that landsca pe is a prod uct of class position and other com ponents l i nking human agency to opportun ity structure . Accord ingly, any d iscussion of erotic site must a lso be a d iscus­sion of erotic actor(s). I address the issue in severa l ways , but primar i ly by asking how forms of socia l action with i n the erotic moment mesh with the actors' claims to gendered identity.

These i ntersections of loca l terra i n , erotic practices, and identity a re of i nterest to the anth ropology of gender and to the ra pidly expand ing field of cu ltura l geogra phy. For exa m ple , B ut ler 's suggestion ( 1990: 13-25 , pas­si m ) that gender has a performative rather tha n a pred iscu rsive status in h u man experience c losely pa ra l le ls the i ns istence by I ngold ( 1994: 738) a nd others (see d iscussion in H i rsch 1995, especia l ly page 5 and note 6) that landscape is not a static formation , but a form of cu ltura l process . This Para l le l suggests that landsca pe m ight be performative (that is , a prod uct of soc ia l condit ions, not an antecedent of it) ; and that gender itself m ight be "a way of seeing" releva nt to a part icu lar terra i n . 1

More i m porta nt, these i ntersections of terra i n , erotics, a n d identity have c utt ing-edge relevance for H IV ed ucation . We a re now enter ing the fourth

6

decade of the A I DS pandem ic; and whi le H IV infection rates i n the Un i ted 118

States may not be expa n d i ng exponent ia l ly, as resea rchers had once feared , H IV i nfection rates are certa i n ly not dec l in i ng. Beca use sexual safe- Willi1m L L11p

ty conti nues to com pete with r isk-ta k ing with i n the erotic moment, some a uthorities propose lowering i nfection rates by e l im inating the sites where men regu la rly engage in at-r isk erotic activity, e .g . , close the gay bathhous-es , proh i bit male sex c l u bs , pol ice the h ighway rest-stops, mon itor the

depa rtment store bath rooms . Such proposa ls assume that the physica l location itself creates i ncentives for sexual risk-taking.

I wi l l argue here that the source of sexua l risk-tak ing l ies not i n the physi­ca l ity (or ava i lab i l ity) of the sexual site , but in the sense of sexual landscape

that grows out of part ic ipation in male-centered erotic activities in previous

loca les, foregrounds erotic poss ib i l it ies at pa rt icu la r sites, and structu res s ite-specific erotic memories. U nderstand ing how sexua l landsca pe pro­motes sexual risk is the fi rst step toward u nderstand ing what sexual land­scapes m ight conta in if they were constructed i ndependently of risk-taking, and the fi rst step toward deve lop ing A I DS ed ucation/prevent ion efforts which wi l l actual ly promote such constructions.

Two "Private" Sites: Some Prel iminary Contrasts

To develop these issues, I focus specifica l ly on two sites of male-centered erotic excha nge in the Wash i ngton D .C . a rea : the sa una and associated areas in the men's locker room of an " (officia l ly) heterosexua l " health c lub and the backroom of a "gay" -oriented , adu lt bookstore .2 Let me begin by

expla i n i ng why I a m using these particu lar s ites as the data-base for a d is­cussion of landsca pe, erotic practices, and identity.

F i rst, I have become fam i l ia r with these sites through previous research activ it ies, and have been d rawi ng com pa risons between the i r deta i ls for q u ite some t ime.

The hea lth club i n q uestion here was an im portant research site du ring my ea r l ier study of Gay Men 's Eng/ish.3 Whi le the health c l u b does not advertise itself as a gay-fr iend ly site, and does not actively so l ic i t a gay c l iente le , health c l ub patrons i nc l ude gay men and stra ight men , and the logistics of the locker room, the aerobics studio , and the weight-room floor provide ample opportun ities for conversation and other forms of commun i­cation with i n and across gendered boundaries. By studying " language use" at this hea lth c l ub , I was a ble to observe i nsta nces where gay men and stra ight men used Engl ish i n s im i l a r as we l l as d ifferent ways , and the points of s im i larity and d ifference helped sharpen my sense of d istinctive­ness and authenticity in gay Engl ish grammar and d iscourse .

The bookstore backroom has become a n eq ua l ly va lua b le resea rc h 111

environment, now that my gay Engl ish research has begun to explore the language of gay city. Events and activities at th is second s ite figu re promi- s u I n MPrlvatt"

nent ly i n the narrat ives and anecdota l comments I have co l lected from Places

severa l i nformants in the project. And , as was the case in the health c l ub sa u n a , the backroom has a l so become a s i te for my own part ic i pa nt­

observation . Second , the bookstore and the health c lub are located i n d ifferent areas

of the District of Colum bia, and "surround ings" contri bute to the construc­tion of each site in rather d ifferent ways.

The health c lub occupies three floors of an office bu i ld ing in an u psca le

area ( upper northwest) of Washington D.C . Adjacent to the hea lth club are

the admin i strative offices for severa l federal agenc ies and severa l private commercia l f irms, whose staffs are el igible for a variety of health c lub mem­

bersh ip packages and d iscounted membersh ip fees. Even with those d is­cou nts, the costs of mainta i n i ng a monthly membersh ip at the health c lub

is h igher than for any other commercia l health c lub fac i l ity i n the c ity. "The fee structure is del i berate , " one staff member told me when I fi rst vis ited the club, "to ensure that certa in types of people wi l l not a pply for membersh ip . " I asked what she meant by "certa in types o f people , " and she repl ied : "You know, col lege students , people who ca n not afford what we have to offer, people who would not be comfortable here, who wou ldn 't fit i n . "

One resu l t o f t h i s pol icy is pa rt icu la rly str ik ing : wh i le there a re Afr ica n America ns , Asia ns , and H i spa n ics on the c l u b's membersh i p roles , the mem bersh i p's predominant rac ia l/eth n ic category i s Eu ro-America n . I n fact, by m y estimate , n o more than two o r th ree of the fifty o r sixty persons on the weight room f loor at a ny given t ime wi l l be persons of color. More­over, and fu rther submerging any sense of ethn ic/racia l d ifferences at th is site , c lub members share certa in s im i la rities i n occu pationa l status and job descri ption , e .g . , m idd le- level ma nagers, u pper- level adm in istrators, un i ­vers ity professors , broadcast journa l i sts , health professiona ls , lawyers i n corporate or private practice, and (occasional ly) congressmen.

I ca n not say that the c lub caters to a n elite c l ientele, beca use on ly a handful of the c lub's mem bers ( by my estimate) a re from h igh i ncome or h igh status backgrounds. But I can report that ma nagement tries to create an impression of privi lege . Certa i n ly c lub furn ish i ngs and amen ities speak d i rectly to that i mage , e .g . , h igh-back leather cha i rs i n the wa it ing a rea , lockers made of rea l wood , not veneered part ic le boa rd ; com p l i menta ry coffee , tea , and m inera l water at the refresh ment bar; and the assortments of soa ps, sha mpoos, and other toi letries in the men's shower area . And so do the c lu b's selection of top-of-the- l i ne , h igh-tech fitness eq u i pment and

the range of persona l tra i n i ng services, which c lub staff wi l l provide to ind i - na vid ual members for add itiona l fees.

The c lub's physica l separation from the outside world contri butes richly William L. Leap

to this impression . The c lub is underground , and the patron 's only access is through a security-guarded elevator. J ust by enteri ng the c lub , the patron leaves the mundane world beh ind . There a re no windows or exterior vistas. The wa l l s of the workout a reas a nd locker rooms a re f i l led with m i rrors , reflect ing the viewer's gaze back onto the deta i l s of i nterior spaces. Once enteri ng the c l ub , there is no "outs ide" to be seen , and the conti n uous thumping of d isco music ensures that outside noises can not be heard .4

No such pretense of privi lege has i nfluenced the construction of faci l i ­t ies a t the bookstore or its backroom, or d i rected the managers' efforts to attract and reta in a c l iente le . Bookstore customers come to the bookstore

from across the city and from the surround ing Maryland and V irgi n ia sub­urbs ; un l i ke the health c lub , their i ncome-leve ls , employment status, and rac ia l/eth n ic backgrounds a re q u ite d iverse . Moreover, the bookstore is located i n a pa rt of the metropol itan a rea which gay men (and other D .C . res idents) descri be as " low i ncome , " "wa rehouse d istrict , " " run down , " "dangerous, " and "th is i s where I go when I go s lumming. " 5 The surround­i ng neigh borhood is industria l , not residentia l ; it has, however, been home for severa l of D .C . 's more popular gay c lubs i n recent years .

Th i rd , activit ies that ta ke place at these sites present rather d i fferent i ntersections of erotics and spatial practice.

The health c lub's advert is ing positions this fac i l ity as a gymnasium , not as a ma le-centered sex-c l u b and , each t ime I have ra ised the issue with staff members, they ins ist that on-site sexual activity between men does not occur here. Of course the forms of erotic d isplay usua l ly associated with a l l ­ma le sports fac i l i t ies can regu la rly be found i n the men 's locker room behavior-the parade of partia l ly exposed or undra ped male bod ies, flexing of muscles , com petitive teas ing , and conti nua l sexua l i n n uendo. And , unstated but powerfu l restr ict ions which l i m it c lose physica l contact and other forms of spatia l ized intimacy obl igate men to "keep the i r d istance" i n the sauna , i n the locker room, just as they do i n the workout areas a n d o n the weight room floor. S o when sex between m e n occurs a t th is site-and , staff assertions to the contrary, sex between men does occur here , as I wi l l expla in below-the male-centered erotic activities violate on-site norms i n mu lt iple ways .

Sex between men i n the bookstore backroom , i n contrast, exp l ic it ly affi rms the socia l norms mainta ined with in that loca le. The backroom con­ta ins a com plex a rrangement of d im ly l i t cha m bers, enc losed cu bicles for one-on-one erotic exchange, and open areas for group sex and other vis ible

erotic d isplays . A l l of these featu res he lp make th is a site marked for sex 119

between men, and the front a rea of the bookstore antici pates th is message th rough its assortment of sexual ly expl icit a l l -male videos , its racks of "jerk- sex In "Private"

off" magazines and books , and its d isplays of d i ldos, cockri ngs , " poppers" Places

( marketed as " room deodorizers" or "video head cleaners " ) , and other sex

toys. F ina l ly, as the label im pl ies, the " backroom" location of this bookstore is

very much i ntended as a private space and not as a publ ic location . To ga i n access t o t h i s a rea , t h e customer pays an entra nce fee ( $ 14.00 per vis it , d u r ing the sum mers of 1995 and 1996 when I conducted my i nterviews and the on-s ite resea rch ) , then passes through a tu rnsti le and through th ick b lack curta i ns i nto the darkened area beyond . The further i nto th is a rea the customer goes, the greater the opportu n it ies for ma le-centered

erot ic exchange-a nd the greater the restr ict ions on us ing verba l state­ments as a means for fac i l itat ing such exchange ; pa nting and groan i ng i n

the heat o f passion are , however, entirely appropriate with i n this context. The backroom is not a cru is ing a rea , or a s ite for prel im ina ry sexua l

negotiation ; th is is an a rea where people go " to take ca re of business , " as one of my i nformants pointed ly expla ined . And the secl usion , the darkness, the avoidance of verba l commun ication-a l l of which sign ify private erotic spaces in many segments of modern day Amer ica-work together to underscore this point.

The health c l ub sa una , i nteresti ngly enough , shares many of the fea­

tures of " private space" which a re commonly associated with ma le-cen­tered sexual practices (and wh ich are r ich ly i l l u strated by the bookstore's

backroom , as I expla i n below) . The sauna is located at the fu rthest point from the entrance to the hea lth c lub . To reach the sa una , a c l ub member must check i n at the entry desk, wa l k past the aerobic stud ios, enter the

men's locker room, wa l k past the televis ion room, d isrobe and store c loth­ing in a locker, go through the room with the lavatories and toi lets, pass the whir lpool , wa l k up th ree steps, and turn left: only then does the c lub mem­ber face the sauna room door. There is a panel of clear, t i nted glass in the center of the sa una door, but the sauna itse lf has a s i ngle l ightbu lb of low wattage , and otherwise provides a darkened i nterior. Su bd ued conversation between sauna users is accepta ble, but such conversations should not be loud enough to d isturb other occupants' enjoyment of the fac i l ity, and occu­pants wi l l d i rect poi nted ly feroc ious gla nces at the offend i ng part ies if a conversation is boisterous or prolonged .

B ut , structura l and situat ional privacy notwithstand ing, the sauna is sti l l ve ry m uch a public location . A t least, that is the posit ion o f health c l ub management and staff, who have reacted q u ite negatively when i nd ivid ua l

c lub mem bers violate the rules of decoru m centra l to the institutiona l cu i- 120

ture at this site , e.g. , loud , boisterous cond uct in the locker room or on the

workout floor, use of profan ity or obscene la nguage, unsa nctioned a ppro- William L. Leap

priation of another's persona l property, or on-s ite erotic activity. "The rea l prob lem here , " one staff member told me , " is v is i b i l i ty. " He conti nued : "Acting l i ke a bu l ly, ta lk ing d i rty, stea l i ng-these are events which are d iffi­cu lt to ignore . Whatever people do on their own time here is their own busi­ness, and none of my concern . But when what you do starts affecting other people's use of the c lub , hey, we gotta put a stop to that. "

"So , " I asked , " if you found out that two guys were 'fool ing around' in the showers or i n the sa una . . . ? " "We'd have to stop 'em , " he rep l ied . " Peo­ple'd object to that. Th is isn 't what they want to see when they come here

for their workout. " And sure enough , soon after " people" began com pla in­i ng a bout men having sex with men i n the sauna room, one of the jan itors began wa l king up the sta i rs to the sa una at i rregular interva ls , so he could peer through the t inted panel and ensure that the club mem bers were not

mak ing personal use out of the areas designated as " publ ic spaces" with i n the health c lu b's "officia l " geography.

Erotics, "Public Space," and Privacy: The Health Club

Studying Sex-on-Site

B ut the fact is , management's assu m ptions a bout pub l ic space notwith­stand i ng, some c l u b mem bers were actively using the sa u na and other a reas of the locker room as sites for erotic activit ies. Other club mem bers bega n to te l l me a bout these activities as soon as I started work ing out at this c lub (fa l l 199 1 ) , and--conti nu ing a l i ne of research which I had begun during my gay Engl ish research at s im i la r sites i n the D.C. a rea-l was curi­ous to understand why some of my fel low club members found on-site sex­ual exchange to be so attractive. Were these i ncidents merely a prod uct of pragmatic , if unpla nned , opportun ism-two horny guys, fee l ing the heat of mutual attract ion, spontaneously acting on their impulses? Did they reflect the idea (see d iscussions in Pranger 1990: 125-36; Klei n 1993 : 22 1-33) that athletes can do anyth ing they want and never com prom ise their mas­cu l i n ity? Did they suggest the emergence of a new type of gay male erotic oasis , given the negative sanctions that the A I DS pandemic has im posed on im personal sex at other loca les?

To answer these questions , I bega n mak ing th ree v is its a week to the c l u b , and except for i nterru pt ions due to out-of-town tr i ps or i l l ness, I ma i nta i ned that sched u le over the per iod October 199 1 to Februa ry 1993 . Two of these visits were a lways i n the early even ing; the th i rd was

either in the even ing, a m id-week afternoon , or a late afternoon on Satur- 121

day or Su nday. Each vis it lasted two hours , and inc l uded a warm-up peri-

od on the stat iona ry bicycles, a s ixty m i n ute workout on the weight room sex in "Private"

floor, and th i rty m in utes (or longer) in the locker room, the sa una , and i n Places

the showers . This schedu le gave me ample opportun ity to observe fe l low health c lub

patrons i n a va riety of on-site sett ings. As I reported i n Lea p ( 1996b:

1 09-24) , these observations offered a bundant exa m ples of gay Engl ish usage, both i n the presence of stra ight men and in conversations exc lusive­

ly between gay men. They a lso gave me opportun ity to cont inue my study of gender d iversity in nonverbal message-making, work which I had begun at other health c lub sites . Because I was now com ing to the c lub on a regu lar bas is , I was a lso able to get to know other men who used the club fac i l ities at s im i lar times. Conversations with these men el ic ited their perspectives on

a ra nge of topics relevant to the socia l orga nization of the site . Some of these men self- identif ied as "gay, " e ither d u ring the open ing

moments of our fi rst conversation or as friendsh ip began to develop . Two of

them i ntroduced me to other gay men who regu la rly used the c lub faci l it ies, and soon I had access to a sma l l network of gay com pa n ions whose insights i nto on-site sexual practices soon became i nva l ua ble. I ta lked with them freq uent ly, in one-on-one conversations and in sma l l groups , and bega n to look forwa rd to these d iscussions each t ime I v is ited the health

c l ub . I was a lso a ble to hold more deta i led d iscussions with severa l of the men, both over the te lephone and at locations away from the health c lub ; their comments hel ped me flesh out my observations a bout the undercu r­rents of erotic activity present at the site .

Other men e ither offered no identif ication of the i r gender- ident ity, or q u ickly made their cla ims to heterosexual ity expl ic it ly clear. I found it d iffi ­cult to ta lk i nforma l ly with men i n this "un identified " category; I noticed that they used the gym fac i l it ies on the i r own and ra re ly spoke to anyone else under any circumstances. On the other hand, I became friends with severa l of the self- identif ied stra ight men , a few of whom a lso became va lua ble sources of i nformation as the research progressed .

Ea rl ier research at other health c lubs made it easy to identify the verba l Ph rases and nonverba l cues which signa led that ma le-centered erotic negotiations was occurr ing on the weight room floor or i n the locker rooms, showers, and saunas (see d iscussion in Lea p 1996b: 47-48, 63-66) . Once 1 i dentified the beginn ing stages of such a negotiation , I tried to mon itor the 1 exchange d iscreetly and to make verbat im notes on the d ia logue, if paper . and penci l were ava i la ble ; my workout sheets were especia l ly usefu l for th is pu rpose.

I n some cases, I observed the transition from in itia l expressions of i nter- 122

est to the beginn ings of the erotic exchange; and in others, I was a ble to fol-low these negotiations from beginn ing to concl usion . William L. Leap

Locations for on-s ite erotic activit ies i nc l uded the pa rt i a l ly enc losed a lcoves in the cha nging rooms, wh ich were created by the cu l -de-sac placements of the lockers; the shower sta l l s , wh ich were protected from outs ide viewi ng by heavy cotton shower c u rta i ns ; the stea m room, the rooms used for sunta n n i ng, massage , and physica l therapy (when those rooms were not otherwise engaged ) , and the sa u na-wh ich , by other men's reports and my own observation , was the on-site location most fre­q uently employed for th is purpose .

The erot ic activit ies that took p lace i n these locations inc l uded hand­jobs (self-adm in istered , adm in i stered to a nother ma n , or adm in i stered i n

ta ndem ) , b low jobs, and (though occu rr ing m uch less freq uently, b y a l l reports) frottage a n d butt-fucking. Us ing hands, f ingers , and/or tongues to

fee l , probe, ca ress, and massage one's partner or one's own body cou ld precede and/or accompany any of those activities . Usual ly, a l l such physi­ca l contact ended as soon as one or both partici pants reached orgasm.

I nd iv id ua l excha nges cou ld have one, two , or more pa rtic i pa nts , and cou ld a lso occu r i n the presence of other men who m ight, on the i r part, ignore the exchange enti rely, feign ind ifference to its deta i l , agree to provide " l ook-out" services and wa rn of the approach of others, or join the other part ic ipants i n the exchange .

I m portantly, wh i le verba l commentary usual ly signa led he lp to structure the begi nn i ng stages of these negotiations, verba l comm u n ication d u r ing erotic activity was largely l im ited to programmatic or performative phrases. Often , the exchanges took place a lmost entirely i n s i lence.

F ina l ly, whi le I cannot specify the frequency with which male-centered erotic activities occur at this s ite , I can offer severa l i nformal ind ications of freq uency. For example, comments in my field notes show that I found men engaged in same-sex erotic activity at least twice a month duri ng the eigh­teen-month period I was on site . My field notes a lso show that, at least three times per month , I observed i n itia l phases of erotic exchange, even if I was not able to determine the specifics of the outcome.

Anecdota l comments from the c l ub patrons (gay and stra ight) I i nter­viewed suggested that the i r observations of other men 's on-s ite erotics occurred at s imi lar freq uencies. Some of these men a lso reported that, "as often as once a week" (to c ite one respondent's phrasing) , they found evi­dence of com pleted erotic activities ( pudd les of semen on the sauna seats and locker room floors, on workout or locker room towels that had not been placed in the laundry baskets , or on the furn i ture in the physica l thera py

rooms. And most of them had at least one story to tel l a bout sex-between- 123

men on-site. These stor ies may have been derived from the ir own c l u b exper iences or based on experiences reported t o them b y other patrons . Sax in uPrlvate"

But either way, these stories helped them summarize, in a si ngle na rrative, Places

what they knew a bout male same-sex erotics, and men who had such sto-ries to tel l ins isted that I i nc lude these narratives in my data base.

To be sure , th is health c l u b was not function ing as a th i n ly d isgu ised bath house, but sex-between-men was freq uent enough to have become integrated i nto the socia l practices and the cu ltura l na rratives patrons asso­ciated with this site , whatever their own sexual or erotic i nterests . The promi­nence of these practices and narratives ra ised questions i n my mind regard­ing the participants : who were the men-having-sex-with-men at this s ite?

Erotics, Landscape, and Identity

As I got to know some of the gay members of the health c lub , I asked them

to ta l k a bout occurrences of sex-between-men at th is site and, where possi­b le , I tr ied to get them to give me descri pt ions of their own on-s ite erotic experiences. I n it ia l ly, the men spoke of locker-room- and sauna-sex i n gen­era l ized terms, as an enactment of tuck-fi lm imagina ries or a fulfi l lment of hot erotic fantasies. Consistently, however, these boisterous, carefree c la ims soon gave way to one or more of the fol lowing reflexive pronouncements:

1 . Locker room sex is risky sex, particularly si nce (accord ing to infor­mant commentary and my own observations) part ic ipants are un l i kely to wear condoms and may d isregard safer sex practices i n other ways.

2. Locker room sex leads to discovery by health c lub staff or other club mem bers; d iscovery wi l l reinforce images of gay men as sexu­

a l predators , and may a lso endanger the partic ipants' conti nu ing membersh ip i n the health c lub .

3 . Locker rooms are not appropriate places for men to have sex with other men; sex is someth ing to do "at home, " not " i n publ ic . "6

The th i rd poi nt is of pa rt icu la r i nterest here . Certa i n ly, self- identif ied gay men have no prob lems i n it iat ing negotiat ions that may lead i nto erot ic excha nge . B ut , by my observat ion and accord i ng to partic i pants' self­reports, once both parties begin to express serious interest in erotic activity, they either exchange telephone numbers, a rrange to conti nue the negotia­tions off-site once their workouts are ended , or agree to conti nue thei r con­versation the next t ime they see each other at the gym . M uch less freq uent­ly, aga in by my observation and participants' self-reports , self-identified gay men conti nue the negotiations to an on-site, erotic conc lusion .

Self- identified gay men spoke candid ly a bout their experiences with on- 124

site sex when I asked questions a bout it during i nformal conversations and i nterviews. They ins isted that they only pursue these options under specia l William L Leap

c i rcumsta nces, usua l ly i n i n sta nces where the object of des i re satisfies thei r fantasized expectations a bout the " idea l " sex-partner i n some extraor-d inary way. And they a lways acknowledged the need for self- restra int in the health c l ub sett ing ( pa raphras ing points 1 and 2, a bove) , even whi le they exp la i ned why they cou ld not ignore the a p pea l of the pa rticu la r erotic moment.

Consistent with th is a rgu ment , self- identif ied gay men c la i m that the men who regula rly participate i n on-site erotic activities, who are most l i kely to i n it iate and pursue these excha nges , and who a re key figu res in the anecdotes and narratives a bout " locker room sex" which c i rcu late among

the members of this health c lub-these men are not "gay men" but (as one gay friend put it) s imply "guys who l i ke having sex with other guys . "

At fi rst, I thought there was a pol itica l d isti nction h idden i n th i s typology: "gay men" heed one set of rules and constra i nts a ppropriate to th is site (a sort-of "situated gay culture , " perha ps) and violate those rules only under specia l c i rcumstances; wh i le "guys who l i ke having sex with other guys" do not recogn ize the i m porta nce of those ru les and model the i r behaviors around other, more permissive standards . But after observing one instance of on-s ite sex between men , I bega n ta l k ing to the ( 50+-yea r-old Euro­American ) man who (I later lea rned ) had sta rted the exc hange _ ? He, too , i ns isted that he was "stra ight , " not "gay, " and that the m utual mastu rba­tion/blow-jobs which he and his sex-partner had just enjoyed did not consti­tute "gay sex . " He went on to describe h imself as " bisexua l , " sa id he was

i nvolved in a long-term , l ive-i n relationsh ip with a women , but a lso enjoyed sex with men-"espec ia l ly, " he expla i ned , "when there a re no str ings attached . "

O f a l l those I i nterviewed , there were twelve men who regula rly had sex with other men on-site, but who refused to self- identify as "gay" and ins ist­ed that they were "stra ight . " As the d iscussions conti n ued , two men i n add ition t o the 50-year-old mentioned earl ier a lso went on t o identify them­selves as " bisexua l . " The other n i ne men offered other forms of self­descr ipt ion : a 38-year-o ld government adm in i strator exc la i med : " I 'm a married man with k ids, for crissa ke! " ; an attorney i n private practice sa id : " I 'm a Mormon " ; a col lege student announced , q u ite s imp ly, " I 'm horny, and if another guy wants to do it, I ' l l do it. "

It is tem pting to consider these men's use of identifiers l i ke " married , " " Mormon" a n d " horny" a s instances of sub l imation and self-den ia l , and to conc lude that all of these men are rea l ly " b isexua l " (or, perha ps, latently

homosexua l ) , even if most are unwi l l i ng (or u nable) to recogn ize their con- 125

nection to that gendered stance. There are, however, some more substan-t ia l (and less self-evident) i nterpretat ions to be made of these c la ims to Sex in NPrivlll"

identity. Plac11

For one thing, " men having sex with other men" has a wider occurrence

i n U .S . society than many people commonly recognize, and the activities observed and reported at the health c lub s ite may be noth ing more than a loca l ized reflection of this larger trend.8 Moreover, both Pronger ( 1990) and Klei n ( 1993) have shown how men's partic ipation in competitive athletics can coincide with expressions of hypermascu l in ity, as wel l as cla ims to free-rang­

ing sexual l icense. Wi l l i ng partic ipation in same-sex erotic activities combined

with an avoidance of homosexual labe l ing is entirely consistent with this con­struction of male ideology-particularly when the activities (and d iscussions) take place in an a l l-male environment l ike a health c lub locker room.

Add it iona l ly, a l l of the self- identified stra ight men I i nterviewed occu py prominent, and often prestigious, positions i n D .C . 's business/professional com m u n ity, and I wonder how greatly issues of ma le-centered priv i lege contri bute to the enactments of sexual desire here. I ndeed , j udging by the com ments recorded in my field notes, the self- identif ied stra ight men 's

descriptions of their on-site sexual pursu its resem ble the " I see it, I want it, I take it" perspectives which u nder l ies the sexual harassment of women i n the workplace. If a predatory sexual ity a lso underl ies these men's pursuit of

male-centered on-site erotics, then the c lose ties between power and plea­sure which these men a re address ing through such pu rsu its need to be h ighl ighted , not obscured .

Particularly relevant to th is poi nt is the un ified description of the health c l u b's landsca pe that a l l of the stra ight men gave me d ur ing our on-s ite conversations. Whi le the men identify themselves and their erotic interests in multi ple ways, they agree that the health c lub offers them forms of shel­ter, retreat, and secluded relaxation unava i la ble i n other, more " pu bl ic" set­ti ngs . The 38-year-old government admin istrator (the man who told me he was " married with two kids, for crissakes" ) developed this point more ful ly du ring an off-site i nterview:

After a full day of i n -your-face federal regu lat ions, with the pa perwork

grind and a boss who wins national awards for being a jerk, I l i ke to come

to the c lub , do some exercises, work out a whi le , have a leisurely sa una ,

see who wa l ks through the door [three-second pa use ) . then take my

shower and d rive home to the kids.

S im i la r i nterpretat ions of the health c l u b as a private loca le , somet h i ng

separated and protected from the ord i n a ry locations of da i ly l ife , show u p i n

other comments made during these i nterviews . Frequently, the health c lub 126

sau na or other specific locations beca me the foca l poi nt for these d iscus-s ion of privacy. Stra ight men i ns ist that erot ic encou nters i n the sa u na William L. Leap

always happen spontaneously, without the kind of elaborate pre lud ing usu-a l ly associated with " p ick up" activit ies i n places l i ke ba rs, pa rt ies at

friends' houses, or at soc ia l events at work. And because they never know whether they are goi ng to have sex in the sauna , stra ight men do not have access to condoms or other safe-sex pa ra pherna l i a with i n the erotic

moment, and either avoid penetrative sexual practice or pursue penetration without us ing a ny form of protect ion .9 Encou nters wh ich beg in in less secl uded sett ings have more t ime for pla nn ing, and protected penetration

can become much more feasible. So d ifferences i n lead-time and i n the use of safe-sex practices are two

of the sign ifiers which prompt stra ight men to identify the health c lub , and part icularly, the sauna , as a private space. Discovery is another such sign ifi­er. The stra ight men I have i nterviewed tel l me that they wou ld never go to a park, a "gay beac h , " or other outdoors location to meet and have sex with a nother ma n . Such places are too v is ib le , too open , too unprotected , too da ngerous, these men told me; anyone can see what you a re doing when you are there. The health club is more enclosed , more protected , and more secure , so there is no reason to worry about d iscovery: people respect each other's privacy, and they leave each other a lone.

F ina l ly, the constra i nts of fa m i ly l ife , l ive- i n g ir l friends , and the l i ke , make it i m possi b le for these men to have sex with other men i n the i r homes, and thei r i ns istence that they are not gay ma kes the bathhouses, sex c lubs , and other expl ic it ly gay locat ions less than a ppea l i ng locations for such encounters. The health club is not identified with any of these con­stra i nts, and its d ista nce from fa m i ly and from gay l ife make it a h igh ly appropriate site for ma le-centered sexual exchange.

These interpretations of the health c lub landscape may not expla i n why self- identified stra ight men could a lso be i nterested in having sex with other men (and do not help me resolve the q uestions of category and label ing I ment ioned a bove ) . B ut they do he lp me understa nd why these stra ight men choose locations l i ke a health club sauna as the site for ma le-centered sexual activity. Add it iona l ly, the characterization that stra ight men give to th is location-hea lth c l u b as private space-is q u ite d ifferent from that given by the self- identified gay men I i nterviewed , and with whom I regula rly soc ia l i zed d u ri ng my vis its to the c l ub . Gay men consider the c l u b to be public space, not a private loca le ; in fact, they consider it too publ ic for any­thing more than pre l im inary erotic pursuit . For the stra ight men, the health c lub extends cond it ions of privacy which (they c la im ) they do not usua l ly

find at other locations. For gay men, however, the health c lub is pu bl ic i n its 121

i nterna l deta i l , and sources of private space l ie elsewhere . Sex in "Private"

Erotics, "Public Space," and Privacy: An Adult Bookstore's Backroom Place•

Backrooms provide one of the settings for privacy. Whether the surround ing location is a ba r, a movie theater, a bookstore , or a sex shop, backrooms

offer opportun ities for men to have sex with men which are not ava i la ble in qu ite the same way i n other loca les. The important characteristics here are severa l : the site is ma rked , expl ic it ly, for erotic activ ity, and persons who

enter the s ite may freely assume that they share s im i la r erotic i nterests with persons a l ready on-site. Of course, some people may be there s im ply to observe the sexual activities of others, and not to part ic i pate in them . B ut

even a detached observer is l i kely to become the target of another person 's erotic in terests at some point d u ri ng h i s v is i t ; and he is eq ua l ly l i ke ly to become a ta rget of negative sanction and rid icu le if he conti nues to rebuff

those overtures.

Studying Sex-on-Site

" Backrooms are for serious sex; they're not for ch i ldren , " sa id Charl ie , a 41 -yea r-old accountant from M iam i who recently had been transferred to the D.C. area . "The only l im its , " he conti nued , "are the l im its that you impose on your partner. " The descriptions of backroom activities I have col lected from other i nforma nts support Char l ie 's c la im . Any k ind of erotic exchange may

occur during a person 's visit to a backroom, and no one is patro l l ing the area to regu late behavior. ( " No sex pol ice , " Char l ie noted . ) I n fact, i nforma nts always refer to the open-ended ness and un predictabi l ity of the backroom's

erotic opportun ities when they d iscuss the attractiveness of such sites. I beca me i nterested in backrooms as a by-prod uct of my cu rrent

resea rch , a study of the c u ltu ra l construction of gay space(s) in u rba n areas . As part of the data-gathering for th is project, I have been col lect ing l ife-story narratives from gay men who l ive i n the Wash ington D.C. a rea , as we l l as the i r descri pt ions of the l andma rks, locations , and activit ies that defi ne Wash ington D.C. as a "gay city. " Some of the men I have interviewed sa id noth ing a bout backrooms and backroom sex , and have made c lear from their comments that they have noth i ng good to say a bout such loca­tions and the sexual practices that go on there. Others have inc luded back­rooms as pa rt of the terra in of gay city as they know it from their own experi­ences. And for severa l of these men , backrooms a re especia l ly promi nent features of the u rba n gay la ndsca pe. The i r comments resem ble the descr ipt ions of anonymous sex between men presented by Delph ( 1 978)

and , more recently, i n the essays i n Da ngerous Bedfe l lows ( 1996) , and 128

they br ing back memories of my v is its to the gay baths in the 1970s and early 1980s . William L. Leap

But these narratives offer more tha n mere deta i l s of erotic chronology. They provide g l im pses i nto persona l des i re , of "wa nt of bei ng" (to use a Laca n ian pa ra phrase of that term ) ; they show the c lose connections between des i re and nosta lgia , probing a " h u nger of memory" that ca n not be satisfied through s imple recol lections of the past; and-importa nt to my

purposes here-they posit ion backrooms, and backroom experiences, as publ ic and as private spaces .

Col lecting these narratives has prompted me to visit severa l of the back­rooms so I could observe at firsthand the ra nge of erotic negotiat ions that ta ke place there. I t was d iffic u lt f ie ldwork for me to u nderta ke . Beca use sexua l activit ies are i ntended to be anonymous at these sites, fo l low-up conversation was d ifficult to arrange, and usua l ly conveyed signa ls of erotic interest even though I did not i ntend my questions to do so. Moreover, I found myself rel uctant to respond to any of the sexual i nvitations that other men in the backroom d i rected at me. By ma inta in ing a "d istanced " stance, I was violati ng one of the basic assumptions that defines the back room as a sexual ized terra i n : men who go i nto the backroom do so because they want to have sex with other men. M uch i n the way that Styles reports for h is ea r l i ­est vis its to the gay baths ( 1979) , I felt very much as if I had pushed myself, un i nvited , into some exotic location in search of some exotic "other. " I felt the sa me way when I was working with language renewa l projects on Amer­ica n I nd ian settings (see d iscussion i n Lea p 1996a : 129-3 1 ) . I d id not l i ke plac i ng myself i n that sta nce whi le in I nd ian country, and I rema in eq ua l ly uncomforta ble a bout doing so in "gay city. "

Accord ingly, whi le I use my own observations to focus my d iscussion of backrooms as erotic loca les, the primary data for this d iscussion come from my off-site conversations with severa l D .C . -a rea gay men who have visited D .C . -area backrooms on va rious occasidns; and , to narrow the focus of this section , I concentrate here on their d i scussions of the adu lt bookstore I descri bed earl ier. I d raw heavi ly here on the comments of one of these men, Mark, a 40-year-old col lege-ed ucated businessman of Euro-American back­ground . It was Mark's freq uent visits to this site and his deta i led descri ptions of experiences i n the backroom which led me to give serious attention to the backroom, and the particular mean ings of "publ ic" and " private" that apply.

Sex, Space, and Identity

A l l the descri pt ions of the bookstore's backroom, which I have col lected , beg in with references to movement , d i sp lacement, a nd transit ion . The

bookstore itself is located in an area of Wash ington D .C . that is at d istance 129

from the federa l monuments and the city's major shopping areas. There is l ittle tou rist traffic in this a rea , and commercia l activity is largely confined to Sex in "Private"

the neigh borhood 's warehouses and a utomotive/electrica l repa i r shops. For Places

a l l of the men I interviewed , Africa n American as wel l as wh ite , going to the

bookstore mea ns ventur ing i nto a pa rt of the c i ty with which they a re not ord i nar i ly fami l i a r. Repeated visits may help the customer find a more con-ven ient place to pa rk h is car (see comments below) , but does not otherwise increase his knowledge of the loca l terra i n .

I ntensifying the unfam i l ia rity o f the neigh borhood , most bookstore vis its occur at n ight, when street l ights and passing automobi les offer only partial d is rupt ion to the su rrou nd i ng da rkness . And beca use street-park ing in

front of the bookstore is q u ite l im ited , customers often park their cars two or more blocks away, then rush from their cars, through the darkness, to the bookstore . Anyone they meet on the street is l i kely to be in the area for s imi ­

lar reasons, but no one stops to i nqu i re . I f street-cru is ing occu rs at a l l , i t ha ppens on ly i n the wel l - l it a rea i n front of the bookstore ; and , even i n that sett ing , street cru is ing is ra re . Erot ic negot iat ions ta ke place " i ns ide"­inside the bookstore , or ins ide the other gay businesses on th is block-not in any external doma in .

Going " i nside" the bookstore does not give the customer insta nt access to erotic opportun ity, however. Enter ing the bookstore bri ngs h i m i nto an area with d isplays o f gay magazines, videos, sex toys, and other para pher­na l ia . Off to one side a re a set of one-person sized cu bicles with coi n-oper­ated video screens . The v isua l fa re inc l udes gay as wel l as some stra ight

tuck-fi lms . Mark ca l l s them " peep shows " and he adds: " Each of those cu bic les has a glory hole in i t , u m , and I have only gone there once. I 've seen men back there, but I don't see m uch happen ing back there . "

A t the other side o f the room is the cashier's desk, whose attendant also mediates entrance into the backroom . Mark and other gay men refer to the front pa rt of the bookstore as the "outs ide a rea , " beca use it is open to everyone who comes i nto the store . Entrance i nto the backroom req u i res payment to the cash ier of a $ 1 4 fee (at the time of my resea rch ) , but the

size of the payment is red uced su bstant ia l ly if the customer has a l ready purchased an a n n ua l membersh ip and d i splays his mem bersh i p ca rd . ( I nformants d isagree on the amount of the red uction , and I wonder whether the amount may be negotiated on an ind ividual basis . )

The attenda nt's gatekeeper fu nct ions as we l l as the fee/mem bersh i p req u i rements underscore t h e backroom's status as " private " space, a n d Mark a n d other i nformants use the term " private" throughout o u r conversa­tions to identify and describe this space . I m portantly, " private" in this refer-

ence denotes " restrict ion of access , " not a sec l us ion-which was the 130

mean ing signa led by the term in the hea lth c lub setting. So, fee a rra ngements completed , the customer " is buzzed through " Wllllam L Leap

(Mark's word ing) a locked doorway and enters a sma l l movie theater. Mark conti nues the descr iption of the terra i n :

There are about three benches [ i n the theater] . u m , rather uncomforta ble

things . They had theater seats and they just put wood benches there. And

uh a screen with porno fl icks on it.

That's the fi rst room that you go i nto. And then the next room is a

series of wooden cu bicles with mesh wi re on the top and you ca n lock

them , and there are glory holes: wherever there is another cubicle there is

a glory hole. Some of them are bigger glory holes; some of them are l ittle.

There are two cu bicles where there are beds . And then they added a

s ide section with more cu bicles and there is a nother cub ic le with just

video ga mes and pin ba l l and dr ink machines.

And then there's a backroom with a freestand ing, a back room with

freesta nding blocks that can be moved however you want to move them.

And that tends to be more group stuff that ha ppens back there, group sex

that happens back there. Not as wel l f it , much da rker. The other place is

fa irly wel l f it ; you can pretty much see everyone.

So there a re actua l ly fou r d ifferent locations with in the " backroom" -the movie theater with the wooden benches, the room with the wooden cubi ­c les , the room with the freestand ing movable blocks, and the side area with dr ink machines and video games. (The entrance to the washroom, offering bar soap, pa per towels, a toi let , and a water cooler f i l led with mouthwash, is a lso located i n th is a rea of the backroom . ) Each area has its own physica l com pos it ion , and each a rea is associated with a d ifferent type of erot ic activity and partici pation "style . "

T h e sma l l movie theater is a site for ind ividual ized fantasy a n d for mas­tu rbation . Men a re seated. not stand ing, wh i le they a re in this a rea . Men may s i t next to each other, or signa l sexual i nterests i n other ways. I f those signa ls a re acknowledged , the men move away from the theater a rea and go i nto one of the cu bic les or elsewhere i n the backroom to complete the erotic excha nge . Otherwise, men who beg in their even ing in the theater area tend to spend most of their evening i n that location .

Men a re much more mobi le i n the second a rea of the backroom , and the erotic activities ca l l i nto play a wider va riety of roles and stances:

People just wa l k arou nd , and cruise. They go i nto the booths and then

most of it-1 , I only do ora l sex, but uh some, uh I have seen people do uh

anal sex uh on occasion. It's not, it 's not very, I don't think it is very com­

mon . I see it occasional ly. It 's usua l ly two people who a re i n a booth

together. Like you know, l i ke sometimes people wi l l be in a booth and they 131

say, "wi l l you come over here?" so then two people wi l l get in one cu bicle.

And other people may look on, through the glory holes. But two people wi l l sex in "Prlvltl"

do their th ing, whatever they want to do in the booth. Places

The th i rd a rea of the backroo m , the open a rea with mova b le , free­stand i ng b locks , is a lso the da rkest part of the backroom , and the dark­ness su bstitutes for the sym bol ic sec lus ion created by the cu bic le wa l l s (and d isru pted by the glory ho les ) i n the bac kroo m 's centra l a rea . Men move a bout i n th is a rea , j ust as they do i n the a rea adjacent to the cub i ­

c les . But here , the who le of the erotic event rema ins i n pla i n view; there a re dark corners, but no enclosures i nto which sex partners can retreat. Men can use the freesta nd i ng blocks to partit ion th is a rea i n va rious ways ,

but those d iv is ions sti l l cover a la rge amount of terr itory a n d a re i n no sense persona l ized spaces. In fact, there is enough space i n th is pa rt of

the backroom for severa l groups of men to be partic ipat ing in "group sex"

activit ies at the sa me t ime . Some of the gro u ps a re ra ndom format ions ; other form a round shared phys ica l featu res or cu l tura l attr ibutes . Mark expla ins :

L i k e pretty boys wi l l get i nto a group or h u nks wi l l get i n a group , too.

That's just about the only grouping. Sort of hunk types. And then there are

leather types. Any a nyone who wa nts to join in wi l l jo in i n . It 's not exc lu­

sive; but the pretty boys and hunks wi l l tend to get exclusive.

Other i nforma nts have made the sa me poi nt a bout the relative inc lus ive­ness of these groupings: " pretty boys" and "hunks" aside (whose entrance criteria a re more demand i ng) , a nyone who wa nts to become a part of an ongoing erotic exchange is free to do so. I nformants describe groups o f as many as ten o r twelve men enjoying forms o f group sex in this sett ing.

The fou rth a rea of the backroom , with soft d r i nk mach i nes, video games, and the washroom, is a neutra l terra i n . One i nformant has told me stories of men having sex there , but Mark and my other i nformants do not fi nd h is stories to be cred ible . They admit that some cruis ing occurs in this

area , but they usual ly see men movi ng i nto other backroom areas to com­plete the erotic exchange. Mark h imself describes the washroom as a place where he ca n "come down " after an especia l ly i ntense erotic excha nge ; having sex i n that environment wou ld be "tota l l y ou t o f place , " he says, "and q u ite u nth inkab le . "

Who are the men who are having sex i n the backroom? Mark answered th is question by noting:

There are al l sorts of people . Very young k ids , they don't look eighteen

years old to me, but you know I don't know if they check I D's or whatever.

But a l l the way u p to you know very elderly men . It 's u h , no one type of 132

person that goes there.

[ I ask : ) What a bout your ethnic m ixture?

[ Ma rk : ) Absolutely. A lot of blacks, u m , H ispan ics, Lati nos are proba bly

the smal lest group, but it is absolutely mixed , absolutely m ixed , and once

you , and accord ing to the rest of the population , there is a sign ificant

number of blacks. Half the people there are black.

[ I ask : ) And they are having sex with each other and with non-blacks?

[Mark : ) Yes . Once you are there , there is no d isti nction except what you

l i ke , but there is no color d istinction .

[I ask: ) And most of these men are gay, in your estimation?

[ Mark : ) Gay, yes, but some guys, stra ight guys, a lso come there to get off.

Stra ight guys wi l l go there to get a blow job and cum. B ut most people are

there just to enjoy the raw sexual ity of it, having different people suck you

off, having different d icks in your mouth . That's rea l ly what it is .

And what are the sexual activities that take place between men in this setting, which constitute this " raw sexual ity" of the backroom erotic experience?

Mark's comments place ora l sex at the centerpiece of the erotic practices occurring here. Earl ier, he reported that ana l sex occurs much less frequent­ly, at least in his experience, in this setting. Other informants agree, but note that masturbation , either as a sol itary activity or something occurring wh i le one or more partners caress and/or man ipu lates another partici pant's body, a lso takes place qu ite freq uently, and so does mutua l masturbation .

One constra int i nfluencing choice of sexual activities in any si ngle erotic moment is the number of persons who are present at, and who may be par­tic i pat ing i n , the erotic excha nge . The layout of the backroom inc l udes areas for s i ngle-person sex , for sex- in-pa i rs , and for grou p-sex , as I have j ust descri bed . The movement between these a reas i nc reases a ma n 's prospects of fi nd ing the k ind of erotic activity he is look ing for d ur ing that particu lar part of his visit . While some men choose to remain seated on the movie theater benches, most men d iv ide their time a mong severa l of the backroom's locations.

C loth i ng is another constra i nt i nfl uencing choice of erotic practices at this site . Men are fu l ly d ressed when they enter the backroom and , wh i le lockers a re ava i lab le for storage of c loth i ng, they a re ra re ly used . Accord­i ngly, erotic activity a lways inc ludes negotiations around t-sh irts, jeans, and snea kers (the partic ipa nts' usua l att i re ) . The most access ib le , and hence most conven ient, erotic activities are those which do not requ i re remova l of shoes and pants.

William L Leap

Al l i nformants agree , and my observations su pport this c la im , that men 133

are not us ing condoms d u ri ng ora l or ana l sex wh i le they a re in the back-

room ; and management does not provide condoms either at the entry desk, sex In "PriYlltl"

i n the washroom , or i n any of the backroom a reas. The absence of con- Places

doms i m poses a th i rd set of constra i nts on backroom erot ic activity, as Mark expla ins :

Every once in a wh i le , people use condoms for ora l sex. That's very rare.

Almost all ora l sex is unprotected .

I I ask: ] So your partner cums in your mouth?)

! Mark : I N-no. It 's sort of etiq uette. I f someone is going to c u m , they tel l

you . A n d u h , my experience is that people a lways pu l l o u t before they

come. So there is sort of an etiquette about that. If they want you to ta ke

their load , they' l l ask you . And either you agree or not agree.

[I ask: ] You mea n , "Can I cum in your mouth?"

[Mark : ] Yes, "Can I cum in you r mouth? , " they' l l ask you . Or they' l l say,

" I ' m coming" and you know to pull out.

[ I ask: I And if the answer is no?

[Mark : ] Shake your head , or you just pull out, and then he comes. Now

that doesn't happen a l l the t ime, and sometimes I have gotten surprised ;

but, but it's pretty ra re. It's a l l very consensua l . You do what you want to do

with whom you want to do it.

Absence of condoms affects erotic exchange somewhat d ifferently, when ana l sex is the activity under negotiation . Robert, a 38-year-old government attorney, developed this theme:

Ass, ass stuff is rea l ly rare. It rea l ly is. There are people who wi l l ask you if

they want to tuck you , "Wi l l you let me tuck you?" And the next question

from one or the other is, "I have a condom , do you have a condom?" And

if you say, "I don't have a condom , " that's as far as the conversation goes.

I mea n , I don't do that anyway, so I a lways say, "I don't have a condom."

Mark had more to say a bout the persons who pursue ana l sex i n the back­room without usi ng condoms:

[Mark : I am fa i rly sure that there are people there who are H IV positive,

that do let themselves get tucked without a condom . And just do it. I have

seen that a cou pie of times.

II ask: ] Why do you assume they are H IV positive?

[ Mark : I U m m [ pause] . I su ppose my ass u m ption , wel l , they tend to be

you nger people . As a matter of fact, I am sort of su rprised that the

unsafest sex is between younger people. The younger they a re, the more 134

unsafe they are. U rn , my fee l ing is that the way they have sex, the way

they have absol utely no concern for a ny k ind of protection , my assump- William L. Leap

tion is they are H IV-positive.

[ I ask : ) Could it be the other extreme? Could it be people just don't believe

that they are ever going to get . . .

[Mark interrupts : ) It could be, but obviously I have never had a conversa­

tion a bout it.

Mark's and Robert's comments speak to an add itional set of constra i nts structu r ing erotic practices i n the backroom . A l l of the men I have i nter­viewed refer to the va rious forms of consensual "etiquette " (Ma rk 's term) which, for exa m ple , prompts some men to seek the i r partner's perm ission before cum ing in the partner's mouth , or to propose anal sex when assess­ing the ava i lab i l ity of condoms; and wh ich prompt them to comply with thei r partner's preferences, once each partner ind icates what they a re . 10 These comments suggest the partner-centered , cooperative erotic exchange that Mark and Robert have occasiona l ly found in th is sett ing , and they wou ld like to f ind more freq uently there.

E lsewhere d u ring their i nterviews , Mark and Robert each told me that they are very d issatisfied with the im persona l ity of gay l i fe i n Wash ington , and are consta ntly look ing for new ways to meet gay men both for sexua l pu rposes and for fr iendsh ip . One of the appea ls of the backroom, i n th is sense, is i ts d i rectness. Men a re there to have sex with other men , and there is no reason to waste t ime with unnecessa ry pre l i m i na ries . Mark expla ins :

I f you don't want to do it w i th someone , you just put your hand i n the i r

hand or you push them away. That feels awful when that happens to you ,

but it's very consensua l .

Robert made a s im i l a r comment:

There's no jok ing around here. Men a re here for one reason on ly. They

want to have sex, or they don't. There's no wishy-washy games playing, no

waste of t ime. You come here, meet someone, take care of business, and

go home.

[ I ask : ) Li ke at the baths?

[Robert:) Yeah , l i ke at the baths.

Moreover, if the sexual experiences are satisfying to both partners , there is a lways the chance that the men wi l l excha nge te lephone n u m bers and arrange for fol low-up meeti ngs in other locations. Robert continues the point:

I ' m not saying that the backroom is a soc ia l c l ub or anyth i ng. But I have 135

met some very n ice men there, and we've gone out on some lovely dates.

[I ask : ) Did anything ever come out of this ? Anything more lasting?

[Robert : ] Wel l , no-but I sti l l call a few of them , or they call me, and when

we see each other occasiona l ly [at the bookstore] we a lways speak . We're

not exactly stra ngers.

The safety of the backroom a l so adds to its a ppea l , both as a s ite for

" raw sexual ity" and as a space for meeting other men. Al l of the men inter­viewed d u ri ng th is project agree that the bookstore's backroom is prefer­able to other sites of male-centered erotic opportun ity in the D .C . area . The backroom provides an enc losed , regu lated , sex-posit ive environment , where men are a ble to pursue male-centered erotic i nterests without fea rs

of d iscovery, harassment , or reta l iatio n . P u bl ic pa rks, depa rtment store 1 restrooms, and h ighway rest stops do not offer the same a mount of protec­tion , and invite i nterference from unwanted spectators , from the pol ice, and from queer-bashers,

Mark spoke d i rectly to the issue of i nterference, when I asked him why he no longer freq uented the LBJ Grove , one of D .C . 's wel l-known cru is ing s ites. His i m med iate answer was : " O h , I wou ldn 't wa nt to be arrested . " Then h e conti nued :

U rn , it's a lso outside and there is no bathroom. One of the thi ngs I do, it's

obsessive of me and proba bly's done a l ittle good , but , they've got th is

th i ng of mouthwash [at the backroom bathroom ] , they've got this ga l lon

jug of mouthwash , so after sex, I ga rgle and wash my mouth out and

wash my hands. You ca n't do that a t LBJ Grove . That k ind of publ ic , out­

door sex, the titi l lation of perhaps bei ng fou nd , that doesn't excite me i n

part icular.

And a lso, it's the [pause] wanting to feel safe, and a bout knowing who

is in there is, you know, a gay man . You go to the LBJ G rove , maybe

there 's some fag-bashers there, maybe they're married men-not that

there aren 't going to be married men at the backroom, but there are lots

[h is emphasis] of married men out there .

[I ask : ] Going to the backroom, you are not going to run i nto fag-bashers?

[ Mark: ] Wel l , they have to pay money [to get ins ide] .

I mpl ications

Mark is not the only man I have i nterviewed who associated the bookstore backroom with restriction, privacy, and safety. Men who freq uent the back­room consistently descri bed this location as " private space , " in contrast to

SIX In "Private"

Places

the more accessi b le , more v is ib le and more " p u bl i c " a reas on the "out- 136

side . " S im i la r featu res i nformed the descri ption of the health c lu b's land-sca pe offered by self- identified "stra ight men " who pursue sex with other William L Leap

men at that location . These featu res d id not show up in gay men's descri p-t ions of that landscape; for them , health c l ub was a pub l ic locat ion , and they looked e lsewhere for sites of gay-centered privacy.

These examples bring me back my open ing d iscussion of the performa­tive nature of landscape and its imp l ications for ma le-centered sexual prac­tices. To say that landsca pe is performative is to suggest that "ways of see­

ing" cannot exist independently of particu lar experiences with loca l terra i n . Certa in ly, the regulatory authority o f the state can designate any location as pub l ic space and enforce that designat ion through va r ious means . B ut

such regu lat ions ca n not prevent i nterpretat ions of pub l ic space i n com­pletely non regu latory terms-which is what gay men were do ing at the hea lth c l ub ; nor can they prevent assertions of privacy with i n such loca­tions-wh ich is what the "stra ight" men were doing at the health c lub , and gay men (and possible other men as wel l ) were doing i n the backroom.

Accord ingly, rather tha n assu m ing that i nterpretations of public or pri­

vate space are locations , fixed with in loca l terra i n , it seems more appropri­ate to treat public and private as attr ibutes of landscape which are assigned to particu lar sites by particu lar soc ia l actors and for pa rticu lar reasons. As fa r as the s ites d iscussed here, " stra ight" versus "gay" identit ies have proven to be a sign ifica nt i nfl uence in that regard . Moreover, as shown i n the case of the health c l u b , "stra ight" identity may reflect a stance of privi­lege which extends beyond the conventiona l boundaries of sexual orienta­tion and associates "object of desire" with vul nerabi l ity and power.

F ina l ly, th is 'd iscussion speaks d i rectly to the i ntersections of landscape

and sexual risk. Bu i ld ing on an idea fi rst developed by Pau l Fa rmer ( 1992) , geogra phy has a lways been a centra l e lement i n Western th i nk i ng a bout A I DS. Pub l ic hea lth authorit ies bega n esta bl i sh ing their sym bol ic control over A I DS by locati ng the pandemic with i n part icular locations-in areas of d i re poverty (Africa , Ha iti , Southeast Asia ) , i n the gay baths, i n the IV drug users' d i rty need les , in the "ta i nted b lood " of " i n nocent victi ms . " What resu lted were part icu lar geographies of blame whose i nterna l terra in cou ld be adeq uately descri bed through labels l i ke "erotic oas is , " "sex i n pub l ic places , " and " risk-taking" and did not req u i re any add itiona l exploration . 1 1

This essay has exam i ned two sites with i n this A I DS-related geogra phy of blame and , at these sites , the relevant characteristics of the loca l terra i n a re fa r from self-evident. The part ic ipants in "gay sex" a re not l i m ited to self­identif ied "gay men . " The i r i nvolvement i n " sexual r isk-tak i ng" is sub­merged by the pursuit of priv i leged desire, by attention to personal comfort,

or by responses to sexual d i rectness. And most i m portantly, perha ps, erotic 137

practices themselves a re c lose ly entwi ned with assert ions of privacy,

regard less of the seemingly " publ ic" nature of the surround ings. Sex in MPrlvate"

" Private space" a lso ga ins a new mean ing as a resu lt of its connections Places

to erotic practices at these s ites . I n ord inary reference , a private space is something that is sheltered from outside scruti ny, someth ing concea led , or someth i ng protected . When appl ied to the locker room and the bookstore backroom, however, " private space" h ighl ights the detachment of the par-t icu lar s ite from the outside context , not just its promises of concea lment and protection .

Detach ment was what "stra ight" men fi nd attractive a bout the locker room as a site for erotic activity. The locker room l ies " between " the office

and the home. It a l lows part ic ipants to pursue erotic activities unava i lable to them in other locations. I t avoids any pretense of long-term obl igations. And (un l i ke a visit to a bathhouse or publ ic cru is ing a rea) it does not force the partic ipants to question their c la ims to "stra ight" identity.

S im i la r ly, detach ment was what led gay men l i ke Mark to prefer the bookstore backroom over publ ic parks and other outside loca les. The loca­tion of the bookstore , the self-selection of the c l iente le , and the darkness of the backroom help segregate the site from threats of danger and d iscovery. C l ientele share s im i la r i nterests in erotic activity, so (un l i ke the case at a gay bar) there is no need to d isgu ise sexual i ntentions. And (un l i ke having sex

in publ ic parks and restrooms) shared rules of "consensua l etiquette" and other on-s ite practices ensure that the sex, whi le certa i n ly anonymous, is not enti rely mechan ica l and inhuman . ?

Moreover, by freeing the " private" site from the constra i nts of everyday exper ience, detac hment opens the door to the u n pred icta b le , the u nex­pected , and even the dangerous. And once those features become part of the loca l landsca pe , pr ivate space becomes a su i ta ble space for sexua l risk-taking.

Consistent with this point , I understa nd why the stra ight health c l u b patrons are m u c h more l i kely than gay patrons m e n to partici pate i n on-site erotics; and why the stra ight patrons are wi l l i ng to d isregard safe-sex prac­tices when they did so. The privacy of the health c lub locker room provides the stra ight patrons with a s ite of detach ment with i n which fa m i l ia r (e .g . , heterosexua l ) constra i nts on erotic activit ies cou ld be suspended . Gay men, i n contrast, a re not so dependent on the health c lub as a s ite of sexual opportun ity or as a source of sexua l detachment; moreover, and remem­bering here Mark's and Robert's comments a bout consensual etiquette i n the backroom, the condit ions o f detachment ava i la ble to gay men at those other locations a re l i kely to be constructed qu ite d ifferently, as wel l .

E NDNOT E S 138

My thanks to M ichael Clatts , Douglas Feldman , Ra lph Bolton, and Liz Sheehan , who

made hel pful comments on various drafts of th is chapter; and to the men at the William L. Leap

health c lub and the bookstore , whose ideas and experiences provide the data-base

for this analysis .

1 . I m portant to note , " landsca pe" is not a sta ble or i nflexible construction . Whi le

"ways of seeing" are i m posed on a site by pa rtic i pants, "ways of see ing" are a lso

(re)shaped by erotic activities and other experiences that ta ke place with in that set­

ting. Moreover, beca use experiences are not identica l , "ways of seeing" the loca l ter­

ra in may not be the sa me for all partic ipants, In other words, landscape, l i ke gender,

is p lural ized as wel l as performative .

2. I l abe l these sites " private" beca use th is is how the men who pa rtic i pate i n

erotic activities a t these sites characterized these locations during on-site conversa­

tions and fol low-up interviews.

3. See d iscussion in Leap 199Gb: 109-24, 1 59-63.

4. The physica l sepa ration and related enclosures provide an add it ional func­

tion-reproduction of the closet - for some of the men who pursue same-sex erotic

opportun ities with in these wal ls .

5 . Africa n American and wh ite D .C . gay men offered s imi lar descriptions of this

part of the city during their i nterviews. They also rarely had anyth ing to say about the

i nd ividuals and fami l ies who l ive in the area adjacent to the bookstore, or the handful

of (nongay-oriented) businesses provid ing services to these residents.

6. These th ree categories summarize comments give to me during i nformal d is­

cussions with gay members of the health c lub . Because these d iscussions occurred

on-site, and usual ly were u n planned , I was not a lways a ble to take notes during the

excha nge , a nd I ca nnot provide extensive, verbat im i l l ustrations for each category.

However, comments from more structu red i nterviewing, c ited below, expa nd on

these themes i n va rious ways. The same th ree categories summarize the comments I

have collected on this issue from gay men at other health c lubs in the D.C. area .

7. This man and h is partner were deeply i nvolved in the erotic exchange when I

entered the sa una that evening. They invited me to join them; I decl ined , but agreed to

stand by the glass panel in the sa una room door and to alert them if the custod ian or

other staff member began to come up the sta irs . After both men cl imaxed , one left the

sauna and entered the showers, and I began ta lk ing with the remain ing participant.

8. See for example the statistics on male-centered sexual practices d isclosed in

Janus and Janus ( 1 992) and La umann et al. ( 1994) .

9 . I have asked whether these men are worried a bout H IV i nfection . From their

repl ies, most men seem u nconcerned by th is poss ib i l ity. One man told me that he

was not at r isk from H IV because "AI DS is a gay d isease , " but " I 'm not gay and what

we're doing isn't gay sex . "

10. As other comments i n their i nterviews make clear, Mark and Robert are not

suggesting that a// men having sex at this site fol low these conventions to the letter.

Both men have had personal experiences with men who have done otherwise; see ,

for exa m ple, Ma rk's comment, p. 133. And other men's com ments, as wel l as my

own observations, suggest that condom use may never become an issue in the nego- 139

tiations leading up to erotic exchange in this setting, e.g. , most participants are there

( repeating Mark's words, p. 132) "just to enjoy the raw sexual ity of it" ; and outside of sex In "Private"

the statements of i nvitation (see Mark's exa m ple, p. 1 3 1 ) backroom erotic negotia- Places

t ions ta ke place a lmost entirely in si lence.

1 1 . The phrase "geography of blame" is Paul Farmer's ( 1 992), and grows out of

h is front- l ine experiences with the pa ndemic in rura l Ha iti . My usage expands the

scope of Farmer's metaphor, but at the same t ime it strengthens, rather than weak­

ens, his cla ims.

R E F E R ENC E S Butler, J . 1990. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York:

Routledge.

Cosgrove, D . E . 1984. Social Formation and Symbolic Landscape. London : Croom

Hel m .

Dangerous Bedfel lows, eds. 1996. Policing Public Sex. Boston: South E n d Press.

Del ph , E. W. 1978. The Silent Community: Public Homosexual Encounters. Beverly

H i l ls : Sage.

Farmer, P. 1992 . AIDS and Accusation: AIDS and the Geography of Blame. Berkeley:

Un iversity of Cal ifornia Press .

H i rsch , E. 1995. I ntrod uction : La ndscape: Between place and space. I n E. H i rsch

and M. O'Hanlon, eds. The Anthropology of Landscape, 1-30.

H i rsch , E. and M. O 'Han lon , eds. 1995. The Anthropology of Landscape. London :

Oxford U n iversity Press.

I ngold , T. 1994. I ntroduction to Social Life. In Companion Encyclopedia of Anthropol­

ogy: Humanity, Culture and Social Life. London: Routledge.

Janus , C. and S . J a n u s . 1 993 . The Janus Report on Sexual Behavior. New York:

Wiley.

Klei n , A. M . 1993. Little Big Men: Bodybuilding Subculture and Gender

Construction. Albany: State Un iversity of New York Press .

Laumann, E . , R . M ichael , and J . Gagnon , eds . 1994. Sex in America. Ch icago: Un i ­

versity of Chicago Press.

Leap, W. L. 1996a Studying Gay Engl ish : How I Got Here from There. In E . Lewin and

W. Leap, eds . , Out in the Field, 128-47.

- . 1996b. Word:S Out: Gay Men :S English. Minneapol is : Un iversity of M innesota

Press.

Lewi n , Ellen and W. L. Lea p, eds. 1996. Out in the Field. U rbana: U n iversity of I l l inois

Press.

Pranger, B. 1990. The Arena of Masculinity: Sports, Homosexuality, and the Mean­

ing of Sex. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Styles, J. 1979. Outsider/I nsider: Researching Gay Baths. Urban Life 8: 135-52.

Wil l iams, R . 1973. The Country and the City. London : Chatto and Wind us.

Ethnographic Observations of

Men Who Have Sex with Men in Public:

Toward an Ecology of Sexual Action

M I C H A E L C . C L AT T S

. . . And these men who would come here to cruise and connect for

sex, instead keep raising the volume of their radios as if to throttle

the sound of their own bruised laughter, and in the lot off Santa

Monica Boulevard, in the darkest hours of the night and early

morning, they drink and smoke grass and they dance, clap, and

twist their bodies.

- John Rechy ( 1983: 35)

There was a ti me , not long ago , when Rechy's viv id descri pt ions of men engaged i n publ ic sex evoked a powerful sense of commun ion among gay men-givi ng voice to the s i lent acts of i nd iv idual rebe l l ion that for many were part and parcel of being and becoming "gay. " For better or worse , A I DS has cha nged al l that. Once a gesture of com mun ion for many gay men , un re­stricted sex, pa rticularly publ ic sex, has become increasingly resign ified as evi l and deployed as a sym bol of sanction even with i n the gay commun ity itself. I ndeed , in virtua l ly a l l American d iscourses on the subject, prom iscu­ity has been s i ngled out as the pri mary behaviora l vector of the spread of A I DS. U n regu lated sex has been med ica l ized as "sexual add iction , " identi­fied with a personal ity "type" that is c l in ica l ly termed "compu lsive , " "out of control , " and " ma ladjusted . " S im i la r d iagnostic images attend the contexts in which some men fi nd ma le sexua l pa rtners-bars , bathhouses, book­stores, pub l ic pa rks, and bath room "tearooms"-places represented as conduc ive to " i m persona l sex"-a term that is itse lf loaded with cu ltura l mea n i ngs denoti ng someth i ng "stra nge , " "devia nt , " and "da ngerous" (Wein berg 1974; see a lso Hoffman 1968; H umphreys 1970) .

Self-appointed leaders with i n the gay commun ity have been among the most avid critics of public sex and some have been a mong the fi rst to argue for measures such as c los ing the baths and other esta bl i sh ments sa id to "accommodate" prom iscuous sex and the spread of A I DS. This despite the

7

fact that there is no epidem iologica l basis for such a response and no guar- 142

antee that such a response wou ld have the desired outcome of reduc ing the spread of H IV ( Bolton et a l . 1993) . The forces that have fed the i nherent Michael c.

contrad ictions in this pol ic ing of desire from with in the gay commun ity are Clatts

complex. I n pa rt they have arisen as a response to the profound experience of loss with which many gay men are suffer ing and the need to do some­th i ng-a nyth ing-to try to stop the spread of the H IV. I t is a lso perhaps a response to overwhelm ing feel i ngs of fea r and anger with which many gay men l ive in the face of AI DS-feel i ngs that serve to exacerbate i nterna l ized self-hatred and self-b lame . F ina l ly, it must a l so be acknowledged that a dom inant factor that some of the "worried wel l " may see as an opportun ity to advance larger pol it ica l concerns a i med at legitimating gay and Lesbian issues in mainstream American pol itics and cu lture by exploiting the sheer visi b i l ity of A IDS as a pol it ical issue.

It is beyond the scope of this essay to ful ly exam ine these complex ques­t ions . The a i m here is to be pr imar i ly descri ptive rather than a na lyt ica l .

Based upon informa l ethnogra phic research of publ ic sex a mong a d iverse group of gay- identified men in a G reenwich V i l lage neigh borhood , th is pa per problem itizes the assum ption that publ ic sex is unsafe sex, or more precisely that publ ic sex is unsafe because it is publ ic . Socia l and economic d ifferences i n observed publ ic sex exchanges are descri bed , inc lud ing their associat ion with use or non use of safe-sex preca utions . I then consider, a l beit br iefly, th ree i nterre lated pol icy q uest ions re lated to pub l ic sex: I s pub l i c sex i n herently r isky? I f so , for whom , and why? F ina l ly, I consider some problems with the way i n which sexual r isk has been researched , par­ticu larly in relation to d rug and a lcohol use.

The Setting

The scene where these observat ions took place is in the hea rt of G reen­wich V i l lage, i n and around a bar cal led The Stonewa l l , so named beca use it was once the s i te of an ea r l ie r esta b l i sh ment where the "Stonewa l l R iots " occu rred i n 1969-a n event that many gay m e n a n d women mark as pivota l event i n the emergence of the modern gay l i beration movement ( Katz 1992 ) . The ba r has two rooms , a la rge front room and a sma l l e r back room. The la rge front room has the ma in bar, wh ich stretches a long one wa l l , as wel l as severa l sma l l ta bles, a nd a pool ta ble . The backroom has a sma l l bar as wel l as a var iety of v ideo ga me mach i nes and a lotto ga me.

On the even i ng i n which the activit ies that wi l l be descri bed here occu rred , the bar is crowded , the m usic thu nderous, the a i r fi l l ed with

smoke and the col lective d i n of a mu ltitude of conversations. Un l i ke many 143

of the bars i n the a rea that a re or iented pri mar i ly to o lder gay men , the Stonewa l l attracts a fa i r ly d iverse crowd , i nc lud ing men of d ifferent age Men Wha HIYe Sex

groups and some women. As usua l , older men are usual ly seated at the bar with Men in Public

itself, either the main bar in the centra l room or at the back bar with its close

proxi m i ty to video ga mes, lotto screen , and ga m b l i ng mach ine . Most of these men have re latively sta ble emp loyment and severa l a re reasona bly affl uent. Many go back and forth between two or more bars i n the immedi-ate area over the course of an even ing, v is it ing other bars that they a lso fre-

quent on a routi ne basis depend ing on their mood , the n ight of the week , or where their friends happen to be on a given n ight.

A second group i n the mix involves a number of relatively young ma les who are clearly young urban professiona ls , wearing jeans and sneakers but

with bus inessl i ke ha i rcuts that suggest em ployment in the ma instrea m economy. On week n ights some come from work for " H a ppy Hour, " sti l l clad i n business su its a n d carrying briefcases. Many work o n Wa l l Street, i n law firms, o r i n s im i la r k inds of upward ly mobi le occu pations. A th i rd group, a lso composed of relatively young men , a re characteristica l ly East Vi l lage­long ha i r, tattoos, faded Dead-Head t-sh i rts. Many of these young men work with i n the service economy that th rives in the East Vi l lage, which is fu l l of da nce bars, eth n ic resta u ra nts, leather boutiq ues, tattoo parlors, record stores, and Head shops. There a re re latively few women i n the bar and most are i n some way associated with th i s particu lar group of young men . A

fourth group of young men-commonly referred to as " hustlers" -are d is­cern i bly engaged in a va riety of i l lega l economic activities ( " h ustles" ) that are centered i n the bar itself or in the surround ing streets .

Thus the bar serves as a nexus for a wide variety of people. It a lso serves as a nexus of a wide variety of activities, inc lud i ng complex sets of relation­sh ips that, in both space and t i me , extend beyond the i ntersections that occur i n th

"e bar itself. Notably, these activities inc lude a variety of activities

related to d rug d i stri bution , i nc lud i ng sel l i ng d rugs d i rectly, marketing or carry ing d rugs for a d rug dealer, " steer ing" someone who wa nts to buy drugs to a dealer, and va rious ki nds of sex work.

Although less a pparent from looking at the makeup of the bar c l ientele i tself, there is a lso a fifth group of young men who partic i pate in the socia l and economic activit ies descri bed a bove . These young men a re typica l ly fou nd not i n the bar itse lf , but i n the su rrou nd i ng streets . Some a re too young to be able to get i nto the bar. Others have been in the bar in the past but have been ban ished for some reason , typica l ly one related to sel l i ng sex or drugs . Sti l l others are barred at the door, based on the doorman 's assess­ment of their appearance or demeanor and any overt association with sel l -

i ng d rugs or be ing u nder the i nf luence of them . These youth work the 144

streets , somet imes a lso sel l i ng d rugs but pr imar i ly trad ing in su rviva l sex-sex for money ( less than $20) , sex for a share in someone else's drugs, Michael c.

or even sex for someth ing to eat and a place to sleep Cletts

Although there a re a few insta nces of youth in these latter two groups who are a ble to susta in specia l ized economic roles in this setting, most are s imu ltaneously engaged in mu lt iple economic " hustles , " inc lud i ng carrying drugs ( largely powder coca ine) , and sel l i ng drugs to/buying d rugs for ind i ­v idua ls (usua l ly other gay men i n the bar) with whom they are a lso trad ing sex (for money and/d rugs ) . A lmost a l l a re engaged i n sex work and most derive the majority of the i r i ncome from it. Drugs a re an i m porta nt pa rt of

sex work in this context for a number of i nterrelated reasons . F i rst, many of these youth are chronical ly d rug dependent and having the "john" buy the " party" saves the youth from having to buy the d rugs they wou ld otherwise

have to purchase on their own , typica l ly from the cash they receive for sex work . As many of the youth see it, gett ing the "joh n " to buy the d rugs i n effect increases the tota l remuneration that they receive for exchanging sex since most wi l l receive some amount of cash in add ition to drugs . Second , youth who a re a ble to serve as a connection to d rugs enhance thei r mar­keta b i l ity, " pa rt icu lar ly to u psca le "johns" who do not wa nt to r isk buying d rugs themselves. Th ird , "johns" who a re h igh on d rugs are thought to be easier to control a nd hence i n some sense "safer. " Some are una ble to per­form sexua l ly because of d rug use but wi l l pay the youth without req u i ring actua l sex work. Others become so inebriated and h igh that they fa l l asleep before sex and are then easy to rob .

Drugs a lso have im portance from the perspective of the "johns. " Many of the "johns" use drugs as d isi nh i bitors , both for themselves as wel l as for youth . Others recogn ize that many of street youth are acutely d rug depen­dent. Some "johns" exploit this dependency, using it to ba rga i n for a lesser price in the sex trade and as a l u re for part icular sexual acts to which youth would not otherwise submit .

The Context of Public Sex

There a re two sma l l restrooms i n the back of the bar, and on busy n ights such as th is there is a long wa it ing l i ne outside both . One restroom , used exclus ively by ma les has a la rge trough- l ike ur ina l where , u nder a pretext of urinating, men make a "show" of demonstrati ng the size of thei r pen ises to other men . As in any d rama , there are d ifferent roles to be played (Turner 1974) . Some pretend not to be looking, an action that is not without mean­ing and conseq uence i n terms of a potentia l sexua l l ia ison . Others l i nger,

so�times "showing" their own pen ises i n response and i n itiati ng conver- 145

sation and sometimes a sexual l ia ison . The second restroom is ostensibly for female patrons si nce it has a pri- Men Who Have sex

vate toilet. Although there are re latively few women in the bar, the l i ne out- with Men in Public

side the second restroom is a lways the longest and a lthough it accommo-dates only one person at a t ime, many patrons enter and exit i n groups of two or three. New comers to the ba r often assume that the room is bei ng used for the purposes of sex. The restroom is uti l ized for the sa le and use of

coca ine . I ndeed , except for the occasiona l couple making out in the back of the bar, there is remarkably l ittle actual sexual exchange i n the bar itself. Rather the bar serves as a semi-control led , norm-governed environment in

which des i re is made pub l ic and where potent ia l pa rtners meet and the terms of a sexual exchange are tentatively explored .

Th is is not to say that there a re not a bid ing soc ia l re lat ionsh i ps among . ,

some of the patrons. On the contrary, there is a fa i rly large number of regu-lars , many of whom circu late among a handfu l of s imi lar neigh borhood bars

in the area , sometimes in search of a potential sex partner, but often as not s im ply looking for a place to have a dr ink and ta lk . To the extent that sexual l ia isons a re esta bl ished , often as not they a re a mong ind ivid ua ls who a re known and who have exchanged sex on previous occas ions . Thus , a lthough m uch of th is k ind of sexua l exchange occurs i n the pr ivacy of someone's a pa rtment, a nd hence is not in and of itse lf pub l i c , there is a runn ing commenta ry at the bar regard i ng the configuration of each n ight's c i rcu lation ( pa i ri ng) of sex partners. I ndeed , there is considerable effort to bring these exchanges i nto a publ ic doma in , inc lud ing fancifu l descr iptions

of past sexual exchanges with a partner with whom a nother patron is seen

leavi ng, descr ipt ions of body types , pen i s sizes, and deta i ls of preferred sexua l acts.

In add it ion to pub l ic ta l k a bout sex, there are two publ ic a reas with i n a block or so of the bar where men from the bar gather for sexual exchanges

that have been arranged in the bar. The fi rst is in the entrance hal lway of a brownstone a pa rtment bu i ld i ng, between the outer door (wh ich is usua l ly un locked ) and the i nner door (wh ich req u i res a residents' key) . The spot is considered ideal because of i ts close prox im ity to the bar, the fact that most of the res idents i n the bu i l d i ng a re e lder ly and not l i kely to be u p late at n ight where they m ight i nterrupt activities i n the ha l lway, and beca use the front door has a one-way m irror a l lowing those i nside to see who is entering. The second location is in an a l ley that leads down an inc l ine to an u nder­ground garage of an a partment bu i ld ing. Along the a l ley is a wide concrete ledge, sh ie ld i ng those on the ledge from the v iew of pedestr ia ns on the sidewa lk . Although neither of these publ ic sex a reas a re physica l ly located

with in the confines of the bar itse lf, many of the l ia isons that occur in these 148

scenes a re neverthe less fou nded i n , and tied to , relations that a re esta b-l ished in the ba r-a n expl ic it ly defi ned gay space-i n effect extend ing the Michael c.

socia l " boundaries" of the bar itself. Clatts

Men can be found engaging i n va r ious sexua l acts i n both locations . Both scenes become somewhat more crowded as the n ight progresses unt i l a round 3 A . M . when the bar closes and those who are sti l l out go to one of the after-hours c lubs , many of which a lso feature places for publ ic sexual contact. Both locations a re strewn with condom wrappers, used condoms,

c iga rette butts , em pty popper bott les, and a bandoned crack via ls . Some men stop at these locations on their way to the bar, later reporting that they took the presence of activity in these locations as a sign that the bar would

be busy and that the prospects for a sexual encounter that n ight were good .

A few men go to these locations without any connection to the bar but most are regular patrons and newcomers are viewed with pa lpa ble caution , a lbeit sometimes with interest.

Un l i ke the publ ic sex which sometimes occurs in backrooms and bath­houses, there is remarka bly l ittle m u lt i person sex in either of these loca­tions. Often , in fact, there is considera ble a ntagon ism expressed towa rd those who attempt to i ntrude on two men who are engaged sexual ly. Thus,

paradoxica l ly, wh i le the sexua l excha nge that occurs i n th is locat ion is explic itly pub l ic , and indeed is i n part "for show, " the sexual excha nge is at the same t ime i nfused with its own kind of proprietary mean ings and rules, features that a re i n fact remarka bly l i ke sex i n private space. I n d iv idua ls who attem pt to jo in an ongoing sexual excha nge a re someti mes brushed away with a hand or scornfu l looks denoting i ntrusion . If persistent, they are subject to verba l and even physica l a buse, a lso reflective of a violat ion of norms govern ing private space .

Arou nd m idn ight I leave the bar and d uck i nto the a l ley to see what is happen ing there . It is em pty, perhaps due to the l ight ra i n that is fa l l i ng and the fact that it is sti l l a l itt le ear ly for a Saturday n ight. There a re severa l young male hustlers m i l l i ng a bout the streets but they appear to be sol ic it­ing men in ca rs that a re c i rc l ing the block. Exiti ng the a l ley, I see James, a homeless youth with whom I have cond ucted l ife h istory research over the preced ing couple of months.

Ja mes is a 23-year-old gay youth who has been homeless for the past n ine years . Fol lowing repeated physical and sexual a buse from his stepfa­ther, James made h is way to the streets of Portland at the age of fourteen where he learned qu ickly that he had someth ing that other people wanted , or, as he described it , that he was a commod ity. Si nce then he has traveled across the country, su pport ing h i mself through prostitution . Now i n

advanced stages of H IV d isease, he l ives on the streets of New York, beg- 147

ging for food , and sel l i ng sex when he can .

We ta lk a bout how things have been going since I last saw h im , h is latest Men Who Have sex

struggles with the NYC Department of A I DS Services and his efforts to f ind with Men in Public

housing. He expla ins that D .A .S . placed h im in a S . R .O. in the South B ronx, that he was attacked on the streets in front of the bu i l d i ng as wel l as by other residents , and that consequently he is back to sleeping on the West S ide piers. He has not eaten i n two days, i n pa rt beca use he is worried about having d ia rrhea and the fact that he does not have access to a bath-room, shower, or clean c loth i ng. I u rge h im to try a nearby outreach project

that wi l l provide h i m with c loth i ng, a shower, emergency food assista nce, and free med ical care. I write the address and phone number on one of my business cards and tel l h im to use my name to cut through the agency red

ta pe . He com pla ins a bout the weather and its negative i m pact on the street

prostitution market, noti ng that most people wou ld proba bly stay home that n ight rather than come out in the ra i n . He is worried because he is a heroin user and if he is not a ble to get enough money soon to buy a f ix he wi l l begin

to feel the pa ins of heroin withdrawa l . I give him a few dol lars , encouraging him to get someth ing to eat, suggesting that soup m ight keep him warm . I leave h im knowing fu l l wel l that it is more l i kely that he wi l l use the money to buy d rugs , probably crack, to keep h im awake and a lert wh i le he "works" the streets , h ustl i ng sex to earn enough money to pay for a hotel room , some food , and enough d rugs to get h i m "stra ight" ( i . e . , not i n pa i n from d rug withd rawa l ) the next morn i ng so that he ca n beg in the v ic ious and

deadly c i rcle a l l over aga in the next n ight. James spots a fam i l ia r car among those that are c i rc l ing the block looking to pick up a hustler, often for sex i n the car i n exchange for a few dol lars . James fol lows the car down the block, trying to esta bl ish eye contact with the occupant-a pre lude to negotiat ing sex trade.

I leave James to h is work on the streets and enter the foyer of a th ree­story brick bu i ld ing that is a lso used for publ ic sex . There are severa l men i n the ha l lway. Two i n ttie back of the room a re engaged i n deep k iss ing, one press ing h i s gro in i nto the gro in of the other wh i le at the sa me t ime massaging h is buttocks. Severa l new people enter beh ind me, a l l of whom are regular customers at the bar. They move to the wa l l and stand a lone for a moment, eva luating the scene both for i nterest and safety.

Ed , an older gay male, is stand ing with h is back aga inst the wa l l . He is a fa m i l ia r figute i n the area and i n th is particu lar scene. He is i ntensely d is­l i ked by many i n the scene and has been banned from severa l of the bars. Ti m , a seventeen-yea r-old street yout h , is crouched down in front of Ed ,

performing ora l sex. Tim moves in and out of this street scene qu ite mysteri- 148

ously, a ppearing a lmost every n ight for weeks at a t ime and then suddenly d isa ppear ing for months without any wa rn ing . Part of the reason for the Michael C .

mystery surround ing h is movements is that he does not have c lose soc ia l Clatts

ties with anyone else in the scene, not even other street youth . Tim is very heavy crack user and consequently it is l i kely that some of this "d isappear-a nce" is due to freq uent arrests . However, it is a l so rumored that he is sometimes " kept" by a man i n the East V i l lage who has a reputation for us ing desperate, d rug -dependent street youth for sex in exchange for shel-

ter and drugs. H imself a heavy coca ine user, he is reputed to be extremely violent. Youth flee h is a pa rtment having been beaten , tak ing their chances

back on the streets , often only to return aga in when they are desperate for d rugs or a place to s leep. The physical and emotiona l cond it ion i n which youth return to the streets seems to confi rm the rumor, as I observe that Tim

has grown th inner and has a bad bruise on h is face. I prepare to leave the scene beca use it i s una ppea l i ng . On previous

occasions I have overheard Ed negotiate the terms of the sexual exchange

with Tim and with other street youth l i ke Tim. I know that Ed wi l l take advan­tage of Ti m 's acute add ict ion to crack and the poor soc ia l and cogn it ive

sk i l ls that make it especia l ly d ifficult for Tim to manage i n the street econo­my. He wi l l pay Tim only two or th ree do l lars for sex, wel l below the going

rate but enough for Ti m to purchase a s i ngle h it bott le of c rack-a n over­whe lm ing tem ptation for Tim-to get h i m through the next two-do l lar b low job.

Tim takes Ed 's pen is out of h is mouth and reminds him to pu l l out before he "cums" (ejacu lates) . Ed thrusts h i s pen is back in Ti m 's mouth and begi ns thrusting h is h i ps i nto Ti m 's face aga i n . Ti m suddenly j u m ps to h is feet i n obvious but si lent protest, spitting cum on the floor, and scowl i ng at Ed . He is clearly angry at Ed for hav ing cum i n h is mouth . However, he is hesita nt to ra ise too much of a protest beca use he is afra id that Ed wi l l refuse to pay h i m a t a l l-a l i kely prospect given Ed 's reputation i n the area . Ed massages h is pen is , c loses the zi pper on th is pants, and throws a cou­ple of one dol lar bi l ls on the floor, leaving without a word .

Tim grabs the b i l ls , and a lso leaves, head ing a few blocks away to a d rug dealer that markets d rugs specifica l ly for street youth , se l l i ng in the sma l l q uantities that they can afford , sometimes a l lowing youth to buy a bottle on cred it at the sta rt of the n ight-a lso an overwhelm i ng tem ptation for these youth . Essentia l ly, the dealer has adapted the product and marketing strat­egy to th is pa rt icu lar n iche in the street economy, and the fact that many street youth only have a couple of dol lars to spend at a t ime. The dealer is successfu l i n the pedd l i ng of poor qua l ity drugs because few other dealers

i n the a rea w i l l se l l to street youth or a re wi l l i ng to se l l i n the very sma l l 149

q uantities that street youth ca n afford at any one t ime. The cou ple i n the back of the room have ignored the episode with lim Men Who Have sex

and Ed , and have progressed to excha nging a lternating fel latio . I see one with Men In Public

i nha le poppers whi le the other s l i ps a condom on his own erect pen is . The i nd iv idua l who has i n ha led the poppers turns his back , bends over and , reaching beh ind h im , he inserts the other man's pen is i nto h is rectum . Sev-

era l of the other men in the ha l lway inch closer to watch . One of the on look-ers approaches the man who is bent over, try ing to posit ion his gro in near

the man 's face, sol i l c it ing ora l sex. The attem pt is coarse and is a bruptly rebuffed . The other on looker begi ns to masturbate but does not i ntrude . After severa l moments, one of the men groa ns , pu l l s h i s pen i s out of the other's rectu m , makes severa l more groan i ng sou nds suggesti ng c l imax, and s l ips off the condom-throwing it on the floor. The two men k iss wh i le

the other "jerks off, " and then leave together. Soon after, one of the other on lookers fi n i shes mastu rbat ing and leaves as wel l . Leaving the bu i l d i ng and return ing to the streets , I see that both James and li m a re back h us-tl ing on the corner. Their eyes trace the movement of men i n passing ca rs

and men wa l ki ng past them on the streets , search ing for eye contact, sig-na l i ng i nterest in commercia l sex trade.

Discussion

There are a number of l im itations to the ana lysis presented here. Some are a function of the prel im inary natu re of the data presented . Fi rst, I acknowl­edge that there are many d ifferent k inds of publ ic places in New York C ity i n

which m e n engage i n sex. T h e scenes descri bed here do not exhaust the wide range of forms and settings used for sexual exchange. Second , I note that these descr ipt ions pri mar i ly involved re lat ions a mong men who self­identify as gay and that none of the events involved men from ethn ic m inor­ity groups. Th i rd , in as much as the data are derived from an u rban setting that inc l udes a la rge and h ighly organ ized gay commun ity, these data may not be representative of rura l setti ngs or even other urban settings with less ela borated gay institutions. Fourth, a lthough the data is derived from long­term and ongoing ethnogra phic research in th is setting, a number of impor­tant issues a re not exam ined here. I do not, for example, consider the issue of soc ia l and behaviora l cha nge, either in terms of cha nges in sexua l behavior specif ica l ly or i n terms of the fou ndat ion of more general ized socia l and sexual relations over time. There is a d i re need for carefu l study of the construction and ma i ntena nce of soc ia l groups in these and other publ ic sex sett ings, pa rticu larly i n relation to sexual identification and sexu-

al r isk. F ina l ly, these descriptions only begin to explore the role of soc ia l and 150

moneta ry "ca pita l " in the context of sex exchange-a topic that a lso bears further investigat ion a nd is espec ia l ly i m porta nt for ta rget ing prevent ion Michael c .

messages a mong men who have sex with men. Clatts

These l im itations notwithstand ing, there are a number of features of sex in th is pub l ic sett ing that bear comment. F i rst , it is im porta nt to poi nt out that none of the sexua l behaviors descri bed here were r isky s im ply as a consequence of the fact that they were publ ic . Tim would have been no less at risk, and no more a ble to negotiate safer sex, if the event had occurred i n Ed's bed room rather than i n a d i m ha l lway. R isk i n th is sexua l exchange

was pred icated u pon Tim's economic dependence upon Ed , not the setting in which the excha nge ( behavior) occu rred . Conversely, the sexua l excha nge that occu rred between the two unnamed men wou ld not have been sign ificantly "safer, " at least in terms of condom use, if it had occurred in a private setting such as their bedrooms rather than in a publ ic setting.

Second , a lthough publ ic sex is often represented as "anonymous, " al l of the men who partici pated i n these events knew each other on some level and most had some form of ongo ing soc ia l i nteraction . Thus , wh i l e early research on publ ic sex among men suggested that anonymity is a dominant feature of sex i n these setti ngs, these data suggest that this anonym ity is by no means un iversa l and indeed may not be representative of the socia l rela­tions that typify men who have sex with men in publ ic settings . The issue of a nonym ity has i m porta nce for reth i n k ing some of the pol it ica l ground on which debate over publ ic sex has been forged . Perhaps even more impor­ta ntly, it may have great sign ifica nce for the development of ta rgeted pre­vention strategies. If i ndeed there is a sign ificant socia l foundation to publ ic sex interactions, this suggests that these socia l groupings may provide key "windows" in and through which to funnel prevention resources, much as gay saunas have in places where they have not been closed for homopho­bic pol it ical exped iency ( Bolton and Vin ke n . d . ) . At a m i n i m u m , the data suggest that prevent ion strategies that a re a ntagon ist ic to these soc ia l groupi ngs, contexts , and mea n ings a re l i kely to have very l i m ited efficacy and may do more harm than good .

Impl ications for Researc_h

There are a number of stri k ing features a bout these observations that bear further ana lytica l investigation . However, given l im itations in space I wou ld l i ke to focus on one pa rticu la r i ssue beca use of i ts i m porta nce i n under­stand ing the nature of sexua l r isk , and that is the omn i presence of d rugs and a lcohol in these settings. I t is increasingly acknowledged that the con-

struction of " risk group categories" early in the AI DS pandemic perhaps had 151

more to do with the intel lectual and polit ical biases of the t ime than with any empirica l ly defensi ble rationa l . I ndeed , it is hard to esca pe the conclusion Men Who Have sex

that , at their core , these categories were u lti mately grounded in ideologies with Men In Public

that served to obscure the role and confl uence of i neq u it ies based u pon race, c lass, gender, and sexual orientation and their impl ications for r isk for poor hea lth outcomes such as A I DS (C iatts and M utch ler 1989 ; G l ick 1992) . These categories persist i n contem pora ry A I DS research i n pa rt beca use th is was the pol i t ical "turf" i n wh ich A I DS research was i n it ia l l y founded but a lso because it is in researchers' i nterest to susta i n and repro-duce them. The vast majority of epidemiologica l and behaviora l research on A I DS conti nues to be focused on h igh-risk behavior with i n h igh preva lence

and i ncidence exposure groups , dominantly "men who have sex with men" on the one hand and d rug users on the other, as if these so-ca l led r isk groups d id not overla p both behaviora l ly and epidem iologica l ly. Whatever the uti l ity of the notion of " risk group" may once have had , if any, the cost of this obfuscation is now becoming clear. Whi le I do not wish to overgenera l -ize the role of drugs and a lcohol a mong "men who have sex with men , " or to suggest that d rug and a lcohol a re necessari ly the root cause of sexual r isk, recent epidemiologica l research on the spread of H IV infection among d rug users who report sexua l behavior with sa me-sex partners suggests that achieving a better understand ing of the relationsh ip between sex and drugs

is critica l to preventing the spread of H IV infection . For exa m ple, a lthough the i ncidence of new H IV i nfections has leveled

off and in some a reas even dec l i ned for men who report havi ng same-sex pa rtners as thei r on ly risk factor, the i nc idence of men who have sex with

men and who use d rugs, pa rticu la rly those who i nject d rugs or use crack coca ine , is growing ra pid ly, part icula rly with in ethn ic m inority and younger age cohorts (CDC 1995) . S im i la rly, in a nationa l sam ple of out-of-treatment

drug i njectors and crack smokers in which there was an overa l l seropreva­lence of 8.4 percent, Deren et a l . found that gay and bisexua l identif ied men had seropreva lence rates of 57 percent and 25 percent, respectively ( Deren n . d . ) .

I t is noteworthy that these patterns a re not l i m ited to men who have same-sex partners. S imi lar f ind ings are emerging in epidem iologica l data of women drug users who have sex with women. For example, Ehrhardt et a l . 0 995) stud ied a sam ple o f women I DUs recru ited through a methadone c l i n i c a nd i nfect ious d i sease c l i n i c : 28 percent of the i r sa m ple of I O U women reported gay/lesbian o r bisexual orientation , a n d 48 percent report­ed having had sex with a woman at some poi nt in thei r l ives . S im i l a r ly, a 1992 survey of d rug-us ing women held i n New York City's centra l correc-

tional fac i l ity found that over 45 percent reported female sex partners d u r- 152

ing the previous ten years, and nearly a quarter reported at least one female sex partner who i njected drugs {Sch i l l i ng et a l . 1994) . Mlch1e1 c.

Recent stud ies of h igh-r isk youth popu lations a lso demonstrate these Clllll

patterns. For example, in a recent study of h igh-risk youth in New York City, both drug and sex-related risk behavior are common throughout the sample but are distributed differently across -sub groups with in it {Ciatts et a l . 1995) . Of part icu lar concern , m u lt ip le pa rtner unprotected sex {derivi ng largely from economic dependency on commercia l sex work) was sign ificantly asso-ciated with gender {male) , sexual orientation {gay/bisexua l ) , homelessness, and the use of a wide range of d rugs { inc lud ing a h istory of having i njected drugs, cu rrent use of i njected d rugs and current use of crack) . These pat-terns a re of particu lar concern beca use these youth are known to i nteract behaviora l ly with two " risk groups" that evidence h igh background sere­preva lence-adu lt gay men in the context of commercial sex work and adu lt IV drug injectors in the context of drug injection-forming an epidemiologica l bridge between these "exposure populations" {Ciatts 1994; see a lso Battjes et a l . 1989; Chu et a l . 1992; Ed l i n et a l . 1994; and Marmor et a l . 1987) .

I t i s noteworthy that these th ree popu lat ions-men who have sex with men , women who have sex with women and use d rugs, and h igh-r isk youth-a re a mong the su bgroups that ev idence the h ighest i nc idence of A I DS and the h ighest numbers of new cases in the U n ited States .

The ethnogra phic descr ipt ions presented i n th is cha pter demonstrate that drugs and a lcohol a re preva lent in many of the socia l settings and sex­ua l env ironments in which men gather to soc ia l ize and somet imes "con­nect" with other men for sex, a fact that is supported by the behaviora l and ep idem iologica l data c ited a bove . I nasmuch as ma ny of these sa me set­ti ngs and environments a re a l so a mong the pri mary soc ia l i n st itut ions i n and through wh ich many homosexua l men esta bl ish a sexual identity-a lbeit one that is h ighly stigmatized and typica l ly fra ught with acute confl ict and self-doubt-we shou ld not be surprised to f ind that men who have sex with men a re at h igh risk for d rug and a lcohol a buse . Having said this, however, it must a lso be acknowledged that nearly a decade i nto the AI DS pandemic, there is re latively l ittle h igh-q ua l ity data ava i l able a bout the structu re and funct ion of d rug and a lcohol use a mong men who have sex with men or conversely a bout the exchange of sex a mong same-sex partners i n d rug­us ing popu lations.

With nota ble except ions {see Bolton and Vi nke 1992 ; Gorman 1996) , much of the ava i lab le behaviora l data is based u pon s impl ist ic stat istica l associations of self-reported h igh-risk sexual practices among persons who a l so report use of a lcohol a nd d rugs. Most of these data a re d rawn from

h ighly b iased sa m p l i ng fra mes which a re exped ient i n experi menta l 153

research paradigms but which often serve to guarantee confirmation of the pred icted outcomes. Few of these stud ies pay any attention at al l to d iffer- Men Who HIH sex

ences in how and why d rugs and a lcohol a re used in the context of sex, with Men In Public

i nc lud i ng their benefic ia l properties (perceived or " rea l " ) , or to a lternative explanations for a statistica l association between drug and a lcohol use and h igh-risk sexual behavior among homosexual men. There has been l ittle or no consideration of the ma nagement and transformation of sexual identity

in relation to a lcohol and d rug use or to the way in which socia l ization i nto same-sex identity has changed h istorica l ly ( part icularly in relation to a lcohol

and d rugs ) . Where is the attention to the role of p leasure and play? What are to we to make of the m isappropriation of the concept of culture i n which some a l leged cu ltu ra l tra it such as sexual identity or ethn ic ity is sa id to pro-duce a given behavior? What utter nonsense! And , why is it that there has

been l ittle or no attention to the role of economic exchange in these settings

and relations-indeed that systematic economic predation and its re lation-sh ip to sexua l r isk is widely suppressed i n A I DS research (C iatts 1994) . Cou ld it be that we just do not l i ke th i s particu lar image of ourselves?

If we are ever to begin to understand assoc iations between sexual and d rug r isk-as opposed to s im ply documenting the i r preva lence and i nfer­

r ing ca use from stat ist ica l correlat ion-we need to exa m i ne the way i n which risk behavior is connected in the rea l world . We need t o understand the i nf luence of the physica l contexts and soc ia l group i ngs in which risk

behaviors occur, and the relationsh i p that these behaviors have to the larg­er soc ia l and economic institutions in which they are em bedded and from which they emerge . In short, we need to forge an ecological model for the study of sexua l r isk , i nc l ud i ng and perha ps pa rt icu l a r ly the d iverse , dyna mic , and i nteracti ng sets of soc ia l and economic factors that govern sexua l action and wh ich give rise to sexua l cognit ion and sexual mean i ng (sexual ity) . This wi l l req u i re that we move the d iscourse beyond ind ividua l­

ist ic l i nes of i n q u i ry, beyond static conceptua l izat ions of pol it ica l ly con­structed behaviora l groups , and perha ps most of a l l beyond self-serv ing reificat ions of a n idea l ized "gay com m u n ity. " I f noth ing e lse, the exper i­ence of A I DS has ta ught us much a bout the d isconti n u it ies wh ich our research models must account for . . . the fact that our l ives a re u ltimately sol itary and a lone . . . that our i nteractions with one another are fragmented and someti mes d ivis ive . . . that our i l l us ions of com m u n ion are betrayed by i nequ ity and i nevita bly by loss . . . and that our knowledge of ou rselves and one another, in every sense of the word , i s on ly pa rtia l . As perha ps Rechy ( 1983 : 35) understood , maybe th is is why we "d r i nk , and smoke grass, and cla p , and dance, and twist our bod ies . "

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S 154

This cha pter is dedicated to the memory of James Powe l l , a brave young man who struggled to f ind h is way out of the crack-ridden sex economy of Michael c.

New York City, and who before h is own death from A I DS worked to help oth- Clatts

ers to f ind a way out as wel l . I would a lso l i ke to acknowledge Ra lph Bolton , for h is pioneering work i n

h u man sexua l ity and A I DS, as we l l as for t h e m a n y thoughtfu l conversa­tions that we have had a bout some of the ideas developed in this paper.

R E F E R ENC E S Battjes, R . N . , R . W. P ickens, and Z . Amse l . 1989 . I ntrod uction of H I V I njection

Among I ntravenous Drug Abusers in Low Seropreva lence Areas. J. Acq lmm

Defic. Syndrome 2: 533-39.

Bolton , R . , J . V incke, G . Mak , and E. Dennebhy. 1992 . Alcohol and R isky Sex: I n

Search for an Elusive Connection . I n Rethinking AIDS Prevention, ed ited by

R . Bolton and M . Singer. Phi ladelphia: Gordon and Breach Science Publ ish­

ers, pp. 323-64.

Bolton , R . , J. Vincke, and R. Mak. 1993. Gay Baths Revisited : An Empirical Analysis.

G LQ 1 (3) : 255-74.

Bolton, R. and J . Vincke. n . d . R isky Sex and Sexual Cogn ition : The Cartogra phy of

Eros among Flemish Gay Men. Journal of Quantitative Anthropology (in press) .

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . 1 995. H I VIA I DS Surve i l la nce Report.

Vol . 7 (no. 1 ) .

C h u , S . Y. , T. A . Peterman , L . S. Dol l , e t a l . 1992. A I DS i n B isexual M e n in the Un ited

States: Epidemiology and Tra nsmission to Women. American Journal of Pub­

lic Health 82 : 220-24.

Clatts, M . C . , J . L. Sotheran , W. R. Davis. 1996. Patterns of Sexual Risk Among NYC

Street Youth : I m pl ications for Community-Based Publ ic Hea lth I n itiatives.

Clatts, M. C . , W. R. Davis, and J. L. Sotheran . 1994. At the Cross-Roads of H IV I nfec­

tion : A Demogra phic and Behaviora l Profi le of Street Youth in New York City.

Pa per at the Second Annua l Symposiu m on Drug Abuse, Sexual R isk , and

A I DS: Prevention Research 1995-2000, Flagstaff, Arizona .

Clatts, M . C. 1994. "All the Kings Horses and All the Kings Men: Some Personal Reflec­

tions on Ten Years of A IDS Ethnography. " Human Organization 53( 1 ) : 93-95.

Clatts, M . C. and K. M . M utch ler. 1989. A I DS and the Dangerous Other: Metaphors

of Sex and Deviance i n the Representation of a Disease. Medical Anthropolo­

gy 10, no. 2(3): 105-14.

Dere n , S. , A . Estrada , M. Sta rk, R. Need le, M. Wi l l i ams , and M. Goldste i n . n . d .

American Journal o f Public Health, i n press.

Donoghoe, M . C. 1 992 . Sex, H I V, and the I njecti ng Drug User. British Journal of

Addiction S?: 405-16.

Ed l i n , B . R . , K . L . I rwi n , S . Fa raq ue , et a l . 1 994. I ntersect ing Epidem ics-Crack

Coca ine Use and H IV I nfection Among I n ner-City Youth. New England Jour­

nal of Medicine 33 1 ( 2 1 ) : 1422-27.

Ehrhardt, A. A . , C. Nostlnger, H . L. Meyer-Buh lburg, R . S. Gruen, Exner, T. , B . Ortiz- 155

Torres, S. Yingling, and R. Zawadzki . 1995. Gender-specific risk and strategy

for behavior cha nge a mong women . Presented at H IV i nfection in Women

Conference, Washington D.C.

Gorma n , E . M. 1996. Methampheta m ine a buse among gay men i n Seatt le. Paper

presented at a N I DA Techn ica l Review, San Francisco, CA.

Gl ick Sch i l ler, N. 1992 . What's wrong with this picture? The hegemonic construction

of cu lture in A I DS research in the U n ited States. Medical Anthropology Quar­

terly 6: 237-54.

Hoffman , M. 1968. The Gay World. New York: Ba ntam Books.

H umphreys, L . 1970. Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places. Ch icago:

Aldine.

Karon , J . M. and R. L . Berkel man . 1 99 1 . The Geogra phic and Eth n ic Diversity of

A I DS I ncidence Trends i n Homosexual/B isexual Men i n the U n ited States.

Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome 4: 1 179--89.

Katz, J. 1992. Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U. S.A. New York:

Meridian Books.

Ma rmor, M. D. Des Jarla is , H. Cohe n , et a l . 1987. R isk Factors for I n fection with

Human I m m unodeficiency Virus Among I ntravenous Drug Users i n New York

City. AIDS 1 ( 1 ) : 1 18-23.

Pen kower, L. M . A. Dew, L. K ingsley. 199 1 . Behaviora l , Hea lth , and Psychologica l

Factors and Risk for H I V I nfection Among Sexual ly Active Homosexual Men :

The M u lticenter A I DS Cohort Study. American Journal of Public Health 8 1 :

194-96.

Rechy, J . 1983. A I DS Mysteries and H idden Dangers. The Advocate 27 December.

Sch i l l ing, R . , N. EI-Basse l , A. Ivanoff, et a l . 1994. Sexual R isk Behavior of I ncarcerat­

ed Drug-Using Women, 1992. Public Health Reports 109 (4) :539547 .

Tu rner, V. 1974. Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society.

Ithaca : Cornel l U n iversity Press.

V i n ke , J . and R. Bolto n . 1995. Soc ia l Stress and R isky Sex Among Gay M e n : An

Additional Explanation for the Persistence of Unsafe Sex. In Culture and Sex­

ual Risk: Anthropological Perspectives on AIDS. P h i ladel ph ia : Gordon and

Breach Science Publ ishers.

Weinberg, M. 1974. Male Homosexuals: Their Problems and Adaptations. New York:

Oxford Un iversity Press .

Men Who Have Sex

with Men in Public

Self Size and Observable Sex

S TEP H E N 0 . M U R R AY

Socio logists Edwa rd La umann and John Gagnon ( 1995 : 196) assert that "actua l sexual performances are expected to occur i n private . " 1 In c la im ing that it is a human u n iversa l to keep sexua l i ntercourse " i nv is ib le to a l l but

the partic ipants (and not a lways vis ible to them) , " anthropologist Ernestine Fr ied l ( 1994:833) expl ic it ly i nc l udes homosexua l i ntercou rse, a lthough mention ing bath houses as a place "where the ru le is suspended . " I n defend i ng pa rk sex, the i nd iv id ua l ist ic gay ph i losopher R ichard Mohr ( 1996: 18) s i m i la r ly contends that "sex is i n herently private . The sex act

creates its own i m personal sanctuary which i n turn is necessary for its suc­cess. The whole process and nature of sex is interru pted and destroyed if penetrated by the glance of an intruder. "2

Having spent times in places (Mesoa merica , Ta iwa n , Tha i l and) where d isplay of gen i ta l s is shocking, sha mefu l , 3 and a nx iety-provok i ng, and knowing of many other such places, at fi rst I was ready to accept Fried l 's cla im that d isplay of i ntercourse is un iversa l ly tabooed . It is qu ite plausible that humans a re a mong the species that hide sexua l activity from those who m ight object and try to stop a particu lar sexual l ia ison . Even where evi­dence of defloration m ust be made publ ic as part of esta bl ish ing approved heterosexual l ia isons, the aud ience does not witness the actua l deed . That is , the groom copu lates with the bride in private even where bloodsta ined bedclothes must afterward be d isplayed .

Fried l sweeps the reader a long on an evolutionary just-so story relati ng i nvisible estrous signa ls , female capacity for orgasm, the un l i nk ing of copu­lation from periods of ferti l ity, and increased consciousness of self, whereas La umann and Gagnon ( 1995: 188--89) d ismiss any biologica l explanations whatsoever. They nonetheless converge with Fried l 's v iews in treati ng sex bei ng out of sight of nonpa rtic ipants as necessary to part ic ipants' sense of self. Laumann and Gagnon ( 1995 :213 ) go so far as to suggest that sexual " 'tu rn-on/turn-off' is proba bly i nteractive with the fe lt state of 'a loneness ' ;

8

being without an aud ience fac i l itates a rousa l wh i le a rousa l fac i l itates the 158

sense of a loneness . " Insofa r a s the self resu lts from taking the view of ( real o r imagined ) oth- Stephen o .

ers-i .e . , self-objectification as d iscussed by George Herbert Mead ( 1934) Murray

and h is fol lowers-feed back m ight enhance not only pleasure but a lso the sense of self (as an adu lt, as a desired sexual being, as part of the procre-ative cha i n , etc . ) . By excit ing one's pa rtner in a way one i magines (or knows) that the other wants to be excited , one receives i n imagination the exc itement one gives " in the flesh " : "a lternately looking at the pa rtner through one's own eyes and at oneself through the partner's eyes. (One ca n a lso look at both through the imagined eyes of some observing th i rd pa rty. M i rrors fac i l itate th is last, omn iscient view) , " as socio logist M u rray Davis ( 1 983 : 130) puts it. Although not a lways the case, excitement can be "con­tagious , " so that one partner's excitement excites the other, which may fur-ther i ntensify the fi rst one's exc itement . A com bi nation of observ ing and

imagi n ing both self and/or partners wh i le " having sex" seems to me com­mon-with or without a physica l ly present " pa rtner" or non pa rti c i pa nt observers.

Moreover, many see sex as a means of transcending the self, of break­ing down ego wa l l s , fa lse pr ide, and/or everyday consciousness to atta i n un ion with another-or a t least some focus o n another human being-not the "self-absorption " Fried l (p . 838) asserts is centra l to sex. I n add ition to what Davis ( 1983) ca l ls the Jehovanist perspective on "sex , " in which being seen to have sex shames and lessens the sense of self , a re at least two other Western ones. I n what he ca l ls the gnostic (or sex rad ica l ) trad it ion , "sexua l ity rema ins one of the demonic forces i n human consc iousness , " inc lud i ng (at least o n occasion) a "volu ptuous yearning for the exti nction of one's consciousness" (Sontag 1970:57) , not just a d im inu ition but a cessa­tion of self. From the natura l ist (or sex l i bera l ) view, in contrast to both of the others, the self is not fundamenta l ly i nvolved in sex and/or "self" is a loose, open system , muta ble and neither conta m inated nor exa lted by " sex" ( Davis 1983: 188--89) ,4 so that being seen having sex neither increases nor decreases a sense of self.

Whi le noti ng that "sex" is not a transparent term and that d ifferent peo­ple i nc lude d ifferent behaviors and mea n i ngs with i n that category (see Bolton 1992) , I th i nk that, in genera l , good sex req u i res focusing on what one is doing, on synchroniz ing this with what one's partner is doing, and on attending to the partner's responses or lack of responses. I do not th ink that sex i n private leads to self-absorption , 5 or that the identity i nvolved i n sexual i ntercourse is only that of a "coconspi rator. "6 For many people, sex involves absorption in the other partner. I am even more skeptica l that lack of priva-

cy "d im in ishes the self, " as Fried l ( 1994:838) contended . Neither she nor 159

La umann and Gagnon found it necessa ry to a l l ude to even one human

being's experiences of either h idden or observed sex i n drawi ng sweeping Selt slze and

concl usions about how it affects self-regard . Observable Sex

Th is chapter wi l l i nc l ude i nsta nces in wh ich be i ng observed had no effect on sense of self and self-esteem , and others i n wh ich being observed enhanced the sense of self and the amount of self-esteem . Before relating them, however, it is necessary to consider factors having noth ing to do with sense of self (worth/size) that make " h i d i ng" sex prudent (and therefore

common) .

Genuine External Dangers

Someone who is do i ng what s/he considers sha mefu l fee ls d i m i n ished ,

whereas someone who is doing what s/he takes pride in bei ng known to do genera l ly a lso takes pr ide i n being seen to do th is , so long as there are not da ngers of being i nterru pted or pun ished by others . These a re rea l and recurrent dangers, though pragmatic precautions shou ld not be mistaken for a species-wide human d rive or u n iversa l need to " h ide" sex . One very significant constra i nt on observed sex is fea r of reprisa ls-for " poach ing" on someone else's sexual partner, for "straying" from one's own prescribed partner or category of legitimate partners , or for "outraging publ ic mora ls , " i . e . , the heteronormative socia l order (enforced by both self-a ppointed and pa id pol ice) . Another constra i nt is the set of consequences of a reputation

for having sex with proscribed partners. A reputation for sexua l receptivity outside marriage makes ma les as wel l as females fa i r game for importun ing by others (see M u rray 1995: 56-57 , 1996c ) . Genera l ly, women 's sexua l

contacts are more regulated , the i r violations of the ru les are more severely pun ished , and su bseq uent im portun i ngs of them are more coerc ive . Men

in many cultures are encouraged to take whomever they can (not least by the assum ption that they wi l l ) , whi le women genera l ly a re d i scouraged from giving themselves-and are encouraged to manage sexual access to atta i n other goods ( power, i n particu lar) . I nsofar as there are double standards of male and female fidel ity, women have a greater i nterest than men in keep­ing their sexual behavior from being observed and reported .

Anglo North America is far from being the only place where being known to be having sex enhances mascu l i ne reputations, whi le a female thought to be engaging in sexua l i ntercou rse (even with only one steady partner) may be la beled a "s l ut. " Reca l l i ng the sexua l cu lture i n which I grew up i n ru ra l M idwestern U n ited States du ri ng the mid- 1960s I feel that it was gir ls who did not wa nt to be observed having sex; boys were d i screet more to

protect the i r sexua l pa rtners' reputat ions (to "get further" with them or, 180

once they "went a l l the way, " to keep the gir ls " putt ing out" ) than to keep their own "success" secret. Many more boys than gir ls wanted to show off Stephen o. sexual conquests . The most extreme exa m ple , so-ca l led "pu l l i ng a tra i n , " Murray

i nvolved one g ir l and a l i ne of boys _ ? Hav ing to ta ke a l l comers is a r isk wherever there is a shortage of sexua l outlets i n contrast to the n u m bers ready, wi l l i ng, and a ble to try them. The correspond ing risk to the male of

being shown un ready or unable may d im i n ish self-esteem , though he can often get away with c la i m i ng d istaste and unwi l l i ngness (thereby denying inab i l ity, or even unread iness) . S im i la rly the r isks of pregnancy and the t ime involved in it a re d isproportionately greater for women. I n a number of ways the conseq uences of sexua l i ntercourse a re greater for women , and

women 's greater ca refu l ness i n choos ing sexua l partners does not seem just to be a product of soc ia l ization .

Unashamed lnsertees

One of the i nterest ing facets of exam in i ng what gay men do is interpreti ng gay male patterns as male patterns undeterred by the demands women are a ble to ma ke on those to whom they provide sexua l access . Men , i n the U n ited States and elsewhere, a re socia l ized by women, and I do not mean to suggest that gay male sexual patterns are un infl uenced by women or by the read i ly ava i la b le models of heterosexua l sexua l access negotiated between women and men . I only want to take some gay men's unconcern a bout whether the sex in wh ich they engage is observed (at least that is observed by those who a re not going to i nterfere with i ts completion or take reprisa ls aga inst those observed) as provid i ng some support for the hypoth­esis that h id i ng sex is not a un iversa l human goa l and as evidence aga inst Fried l 's contention that being observed whi le having sex d im in ishes the self.

I want to d istinguish "observed " from " publ ic" in the sense of occurring where a variety of k inds of persons are l i kely to be. As should be clea r from the exam ples below, what I am ca l l i ng "observed sex" occu rs in places i n which those co-present a re ma les known or bel ieved t o b e i nterested i n having sex with males and/or i n see ing ma les have sex with males. Most of what has been ca l led " publ ic sex" either is foreplay that isn 't la beled "pub­l ic sex" if it i nvolves two sexes (e.g. , hold ing hands, kissi ng) , or is " publ ic" in a forma l but not a substantive sense ( the sections of beaches and parks that a re not freq uented except by ma les seek ing male sex pa rtners ) . The anecdota l evidence on observed sex that I am going to d iscuss should suf­fice to undercut the eq uation of being observed with damaging or shr ink ing the sense of self . It is c lear ly not suffic ient to do more than suggest that

there a re ma le/female d ifferences i n comm itment to h i d i ng sex from the 111

view of others. It shows that (at least for some men) the d i fference is not

between being seen to penetrate or being seen to be penetrated (subject SeH Size and

honor versus object shame) , though such a contrast may matter to others Obnrvable Sex

( i n the U n ited States or elsewhere) .8 The pattern of not fee l ing d im in ished by being observed having sex may not be genera l . I t is not u n ique to San Franc isco, however. Fou r of the s ix men who descri be i nsta nces below recount experiences from smal ler c ities i n southern Cal ifornia and Arizona, and another recounts an Asian-Asian encounter in Tha i land .9

Someone who sets store on being a top does not wa nt to risk h is reputa­t ion , so bei ng observed being topped may d i m i n ish h i s self-esteem , as m ight bei ng revea led to be im potent or to ejacu late very q u ickly. Dispa rity between any pa rt of self-presentat ion and one's actua l behavior makes knowledge of the d i spa rity potenti a l ly costly. 10 That one's sexua l pa rtner m ight say something to others probably deters a lot of behavior, and engag­

i ng in sexua l behavior that is contra ry to someone's pub l i c postur ing is especia l ly un l i kely to be performed before aud iences, even those that a re expected to be sym pathetic . Va rious k inds of male reputations ( i nc lud ing

those for cel i bacy, monogamy, or sexual prowess) a re vu lnera ble (see Mur­ray 1995:61-62) .

Excitement versus Lack of Access to Private Locales

Many people (espec ia l ly men) without res idences or veh ic les of their own , and without the means to rent rooms in hotels o r bathhouses (o r to travel to cit ies with such amen it ies ) , ca n f ind partners and have sex i n relatively secluded parts of " pub l ic space . " 1 1 As Johnston and Va lenti ne ( 1995: 100) wrote, "The privacy of a place is not necessari ly the same as hav ing privacy in a place . . . . Although the home may be a more or less private place for 'the fami ly' it doesn 't necessari ly guarantee freedom for ind ivid uals from the watchfu l gaze of other household members . " More expl ic itly, Scott Tucker ( 1990: 1 7 ) observed , "Gay people often have no freedom to be gay in the privacy of their own homes, d ue to fa m i ly and neigh borly pressu res . . . .

Lacking a secure privacy, they may find an insecure privacy and a selective publ ic ity among si m i la r seekers" of sexua l pa rtners . Even in metropol ises with venues for male-male sex, many men who have sex with men seek to keep thei r desi res from being known ( i . e . , as part of thei r pub l ic persona ) and do not reveal the ir names to sexua l partners. Anonymous sex can be seen as more private tha n sex in bed rooms shared by people i n ongo ing relat ionsh i ps i n that most everyth i ng a bout the self rema ins un known to sexual partners in anonymous encounters .

However, anonymous sex in " pu bl ic" loca les is not entirely nor a lways a 162

desperate remedy for those lacking a lternatives. Whi le some wou ld prefer to have rea l privacy and not to have to run such risks in order to have sex, at Stephen o. least some others f ind the r isk of bei ng caught exc it ing ( H u mphreys Murray

1975: 1 5 1-52) . Sti l l , it is i mportant to remember that tota l ly secure privacy for lovemak ing is a l uxury for most people . I wou ld guess that most of the heterosexual sex and a lot of the homosexual sex that is observed involves couples who sought not to be observed but were una ble to wa it or to fi nd a place where they could be certa in that no one else cou ld see (or hear) what they were doing. No research of which I am aware attem pts to assess the

relative magn itudes of such preferences a mong those who (someti mes) have sex with men i n publ ic spaces .

I th ink that crosscutting the d isti nction between those excited by danger and those who are not is another d istinction between those who a re excited by be ing observed havi ng sex by men who a re i nterested in men and by those who a re not. That i s , not a l l those who seek " privacy" from host i le observers a lso want " privacy" from excited observers. I wou ld guess that few of those who are excited by the risk of being caught by agents of repres­s ion m ind be ing observed by excited observers, but wou ld not haza rd a guess on the re lative size of the other th ree ce l ls of a two-by-two ta ble (± excited by r isks of hosti le observers, ± excited by sympathetic observers) .

I wou ld guess that men more commonly risk bei ng observed than seek

to be observed . In the fol lowing instance I e l ic ited , B i l l sought to expand h is

erotic exper ience, both i n loca le and i n partner. He acq u iesced to one observer, but not to another who was not at a l l the k ind of observer B i l l wou ld knowi ngly have r isked perform i ng before . I t is B i l l spea k i ng; my questions or comments are i n ita l ics.

How I Became a Registered Sex Offender: Bill

[ B i l l : ) It was rea l ly stu pid . I had a lover, but, u n l i ke h i m , I had very l ittle

sexual experience. I thought I should have more, get more . So I went to

th is notorious beach-it had to be very notorious for me to have heard

a bout it!-and met th is attractive ma n . I mea n , he was my type , you

wou ldn 't have l i ked h i m ! He was one of those bra in less surfer types that

th ink that catch ing a wave makes them a stud. I 'd never had sex outdoors,

and I wa nted to try it . . . . We went back i nto the bushes between the

beach and the c l iff. Someone fol lowed us, which made me nervous, but

he jacked off maybe five yards away whi le I went down on M r. Surfer Stud

and jacked off at his feet.

I d idn 't th ink that anyone else could see us. My field of vision was M r.

Su rfer's wash boa rd stomach and maybe the trees beh ind h i m , but he

could see a nyone com ing up the one path which we'd taken i n . I d idn 't 183

scan the top of the c l iff to make sure no one could see us from there. And

I 'm not convi nced that I could have seen the one who was . A pol iceman saH Size and

was lurking on top of the cl iff in something l i ke a duck bl ind . There is no Observable sax

reason other than mon itoring sex in the bushes for anyone to be there. 12

There is no tra i l nearby and there are much better ocean vistas elsewhere .

I consider that three men were having consensual sex in private , even

though I don't know why I consented ! I guess I wanted to find out what it

was l i ke to suck off someone I d idn 't know, to fi nd out what a nonymous

outdoor sex felt l i ke . Now that sounds rea l ly ch i ldish to me, but, you know,

we have to fi nd out these things for ourselves after we're supposed to be

grown up . I t would have been better if I 'd tried th is out when I reached

puberty instead of when I was lega l ly an adu lt , you know? I t was conse-

q uentia l in a way that it wou ldn't have been if I was a teenager (though it

would have been worse for the surfer, whose name I 've repressed) .

U nfortunately, t h e three o f us enjoying t h e two o f us having sex were

not as a lone as we thought. A fourth man was in hiding to catch fags. The

idea s imply had not occurred to me, but when I got to the parking lot I was

arrested . In most of the photogra phs I was not recognizable. At least I don't

recogn ize the top of my head , but the one with his head in another man's

crotch was clearly the same person as in a couple of pictures, before and

after, in which both of us were recognizable. I wanted to argue that this was

in no ways "publ ic ," but my lawyer convinced me to plead gui lty to "gross

i ndecency" and be put on probation, especial ly since M r. Surfer d id .

Th is not pa rticular ly good sex with this do l t led to my be ing a registered

sex offender. I was asked for an a l ib i when someone was sta bbed to death

at another pa rk, and a nywhere I move in Ca l iforn ia , I have to notify the

loca l pol ice department, so they can round me up a mong their usual sus­

pects for any murders related to " publ ic sex . " I can imagine worse things .

I suppose that M r. Surfer or M r. Mastu rbator could conceivably have ki l led

me, but to me the crime is police survei l lance. I was naive, sure . I had sex

in a publ ic park and I knew that another man was watch ing. I suppose he

could have been a cop-even M r. Surfer could have been one. I a lso

knew that rather than being horrified by what we were doing, our voyeur

was gett ing off on it . He was an u n i nvited guest, a n u nwelcome gate­

crasher (to me; M r. Surfer l i ked to show off) , but it was sti l l a private party,

sexual conduct secluded from a ny reasonable prospect of shocking the

publ ic . And "the forces of public order" were not shocked either, having

prepa red their l itt le nest and stocked it with a te lephoto lens. For al l I

know, the pol iceman who smirked and cal led me "cocksucker" was jack­

ing off just l i ke the guy c loser to us.

[SM : l You reject a pplying " pub l ic sex" to that horror story. Have you

engaged in other instances that others would label "publ ic sex"?

[ B i l l : ) Not outside in Cal i forn ia ! I ns ide in c lubs with i n view of other gay 164

men , a segment of the pub l ic , a segment who is there to watch and/or

engage in gay sex.

[SM : l Do you l ike to watch other men have sex?

[B i l l : ) Yea h .

[SM : l D o you identify with the tops o r the bottoms?

[B i l l : ) The bottoms, usual ly, doing what I 'd be doing if I was doing instead

of watch ing.

[SM: l Do you l ike to be watched while you ' re having sex?

[ B i l l : ) Sometimes. I prefer not to have any d istractions from the one I ' m

with , but there i s someth ing exciting a bout being watched .

[SM : l Is it any more exc it ing to be watched whi le you ' re ta k ing it than

whi le you're giving it?

[ B i l l : ) I ' m a l ittle emba rrassed to have men watc h i ng me suck cock .

Maybe the arrest trauma, though I was a l i ttle em barrassed by the voyeur

seeing me go down on the su rfer, too . I don't mind men watch ing some­

one go down on me. I don't th ink it's a top/bottom th ing, though , because I

l i ke to wiggle my butt a l i ttle extra for an aud ience watch ing me get fucked

and a lso to exaggerate my thrusts if people are watching me fuck some­

one.

[SM: l You don't th ink sex should be done i n private?

[ B i l l : l i t shou ldn 't be done only in front of those who are u pset by it-or

who have the power to arrest you for i t and pretend to be "shocked ,

shocked . " Otherwise, I th ink it's f ine. I enjoy watching other species do it

on 1V nature shows-though I should probably consider that the an imals

have not given i nformed consent and that the photogra phers are l u rking

l i ke the pol iceman was, but if he'd developed the pictures to beat off to

instead of to prosecute me, I wouldn 't particularly have minded, so maybe

that's OK.

[SM : l You masturbate to "Wi ld America "?

[ B i l l : ) No, no. To " Nature . " J u st k idd i ng-not to that either. Sometimes

watc h i ng one an ima l mount a nother ma kes my cock hard , though , as

watching barnyard an imals surely must excite farm chi ldren-and adu lts .

Doesn 't everyone love to watch th is?

[SM : l Some people are embarrassed by it .

[ B i l l : ) Yeah : those who l i ke to get fucked , but th ink they shou ldn 't l i ke it.

Fucking is natura l . Maybe at some level I feel that sucking cock isn't nat-

Stephen D. Murray

ura l , but mounting and push ing it in sure is . Wel l , of course, fel latio is part

of nature for humans, but a l l mammals fuck-so why not me? If someone

enjoys watch i ng, and my partner isn 't nervous a bout being watched , I

enjoy being enjoyed . By my pa rtner, of course, but a lso it's excit ing that

what I 'm doing is exciting to someone who chooses to watch me, whether

they want to have me or be me while I'm doing whatever I'm doi ng. I feel

l i ke I 'm sharing and increasing excitement, and that excitement is good as

long as it doesn't lead to a nyone gett ing hurt . B ut , I ' m a registered sex

offender, so I must be a real pervert, right?

B i l l 's foray i nto the bushes i l l ustrates two of the da ngers of sem i-open sexua l behavior ( po l ice interference and unwelcome add it iona l pa rt ic i ­

pa nts ) . B i l l was not seek ing to be observed , and d id not wa nt to be observed . He was not excited by being observed , even by the man mastur­bati ng at some d ista nce. He l ived where there were no private sex c lubs in

which to explore other k inds of homosexual ity than the ongoi ng re lationsh ip

he had (and sti l l has) . Gay sex c l ubs a re "open to the pub l ic" but provide a space more pro­

tected from bashers, thieves, and Vice Sq uad quota-fi l lers than the bushes

of gay beaches and pa rks . 13 Gatekeepers col lect money, so that anyone who is present is not only consc ious of what k ind of place he is in, but has pa id to be in a place where men meet men for sex, most of which occurs on the premises, a l beit in va ry ing degrees of sec l us ion . N ick , my recu rrent prime expl icator of gay norms, 14 gave me h is views of seeking a mod icum of privacy i n so-ca l led " publ ic sex , " and then recou nted the two insta nces in which he had been ana l ly penetrated " i n pub l ic . " The fi rst i nsta nce fits the "nowhere to go" pattern . The second i nvolved consc ious (a l beit

unplanned ) d isplay.

The Thrill of Being Watched: Nick

[ N ick : l l wou ld guess that most sex between gay men is done in private .

And m uch of what is ca l led " publ ic sex" takes place in secluded places,

where only those who are seeking sex go. I have no experience of "tea­

rooms , " but from what friends have told me, they "show hard " and per­

haps grope in the open space of the ur inals , but that the sex-the pene­

trations-occurs in sta l l s . S i m i la rly, in the pa rks, men genera l ly pa i r off

and go deeper into the bushes to get it on .

[SM : l So as not to be observed by others?

[ N ick : ] You wa nt to get where you are not going to be interru pted, espe­

cia l ly not by hosti le others.

[SM : l Do you mean bashers or riva ls?

165

Self Size and

Observable Sex

[ N ick : ) I meant bashers. They know of and hunt in the same territories as 166

the fags they want to bash or rob . 15 You don't want to be visible to attack-

ers, especia l ly when you have you r pants down , or even just when you r stephen o. head is down . But rivals? You might want to be seen by riva ls , to rub their Murray

faces in it: "You wa nted h im? Wel l I got h i m ! " That sort of menta l ity. I t

seems to me that a lot of men want to show off the i r conquests , whether

it's a woman on their arm, or a man skewered on their cock, or, for some,

a hard cock pla nted in them . Whatever one man th inks some other man

wants but he has or is getting, inc lud ing being plowed . I th ink that many

stra ight men would be qu ite happy to have other men watch them screw

pretty much any attractive woman .

[SM : l D o you t h i n k that this is tied into shame a t being penetrated in con­

trast to glory for penetrati ng?

[ N ick : l it 's more blessed to give tha n to receive? Maybe that's part of it .

C lear ly a lot of stra ight men are horrif ied at the idea of a cock i n their

mouth or ass, but don't mind mixing their sperm with their buddy's inside

a woma n-or i ns ide a man . Among men with some sexual experience,

those who aren't concerned about im potence or premature ejacu lations,

there's often an interest i n ta king turns on the sa me orifice, watch ing your

buddy stick it i n and then sticking it i n the same place wh i le he watches

and then watch ing him stick it in aga in , and so on. I th ink this is a su bsti­

tute for gett ing it on with each other. I 'd l i ke to know if they fa ntasize at

least momentari ly that they are taking their friend's d ick or putting theirs

i nto h i m , but I don 't suppose they'd ad m it it , even to themselves-or

especial ly to themselves.

[S M : l Do you th ink that gay men are more wi l l i ng to be seen with their

cocks in another man than to be seen with a man's cock in them?

[N ick : ) Li ke I said before, I th i nk that the main th ing is showing you have

what you r aud ience wants to have. I guess the rea l ly perverse th ing is to

fuck someone rea l ly butch or rea l ly hung who your fr iend or your riva l

wants to be tucked by, but, genera l ly, gett ing what you wa nt is more

im portant than what other people think about the va lue of what you want.

[SM : 1 Do you fi nd an aud ience exciti ng?

[ N i c k : ) Yes . I l i ke watc h i ng men having sex, and back when I had sex

[before A I DSJ I l i ked to be watched . I don't ever reca l l the " Nyah , nya h ,

nya h , I 've got h im a n d you don't!" fee l ing about anyone I connected with

i n parks or bath houses. I ' m not denying that I ever had such unworthy

feel i ngs of com petitiveness, just not in anonymous sex that I knew others

were watch ing.

[SM: J So what was the excitement for you?

[N ick : ] The vicarious enjoyment of the spectators, knowing that they were

excited by what I was doing, that they were fantasizing partic ipating, that I

was part of their fantasy.

[SM : l Did it matter which part?

[ N ick : ] You mean top or bottom?

[SM : l Yeah .

[N ick : ] N o . I remember the occasions I was a bottom more, s o maybe I was

more excited about being ta ken , or maybe it's just that they were so rare. At

La nd's End [ in the woods above a gay nude beach in San Francisco] I was

sucked off with other men watch ing many t imes, and even more t imes

fucking or being sucked in the baths and backrooms of bars, sometimes

rea l ly in the middle of crowds-the sma l l crowds that would fit in sma l l

places, I mean . As you surely remember, there was a tendency for some of

"the aud ience" to do more than watch : to rub my tits or my ba l ls or my ass

whi le my cock was in a man 's orifice. Th is pawi ng rea l ly bothered some

men, especial ly if it interfered with "the main event" -as it sometimes d id .

Some of my sexual partners wanted to have me to themselves . They d idn 't

want to be part of an orgy, even in an orgy room. I brushed off hands at var­

ious times, many times, actual ly. The only t ime someone rea l ly pissed me

off was this man who seemed to want to feel my cock whi le it was in anoth­

er man's ass. He d idn 't just feel around the outside, but tried to go in with

me. Maybe he wanted to pull my cock out and put it in h im , I 'm not sure.

We did not have a pol ite conversation about what he wanted . We were not

i nterested! The man I was fucking pushed th is i ntruder roughly away

before I d i d . I t was h is ass and he a l ready had what he wanted in it, you

know? On other occasions, other pa rtners retreated to more protected

places, if only to a corner so that wa l ls cut off access from two d irections.

I d idn 't feel degraded . Maybe if I 'd grown up as a sex object I 'd have

been t ired of it but, l i ke a lot of gay men , I grew u p fee l i ng that no one

would ever want me-a nd that, most certa in ly, no one would ever want to

be me. That others were turned on by watch ing me was very va l idati ng­

of something important.

[SM : l That you were desira ble?

[N ick : ] That's too abstract: that I was desired . That was an astounding rev­

elation after a typica l ly horri ble adolescence fi l led with self-loathing that I

wasn't l i ke other boys and that no one ever would want me or find me the

least bit sexua l ly interesting. The constantly hard cock that embarrassed

me in h igh school-that I was terrified of being seen with !-was tra ns­

formed into being a major asset. I must have been remarka bly stupid as a

teenager not to know that what I was h id ing was something that both boys

and girls l i ke, and that men and women want.

167

Self Size and

Observable Sex

[SM : l So it was pride in having a big cock that was va l idated . . .

[N ick : ] Not the size. I don't th ink it's a l l that big. But there seemed to be a

shortage of hard cocks relative to the n u m ber of eager consumers. You

know: "A hard man is good to fi nd"? Like a reversal of adolescence, when

cocks are stand ing at attention desperately plead ing for a wet warm orifice

and there's no place to put them, to all these l imp dicks and eager, frus­

trated orifices hoping to be fi l led . I felt that most of the aud ience identified

with my pa rtners, not with me. I mea n that they wa nted to have a hard

d ick in them, not that they wanted to have particu larly my dick in them,

but they i magined themselves gett ing an adeq uate cock, a generic hard

cock. One of the things any "hot man" has to offer. This sou nds rea l ly con­

ceited , but I don't think the desire had anyth ing to do with who I am or was

any cred it to me persona l ly. I l i ke to fuck, and if doing it bri ngs pleasure

and excitement to more people than the one I 'm fucking [that] is a bonus.

[SM : l You weren 't asha med to be seen putt ing your cock i n th is or that

man?

[N ick : ] No. And I wasn't ashamed when it was the other way. When I had

sex with stra ngers it was a lmost exc lusively as a top , regard less of how

many men were in the space where I was having sex-which was usual ly

no others. Even i n the wild days of the late 1970s, I d idn 't ta ke in strange

d icks, I mean stra ngers' d icks, even though I did and do l i ke to be taken

from beh ind without any " by your leave . " The fa ntasy is that someone

wants me so bad that he just takes me. Mostly this has happened i n pri­

vate with my lover, but there were two occasions i n pub l ic , i n so-ca l led

publ ic , both i nvolving black men-but let's not get i nto whether I objectify

black men, OK?

One was late at n ight. The fi rst one, I was waiting for a bus after leaving

a gay d isco. A short black man asked me where I 'd been . The short is

important. If he'd been bigger I probably would have just sa id " Dancing,"

but I named the place. He asked me, " Do you give good head?" and I

honestly a nswered " No. " He conti nued , " It looks l i ke you got a n ice booty,

do you l i ke to ta ke it u p the ass?" I must have been a l itt le , u m m high ,

beca use I cont in ued to answer honestly: "Sometimes . " He took out h is

semi-hard , not insu bsta ntial dr i l l , and asked "Would you l i ke to take this

u p your ass?" I was a m used by h is forth rightness, and wondered if he

tucked as good as he ta lked . We d idn 't have any place we could go to bed

together. (I never took tricks home-but then I d idn 't usual ly bend over for

men I met in the street, either, or for strangers I met anywhere . ) Anyhow,

we ended up in a schoolyard . He shoved it i n , rooted around a l ittle, got off

quickly, and hurried away. As far as I know there was no aud ience . . .

The other occasion was more thri l l i ng to me, because it was word less

and because it was witnessed . It was the only time that I know of that I was

188

Sllphen O.

MUITIY

fucked whi le others watched . There was a la rge window between the 189

video room and the maze at the old R itch Street baths [ i n a nocturnal ly

deserted warehouse d istrict in San Francisco) . I 'd just cum and whi le, you Self Sizund

could say, my batteries were recharging, I was stand ing in front of the win- Observable Sex

dow between the maze and the video room, watch ing a fuck fi lm . A very

l i the black man , very much my type, not su per- h u ng but defin itely

endowed , came u p behind me and reached under my towel to finger my

butthole. I hardly ever got fucked at the baths and never (before or after)

in front of others, but here was my fantasy man doing what I fa ntasized

a bout: being stripped , bent over, and tucked without any "by your leave . "

Having seen what he looked l i ke and made u p my mind to let h im "have

h is way with me , " I tu rned back to watch ing the fi l m . He u n knotted my

towel and draped it around my neck, lu bricated me (I have no idea where

he was carrying the lu bricant! ) . I braced myself and got tucked in front of

a growing aud ience.

[SM : l How do you know it grew?

[ N i c k : ] There were m u r m u rs and some were in my peri pheral v is ion .

Somewhat u n usual ly, no one a pproached . We were perform ing in the

l ight. They were i n the semidarkness, and they stayed there. I s transfixed

the word? I was transfixed by this gorgeous man who came up and started

fuck ing me and I thought that everyone e lse present shared my awe . I

now doubt that that was it, but there m ust have been something a bout the

l ighting and the l ight (me) and dark ( h i m ) that was so visua l ly arrest ing

that the aud ience stayed back . I found it thri l l i ng. I fi nd it sti l l excit ing to

remember it. I t was my brief sti nt as a porn star.

[SM : l Did you cum?

[ N i c k : ] You have an i m poverished sense of what exc itement is ! I don 't

th i n k I could have! I 'd probably cum th ree t imes in the previous hour or

so. I must have gotten hard despite that, but my cock was not involved .

No one, inc lud ing me, touched it . I forgot that it existed . For once I was

the hole being fi l led , not the fi l ler.

[SM : l Did anyone say anyth ing about it to you afterwards?

You proba bly would have conducted an aud ience su rvey and wou ld be

able to tel l how many identified with the one being tucked , how many with

the one fuck ing . . .

[SM : l l wish I were that bold!

[N ick : ] I feel that most of the aud ience identified with me being taken , but

no one told me so. Maybe they thought I had a hot hole and fa ntasized

being the one dr i l l ing it, being the Stud i nstead of fantasizing the Stud tak­

ing them . . .

ISM : ) So you d idn't ta lk a bout it. What did you do then?

[ N ick : ) Probably wiped my ass, showered , sat i n the jacuzzi awhi le , then

returned to being a top.

IS M : ) You d idn 't ta lk to the man who fucked you?

[ N ick : ) Not a word . He wanted me, I wanted h im to have me, he had me,

people watched . We d idn 't get married . We d idn 't l ive happi ly ever after.

B ut at least one person reta ins a memory of that fuck . It was better than

several of my so-ca l led " lover" relationsh ips . I hope that he is wel l and he

remem bers it . And maybe some of the aud ience was moved . They

enha nced the experience for me and I hope that some of them have a

good memory of it, too.

IS M : ) But you don't know . . .

[ N ick : ) No. I was doing sex, not scientifica l ly studying it. I d idn 't do any fol­

low-up i nterviews!

I n contrast to N ick 's remem bra nce of one spec ia l occas ion , R ufus, a n African-American " preacher's kid , " reca l led a regu la rly sched u led ensem­ble performance. When he was a jun ior and senior i n h igh school i n a San Bernard ino Cou nty (southern Ca l iforn ia ) town , he reca l led "serv ic ing the

[church] baseba l l team in batting order, every Wed nesday. "

A Part of the Team: Rufus

ISM : ) They l i ned up and took their turns?

[ R ufus : ) They sure d id . J ust l i ke at the plate. Everyone got a hit; no one

struck out and there was no other team to interrupt them. Of course, none

had to wa it very long for their turn . One of them would shoot in my mouth ,

then the next one, then the next one. Teenagers ca n 't hold it back very

wel l-if at a l l , so my jaw sti l l wasn 't sore when the n i nth one f in ished ,

when I went down the n inth t ime.

ISM : ) And the others watched?

! R ufus : ) O h , yes . They loved watch ing each other, some of them more

than being done. They could see their friends' d icks hard and not have to

figure out what to do with it. No one left after h is turn. They all wanted to

watch everybody else get done.

IS M : ) No one wanted to compete with you? Do what you were doing?

[R ufus) : I don't know if any wanted to. There probably wasn't anyone else

in the school that was ready to suck n ine16 cocks one after the other, p lus

whoever wanted a second at-bat. Someone might have wanted to try one,

170

Stephen 0. Murray

but what if he d idn 't l i ke it and had eight more to do? No. It was l i ke my 171

monopoly. I was happy, my team was happy.

[SM : l Did you get off on their watching?

[ R ufus : ) I got off later, remembering it. Wh i le I was doing them , I 'd be

hard , but I wou ldn't jack off or anyth ing.

[SM : l They were i nterested i n each other's cocks, but not i n yours?

[ R ufus : ) That's what I thought. Maybe I was wrong, but I thought that I

suppl ied the mouth and they suppl ied the cocks, and that was just fi ne

with me.

[SM : l Can you sepa rate your enjoyment from sucking the ir cocks from

your enjoyment of eight watch ing while you did one of them?

[ R ufus) : That'd be d ifficu lt . I th ink it was better that everyone saw a nd

they a l l d id it together as a tea m . One of them a lso came to me by h imself

other times, but on Wed nesdays, he took his turn-he batted third .

[SM : l They d idn 't cal l you na mes o r beat you u p?

[ R ufus: ) No. They should have cal led me "the cocksucker, " and maybe

they cal led me that to each other when I wasn 't aroun d , but they were

grateful and they protected me if any of the other boys started to give me a

hard t ime. I was in a way part of the team, l i ke the eq u ipment ma nager or

the coach.

[SM : l Did the coach know you were going down on h is whole team?

[Rufus: ) He must have, but he chose not to know, l i ke my dad chose not

to notice I was a fag.

Both B i l l and N ick expl icitly deny that being penetrated or penetrator mat­tered to the i r wi l l i ngness to " perform " before an appreciative "aud ience . " For B i l l , a performance ca ptu red i n photos led t o an u nwelcome labe l ing (a lbeit one he does not accept and has evaded by moving out of Cal iforn ia ) . An important part of N ick's self-esteem was , he says , enhanced rather than d i m i n ished by being watched-with the most memora ble insta nce being one in wh ich he was ana l ly receptive . S im i la rly, Robert G lOck ( 1985: 54-55) reca l led fee l ing that he was the focus of feel i ngs of awe being tucked in the Sa n Francisco C lub Baths, c . 198 1 :

We watch the pleasure rather than the men , fee l i ng the potentia l i nter­

changeabil ity. One of them masturbates me, others tended me respectfu l ly

because the one who is tucked induces awe by h is extreme exposure . . . .

Their col lective mind sa id " he's doing it" which my fi n ite mind repeated .

Although they masturbated themselves to obta in immed iate knowledge of

Self Size and

Observable Sex

my excitement, it was as spectators that they solemnly shared in what my 172

pleasure revea led . In the first place I was naked , their eyes and hands on

my body confi rmed that. In the second place I was desired . I n the th i rd stephen D. place I was penetrated , which put me in a class by myself. Murray

R ufus reca l led h is performances with pa lpable exc itement; N ick sti l l had a keen esthetic a ppreciation of the scene he staged (qu ite consciously wi l l ­

ing a sexual ro le he d id not genera l ly enact) . Receptivity, even being seen to be receptive , d id not bother them . The novelty was part of the excitement

for B i l l (the novelty of anonymous, outdoor sex) and for N ick ( be ing ta ken by a stranger) . For R ufus, the least sexua l ly versati le of the three ( i . e . , the one who genera l ly -perha ps a lways-was sexua l ly receptive ) , be ing watched was a routi ne part of the scene. I n that I saw h i m many t imes through open bathhouse cu bicle doors lyi ng on h is stomach or at the bot­tom of tangles of men in the orgy rooms, h is publ ic ava i la bi l ity conti nued .

I a m wel l aware that some people (even some gay men) d isapprove of such goi ngs-on as I 've d iscussed . 1 7 "Shameless" is not a positive label any­where, though it may be a ppl ied with some a m biva lent awe . I hope that explori ng the excitement of s imu lta neously transgressing both normative heterosexua l ity and normative privacy is not ta ken as showing how d is­solute and/or perverted gay men are . N ick and R ufus and B i l l a re proud of bei ng gay, proud of their bod ies, and not th reatened by other gay men knowing that they are penetra ble.

Nonetheless, I shou ld add that a n u m ber of my fr iends either den ied ever having had sex with in the view of those not d i rectly i nvolved or did not

wa nt to ta l k a bout i nsta nces. Some reca l led bei ng mortif ied by lovers or fam i ly members wa lk ing in on them. Although he was embarrassed by one, Fe l ix remem bered some excitement i n the instances he reca l led , and rev­eled in the points he thought were made to specific others.

Caught in the Act: Felix

[Fel ix : ] My ex-lover Bruce and my replacement Juan were staying with us.

They had gone out shopping, but Juan changed his mind. I was sitting on

the couch i n the l iv ing room sucking what J i m , this you ng black man ,

cal led h is "joystic k , " when J ua n came i n . J i m lea pt back , pu l led u p h is

pants and stuffed th is d ick back in h is pa nts. And , let me tel l you , there

was a lot to stuff! Juan just smi led and went to the guest room. Later he

commented , "You had q u ite a mouthfu l . I d idn 't mean to i nterrupt you . "

I n a sick way I was glad that B ruce would hear that I had moved o n t o a

bigger dick than his . Not that I 'm a size queen , just that I hoped he would

feel sma l l . Or maybe just know that I d idn 't need him, that he wasn't the

only man i n the world that would ever want me.

[SM : 1 You weren't embarrassed beca use you were the receptive one? 173

[ Fe l ix : ) Not at a l l . I ' m not even sure I was emba rrassed at a l l . It was J i m

w h o was afra id that B ruce was going t o beat h i m u p , beca use I sti l l

belonged t o h im . A tota l ly lud icrous notion , but proba bly J i m got off in h i s

own way i n fantasizing about ta king another man's m a n . . . .

[SM : l Was your own "joystick" out?

[ Fe l i x : ) No. I 'd j ust ta ken his big d ick out and made it hard when J u a n

wa l ked i n . I ' m sure I was ha rd-j ust being around J i m m a d e me hard

most a l l the t ime-but I wasn't doing myself whi le I was do ing h i m . We

probably would have gotten naked and gone to my bedroom . . .

[SM : J i n that order?

[Fel ix : ) Proba bly J i m wou ldn 't have ta ken my clothes off in the l iving room

and m ight have suggested moving if I stopped to try to strip h i m .

The other time was years earlier, when I was married [to a woman) and

just real izing I was real ly gay, that it wasn't a phase I 'd grown out of, but was

serious. It's when I found out what " passion " is. I was madly in love with

Lu is, and he was frightened by how gone on him I was. He l iked to fuck me

and suck my cock but he d idn 't want to be boxed i n-and he was right: I

rea l ly did want to monopolize h im. He was avoiding me, but I saw his car at

his grandmother's. He let me watch h im take a shower. After he got out I

begged h im to let me suck his cock, which I 'd l ike never done before. Nor­

mally he'd suck me and fuck me and I 'd be in heaven. This, unfortunately,

was different. I don't th ink he could cum from being sucked . I was working

ha rd and neither of us heard h is grand mother come home. The door

opened and Argh!-an Olympic-scale jump backward . I n fact, he bumped

i nto his bed, so he was sitting there naked trying to cover up this i mmense

hard-on wet with my sa l iva . 18 Wel l , I felt rea l ly bad that I 'd gotten h i m i n

trouble (though i f he'd just come over i n the morning a n d tucked me l ike h e

was supposed to, I wouldn't have had t o hunt h im down there!) , but a t the

same time I was perversely happy to be l inked with him in someone's eyes.

I mean we were (I thought) carrying on this very secret affair and were pro­

tecting my marriage (I can 't remember why! ) , but part of me wanted to be

seen as a cou ple-me and this astonishi ngly bea utiful and very obviously

hung man . The way he dressed-tight pa nts and no u nderwear-left no

doubt about that! I selfishly d idn 't m ind h is grandmother being u pset that

Luis was fucking my mouth . Even though it wasn't what we did or had ever

done before! Since my jaw was sore , I d idn 't even mind that her seeing us

interrupted it. If he'd been fucking me-Oh! I forgot, that happened , too!

Later, Luis moved in with this stra ight coworker and there was a t ime

when I was on my back and Luis was fucking me. Joe came in h is room

supposed ly to get someth ing, but I th ink rea l ly to see who was fucking

SeH Size 1nd

Obsembll SIX

whom . Luis told h im "We're busy" and kept screwing me. I d idn 't care. I 174

j ust pu l led h i m tighter aga inst me. Li ke 1 sa id , 1 wa nted people to know

that we were together. I wanted us to be together, to be a couple. I 'd have Stephen o. been rel ieved if he told my wife that this very effemi nate Ch icano q ueen Murray

was fucking her prec ious husband's eager asshole and sucking h is cock,

but he d idn 't . I don't know if Joe wondered what it would be l i ke to have

that hot ch i le up h is butt. Maybe I 'm projecting. B ut, then aga i n , maybe

he found out . . .

[SM : l You d idn 't mind a stra ight man seeing you get tucked?

[ Fe l ix : ) He defi n itely knew that Luis was a fag before they got the place

together. Everyone knew that. Joe proba bly assumed that Luis took

d icks-wh ich he d id , i n his mouth-maybe [he took) Joe's, too . He a lso

had to know that Luis had a lot between h is legs . The way Luis d ressed ,

you'd have to be b l ind not to see he was wel l -endowed , but maybe Joe

thought that was j ust an ornament. I don't know what he thought, but I

know that if he d idn 't want to see two men getting it on, he shou ldn't have

come i n , so I th ink he wanted to see what we were doing. Li ke with the

grandmother, as I sa id , I was pleased that someone saw us as a couple. I

wasn't pa rticu lar who it was or what they saw us doing. That he had h is

cock in me both times d idn 't bother me in the least. Since I was married to

a woman and Lu is was pretty flam boya nt it may have ed ucated Joe that

the seemingly butch , supposed ly stra ight one may be the one who ta kes

the dick of the apparently femme one.

As Fried l noted (a lbeit on ly i n relation to ch i ldren 's ignorance), lack of d i rect observation leads to m isconceptions a bout what people do sexual ly. Fe l ix and Lu is were not try ing to ed ucate Lu is 's gra nd mother or stra ight room­mate, but the i r invasion of what was going on beh ind closed doors inadver­tently showed them someth ing of what men ca n do with each other and that i nsert ive/receptive ro les do not necessar i ly map to gender a ppea r­ances . Hard-core gay fi lms from Eu rope and the U n ited States more sys­tematica l ly show men around the world that mascu l ine men can be sexual­ly receptive , which undermi nes gender-stratif ied orga n ization of ma le homosexual ity. 19

Some men (even a mong those who a re gay- identified ) a re not "versa­ti le , " and , a mong those who are , some are more re lucta nt to be observed being penetrated tha n to be observed penetrating, e.g. , Ken .

On and Off the Beach: Ken

[ Ken : ) The fi rst t ime I went to a gay nude beach, I d idn 't rea l ly know how

one is supposed to behave. I had some experiences in parks, where I was

more discreet. You cruise there with your clothes on, you know? This was

l i ke the fi rst t ime I was na ked and a na ked man came on to me, so it

seemed natura l j ust to go ahead and tuck h im right there. That ca n 't be

ent irely true, else I 'd have put on a condom and just gone at it exactly

where we were .

Al l of us were on top of the dunes, and if I 'd tucked h im there, people

jogging on the beach could have seen us. We went down the other side of

the d u nes, away from the beach , but not into the woods that were further

back . We could be seen by the gay boys on top of the d u nes, but not by

bypassers going a long the beach, understand?

I wanted to face the ocea n-not for the scenic view, but to see if any­

one was coming toward us. That meant that those on the d u ne could see

my new friend jacking off whi le I tucked h im . Gay missionary position , you

know? with h is legs aga inst my chest and h is a n kles locked around my

neck. So his cock was sort of on d isplay. M i n e of cou rse was bu rrowing

out of sight.

[SM : l So his body mostly blocked the view of yours?

[ Ken : ] R ight. What I was doing was obvious to anyone who was looking.

They could see my head between his an kles, but the lower half of h is body

was up in the a i r, blocking any view of me.

[SM : l Did that matter to you?

[Ken : ] Not rea l ly. Like I sa id , I wanted to be able to see anyone approach­

ing. As far as being watched , I wou ldn 't care if those on the d u nes saw my

back and ass whi le I plowed his ass.

[SM : ] How about if you were getting tucked?

[Ken : ] l wou ldn't get tucked that openly.

[SM : l Why not?

[ Ken : l l guess I 'd be a l itt le embarrassed for everyone to see me taking it

up the ass. Not that I th ink there's anyth ing wrong with that or that I don't

l i ke taking it sometimes. I ndeed , even later that sa me afternoon, I took a

black sa i lor into the bushes and he tucked the shit out of me.

[SM : l Away from any viewers?

[ Ken : ] Not in the plain view of everyone, l ike when I tucked that man earl i­

er, but someone either fol lowed us or happened u pon us and was watch­

ing me get mounted .

[SM : l Were you embarrassed then?

[ Ken : ] No, I was rea l ly into it. I motioned the other one over and sucked

his cock wh i le the nava l a rt i l l ery was gett ing ready to shoot up my

beh ind .

175

Self Size and

Observable Sex

[SM : l Would you have been embarrassed if the th ird person had just con- 178

t in ued to watch you get fucked?

[ Ken : l l don 't th ink so. Behind the d u nes was rea l ly publ ic , in-your-face

eve n . Th is one was clearly there because he wanted to be, whether he

came in h is own hand or in my mouth . I mean , he sought us out. The boys

on the beach weren't there to see my sexca pade, this one was.

[SM : l So it's not that you d idn 't want anyone to see you get fucked .

[ Ken : ] l d idn 't want everyone to see it, but interested pa rties, sure. If there

had been more? Wel l , whi le I was on vacation from being a top, maybe I 'd

have ta ken them in turn, or an orgy might have started , though I preferred

being the center of attention . . . .

[SM : l Was there any other t ime you got fucked where others could see?

[ Ken : ] No. I know that I was sucked off with c i rc les of on lookers many

t imes, but I remem ber the two incidents at the beach that day more vivid­

ly. They are sti l l very exc iting to think about, but I never aga in fucked any­

one so publ ic ly, and never got fucked aga in either by a stranger or where

anyone else could watch it.

[SM : l So, it did matter whether you were seen fucking or being fucked?

[ Ken : ] Yes . I was wi l l i ng for anyone and everyone to see me being a top,

but s lunk away into the bushes when I agreed to be topped .

[SM: l Did h is being black matter for this?

[ Ke n : ] No. I would have wanted a more sheltered place to get fucked

regardless of what color dick was going in me.

[SM : l What do you th ink the gay men on the d unes were th ink i ng?

[ Ken : ] At the time I thought they either d idn 't care or envied our bold ness.

Now I th ink that some were proba bly appal led by our vu lgarity and ind is­

cretion , endangering accepta nce of a nude beach, whi le others wished

that they were the ones with their legs up and a hard d ick pou nd ing in

their asses.

[SM : l You mean identifying with your partner, not with you?

[ Ken : ] R ight-most wou ld rather have me [ i ns ide them] than to be me

and do what I was doing.

In the fi na l i nstance, Krish na , a top of South Asia n origi n who was visit­ing a Ba ngkok sex pa lace, deta i ls a n encou nter i n wh ich the excitement was enhanced by d iscovering during it that he and the young Thai man he was penetrating were being watched by an appreciative aud ience, a lthough they had thought they were having sex in private .

Stephen 0. Murray

In an Eddy of the Human River in Babylon: Krishna

[ Kr ishna : ] In my experience Asians (whether East, Southeast, South , or

Southwest and whether or not interested i n sex with members of the sa me

sex) are prudish a bout a nyone see ing their genita ls or even bu lges

through cloth ing,20 let a lone seeing d icks i n action . In the most l uxurious

bath house i n the world , the Babylon and the Obelisk i n Bangkok, men

genera l ly wea r not only a towel but a lso a robe . U n l i ke Europea n and

America n bath houses, men do not have sex i n the wel l - l it pa rts of

Ba ngkok bath houses and they are usua l ly very covered -up even wh i le

sea rch ing for sexual partners. Once contact is made, pa i rs go to a cubicle

and c lose the door before removing their towels and robes.

On the n ight in q uestion I saw a bea utifu l twenty-someth ing Thai boy

sitt i ng on the platform in a room on the th i rd floor of Babylon . The l ight

was on. He had on a towel , tied below h is nave l , emphasizing his wash­

boa rd stomach and wasp waist. After hold ing eye contact from the door­

way, I entered the cu bicle, shutti ng the door beh ind me. He rose, I took off

my robe and pressed h is body to mine. We each sti l l had a towel on . I took

h is face in my hand , gently ca ressed it, and covered it with l itt le kisses.

This had an easi ly d iscern ible effect on his large orga n , which was firmly

sa ndwiched between our bodies. We fond led each other u nder our tow­

els. It was only after we were horizonta l that the towels very natura l ly came

off. G rad ual ly h is ca resses became wa rmer, h is breath qu icker. I l ightly

ra n my fi ngers down to his f irm buttocks, and gently stroked the crack

between them, impl ic itly requesting permission to visit (waiting i n another

doorway, as it were) . He clenched the open ing shut and shook h is head .

"We ca n suck, but not there , " he sa id , pointing to what Thais usual ly ca l l

their back-door. I instantly desisted without any complaint and focused on

his earlobes and neck and n i bbles, whi le my hands roamed affectionately

over his body.

I cou ld feel h i m relax. Sudden ly, he whispered , "OK, you can go i n "

a n d turned o n h i s side to give m e easy entry . . .

After I was i ns ide h is back-door, I suddenly rea l ized that the room's

door was ope n . I had not latched it , and it had come open-or been

opened by someone. Severa l people were gazing i ntently at us. The young

Thai closest to the door seemed tra nsfixed by the sight of our joined brown

bod ies and was stroking his own erect cock . Probably beca use I froze for

an insta nt, my pa rtner looked at the door. I bel ieve that he a lso thought

about d isconnecting long enough to get up and close the door, but when I

pushed in as fa r as I cou ld , he wiggled back , confi rming that he , too ,

wanted to continue.

U n knowingly, we had been watched fucking. Now we knew, and the

boys at the door knew that we knew. I found the experience electrifying.

The aud ience, pol itely staying offstage (that is , outside the door) , some­

how thr i l led me. My pa rtner who had i n it ia l ly resisted being fucked

177

Self Size and

Observable Sex

seemed to have lost h is inh ibitions . . . . He went i nto fa i rly acrobatic heat. I 178

th ink that the fact that the two of us were a l ready comfortable in "private"

(or at least what we thought was " i n private" ) before we knew that we were Stephen o. being watched gave us a "specia l " relationsh ip with each other, which we Mul'l'ly

"shared " with the watch ing group. I th ink that it would have been different

if we had started sex in fu l l publ ic view, but we had a l ready been through

esta bl ish ing trust, negotiating with each other, and through severa l m in-

utes of sex before the others saw or before we knew that we were being

watched .

There was no ind ication that being observed bothered h im : he did not

lose h is erection (v is ib le on ly to me, the bed , and the wa l l ) . I n fact, he

seemed to become ra ndier, showi ng the aud ience that he was enjoyi ng

what was happening by gyrating and moan ing more, and then swive l ing

onto h is back . With h is knees touching h is shoulders , I thrust very visi bly

i nto h i m . With his legs stra ight u p , his la rge erection a u d i bly sla pped

aga inst h is bel ly. Doggy-sty le , my pubic bone s lammed aga inst h is firm

bumpers. He sat, wriggl ing and moan ing, on my pole.

I felt that those outside the room were a lso participati ng. The i ntensity

of the gaze from the boy in the door made h i m a lso a part of the action .

He was pa nting and vigorously masturbating. A major com ponent of the

thril l for me was the aura of debauched abandon that transcends just the

two people . The u nsought, u nexpected aud ience boosted both of our

energies.

F ina l ly, my partner shot his load on my chest wh i le m ine fi red deep

i ns ide h i m . He col la psed onto the pool of his c u m . The crowd d rifted

away. I extricated myself to shut the door. We snuggled awhi le . When we

left the room, no one was in the v ic in ity of the doorway. Later, in the ter­

race bar, I saw the boy who had been jerk ing off in the doorway. " N ext

t ime" h is smi le told me.

[SM : l You thought he identified with the one being tucked . . .

[ Krish na : ] R ight.

[SM : l So if there had been a next time, you would have expected to tuck

h im?

[ Krishna : ] R ight. He'd seen that that was what I wanted to do. If he d idn 't

want me to tuck h im he'd know not to get together with me.

[SM : l Which i n fact he d idn 't . . .

[ Kr ish n a : ] That's r ight, too . I t is poss ib le that he was fantas iz ing being

jerked off by me rather than gett ing tucked , though my fee l ing is that he

wished he was exactly i n my partner's place. I f we'd gotten together, I

would have knocked at the back door. I th ink it would have opened , but if

not, I 'd respect that, as I in fact did with his countryman .

ISM : ) Would it have mattered to you-in decid ing not to stop, get up and

close the door-if you were the one getting fucked?

! Krishna : l lt proba bly would have made no difference if hypothetica l ly the

positions had been reversed-it was the thr i l l of performing for a crowd ,

not that I was on top . Whether the posit ion was i m porta nt to the young

Thai man's excitement a bout being watched , I don't know.

By no mea ns is be ing seen havi ng sex with a man a necessa ry rite of passage to gay ma le identity. I nvo l u nta r i ly be i ng seen m ight i n h i bit the

process, but, as even these few instances show, having sex i n front of oth­

ers ( inadvertently or advertently) may be a part of gay affi rmation and self­accepta nce. Not a necessary part. Not a sufficient pa rt. But a lso not neces­

sarily a d im inution of sense of self or of self-worth . Rather tha n self-a bsorp­

tion bei ng how sex increases the sense of self ( Fried l 1994:838) or being essentia l to a rousa l ( Laumann and Gagnon 1995 :213) , seeing oneself hav­

ing sex with a man as one imagines those who a re viewing it (or those whom one i magi nes v iewi ng it) see and u ndersta nd it m ight bu i l d self and increase gay men's self-confidence and self-esteem .

The extent t o which fantasy has enhanced the memories e l icited in this cha pter-a n extent d ifficu l t to gauge , though severa l readers have opined

that it i s su bsta ntia l in R ufus's exa m ple-bolsters the case that be i ng observed is excit ing (for some men somet imes) . I n the sym bol ic i nterac­tionist trad ition of George Herbert Mead, a se lf is an i nternal ization of (what one bel ieves are) the views of sign ifica nt others.2 1 Sometimes ma les choose

to be seen in order to show that they are gay, as does the adolescent Cl ifford i n G reg Joh nson 's ( 1992) story "The Va lent i ne , " wea ry of fend i ng off a

fema le adm i rer. He decides not to pu l l away when he hea rs a n u n approach ing and thereby ensures that he wi l l b e l abeled . Less drastica l ly,

Fe l ix a bove reca l led that, despite embarrassment, he was glad to have h is secret relationsh ip with Luis d iscovered by stra ight people happen ing u pon the scene-and a lso to have the sexual aspect of his relationsh ip with J i m seen by h i s ex- lover's cu rrent lover. I n the instances Fel ix reca l led , as i n the one reca l led by Krishna , consc iousness of be i ng seen on ly momentar i ly i nterru pted "engrossment" in sex. Kri shna , R ufus, and N ick a l l reported that awareness of aud iences increased their excitement/enjoyment. When sex involved only men , they accepted the presence of male observers who were not expected to i nterru pt the sex they observed .

Sex often asserts a n identity and a re lat ionsh i p-to one's self and to one's partner(s) , a long with those who see or a re told about it. The actual or un imagined view of others may enhance sexual self-affi rmation and a range of self- identit ies . That is , an un imagined em pathetic viewer may fac i l itate

179

Self Size and

Observable Sex

rather than i nh ibit sexual se lf-confidence. Viewing of homosexual behavior 180

by those who wish they were in one's place, or who one imagi nes wanting to be there, may strengthen com m itment to and enha nce va luation of a gay Stephen o. self a nd of gay sex both for viewers a nd for those who know they are being Murray

viewed .22 In that having sex is a ma rker of ad u lthood in U . S . (and other) soc iet ies, the presence of observers may ratify one's matu rity as we l l as des i rab i l ity and sexua l ab i l ity-a l l of which increase self-esteem .

At least for five of the six i n the unrandom sam ple of gay- identified men (from diverse cu ltura l backgrounds) quoted herei n , the excitement or pride i n being observed having sex, or the ind ifference to it, were not dependent on whether they were insert ive or receptive. I have been told ( recu rrently) that stra ight- identified men who a re married to women and who a lso have

sex with men in pu bl ic pa rks and toi lets freq uently take receptive roles with l ittle concern about whether other den izens of those loca les see them "tak­ing it , " i . e . , that men married to women and publ icly heterosexual a re fre­q uent ly sexua l ly receptive when they have sexua l encou nters with men , even with pa rticu la rly effemi nate ones. Fel ix reca l l s exempl ification o f th is both times someone wa l ked in on h im with Luis inside h im (a lthough mar­

ried to a woman , Fe l ix considered h imself gay by the t ime these insta nces occur red ) . I have not attem pted to i nterview stra ight-identified America n men who have sex with men, so do not know if th is is queen fo l klore or an em pi rica l phenomenon .23 Whatever the mix o f fantasy and attested exam­

p les on which this bel ief about what "stra ight" men do is based , it provides further evidence that which sexual role one is observed to be playing is not crucial for some men.

Afterword: "Private" and "Public" Spaces

The focus of th is cha pter has been not on " pr ivate" versus " pub l ic , " but rather on observed by others in contrast to not observed by others. Some of each k ind occurred in what was supposed by the partic ipa nts to be " private space" ( i nc lud ing bed rooms) , as wel l as in other known "gay spaces , " and a pub l ic space (a deserted after-m idn ight schoolya rd ) that was borrowed for a brief sexual encou nter. The instances d iscussed va ry from anonymous encounters to ongo ing re lat ionsh i ps and in the eth n ic ity of pa rt ic i pants. Whi le the sexual or ientation of the narrators is i n a l l i nstances gay, that of some of their sexual pa rtners (especia l ly a number of young African-Ameri­ca n inserters) l i kely was not.

When they bega n , a l l the men fe lt safe in engagi ng in sex where they d id . Severa l were surprised to be "caught in the act, " i nc lud ing one of the two bath house encou nters recounted in this cha pter. B i l l fe lt he was i n a

"gay space , " a l beit one with which he was not fam i l iar, but he was mistaken 181

in th ink ing that a remote space was safe from host i le offic ia l surve i l lance. He was, i n fact, i n a space known to pol ice as somewhere men went to have Self Size and

sex with each other and could therefore easi ly be caught (when they left by Observable Sex

the tra i l from a pa rk ing lot to the beach ) . After engaging (as a top) i n the on ly i nsta nce in this chapter that I wou ld characterize as " pub l i c sex , "

when h e was h imself topped , Ken went to a spot less observa ble from fa r away, but one that was often used by men having sex.

Neither N ick nor I ever saw anyone else " performing" where he d id with­

in the R itch Street Baths (a lthough we both saw a lot of sex in wh ich we were not d i rectly i nvolved there, and in s im i l a r venues, though usua l ly i n sem idark o r i n tota l da rkness ) . The particu la rities of l ighting a n d aud ience

enha nced his exc itement in what was for h i m an espec ia l l y exc it ing ( but never repeated ) encounter. Gay bath houses l i ke R itch Street and Babylon are places where those who stop to watch are presumed to be voyeurs, not agents of socia l control seeking to stop such goings-on . Although not every­

one in such places is gay- identified , no one wa nders i nto such out-of-the

way places without knowing that men have sex with men i n them . Although they are suffused with homoerotic ism , suburban school locker

rooms are not gay spaces,24 and it seems l i kely that the young ma les R ufus "serviced " d id not consider themse lves gay. They proba bly d id not acknowledge any exc itement of see ing the i r tea mmates ' mem bers being sucked off or i n being seen to be potent by the i r teammates. Of the sites for observed sex d iscussed i n th is chapter, th is one seems to me the one most fraught with the potentia l for rough i ng up the "q ueer, " but Rufus's person­

a l ity and/or ora l sk i l l s and/or stam ina sufficed to avoid that potentia l bei ng rea l ized .

N ick and h is schoolyard partner seem to me to have seized a noctu rna l ­ly deserted publ ic space for private sex, wh i le Fel ix was in the privacy of h is home i n the f i rst i nsta nce ( though i n the l iv i ng room rather than a bed­

room) , and i n Luis 's bedroom in the other two instances. I n a l l three, no one e lse was at home when they began sex "in private . " ( Fe l ix told me that J i m was more i nh ib ited than Fel ix , s o that i t was the d ifference between them, not that one " i ntruder" was gay and the other was not that expla ins stop­ping or conti n u ing . ) The "gay space" of Luis's bedroom were breached by curious stra ight people enter ing it without knock i ng. Neither Fel ix nor I know whether what they saw surpr ised them or confi rmed the i r concep­tions about Fel ix and Luis . What J uan saw d id not surprise h im .

The narratives reprod uced in th i s chapter evidence that some men are u nasha med and unembarrassed to be seen having sex , whether they a re being receptive or insertive . Some are proud and/or excited to be observed ,

a lthough none seem to have been excited by having sex in what they con- 182

ceived as " publ ic places" or in front of any but a ppreciative aud iences.

E N D N O T E S I wou ld l i ke to than k B i l l Lea p for cajo l ing m e i nto writing a bout what I don't th ink

shou ld be considered " pub l ic sex" by ( more or less) forc ing me to read Fried l

( 1 994) . This prom pted me to draw aga in on some friends' experiences and views. I

would l i ke to tha n k the six men who told their stories and answered intrusively per­

sonal questions. All of the na mes have been cha nged , as is conventiona l . I wou ld

a lso l i ke to tha nk Ra lph Bolton , Peter T . Da nie ls , Badrudd in Kha n , John A lan Lee ,

Douglas M itchel l , Fra n k Proscha n , and one of the two a nonymous referees for

encouraging com ments and helpful suggestions, not all of which I took.

1 . I i nterpret specifying the scope to "contemporary Western societies" later on to

mean that they intend earl ier statements, inc luding the one quoted , to apply un iver­

sa l ly and that they a im to circumscribe only when they specify their scope . As I know

from my own experience of being tra i ned as a soc iologist, soc iologists genera l ly

regard the burden of proof that their assertions a pply only to l im ited times or spaces

to be on others, i . e . , a contem porary American pattern is un iversa l unti l proved oth­

erwise. Anthropologists genera l ly add "the cu lture where I did fieldwork" to " my natal

cu lture" before genera l izing, though I do not see any data on what people anywhere

feel a bout sex being observed in Fried l ( 1 994) , nor any combing of the Human Rela­

tions Area Fi les to test her cla ims.

2 . Mohr rightly stresses that more than two people can be involved in a sex act,

but categorica l ly states, "There is no such th ing as casual observation of people

fucking" (p . 18) . He might not be a ble to imagine this, but I have seen counterexam­

ples. I ndeed , I have been a counterexam ple!

3 . Shame at u ncovered gen ita ls is by no mea ns un iq uely Christ ia n . For the

ancient G reeks, for i nstance, shame was "stra ightforward ly con nected with naked­

ness, pa rticu lar i n sexua l connections. The word aidoia, a derivative of aidos,

'shame, ' is a standard G reek word for the gen ita ls" (Wi l l iams 1993 :78; a lso see p.

220 on a wider eq uation of exposure with vulnerabi l ity) .

4 . T h e natural ist view has been predominant i n I s la m , and the gnostic view i s

ak in to Tantric Buddhism, whi le the Jehova nist view has been predominant in Chris­

tendom . Davis ( 1983 :23 1-33) suggests that in the West the gnostic views is most

prominent before soc ia l crises, the Jehovan ist view after them , and the natural ist

view during tranqui l interludes (though he does l ittle to suggest how to identify any of

these kinds of social t imes) .

5. "Engrossment, " the label suggested by Laumann and Gagnon ( 1995 :213) is

better i n being less ind ividual istic .

6. I get no sense of one " partner" seeking to imagine the other's pleasure and to

enha nce it from Fried l 's a rt ic le . Even solo mastu rbation does not a lways instance

absorption i n the masturbator's self insofa r as s/he is imagin ing the responses of a

fantasized pa rtner a nd/or gazes at representations of bod ies or of sexual connec-

Stephen 0. MurriJ

tions. Perhaps it is easier and more common for same-sex sexual partners i magina- 183

tively to take the role of their partner and to enjoy what they feel their partner is feel-

i ng from more d i rectly com para ble experience. "Co-conspi rator" is certa in ly some- seH Size and

times a part of lesbian and gay copu lation , as wel l as of heterosexual copu lation , and Observable Sex

the everyday identity may be transcended , but " red uced to that of coconspirator"

(Fried l 1994:840)? I th ink not. Nor would I accept Davis's ( 1983:63-64) contention

that "the physical concentration of the self in the gen ita ls is a necessary prerequ isite

for the u ltimate psychologica l i ntercha nge of identity, for the gen ita ls are the point at

which that i nterchange occurs . " Despite h is d iscern ing recognition of the mu lt ipl icity

of sexual ideologies and his refusa l to regard everyday work as everyone's para mount

rea l i ty, Davis's phenomenology of "erotic rea l ity" ( inc lud ing the sections, pp. 13-16

on sexy/unsexy spaces and t imes) is clearly that of a stra ight man with an oversocial-

ized and excessive (functiona l ist?) confidence i n sha red norms and eva luations (of

who or what is desirable when and where) .

7 . I n the one i nstance I d i rectly observed as an adolescent, the l i ne extended

from a hal lway to the bedside. Some others I have heard of i nvolved one male at a

t ime goi ng i nto a room, so that the i ntercou rse was not d i rectly observed , though

everyone present knew both who was in the "tra in" and who was " pu l l i ng" it.

8. See M urray ( 1 995: 49-70; 1996c, 1997) and Taylor ( 1978) on Latin America ;

A l lyn ( 1995, 1997) and Jackson ( 1 995:24, 44, 183 , 273) on contem pora ry Thai­

land; Leupp ( 1995: 1 78-82) on Tokugawa Japa n ; and M urray ( 1 998) on contempo­

rary Kenya .

9. Most of the encou nters recol lected are from the era before A I DS was recog­

nized . This accou nts for the lack of mention of condoms.

10. See Gottman ( 1963) on the costs of being d iscred ited in contrast to the costs

of being discred ita ble.

1 1 . Age and economic barriers to f inding and entering gay c lubs and friendship

cl iques exist, especial ly for rural youths.

12. In the classic review of publ ic indecency cases i n Los Angeles , Gal lo et a l .

( 1966:804) found that the arresting officer presented the testimony o f "offense" i n

459 felony cases and 475 misdemeanor cases. Independent observers testified i n

on ly twelve of the felony cases and 28 of the m isdemeanor cases. I consider that

anyone seeking out an area where he knows that what is ca l led " publ ic sex" occurs

can not cred i bly be offended . Like the others there, he is present for what he expects

and hopes is going on . He may be titi l lated , but not shocked . Frank Proschan point­

ed out to me that the n ineteenth-century German jurist Karl U l richs made a s imi lar

argument that the pol iceman's job is to pretend to be offended on behalf of society.

1 3 . The range of urba n n iches in which North American men cru ise men and

how men seeking sex with men behave i n them are d iscussed i n Lee ( 1 978, 1979).

See Kramer ( 1 995:207-9) for an account of a place ( M i not, North Da kota) with even

fewer options for men to meet and have sex with men, and the necessity of having a

car to reach a ny. On soc ia l izat ion, i . e . , learn ing how to behave in such sett i ngs to

atta i n one's goa ls , see Bolton et a l . ( 1994) , B rodsky ( 1993 ) , Lee ( 1978) , M u rray

(n .d . ) , R u bin ( 199 1 ) , and Styles ( 1 979) .

14. He provided the lengthy d iscourse a bout what gay community means to gay 184

San Franciscans in M u rray ( 1992 : 1 18-19; 1996a :200-201 ) , and a personal docu-

ment entitled Cloning which led to the dia log with him in Murray ( n . d . ) , and h is views Stephen o. of sex d ifferences in q uest for privacy and his rejection of "pu bl ic" shaped the argu- Murray

ment I make in this chapter.

15 . See Mysl ik 1996.

16. Exactly n ine seems a reconstruction (from the knowledge of how many posi­

tions comprise a team ) rather than a memory. In that this was a black church team,

however, it is poss ib le that the tea m consisted on ly of one sta rti ng roster. Severa l

readers regard th is account as a fantasy rather than a memory. My observation of

R ufus tak ing on a series of sexual partners in rapid succession makes me less skep­

tical of h is self-reported adolescent experience.

17. But l i ke the pol iceman lu rk ing near the cruis ing grounds, those who read this

book are seeking to see what some find shocking.

18. Despite N ick's slap at my im poverished sense of what excitement is, I a lso

asked Fel ix if he was masturbat ing whi le fel lat ing Lu is . He said that he was hoping

that Luis would go down on him in turn, especial ly since Luis usual ly sucked him off

after fucking h im , so that he "never had to do myself" with Luis. Therefore, h is geni­

ta ls were covered .

19 . Er ic Al lyn long ago suggested th is to me i n regards to Tha i land ; Luiz Mott

more recently in regards to B razi l . More genera l ly, Fried l ( 1994:840) noted that hav­

ing sex unobserved hides the extent of varia b i l ity from prescribed norms and inh i bits

learning a bout sex.

20. This was not the case in Cam bodia in the late th irteenth century, when the

YOan ( Mongol-dynasty) envoy Zhou Daguan was shocked/tit i l lated by Khmer casual­

ness about nud ity (see M urray 1996b:36-37) .

21 . See Wi l l ia ms's ( 1993:77-85, 102) compel l i ng argument for i nternal ization of

sta ndards even in a "shame cu lture" seemingly preoccu pied with appearances of

honor (focusing on Ajax's suicide late in the /Iliad) .

22. From the Jehovan ist worldview, the voyeur is cha nged more than the voyee

( Davis 1983: 130), though both a re degraded . From the gnostic view, the knowingly

observed one is changed ( positively) more, though both benefit from transgressing

ta boos . From the natural ist view, neither is changed , though the voyeur m ight learn

something to try later.

23. For reasons d iscussed in M urray ( 1996c) , I genera l ize l ittle about usual pat­

terns from my own sexual experiences in Latin America . I would a lso d isti nguish "said

they are married " from " married to a woman , " and did not independently verify the

marriages of any of my Mesoamerican sexual partners who told me they were married .

24. I n the view of the ostensibly straight males, locker rooms are not " pu bl ic" space

either (see the analysis of one locale in Leap 1996: 109-24 and a lso this volume).

R E F E R E N C E S Allyn, Eric . 1995. The Dove Coos, II. Bangkok: Bua Luang.

-- . 1997. The Men of Thailand. 6th ed . Bangkok: Bua Luang.

Bolton, Ra lph. 1992. A I DS and Promiscu ity: M uddles in the Models of H IV Preven- 185

t ion. Medical Anthropology 14: 145-223.

Bolton, Ra lph, John Vincke, and R udolf Mak. 1994. Gay Baths Revisited : An Empir i­

cal Analysis. GLQ 1 :255-73.

B rodsky, J oel I . 1993. The M i neshaft : A Retrospective Ethnography. Journal of

Homosexuality 24:233-5 1 .

Davis, M urray S. 1983 . Smut: Erotic Reality/ Obscene Ideology. Chicago: U n iversity

of Chicago Press.

Fried l , Ernestine. 1994. Sex the I nvisible. American Anthropologist 96:833-44.

Gallo, John J . et a l . 1966. The Consenting Adu lt Homosexual and the Law: An Empir­

ical Analysis of Enforcement and Admin istration in Los Angeles County. UCLA

Law Review 13:643-842.

GlOck, Robert. 1985. Jack the Modernist, New York: Gay Presses of New York.

Gottman , Erving. 1963. Stigma. Toronto: Prentice-Hal l .

Humphreys, Laud . 1975. Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places. Chicago:

Ald ine. (2d ed . )

Jackson , Peter A. 1995. Dear Uncle Go: Male Homosexuality in Thailand. Bangkok:

Bua Luang.

Johnson , G reg. 1992. The Va lent ine. In G. Sta m bol ia n , ed . , Men on Men 4, pp.

202-15. New York: P lume.

Johnston , Lynda and Gi l l Va lenti ne . 1995. Wherever I Lay My G i rlfriend , That's

Home: The Performance a nd Survei l la nce of Lesbian Identities in Domestic

Environ ments. In D. Be l l and G. Va lenti ne , eds . , Mapping Desire, pp.

99-1 13. London : Routledge.

Kramer, Jerry Lee. 1995. Bachelor Farmers and Spinsters: Gay and Lesbian Identi­

t ies and Com m u n ities i n R u ra l North Da kota . In D . Bel l a nd G. Va lent ine,

eds . , Mapping Desire, pp. 200-2 13. London : Routledge.

Laumann, Edward 0. and John H . Gagnon. 1995. A Sociological Perspective on Sex­

ua l Action . In R . Parker and J . Gagnon , eds . , Conceiving Sexuality, pp.

183-2 13. New York: Routledge.

Lea p , Wi l l iam L. 1996. Word's Out: Gay Men 's English. M i n neapol is : U n iversity of

M innesota Press .

Lee , John Alan . 1978. Getting Sex. Toronto: Genera l .

-. 1979. The gay connection. Urban Life 8: 175-98.

Leupp, Gary P. 1995. Male Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa

Japan. Berkeley: U n iversity of Cal ifornia Press.

Mead , George Herbert. 1934. Mind, Self, and Society. Chicago: U n iversity of Ch ica­

go Press.

Mohr, R ichard D. 1 996. Parks, P rivacy, and the Pol ice . The Guide (Jan uary ) :

16-19.

M urray, Stephen 0. n.d. Cloning. Manuscript.

-- . 1992. Components of Gay Community i n San Francisco. In G. Herdt, ed . , Gay

Culture in America, pp. 107-246. Boston : Beacon Press. (Revised version i n

M urray 1996a , pp. 182-2 14.)

Self Size and

Observable Sex

-- . 1995. Latin American Male Homosexualities. Albuq uerque: U n iversity of New 188

Mexico Press .

--. 1996a . American Gay. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Stephen o. --. 1996b. Angkor Life. Bangkok: Bua Luang. Murray

-- . 1996c. Male Homosexual ity in Guatemala: Possi ble I nsights and Certai n Con-

fusions from Obta in ing Data by Sleeping with the Natives. In E . Lewin and W.

Lea p, eds . , Lesbian and Gay Ethnography, pp. 236-60. U rbana: Un iversity of

I l l i nois Press.

--. 1997. The Wi l l Not to Know: Is lamic Accommodations of Male Homosexual i­

t ies. I n S . M u rray a nd W. Roscoe, Islamic Homosexualities, pp. 14-54. New

York: New York U n iversity Press.

--. 1998. Kama u , a 26-yea r-old Kikuyu . To a ppea r i n S . M u rray and W. Roscoe,

Boy Wives and Female Husbands: African Homosexualities. N ew York: St.

Martin 's Press.

Mys l i k , Wayne D. 1 996. Renegotiat ing the Socia l/Sexual I dentit ies of Places: Gay

Commun ities as Safe Havens or Sites of Resistance. In N. Dunca n , ed . , Body

Space: Destab/ishing Geographies of Gender and Sexuality, pp. 1 56--69. Lon­

don : Routledge.

Rub in , Gayle . 199 1 . The Catacombs: A Tem ple of the Butthole. I n Mark Thompson ,

ed . , Leatherfolks, pp. 1 19-41 . Boston : Alyson.

Sontag, Susan . 1970. Styles of Radical Will. New York: Del l .

Styles, J oseph . 1979. I nsider/Outsider: Researc h i ng t h e G a y Baths. Urban Life

8: 135-52.

Taylor, Clark L. 1978. El Ambiente. Ph .D . d issertation, U n iversity of Ca l iforn ia , Berke­

ley.

Tucker, Scott. 1990. Gender, Fucking, and Utopia . Social Text 27:3-34.

Wil l iams, Bernard . 1993 . Shame and Necessity. Berkeley: U n i versity of Cal ifornia

Press.

Baths, Bushes, and Belonging:

Public Sex and Gay Community in

Pre-Stonewal l Montreal

R O S S H I G G I N S

I n the "they wa lk i n shadows" world before the Stonewa l l R iots k icked off the gay l i beration movement in New York i n 1969, on ly Li berace was gay, and he den ied it. 1 But many men, whether gay-identified or not, engaged i n

pub l ic sexua l encou nters i n pa rks, sa unas baths , chea p movie houses, locker rooms, pub l ic toi lets , h ighway rest stops, and other such places in and a round major cit ies. For centuries { if not mi l lenn ia ) , places where men took the i r c lothes off, and q u ite a few where they were not supposed to , were {and a re) potentia l venues for publ ic sex. Though most gay men ra rely partic ipate i n casua l sexua l encounters i n publ ic places, those who do inte­grate that exper ience with their overa l l part ic i pation in the gay worl d . I t is not a separate com partment of experience as it would be for a nongay par­tic ipant, for instance a suburban husband and father who makes occasion­a l tri ps to downtown washrooms for sex. Such a man wou ld not have {and wou ld avoid acq u i ri ng) a socia l fra mework i n which to a nchor his experi­ences there , wou ld see fewer fa m i l ia r faces and share less "common knowledge" with a pa rtic ipating member of the gay world .2

I n th is pa per I wa nt to look at the bridge between these two extremes, one that cou ld sometimes form i n the a renas of publ ic sex. Though many of the men who engage in publ ic sex never identify as gay, i n the days before gay newspa pers, community centers , and gay situation comedy characters , some found in the sexual a rena a point of entry to the h idden worlds of bars and private gay sociab i l ity of the pre-Stonewa l l era .

Most partic ipants were content, beyond ach ievi ng sexual outlet, as Dr. Ki nsey would have put it ,3 to l imit their sym bol ic i nvestment in sex to learn­i ng just enough of the ritua ls and codes so that they could function safe ly and efficiently as publ ic erotic ists . The symbol ic side of publ ic sex has been descri bed in La ud H u mphreys' { 1970) widely noted study of pub l ic sex i n park toi lets and i n Edward Delph 's { 1978) part ic ipant observation o f sex i n the washrooms of the New York subways and other locations. Though I find

9

Del ph's r ich ethnographic descr iption of this "s i lent com mun ity" very use- 188

fu l , h is i nterpretation of it leaves me d issatisfied . Delph is so committed to the idea that the com m u n ity he f inds i n the to i lets is s i lent that he d isre- Rou Hlalns

gards his own data on speech , ignoring insta nces of friendsh ips formed i n sexual venues.4 Of course a lack o f verba l commun ication is the usual pat-tern i n pub l ic sex sett ings, but it is not the on ly one , and the re lat ions between the codes he deta i l s so wel l and the broader sym bol ic structu res they were part of a lso needs to be investigated .

I n research i ng the development of a sense of com m u n ity a mong gay men from the two major cu ltu ra l groups in Montrea l , I gathered accounts of publ ic sex from a m inority of the men interviewed . Th is was a nonrandom sample, selected for their knowledge of a variety of t imes, places, and socia l patterns of gay l ife i n m id twentieth-century Montrea l . Thus it ca n not be taken to ind icate how preva lent gay i nvolvement i n publ ic sex actual ly was . Narrators contro l led the content of the i nterviews to a la rge extent, and it is possible that some others wou ld have added stories to those gathered from the men who ta l ked at length a bout such experiences.

The relatively sma l l number of particu la rly situated ind ivid ua l accounts, reflecting a range of class and generational points of view, is not genera l iz­a ble in a statist ical sense, but exemp l ifies the soc ia l and d iscurs ive prac­tices of Montrea l francophone and anglophone gay men i n the 1950s and 1960s . Stories of esca pades and a rrests i n pub l ic sex ven ues reflect the

va l ues and expectat ions of the specif ic eth n ic , c lass , and generat iona l m i l ieux of the te l lers and the i r aud iences. Thus mem bers of eth n ic and rac ia l m inorit ies face a d ifferent horizon of mean ings that i nf luences the i r experience of publ ic erotic activity. They employ i ntersecting, yet d ifferent, commun ity-mainta i ned d iscursive forms for expressing them. But the vari­ation i n point of view does not obscure the fact that some publ ic sex partici­pants were men who identified as gay.5

How then d id gay men who engaged in sex in sauna baths, pa rks, movie theaters, and publ ic washrooms art icu late that experience to other aspects of their gay l ives? The experiences of publ ic sex, rendered as narrative and descri ption i n the interv iew situation , constitute a body of data that i l l us­trates not only the factual backdrop of what went on where, but a lso the role they had in the development of a sense of community. They became topics for mean ingfu l e laboration in gay soc ia l a nd pol itica l d iscourse, in which a specifica l ly gay point of view was expressed . By en larging the set of stories to include a broader range of narrative forms and topica l emphases, we can com pa re loca l forms of identif ication with gay d i scourse and act ion con­cern i ng pub l ic sex (as one of many aspects of gay exper ience) with the development of situated points i n the d iscourse of other m inority commun i-

t ies i n Montrea l , and with the d iscu rs ive aspects of the formation of gay 189

commun ities throughout North America . Public Sex and

Defining Gay Community Gay Community

in Pre-Stonewall

B ut what do I mean by "gay commun ity" ? I do not f ind it usefu l to consider Montreal

"com m u n ity" s im ply as a la bel for a wel l -defi ned sta ndard soc ia l ent ity aga inst which gay socia l patterns can be measured . Before 1970, any such measurement could on ly f ind the gay com m u n ity wa nt ing, as M u rray ( 1980) suggested in his ins ightfu l attem pt to a pply the criterion of " i nstitu-t iona l com pleteness" to the gay world as a "q uas i -eth n ic comm u n ity. "

Rather, I th i n k that i n h igh ly d ifferentiated mass soc iet ies, l i ke those i n which we know organized gay l ife has developed i n the past two centuries or so, we need to view it as a polit ica l objective , an idea l nurtured by con-scious com m u n ity bu i lders in the gay world6 wh ich they used as a foca l topic i n developing a new, specifica l ly gay rhetoric . I wi l l a rgue that such people saw the development of com muna l consciousness as a means of protect ing a va l ued way of l i fe for a populat ion subject to str i ngent soc ia l opprobri u m . To grasp the particula rities of gay experience, it is not helpful to conceive of com mun ity as a soc ia l fact, wa it ing to be apprehended , as a nthropologists have tended to assume i n a p proach ing the trad it iona l smal l-sca le societies. I n the urban cu lture of late twentieth-century i ndustri-al societies , com m u n ity is more usefu l ly u nderstood as what S i nger ( 199 1 : 125) termed a "ca l l to action , " a project for groups to engage i n , a process that req u i res consta nt work to construct and ma inta i n . No one opposes commun ity. Raymond Wi l l ia ms ( 1983:76) observed that the word "com m u n ity" is never used in a pejorative sense. It is a lways posit ive ,

someth ing we want to be part of. Ethnogra ph ies show that even bi kers and outlaws have i t . As a folk category, it was a natu ra l concept for gay men to a pply to the soc ia l tota l ity in which they had membersh ip as they came to perce ive bonds extend ing beyond the i r immed iate c i rc le of fr iends and

acq ua i ntances. Yet despite its emphasis on the positive, the concept rests on a series of exclusions, of decisions and d iscursive enactments of who is and who is not "one of us. "7 In this paper I wi l l look at some aspects of gay men 's perception of and action towa rd nongay others in terms of pub l ic erotic activities as part of a la rger ana lysis of col lective identity formation .

Sex and Community

Ca n we retrospectively trace the processes that led at least some men to move from mapp ing desire onto body pa rts in the obscu rity of the under-

brush to conceiving of themselves as mem bers of a socia l group too la rge to 190

see d i rectly? Sa m ue l Dela ney ( 1988) descri bes how he experienced th is new perception i n New York i n the late 1950s . He descri bes h is fea r at see- Ross Hiains

i ng a ra id on the famous "Trucks , " a pub l ic sex s ite at the end of Christo-pher Street, and on visit ing a gay bath house for the fi rst t ime:

What frightened odd ly, was not the ra id itself, but rather the sheer number

of men who suddenly bega n to appea r, most of them ru n n i ng, here and

there from between the vans . . . . ( In the 1950s) homosexual ity was a sol i ­

tary perversion . Before and above a l l , it isolated you . . . . That there was a

"gay ba r soc iety" was , itself, conceived of in terms of that isolation , and

was marginal to it. . . . What the exod us from the trucks made graph ical ly

clear, what the orgy at the baths pictu red with frightening ra nge and i nten­

sity, was a fact that flew in the face of that whole fifties image.

(1988: 173-74).

These experiences forced Dela ney ( perha ps reflect ing the i m pact of the Kinsey statistics on the preva lence of homosexual ity as wel l ) to reconceptu­a l ize the soc ia l patterns involved with homosexual i ty on a la rger sca le . He had ca ught a sudden g l im pse of the larger gay commun ity.

Among the Montrea l na rrators I have i nterviewed , only Patrick had had such a vision of gays as a soc ia l group , but un l i ke Dela ney, h is experience had no con nection with pub l ic sex . Patrick remem bered that this percep­tion suddenly came to h im after read ing Ed Su l l iva n 's newspaper account of the Broadway prod uction of Tennessee Wi l l ia ms's The Milk Train Doesn't

Stop Here Any More in 1963 . Su l l i va n , as Patrick reca l led , had reported , "We haven 't seen so many lavender lads out together s i nce the last t ime the Ba l lets-R u sses de Monte-Ca r lo p layed New York . " Rea d i ng th is , Patr ick saw a l l at once the soc ia l scope of the gay worl d , the poss ib i l ity of gay crowds dominati ng pub l ic spaces, and caught a gl impse too of the poss ib i l ­ities of com mun ity.

But none of the Montrea l na rrators art iculated a l i nk between their expe­riences of pub l ic sex and their perception that there was a large-sca le col­lectivity, a commun ity to which they belonged . Some of the i nc idents relat­ed i n the i nterviews d id , however, point to l i nks between the experience of pub l i c sex and the development of a sense of com m u n ity. I w i l l d iscuss th ree types of l i n ks : fi rst , those re lati ng to soc ia l networks; second , those relati ng to the larger soc iety, which I wi l l ca l l pol itica l l i n ks ; and th i rd , those of a sym bolic nature, relating to the growing awareness among gay men i n urban North America after 1945 that they belonged to a la rge soc ia l group which sha red common la nguage, symbol ic systems, interests , and va l ues d isti nct from those of the su rrounding society.

Network Links 191

The most obvious type of l i nk between i nvolvement in publ ic sex and other Public Sex and

soc ia l re lationsh ips is that of acq uai nta ncesh ip . Thus I am us ing the term Gay Community

" network l i n k " to refer to encou nters i n pub l i c sex a renas that led to the in Pre-Stonewall

establ ish ment of socia l l i nks beyond those venues. There are th ree k inds of Montreal

con nection to consider: those that provided newcomers with access to the

clandesti ne gay world , those that led to new friendsh ips or other socia l rela­tionsh ips, and those with people who were a l ready acqua intances.

Gay World Access

For many men , pub l ic sex was a conti n uation of re lat ionsh ips with fe l low students in adolescence. One na rrator (whom I ca l l P ierre) had extensive experience with other boys , but began a new phase in h is sex l ife when he

d iscovered pa rk sex.

The fi rst t ime [he recou nted ] was com pletely by accident when I was 1 7

o r 18. I had n o idea what went o n there. I was studying a t the l i brary and

went for a wal k in the park to take a break . . . It was around 5 or 6 o'clock.

In the early 1960s, the park wasn't very busy at that t ime. It happened in

the bushes, where a guy who obviously knew a bout the place led me.

After that, I went back to meet people to have sex with .

B ut th is experience d id not connect Pierre to the gay world i n genera l ; h is com i ng out i nto the soc ia l scene wou ld not ha ppen unti l a few yea rs later, when he fe l l in love with a fe l low un iversity student who took h im to the ba rs and i ntrod uced h im to h is friends.

However, some na rrators d id fi nd the ir way i nto the ba r world through pa rk sex. Len , for example, had had a number of sexual encounters i n sub­u rban parks in h is late teens. It d id not occur to h im that th is could lead to a socia l l i fe organized a round sexual orientation unt i l one of h is pa rtners told

h i m a bout the Tropical Room, Montrea l 's lead ing downtown gay bar in the 1950s .8 1t took him severa l preparatory dr inks in a nearby nongay ba r to get up the cou rage to c l imb the sta i rs to the Tropica l . Once there, however, he

soon became a regu lar, and formed a c i rcle of ba r-going friends with whom he not on ly had sexua l contact, but esta b l i shed a com plex web of soc ia l re lations that conti nue to the present.

Another narrator, Trevor, bragged of having orga n ized c i rc le jerks with older boys in the sma l l school he went to when he was only in grade 6. Some t ime later he d iscovered sex on the " Mounta i n " (the usual name for Mount Roya l Park) and then progressed to c inemas near where he l ived . By h i s m id-teens he had begun cru is ing in Dom in ion Sq uare downtown, and

th is resu lted i n a n i nvitation to have a beer at a gay bar when he was six- 182

teen . He sa id he was a mazed and then a l i ttle d isappointed . It was Friday n ight, and the place packed , but " nobody looked at me twice . " Ross Hialns

Meeting New Friends

Both Len and Trevor started bu i ld ing new gay socia l networks as a result of pa rk contacts . Other venues could prod uce network l i n ks as wel l . Though toi let sex is genera l ly regarded as being much more anonymous and a l ien­

ated9 than activity that occu rs in other ven ues , or than the purely soc ia l i nteraction of bars, even such stigmatized activity cou ld sometimes lead to the formation of friendsh ips. For example one of Dona ld 's most enterta in ing anecdotes revea led a friendsh ip he had made whi le studying accounti ng. At Sir George Wi l l iams U n iversity, he expla i ned , the " i nterest ing" wash­rooms were unfortunately on the same floor as the l i brary. (The i nterjections in this group i nterview excerpt a re by Joh n , a B rit ish friend of Dona ld 's , whose contri butions were added i n a h i la rious mock-Cockney accent, as the two men performed i n an uproarious moment of a gay after-d inner con­versation with three other gay men , inc lud ing myself. )

[Donald : ] [ It was] hard to be gay and go to Sir George so much. I would go

to the l ibrary with best of i ntentions . . .

[Joh n : ] lt took the poor cow yea rs to . . .

[ Dona ld : ] . . . took me forever to get that fucking degree! But my friend­

sh ips are long-lasting. I met lim Elton-from one of my classes there. He

was married . Sti l l is . We spent many an enjoya ble study period there. One

n ight he wore my shorts home by mistake.

[John] ( flatly) : She noticed .

[ Donald : ] We had to say we'd been exerc is ing at the Y and somehow

mixed them up .

I n a tone that ind icated ju icy deta i l yet to be told , John conti nued the story by getting Donald to ta l k about another friendsh ip formed in a toi let:

[Joh n : ] Then he met someone else we a l l know.

[Dona ld : ] Who?

[Joh n : ] Walter.

[Donald : ] No, I met h im at the washroom of the grocery store in the base­

ment of Morgan 's Department Store. Very kicky10 at l u nch t ime. You could

get your rocks off at noon. What stra ight guy could do that so easi ly?

(John ] ( laughing): And sti l l have time for a deli sandwich !

Th is sense that gays i n the 1950s , as a co l lectivity, had adva ntages over 193

heterosexuals was probably not just due to nosta lgia , looking back fondly at those days from decades later. Gay men l i ke those in this cohesive group of Public sex and

close friends were aware of it at the t ime. Thus I th i n k thei r stories ca n be aay communltJ

taken as clear ind icators of how the micropolitics of d iscourse , even in l ight- In Pre-Stonewall

hearted banter, bu i lds of a sense of commun ity. Montnal

I have a l ready mentioned parks as places where gay men cou ld meet new friends . Su rpr is i ngly, for one narrator, pub l ic sex could even lead to business relationsh ips as wel l . Percy and h is lover Wa lter, who celebrated their s ixtieth a n n iversa ry in 1993 , moved to Montrea l soon after they met in Toronto . They had such an open relat ionsh i p that when Percy met a man he l i ked on Mount Roya l , he brought h i m home, much to Wa lter's good fortune. I t tu rned out that the man was one of Montrea l 's most promi­nent coutur iers . At that t ime Wa lter was work ing on h is own , mak ing leather goods i n a stud io i n the i r apa rtment. As a resu lt of Percy's l ittle i nfi­del ity on the mounta i n , Wa lter got a series of contracts to make purses and other accessories to match the shoes of the coutur ier 's wea lthy customers. He moved his stud io i nto the basement of the couturier's shop, and con­t in ued to do this work u nt i l he jo ined the a r my when war broke out i n 1939 . Though the coutur ier was a marr ied man with a son , the l i n k was soc ia l as wel l as commerc ia l . Wa lter and Percy were often i nvited to the fam i ly's country place on weekends, and their relationsh i p contin ued u nt i l the coutur ier moved to Cal iforn ia after the war. I t's hard to say how much th is represented a l i nk to "com m u n ity, " though one assu mes the man 's wife was aware of what was going on and com pl icit i n her h usba nd 's bisex­ual i nvolvement.

Meeting Old Friends

Publ ic sex venues, i n Montrea l at least, were places where one could meet old friends as wel l as new, someti mes with em ba rrass i ng resu lts . I n the 1950s Dona ld a nd h is lover Evan were both fond of v is it ing the back toi lets ( "cans") of Morgan 's Depa rtment Store one floor after the other. Apparently a l l of them could be " i nteresti ng. " Donald related a funny experience h is lover had :

Once Eva n was doing the back cans. On one floor, he ra n i nto someone he

d id business with . He was very c i rcumspect-made a show of combing

his hair, and a comment a bout seeing the ba l l game, etc . Fifteen minutes

later, they ran i nto each other on another floor. Evan felt embarrassed , but

the other guy sa id , "Oh , so what! We both have weak bladders . "

Even more d ra matica l ly, Dona ld exp la i ned how h is relat ionsh ip with Evan cha nged one day.

We had a pol icy that wanting to do it [with someone else] was j ust as bad 184

as doing it. J ust cruising someone was as bad as sex. But then one day, I

was fed up with my job. I wanted a new one. I had been for an i nterview Ross Hlalns

and stopped for qu ick turn at the Ki ltie [Lounge] washroom. I was sta nd-

ing at the middle ur ina l , so whoever came, I was bound to have good view

of. And who should come in but Evan . I recognized it! He sa id , "We'd bet-

ter ta l k at home . " From then on we both started having serious extracur-

ricular activities.

So sexual re lations in pub l ic , wh i le they were supposed to be anonymous,

si lent, and qu ick, could sometimes be qu ite otherwise.

Pol itical Links

It is often in relation to outsiders , in their perception of the group, that a col­lectivity becomes a commun ity ( M urray 1980:40) . For gay men , relations with outs iders were often tra u matic . Severa l narrators spoke of problems with the pol ice . The consequences of an a rrest could devastate a n ind ivid­ua l , as the su ic ide of a Montrea l doctor after bei ng arrested for i nvit i ng a pol ice decoy to a tourist room i n 1956 dramatizes . 1 1

One anglophone narrator, R a l p h , entered gay l ife i n a n u n usua l way tha n ks to the pol ice . A deep ly re l ig ious m a n , R a l p h came to Montrea l from a sma l l Ottawa va l ley town i n the 1950s to attend a fash ion school , much aga i nst the wishes of h is father. He spent a decade suppressi ng h is des i re for other men , i m mers i ng h i mself i n h i s stud ies and then h i s job , and fi l l i ng h i s spare t ime with Cathol ic cha rit ies and pa r ish work . By the spr ing of 1969, he was begi nn i ng to feel that it was t ime to do someth ing a bout h is attraction to men , so after an even i ng of shopping, he a l l owed h i m se l f to be tem pted by two ha ndsome men who cru i sed h i m on Ste . Cather ine Street. He fol lowed them down i nto an u ndergrou nd pub l ic toi­let, but as soon as he went and stood at the u r i na l between the m , even before he had time to unz ip , they flashed their badges and took him back up to the street. B ut the off icers were not f i n i shed the i r work for the even i ng, so they s im ply handcuffed Ra lph to the outs ide door hand le of the pol ice cru iser, leavi ng h i m to face down the sta res of stro l l i ng shop­pers on a busy downtown street whi le they went to entra p others . Later that n ight , in custody at po l ice headquarters , he to ld h i m self that i f he could survive this exper ience, com ing out as a homosexua l cou ld su rely not be that bad . With i n a few months Ra lph found h is way to the bars and beca me pa rt of a c i rc le of regu lars with whom he has mai nta i ned friend­sh ips ever s i nce.

One fra ncophone na rrator to ld a ta le of overt gay res ista nce. Eugene 195

knew a man who got arrested by a ra i lway pol iceman in the washroom at Centra l Station , a wel l-known cru is ing spot . However the man was a lot big- Public sex and

ger than the arrest ing officer, and managed to grab the handcuffs from h im , Gay community

lock the pol iceman to the washbasi n , and make h is getaway. One can easi ly In Pre-Stonewall

imagine the tri um phant te l l i ngs and rete l l i ngs of th is ta le of outsmarting the Montreal

a uthorit ies, a favorite theme i n the d i scou rse of oppressed grou ps. Th is

story conta i n s with i n it i t s own "ca l l to action , " the mora l that action is sometimes effective .

As wel l as having effects for the ind ividua l , an a rrest for publ ic sex could have conseq uences for a man's friends and acq uai nta nces, and ult imately, for the gay com m u n ity. When Dona ld 's fr iend Leo was p icked up on the Mounta in , thei r whole group of close friends was deeply concerned over the problem of keeping the secret from h is wife and mother- in- law, and help ing h im cover up a bsences for h i s court appearances. I n the 1950s , this was dealt with as a purely ind ividual matter, but after 1960, the idea of gay resis­ta nce or gay action presented by the homoph i l e movement and others became better known, even though Montrea l had no group of its own . I n i nsp i r ing pol it ica l action , an a rrest could have conseq uences that wou ld eventua l ly extend wel l beyond the immed iate friendsh ip group, and which were surely not i ntended by the pol ice.

In one such case, Etienne was a mong fourteen men caught in a ra id on the Colon ia l Stea m Bath in the spring of 1962 . He had been there with a

friend , and sa id that the pol ice had com pletely and arbitrari ly fa bricated an accusation that he had been com mitt ing gross i ndecency with h is friend , the very last person in the place he was l i ke ly to have sex with . 12 But the friend was the son of a prominent court offic ia l , and h is name qu ietly d isa p­peared from the roster of the accused , whereupon Et ienne found h i mself sudden ly accused of i ndecency with someone else. Th is lesson in c lass pol itics was not the only rad ica l iz ing aspect of the experience. Etienne was lucky enough to have an older French friend who had some fami l ia rity with both the group Arcad ie in Pa ris and the American homoph i le movement. As a resu lt he understood what had happened to him not s imply as a per­sonal tragedy, which it was , even though he eventua l ly got off, but as an act of i njustice aga inst homosexuals .

In the years that fol lowed , Etienne, i n company with h is fr iend Eugene, became increasingly interested i n and aware of gay th ink i ng i n the Un ited States through their annua l tri ps to the baths of New York. When gay l i bera­tion h it Montrea l in the winter of 1970/7 1 , it was not surpris i ng to fi nd the two friends among the leaders of the " Front de l i beration homosexuel " that

was created , a nd other friends of Et ienne's , with h i s a rrest story looming 196

la rge in thei r th ink ing, were there too.

Symbolic Links

Publ ic sex intersects with severa l orders of symbol ic l i nks to col lective identi­ty. These ra nge from practica l knowledge to the na rration of sexua l con­quests as a grou p enterta i nment, to the more a bstract symbol ization of the group's existence through its assertion of control over the defin ition of place.

Practical Knowledge

I n practica l terms, engaging i n publ ic sex req u i res knowledge of where to go and how to act. These aspects a re very wel l doc u mented i n Del ph 's ethnogra phy, and constitute the essential evidence for h is "s i lent" commu­nity. I n Montrea l the places are d ifferent, but as Delph points out, the codes are shared i nternationa l ly. Severa l na rrators were able to produce a long l ist of toi lets, outdoor cruis ing spots, and saunas that they had been to or heard a bout.

Na rrators not on ly ca rr ied in the i r heads this factua l data , but had access to a prototypica l set of condit ions and categories that wou ld he lp them identity l i kely publ ic sex venues, even i n an unfam i l iar city. For exam­ple, toi let cru is ing was known to be common i n any movie house ( not j ust those where sex took place in the theater but ord i nary ones as wel l ) , in tra i n and bus stations, hotels and shopping concourses. Parks where sex occurs have certa i n features concern i ng access and poss i b le egress i n case of pol ice or other forms of attack (we l l documented by Delph 1978:96-105). Other tha n the stea m room at the Y, a l i kely venue i n any city, fi nd i ng the cru is iest sports fac i l it ies requ i res loca l knowledge. On ly Montrea lers were l i kely to know a bout the men-only swim m i ng c l ub on the river that was ostensibly a charitable ventu re to give impoverished boys a chance to exer­c ise du ri ng the summer.

Shared knowledge structures (or schemata ) of where to go are supple­mented by schemata for what to do and how to act. One narrator described how at fou rteen he had lea rned a techn ique for toi let sex at the pub l ic l i brary i n Ottawa :

I must have gone there beca use of the movies, I don't th ink I knew it was

gay, and ended up going down and having sex in the wash rooms in the

basement. Somebody had a shopping bag and told me to sta nd i n the

shopping bag so we could have sex i n the cu bicle . . . . And the second

time that ha ppened was at the theater beside Morga n's . There aga i n it

was the old shopping bag routine . . .

Rass Higlns

This techn ique for d isgu is ing the com prom is ing sight of two sets of legs 197

and feet i n the wash room cu bic le was wel l known i n the gay world , as attested by the vivid description i n Dancer from the Dance ( Hol leran 1978) , Public sex and

a novel a bout New York and F ire Is land gay l ife with a character who used Gay Community

the shoppi ng bag techn ique at Grand Centra l Stat ion and rode the Long in Pre-Stonewall

Is land Ra i l road at rush hour for qu ickies in the toi lets . I n Montrea l , the only Montreal

man who re lated using a techn ique l i ke the second one was Dona ld , who rode the streetcars after work, going far out of his way if he ha ppened onto a car packed with workmen, hot and sweaty and ready for a l ittle stand-up action on the way home.

Stories

Narrati ng personal sexual adventures was described by Leznoff ( 1954: 124) as serving a d ifferent purpose than s imple amusement or knowledge shar­ing : it determi ned the relative prestige ra nk i ngs of mem bers of the gay friendsh ip group in terms of thei r a bi l ity to make sexual conquests .

The content of conversation with in the Overt Part ic i pati ng Homosexual

Group13 was predominantly sexua l , whi le the group itself served as a type

of forum where the homosexual came to relate his sexual experiences . . . .

Those who were considered physica l ly attractive and easily procured sex­

ua l partners held h igh status, wh i le the i n d iv idua l who was sexual ly

unsuccessfu l held a correspondingly lower status. The capacit ies of

homosexual to "get sex" were openly d iscussed , commented u pon, and

joked a bout. (1954: 124-25)

Donald and h i s friends may have com peted i n th is way, but they a l so l i ked stories just for fu n , s i nce they de l ighted i n te l l i ng the adventures of their friends as wel l as their own . Donald knew someone who had a regular rendezvous near the Mounta in for some period of t ime:

We had a friend who l ived near Mount Royal [Avenue) and Park who went

for early morning wa l ks and regula rly met and blew a m i l kman severa l

times a week in the tunnel under Park Ave.

He ga ined no prestige from recounting this story, except in being regarded as an a m using ta l ker and connoisseur of gay lore. Respect for d iscurs ive sk i l l s and the cu lt ivat ion of col lective memories is surely as i m porta nt as prowess i n the hunt for sex as a basis for prestige i n the group. Donald a lso recounted a story that seems to stem more from the rea lm of urban folk lore than from anecdote:

There was one awful glory hole in Morgan's in front. Gruesome story. Two­

seater ca n . Some enterpris ing person had cut through the steel . Some

guy's cock was chopped i n there. We avoided it l i ke the plague.

Dona ld could not say how he and h is friends knew a bout this part icu la r 198

story, but it matches too wel l for coincidence the two va ria nts of a s l ightly less violent glory hole legend reported by Goodwi n ( 1989 : 105-6) . The e lab- Ross Hlalns

oration of gay voices in such stories as these, whatever the speaker's pur-pose or the sociologist's understand ing of their soc ia l "fu nction , " is a lso, I a rgue, an expression of com mun ity action through d i scourse . It puts into practice the heritage of socia l eth ics and knowledge of the gay world .

Place And Identity

Ala in Sanzio, an early theorist of gay space , writ ing in the French gay maga­z ine Masques in 1980, offers the term "ghetto sauvage" for pub l ic sex ven ues. Echoi ng John 's der is ive comment that stra ights cou ldn 't hope to have l u nchti me sex, Sanzio sees these gay territories as an enormous advantage that gay men have over heterosexuals. He asserts that they give gays access to space where ord ina ry soc ia l norms do not a pply, and a re replaced by l im ited , function-oriented codes (much l i ke those described by Del ph) . I n these spaces, gays not only esca pe from socia l contro l , but a lso from lonel i ness and isolation wh i le enjoying the physica l presence of our " brothers . " Spea k ing of both the commerc ia l ghetto and the "ghetto sauvage , " Sanzio concludes: "The strength I get from the presence of th is col lective l ife is what makes it possi ble to face the rest, knowi ng that I wi l l be a ble to return later" ( 1980: 109-10; my trans lat ion) . Gay space, he says , favors se lf-accepta nce ; it is a territory of desire, not necessar i ly sexua l , a desire for l ife , for socia l contact.

Though this early text has a polemic r ing, I th i nk it points to the i m por­ta nt role which spatia l mastery played in developing a sense of col lective worth among gays in the urban landscape. Whi le l i ttle of this type of fee l i ng may be evoked by toi lets , domina nce over other venues was easi ly v is ib le for Montrea l gays. No one could m iss the fact that on bright summer after­noons they contro l led two of the city's most dra matic and desira ble pieces of rea l estate . H igh on the eastern face of Mount Roya l , at some times of the day at least, only gays were present to enjoy the splendid panorama of the city and the Sa int Lawrence val ley beyond . At water leve l , gays commanded another spectacular view down the river from the Montrea l Swimming C lub at the eastern t ip of Sa i nt He len 's I s land , j ust opposite the ha rbor. There, accord ing to Len and Henri , nearly 100 percent of the men lounging on the grass or swi m m i ng were gay. They were enjoyi ng one of the most v is ib le pub l ic spots i n the u rba n landscape, r ight at the foot of a major bridge. Together with the ba rs and resta ura nts to which gay soc iab i l ity was con­f ined i n the wi nter months, these outdoor spaces made u p a set of gay

" places , " u rban space created in word and deed as mean ingfu l locations i n 199

the gay city. Ma inta in ing knowledge about them, and us ing them as themes

in gay conversation provided a major anchor of col lective self-conscious- Public seund

ness in the pre-movement era . GaJ Community

in Pre-stoniWIII

Th is d iscussion of the re lat ionsh i p between pub l ic sex and the rise in a Montreal

sense of gay commun ity in Montrea l after 1945 has led me to reformu late my understand ing of the notion of commun ity. If, as M urray ( 1980) says, by the 1970s there were gay men who were wi l l i ng to openly represent gay communa l i nterests by sett ing up pol itica l groups or making cu ltura l state-ments, th is wi l l i ngness should be seen , I th ink , as the end resu lt of a long process of self-conceptua l i zat ion on the col lective leve l . "Com muna l iza-t ion , " as Weber ( 1990:9 1 ) ca l led it , 14 had been go ing on s i nce the late n ineteenth century (the earl iest date for wh ich there is evidence i n Montrea l is a group of news items from 1869) . The stages by which the gays moved toward self-awareness para l leled in some ways the process of identification that ind iv iduals go through in accepti ng themselves as gay.

I nd iv idua ls respond to the cu ltu ra l ly offered schema of what Escoffier ( 1992) terms the "authentic self. " Fol lowing this im perative, we experience out sexual orientation as something that we d iscover i n ourselves , our true natures, which then must be expressed socia l ly so that we do not violate the strong cu ltura l rules aga inst d ishonesty and hypocrisy. Once many i nd ivid­uals have thought their way through this cha i n of reason i ng, it becomes l i kely that a sense of commun ity wi l l fol low if they find each other. A growing number of authentic ind ividua l selves with one particu la rly sa l ient tra it-a ta booed sexual orientation-leads to the formation of an a uthentic col lec­tive self based on that tra it. This does not s imply happen . It is the resu lt of a conscious effort to develop a col lective point of view.

When some mem bers come to perceive that the i r identity connects them to a wide ra nge of others, they natu ra l ly d raw on cu ltu ra l ly defi ned concepts of soc ia l groups to i nterpret the i r exper ience. From the l i m ited

range of folk categories for grou ps that we are mem bers of, the never nega­tive term "com m u n ity" is su re to be selected i n references that op in ion leaders make to the col lectivity. The "ca l l to action " that Si nger sees i n com­mun ity is a resu lt , then , of an i m perative of Euroa merica n cu lture. There should be no surprise that even some of the men who took part in anony­mous pub l ic sex, presuma bly those without com mitments to fa m i ly, re l i ­gious va l ues, or work-related fea rs that overpowered the impu lse to authen­ticity, would feel its ca l l as strongly as those i n other venues, and would act to attach commun ity sentiment to the re lationsh ips formed there.

E N D N O T E S 200 1 . I have borrowed the title of a biologica l , medica l , and lega l summary by Mercer

( 1 959) ; Li berace was targeted as gay in the Montrea l yellow newspapers and other Roa Hlglns

ta bloids of the day.

2. Leznoff ( 1954: 73-80) bases a typology of gay men on the ind ivid ua l 's rela­

t ions h i p to secrecy concern ing his sexua l orientation (overt versus covert ) , and

pa rt ic ipation i n gay l ife ( pa rtic ipating, sol ita ry pa rt ic ipating, restricted , or nonpa rtic­

ipating) .

3. Kinsey's influence on the rea l ization among gays that they shared a collective

identity has not been systematica l ly investigated , though many witnesses report that

it had considerable weight in the hosti le c l i mate of McCa rthy's attacks on commu­

nists, and his assumption that "gay" was merely a synonym for "communist . "

4 . One man Delph knew had met a young friend in a subway toi let ( 1978:76-77) ,

but this did not enter i nto h is conception of a commun ity com pletely d ivorced from

verbal d iscourse.

5 . "Gay" was not the term they used at the t ime, but is used here for conve­

n ience, since there is no consensus on what they d id ca l l themselves in the 1950s

and 1960s.

6. Singer ( 199 1 : 124-25) reminds us of the Christian ideology of comm u nity, and

its i m porta nce i n Ch ristia n cu lture as an orientation to the socia l world . She also

emphasizes the l i bera l conception of the soc ial contract and the rights of citizens .

S im i la rly, the eth ical i m petus toward com m u n ity i n l i bera l idea ls of c itizensh ip is

stressed by Mouffe ( 199 1 ) . Both authors were members of a col lective seminar on

commun ity organ ized at Miami U n iversity, which prod uced a sti mu lating col lection

of reflections on the topic ( M iami Theory Col lective 199 1 ) .

7 . El ias ( 199 1 : 157) uses the terms "we-identity" o r "we-group" in h i s framework

for the ana lysis of "establ ished-outsider" relationsh ips which can readi ly be appl ied

to homosexuals in Euroamerican societies. See El ias and Scotson ( 1964) for an early

formulation of the theory and Men nel l 's ( 1994) summary of Elias's conceptual frame­

work.

8. For gay and stra ight establ ishments a l i ke , the Montrea l bar scene centers on

two poles: the more respecta ble and , i n the 1950s, more English-speaking "down­

town" scene, and the " Ma in " (the nickname used i n both la nguages for the Bou le­

vard Sa int-Laurent ), the French-speaking " East , " centered in the old " red l ight" d is­

trict. There were also outlyi ng bars in other parts of the city and in surrou nding towns

and resort areas.

9 . There is a sharp d istinction i n gay taxonomies of place between those where

"sex on the spot" is expected , and those where cou rtsh ip and seduction lead to retir­

ing to some private space for consummatio n . For many nonpa rtici pa nts in pub l ic

sex, it can be a strongly deval ued activity.

10. This usage of " kicky" was traced by Rodgers ( 1972) to the jazz slang "kicks. "

1 1 . This incident is d iscussed in my article ( H iggins 1995) on a gay murder in

Montrea l , which the police followed up with a wave of arrests of gay men, inc luding

Dr. Horst Koh l .

1 2 . Leznoff ( 1954: 76) was one of the fi rst to comment on the systematic avoid - 201

a nce of sex between friends , and more recently Weston ( 1 99 1 : 1 19-2 1 ) has out-

l i ned the h i story of gay ideologica l pos it ions on the "fr iend/more than friend"

d ichotomy.

13 . One of the categories in his typology of gay men mentioned above .

14. Weber even mentions ( p . 92) the poss ib i l ity of an erotic relationship as the

basis for developing sol idarity, though he did not have gay public sex in mind .

R E F E R E N C E S Delaney, Samuel R . 1988. The Motion of Light in Water: Sex and Science Fiction in

the East Village, 1957-1965. New York: New American Libra ry.

Delph , Edward Wi l l ia m . 1978. The Silent Community: Public Homosexual Encoun­

ters. Beverly H i l l s/London : Sage.

El ias, Norbert. 199 1 . "Changes in the 1-We Balance" I n El ias, The Society of Individ­

uals, pp. 1 53-237. Oxford : Basi l Blackburn .

El ias, Norbert and J . L. Scotson . 1965. The Established and the Outsiders: A Socio­

logical Enquiry into Community Problems. London : Frank Cass.

Escoffier, Jeffrey. 1992 . "Generations and Paradigms: Mainstreams i n Lesbian and

Gay Stud ies" In Henry L. M i nton , ed . , Gay and Lesbian Studies, pp. 7-26.

New York: Harrington Park Press.

Goodwi n , J oseph P .. 1989 . More Man Than You 'll Ever Be. B loom ington : I nd iana

U n iversity Press.

H iggins, Ross. 1995. " M urder Will Out: Gay Identity and Media Discourse in Montre­

a l . " In Wi l l iam L. Lea p, ed . , Beyond the Lavender Lexicon: Authenticity, Imag­

ination, and Appropriation in Lesbian and Gay Languages, pp. 107-32. New

York: Gordon and Breach .

Hol leran , Andrew. 1978. Dancer from the Dance. New York: Morrow.

H u m phreys, Laud . 1970. Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places. Chicago

and New York: Ald ine-Atherton. 2d ed . " En larged Edition with a Retrospect

on Ethical Issues . " New York: Ald ine, 1975.

Leznoff, Maurice. 1954. "The Homosexual in Urban Society. " Masters thesis, McGi l l

U niversity, Montrea l .

M e n nel l , Stephen . 1994. "The Formation of We- I mages : A Process Theory. " I n Craig

Ca lhoun , ed . , Social Theory and the Politics of Identity. Oxford : B lackwel l .

Mercer, J . D . 1959. They Walk in Shadow. New York: Comet Press .

M iami Theory Collective. 199 1 . Community at Loose Ends. M i n neapol is: U n iversity

of M innesota Press.

Mouffe, Chanta l . 199 1 . " Democratic Citizensh ip and the Pol it ical Com m u n ity. " I n

M iami Theory Col lective, eds . , Community a t Loose Ends, p p . 70-82 . M in ­

neapolis: U n iversity of M innesota Press.

M urray, Stephen 0. 1980. The Institutional Elaboration of a Quasi-Ethnic Commun ity

i n Canada . " I n Joseph Harry and M a n Singh Das , eds . , Homosexuality in

International Perspective, pp. 3 1-43 . New Delh i : Vikas. Fi rst publ ished 1979,

International Review of Modern Sociology9(2) : 165--77 .

Public Sex and

Gay Community

in Pre-Stonewall

Montreal

Rodgers , B ruce. 1972. The Queens ' Vernacular: A Gay Lexicon. San Franc isco: 202

Stra ight Arrow Press. Reissued as Gay Talk: A (Sometimes Outrageous) Dic-

tionary of Gay Slang. New York: Paragon Books, 1972. Rau Higlns

Sanzio, Ala i n . 1980. " Les espaces du desir. " Masques: Revue des homosexualites

6:105- 13.

Singer, Linda . 199 1 . " R eca l l i ng a Commun ity at Loose Ends . " I n M iami Theory Col­

lective, eds. , Community at Loose Ends, pp. 1 2 1-30. M innea pol is: U n iversity

of M innesota Press .

Weber, Max. 1962 ( 1990) . Basic Concepts in Sociology. New York: Citadel Press .

Westo n , Kath . 199 1 . Families We Choose: Lesbians, Gays, Kinship. N ew York:

Columbia U n iversity Press.

Wi l l iams, Raymond . 1983. Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. London:

Fontana, 2d ed .

Homosex in Hanoi? Sex, the Public Sphere, and Public Sex 1 0

J A C O B A R O N S O N

My fr iend enters the hote l room exc ited ly that spr ing morn i ng i n 1990: "They've arrested someone l i ke you , " he reports, " It's in the People's Army

Daily here: yesterday i n Len in Park they arrested one homosexual man l i ke

you . " "A foreigner?" I ask. " No, no, a Vietnamese man . He was arrested i n the park. " " For having sex with foreigners?" I continue . " No, i t was because he wou ld beat up his Vietnamese partners and rob them after they fi n ished having sex , " my friend expla ins . He shows me the article in Quan Doi Nhan

Dan, the People's Army Daily, a widely read newspa per that curiously juxta­poses the latest ideologica l pronou ncements of the Vietnamese m i l ita ry with true-crime reports and scandal-mongering rem in iscent of the National

Enquirer. The a rrest, I later learn , was part of a nationwide crackdown on vice and corruption in itiated in response to the global crumbl ing of commu­n ism, a pol ice effort to i m prove both the qua l ity and the i mage of pa rty mem bers and government offic ia ls wh i le at the same t ime rem ind ing those

who m ight be inc l i ned toward lawlessness that the govern ment remai ned capable of asserting its authority (ct. Voice of Vietnam 1990) .

So what was the i ntended message of the arrest and its attendant pub­l icity: that homosexual ity was forbidden, or that the pol ice were ever-vigi lant to protect tr icks from d ishonest hust lers? I could on ly specu late , s i nce I could certa i n ly not go to the pol ice to inqu i re . But I was led to specu late fur­ther: how was it that my friend was so certa i n a bout what the pol ice rea l ly i ntended with their a rrest, when the newspaper d id not specify so? Was he a police informer, perha ps compel led to cooperate in the entrapment of for­eign men so as to avoid punishment for h imself being homosexual? Had h is contacts with me over the past few weeks-contacts that were sexua l ly charged but physica l ly u nconsum mated-been encouraged or even ordered by police seek ing to gather i ncrim inati ng evidence aga inst me? Or were h is intentions honorable?

The Ita l ia n explorer Cr istofaro Borr i reJOices i n 1 63 1 that the 204 Coch inch i nese 1 "do not l i e under that great i m ped i ment to rece iv ing the grace of the gospel , that i s , the sin of sodomy, and others contra ry to Jacob Aronson

nature , which is frequent in a l l the other eastern countries, the very name of which the Coch i n-Chi nese natu ra l ly a bhor" ( 1 81 1 [ 1 63 1 1 : 828) . Sam uel Baron , a ha lf-century later, em phasizes that "with no less d isda i n [the Tonkinesel reject that law of their neigh bours which encourageth the most execrable and a bomina ble vice not fit to be nam'd" ( 1 732 [ 1 685] : 23) . I n 1 778, missionary Jerome R ichard notes that "One cannot reproach any of them for the a bomina ble vices, outraging Nature, and which a re on ly too com mon , in c l i mates as hot as Tonq u i n " ( R icha rd 1 778, 2 :282) . By the account of Baron Anto ine de Montyon ,2 writi ng i n 1 8 1 2 , "v io lat ion of the laws of natu re and the sha mefu l pervers ions of love , common and often indecently pub l ic i n the hot countr ies, a re u n known i n [Ton k i n ] " ( i n " La B issachere" 1812 , 2 :47-48) . 3 I n the wa n i ng days of the French em pire, one vis itor to the pena l colony at Poulo Condore was p leased to hea r "Another remark favorable to the Annamite . . . [ i . e . , ] that he does not, by taste , subm it to the ga mes that f lour ished at Sodom and Gomorra h " ( Demar iaux 1956:249-50) . A Vietnamese a n d a n America n psych iatr ist writing together in 1975 ( i n the wan ing days of the American empire) note that " homosexua l activity is c lear ly condem ned in Vietnam . . . the Viet-namese consider homosexual ity shameful . . . [and] have no socia l ly esta b-l ished role for the homosexua l or tra nssexua l " ( He iman and Cao Va n Le 1975:9 1 ) . One recurrent tendency of com mentators for severa l centuries, then , has been to d isplace homosexua l ity from the Vietna mese pub l ic rea lm enti re ly, to deny even the poss ib i l ity of its existence.

This d isplacement has a lso long been institutiona l ized i n officia l s i lence: the anc ient lega l codes of the Le Dynasty ( 1428-1 787) and the Nguyen Dynasty ( 1802-1945) deta i l the pena lties for crimes such as heterosexual ra pe, assau lt , adu ltery, and incest, but leave homosexual ity u n mentioned (Nguyen Ngoc H uy and Ta Van Ta i 1987 ; Ph i lastre 1909) . The only provi­sions in the codes that may refer to homosexua l ity (and at that, on ly am biguously) a re one proh i bition aga inst " men who wear wei rd or sorcer­ous ga rments" ( Le Code , a rt ic le 640 in H uy and Ta i 1987, 1 : 269) and another a rt ic le proh i bit ing castration and a utocastration ( Le Code, a rt ic le 305 i n H uy and Ta i 1987 , 1 : 183 ; Nguyen Code , a rt ic le 344 in Ph i lastre

1909, 2 :552) . Huy and Ta i note that both of these provisions are not found i n ear l ier Ch i nese codes, but were Vietnamese i n novations ( 1987 , 2 : 1 74 ; 1987, 2 :326) . Vietna mese lega l codes were typica l ly i nfl uenced by then­contem pora ry Ch i nese codes, but when i n 1 740 the Ch ing Dynasty in Ch ina e la borated , "for the fi rst t ime i n Ch i nese h istory, pu n ish ment for

sodomy between consenti ng adu lts " ( Ng 1989 : 76 ; ct. Me ijer 1985) , the 205

Vietnamese d id not fol low su it, once aga in omitt ing any such prohi bitions i n

the Nguyen Code that was promulgated soon after. Hom011x ln H1nol?

I n the colon ia l and postcolon ia l era th is lega l s i lence on homosexual ity was mainta i ned . The French colon ia ls never instituted expl icit proh ibitions aga inst sodomy or pederasty in the i r colonies , s i nce u nder the Code Napoleon such vices d id not fa l l under the expl icit purview of the lega i sys­tem (Sol and Hara nger 1930:2)-a lthough in Fra nce the s i lence i n lega l codes d id not i n h i b it pol ice persecution of men-who-loved-men , u nder

more genera l proh i bit ions aga i nst d isorderly conduct or offenses aga inst decency (Copley 1989) . The situation is s imi lar today: a lthough homosexu­a l i ty or sodomy is not specif ica l ly referred to anywhere in modern Viet­na mese cri m i na l law, " sex buying and sel l i ng in any form " are proh i bited (Voice of Vietnam 1993) , as a re more genera l and d iffuse cr imes such as " u nderm in i ng pub l ic mora l ity" (the prohi bit ions aga inst "weird garments" have d isappeared ) . As Dao Xuan Dung and Le Th i Nham Tuyet point out i n 1996, "The Vietnamese State has not yet had lega l documents a bout homosexual ity. Even i n the latest Law on Marriage and Fam i ly ( 1986) , there is not a n a rt ic le ment ion i ng the State att itude or even any gu ide l i nes for publ ic opin ion about this problem . The Penal Code doesn 't mention homo­sexual ity wh i l e it has a rticles on incest, ra pe, prostitution , sexua l assau lt , ch i ld marriage" ( Du ng and Tuyet 1996:30) . When two Vietnamese men he ld a marriage ceremony i n Ho Ch i Minh C ity i n March 1997, authorities acknowledged the lack of contro l l i ng lega l authority: " ' If we'd known a bout [the wedding] we wou ld have stopped it, ' a police offic ia l was quoted by the Nguoi Lao Dong paper as saying. ' B ut we can 't fi ne them because we don't have any laws to punish them' " ( Reuters 1997) .

A second tendency of commentators has been to d islocate homosexua l­ity's origi ns away from a golden space-t ime of Vietna mese trad ition , con­ceivi ng it as a pol l uting force from outside, im ported to Vietnam by intrud ing foreigners. I n the early days of Europea n em pire, the tendency was that if pederastic practices were acknowledged , foreigners-sometimes Chinese, sometimes Europeans-were blamed for i ntroducing them to Vietnam.4 De Montyon ins ists that " if they take place, as shown by the rarity a nd obscuri­ty of these vices, they can not be considered native" ( in " La B issachere" 1812 , 2 :48) . (Almost two centuries after de Montyon, a Vietnamese ethnol­ogist te l l s me that, " I n the trad it ional v i l lage , there was no homosexual i ty. That was someth ing the French and Americans i ntrod uced . It 's not part of Vietnamese cu lture . " ) M i l ita ry physician Matignon contrasts the situation i n I ndoc h i na with t h e pervasive pederasty he encou ntered i n Ch i na , s i nce "the Anna mite , who i n so many ways reca l ls the Ch inese , had no acq uain-

ta nce with pederasty, wh ich was surely i m ported to Tonk i n by the Euro- 206 pean " ( 1900: 189) . He conti nues that " pederasty is very much practiced i n Tonk in by our [ French] nationa ls : t h i s sad ha bit, com bi ned with t he even Jacob Aronson

more freq uent op ium smok ing, is not l i ke ly to give the Annam ites a very h igh idea of their protectors" ( 1900: 192) .

Whi le some observers portrayed the French colon ia l s themselves as i n nocent victi ms of the hot tropical c l i mate , isolation , tem ptation , and the corru pti ng mora ls of the Vietnamese , physician Raux concurs with de Mon­tyon and Matignon in seeing the Vietnamese as students i n vice of the colo­n iz ing French : "The l icentious mores of certa in of our com patriots make it d ifficult [for the Vietnamese] to mainta i n a v i rtuous path " ( Raux 1905:345) . The b lame was somet imes sha red , or the Vietnamese dam ned with fa i nt pra ise, as by the "old colon ia l " Kobiet:

One could affi rm that the responsib i l ity for these [homosexua l ] d isorders

fa l l s more onto the Europea ns than the Annam ites ; the latter debase

themselves for a few piasters, so as to satisfy their other vices such as

ga mb l ing and opi u m , but, i n my acq uai ntance, Annam ites do not have

the ha bit to degrade themselves with one another, even if their morals are

far from being exemplary. ( 1953:9)

In this second tendency, then , pederasty is deemed poss ib le , but it is trans located to some exotic fore ign p lace outs ide of Vietna m-it is once aga i n d i sp laced from the pub l i c space of Vietna mese cu lture and con­ceived as a pol l ut ing or corru pti ng infl uence of externa l origi ns .5 The emer­gent colon ia l c it ies of Hano i and Saigon , Ha i phong and Danang, ca me to

represent hotbeds of cosmopol itan degeneracy, contrasted with the idyl l ic and t imeless cou ntryside of the trad it ional peasa ntry. Thus novel ist Fa rrere descri bes Saigon as Sodom ( 1905) , and physician Raux, l i ke my anthropol­ogist friend today, considers pederasty to be an urba n phenomenon : "We even th ink that pederasty is ra re in the countryside. In the town it becomes, as in our c it ies , the pr ize of sen i le pass ions or of degenerate sexua l appetites" ( Raux 1905:347) . Cities were the home of la rge Ch inese immi ­gra nt populations, who were stereotyped in Vietnam and elsewhere as the a m bassadors of sodomy and the sou rces of prostitution , op i u m , and cr ime.6 Thus , journal ist Jammes writes of the Cholon d istrict of Sa igon that "Sodom, Gomorra , and Stamboul have noth ing to envy in the Ch inese city, in whose pl utocratic i nteriors l icense f lour ishes without obstacles, without the law being able to show its power" (Jammes 1900:65) .

Cit ies, as the loci where colon ia l and colon ized interacted most inti mate­ly, were a lso the home of da ngerously margi na l people who were seen by the colon ia ls as derac inated (Pujarn iscle 193 1 :9 1 ) and deculturated-no

longerVietna mese , but never to become Frenc h . These i nterpreters , m is- 201

tresses , houseboys, met is , and metisses were condem ned as "those who

have been deformed , mora l ly, i n the c ities that they i nha bited after leaving Homosex In Hanoi?

their v i l lages" ( Raux 1905:345) . Geogra pher Jolea ud-Barra l notes that "the peasant, the ' nhaque, ' has kept the qua l it ies of his race, but the Anna mite of the c it ies-he who has d rawn nea r us , who has become i nterpreter, order ly i n our qua rters , the Anna m ite who becomes the domestic of the Europea ns-has ta ken al l of our defects , without ta k ing any of our qua l i -ties" (Joleaud-Barra l 1899: 13) . I m porta ntly, these notions o f urban degen-eracy-of "acculturation manque" ( "fa i led acculturation " ) among c ity resi -dents and the nouvea ux r iches ( Nguyen Va n Phong 197 1 :256; cf . pp .

229-30, 27 1 )-were not possessed by the French colon ia ls a lone : they were i nter ior ized by i nd igenous Vietna mese a uthors, whether writ i ng i n

French (Yeager 1987:63-90) o r i n Vietna mese ( H oa ng Ngoc Tha n h 199 1 : 144-67) .

Vietnamese socia l i st ideology ca l l s for th ree revol ut ions: the revol ut ion i n the relations o f production , t he scientific and technologica l revo lution , and

the ideologica l a nd cu ltural revol ution ; t he goa l and i ntended outcome of the latter a re to create a new, soc ia l i st cu lture and a New Soc ia l ist Man (see, e .g . , Le Duan 1976; Truong Ch inh 1977) . The New Soc ia l i st Man is d isti ngu ished most sharply from those persons shaped under the "enslav­i ng, mongre l , decadent, and utter ly react ionary 'cu ltu re' " c reated by the U n ited States i n South Vietna m , in which people led "an ind ividua l isti c , ego ist ic l ife o f depravation" and were i nd uced to i n d u lge the " basest i n st i ncts and the most vu lga r tastes . " By Le Duan 's accou nt, "The evi l

i ntention of U .S . i m peria l ism was t o destroy a l l trad itiona l mora l va lues and the wholesome way of l ife of our people , to debauch you ng people and

ma ke hood l u ms out of them " ( 1976: 190) . Whi le fema le prost itut ion and drug add ict ion a re expl ic itly l i sted as exam ples of th is depraved debauch­ery, homosexual ity rema ins both i nvis ib le and unuttered . l With in the publ ic

image of the New Soc ia l ist Man, there is l i tt le room for sexua l i ty, let a lone homosexual ity. What Stephen 0. M u rray has descri bed as "the wi l l not to know" (ms . , 1994) permeates contem porary Vietnamese soc iety, a l lowing cad res, for exa m ple , to eat i n s u m ptuary fash ion i n a m i n i stry-owned resta urant i n Hano i , under the shadow of televis ion screens pum ping out (heterosexua l ) pornogra phic videos, i n an ostensible state of pure unknow­i ng. It is then hard ly more d ifficu lt to unknow that homosexual ity exists, to ensure that it rema ins unacknowledged a nd i nexp l ic i t in the pub l i c sphere.8

B ut it wou ld be wrong to bla me th is compl ic ity of s i lence solely on the 208

soc ia l i st revol ution . I n the trad it iona l Vietnamese worldview, strongly per-vaded by nee-Confuc ian ideologies of fa m i ly and f i l iation , it is v i rtua l ly Jacob Aronson

un imagina ble that one m ight l ive l ife exc lusively as a homosexua l , because that would constitute a grave and unpardonable breach of fi l ia l obl igations: "The Anna m ite loathes dying without be ing assured of male dependants. One ca n say that there exists a verita ble obl igation , of the rel igious or at least mystical order, to give birth as early as possib le to the cu lt's heir" ( Kherian 1937 :29) . To eschew marriage in favor of a n exclusively homosexual l ife is a choice that hard ly needs to be suppressed by civi l a uthorities, because the a uthority of trad ition itself has sufficient force to ensure virtua l ly tota l com­pl ia nce . Eth nologist Nguyen Van H uyen noted in 1939 that " male cel i bacy is a lways in complete d isfavor. It conti nues to be considered as an act of f i l­ia l impiety. In certa in v i l lages the cel i bate a re not a l lowed to attend the com­munal fetes . . . . I n everyday l i fe they are the object of mistrust and mockery from their fami l ies" (Nguyen Van H uyen 1944 [ 1 9391 :4 1 ) .

The tenac ity o f th is trad itiona l strictu re is evident from current census data : of Vietnamese ma les over age 40, both nationwide a nd i n the city of Hanoi , barely 1 % have never married . I n rura l a reas the percentage is .9% , and even i n Saigon , the u rba n a rea with the h ighest proportion of un mar­ried men, those over 40 who never married constitute only 3 .6% of the pop­u lation (Vietna m Popu lation Census, 1989) , and ma ny of these a re l i kely to be demobi l ized sold iers of the former reg ime a nd conseq uently not very des i ra ble ma rriage pa rtners. I n the U n ited States , by com pa rison , fu l ly 6 .4% of a l l ma les over 40 have never ma rried , a nd i n Sa n Franc isco the

proportion is as h igh as 28.9% of ma les over age 35 ( U .S . Population Cen­sus, 1990) .9

But even if homosexual ity has l ittle place i n the Vietnamese publ ic sphere, the i nv is ib le is someti mes seen , the un uttera b le someti mes spoke n . At a Comedy Revue i n 1990 i n the Soviet-Vietnamese Palace of Cu l ture (the name has s i nce cha nged ) , my friend tra nslates the d ia logue to me as we watch a sketch : " Look, look, there's someone l i ke you , " he says , point ing to the young man be ing sco lded on stage by h i s father. I ndeed , I beg in to notice, the son is somewhat effete and seems to be the target of admonition for his i ndo lence or i neptitude , to the de l ighted a m u sement of the aud i ­ence . A moment later, h i s s ister a rrives on stage with her handsome boyfriend , who contrasts stri ki ngly with the increasi ngly effeminate brother. The brother v i rtua l ly swoons , enra ptu red with the handsome you ng man who sta nds a head ta l ler than he, posing robustly, a lmost in a parody of the stage hero of an agitprop d ra m a . As the s i b l i ng r iva l ry over the su itor is

made man ifest, the aud ience howls with laughter and my friend need not 209

translate the rema in ing d ia logue.

For those who know where and how to look, though , there is often much Homosex in Hanoi?

mqre to see . I n 1 990 my friend had spotted me wh i le I was cha nging money at the ba nk , ti pped off, he expla i ned , by my maroon pants . By the t ime we'd fi n ished a wa lk a round the La ke of the Redeemed Sword i n the center of o ld Hano i , we'd determi ned , th rough that e lega nt verba l ba l l et fa m i l i a r to gay men everywhere, that we cou ld spea k openly a bout th i ngs usual ly left unsa id .

Hoan K iem La ke, the La ke of the Redeemed Sword , turns out to have many i nterest ing sights for those not committed to unknowi ng. In 1993, I stro l l out on a m i sty even ing and ta ke a seat on a la kes ide bench . Young coup les , w i th l i tt le prospect of pr ivacy i n the i r fa m i ly's t i ny a pa rtments,

come here to sn uggle together in a cu rious ly pub l i c i nt imacy; grou ps of ch i ldren bicycle past on their way to buy ice cream ; and Western tourists­busi ness executives , wel l -d ressed ret i rees , or backpackers a l i ke-stride purposefu l ly past. I n their midst a re a few sol ita ry young men, slowly wa l k­i ng the i r b icyc les a round the la ke's edge or s itt ing , l i ke me , a lone at a bench . When I fi rst vis ited Hanoi in 1985, Vietnamese were not supposed to ta l k to foreigners, barely even to make eye contact with them . Now there a re many eager to try out the i r Engl i sh , even if it extends no further tha n " Hel lo , what is your name?" One n ight I stri ke up a conversation with a un i ­versity student, studying Eng l i sh at the Foreign Languages U n iversity. He ins ists on i nviti ng me to be h is guest at one of the nearby cafes, where we have tea and ice cream whi le speakers blare out d isco songs and the video screen shows i mages of sca nt i ly clad women do ing aerobic da nces. The loud music ma kes conversation d ifficu lt, so the student says l ittle unt i l the screen i mages cha nge to those of a musc lebound male bodybu i lder on a beach. " He is very handsome, yes?" my friend asks, but soon it is t ime for h im to go home to study and we part, after an overly long handshake.

By Matignon's 1900 account, we are hard ly the fi rst to have engaged in a l ittle cruis ing beside the lake :

I n Hanoi , it is not ra re to be snagged in the even ing, on the ma in prome­

nade around the lake, by l i tt le ga mins spea k ing French-and what

French, my god !-" M 'sieur cap'ta ine! Come with me-me is a very nasty

boy, " that is the invitation . The governors genera l are rightfu l ly upset, and

have taken severe police measures, but their efforts have not been enti re­

ly crowned with success. ( Matignon 1900: 192)

And Briton M ichael Davidson descri bes meeti ng a round 1950 a "smal l and vivacious Tonkinese who beca me my com pan ion" wh i le he was visit ing "an

elega nt and d i m i n utive pagod a " ( i . e . , Ngoc Son pagoda ) a longs ide "a 210

sma l l , curl ing, carefu l ly drawn lake [Hoan Kieml with a stone bridge at one end , green parkland around it, and pleasantly eccentric trees bend ing from Jacob Aronson

its banks over the water" ( Davidson 1988: 142-43) . Elsewhere he descri bes " be ing charmi ngly enticed i nto the l ittle is land tem ple on the edge of the

lake . . . by an acolyte and shown del ights which can 't, I 'm sure , have been l itu rgica l " ( Davidson 1 962 :285 ) . Around the sa me lake today there a re ga mins to be sure, as econom ic reform shreds the socia l welfa re safety net that was once pa rt of the soc ia l ist soc ia l contract, and Vietna m jo ins the U n ited States i n see ing homeless mend ica nts on the streets of every city. For some young men , a shoesh ine kit provides not on ly a paltry l iv ing but a lso a pretext to converse with a foreigner-a conversation that m ight f ina l ly lead back to the visitor's hote l .

B ut my eye catches those not of street-k ids or shoesh ine boys but of neatly dressed young men. " Hel lo , what is your na me?" one says to me as I wa lk by a few n ights later. As I sit down, the fami l i a r l itany proceeds: " How long have you been i n V ietna m? Are you a bus i nessma n? What hotel a re you stay ing at?" We chat for a wh i le , try ing to guess from a d i sta nce the nationa l ity of fore ign tou rists as they approach on the sidewa lk-"German? Or Pol ish?"-specu lati ng unt i l they are close enough that we can hear what language they speak . The French are a lways unmistaka ble, the Austra l ians and Americans hard to d isti ngu ish from one another. Soon come the im por­tant-if ostensi bly i nnocuous-q uestions: " H ow old are you? Are you mar­r ied?" If it is a soc io l i ngu ist ic tru ism that Southeast Asia ns tend to spea k ind i rectly a bout th i ngs , it is even more true that Vietna mese and their for­eign friends have developed exq uis ite sk i l ls of c i rcumlocution , of ela borate pa ra l i ps is , in wh ich the topic of conversat ion never gets spoken but is nonetheless certa i n ly u nderstood for be i ng unsa i d . I ndeed , "don 't ask, don't tel l " could wel l serve as the national motto, whether it is sex or pol itics we a re not ta lk ing about.

So for me to identify myself as a forty-year-old unmarried man to a Viet­na mese man of s im i l a r age and ma rita l status is enough for both of us to understand we also l i kely sha re other attri butes, especia l ly when that con­versation ta kes place in what we both know to be a sexua l ly cha rged set­t ing . And so it may be that we never use the words that wou ld exp l ic it ly defi ne ourselves or our shared interests , nor do we have to . Whi le there may be l ittle doubt a bout this man's sexual identity, there are other aspects of his identity that give me greater pa use. For one cannot forget the reason for our verba l ba l let: the affi n ity we share is one that might not easi ly survive pu bl ic scruti ny. J ust as the French authorities a centu ry earl ier, the pol ice in Hanoi today have the d iscretion to arrest my friend , or myself, for homosexual ity

(or u nderm in i ng publ ic mora l ity, or assa u lts aga inst decency) should they 211

so wish . I ndeed , I can only assume that the police must know what I a m up to , i f Homosex I n Hanoi?

i t is not i n fact a pol ice agent or i nformer with whom I am chatt i ng . J a m mes, writ ing in 1898, rema rks on "the someti mes cri m i n a l benevo-lence of the morals pol ice" charged with contro l l i ng vice: "Aren 't the broth-el boys often prec ious i nformers for the loca l pol ice? We are led to say that these i nterested scoundre ls pay a monthly fee to certa i n u nscrupu lous Annamite agents" (Jammes 1898:233 ) . 10 In an authoritar ian state, cit izen or vis itor a l i ke must assume that one's actions are we l l -known to security offic ia ls , and yet we each draw l i nes beyond which we wi l l not stray, often a

l i ne that separates " identity" from " behavior, " "sexua l i ty" from "sex . " Not on ly have my contacts with Vietnamese men a lways stopped wel l short of overtly sexua l behavior, my friends and I have eng ineered our conversa-tions to a l low p laus ib le den ia b i l ity shou ld the need a rise . We have each wi l led ou rselves not to know too much a bout the other. Yet in the end , is this anyth i ng other than conven ient self-deception? Can I be sure that Viet-na mese authorities, any more than those i n Georgia or the U .S . m i l itary, wi l l rea l ly be satisfied with my carefu l sophistries d isti ngu ish ing between who I am and what I do?

I n North America in the late 1990s , we gay men assume that we wi l l not genera l ly be subject to arrest s imply beca use of our identities or our orien­tations, and we feel secure engaging i n (a lmost) al l k inds of sexua l behavior with i n private sett ings . Our notion (accurate or not) is that we risk i ncurring j ud ic ia l attent ion only when our actions somehow vio late the ca refu l ly i nscri bed threshold demarcat ing pub l ic and private rea lms and separati ng those behaviors deemed "appropriate " for each . So " pub l ic sex , " with its attendant risks of crim ina l sanctions, is seen to i nvolve actions out of place: sexual acts and activit ies that a re performed i n setti ngs accessib le to non­partic ipants, rather than being confi ned to thei r notiona l ly proper place, the private rea lm . Beca use they a re potentia l ly vis ible by others, thus i ntrud ing i nto the publ ic sphere , the acts a re conseq uently considered to be of greater concern to "the publ ic" and thus to i ts designated guard ians , the pol ice . For most of us, then , most of the t ime, "pub l ic sex" enta i l s sex acts,

not s im ply "ta l k i ng d i rty"-i ndeed , much of the attraction that pub l ic sex ho lds for many men i nvolves the man i pu lat ion of s i lence rather than speech , as l itera ry rend it ions of pub l ic sex make c lear. And "sex acts" are most often understood to be those defi ned i n lega l , psychologica l , or c l i n i ­ca l d iscourses that speak of physica l contacts between bod i ly parts i n pro­h i bited com binations and configurations.

Whether we do h igh theory or low praxis (and whether we do it i n ivory 212

towers or publ ic parks) , we tend to repl icate in d iverse ways th is notion that behavior and identity a re severable. Thus certa in theorists assert an ana lyti - Jacob Aronson

ca l d ifference between behavior a nd identity, a n ana lytica l d isti nction that reflects some empirica l ly verifiable socia l rea l ity (at least, for those theorists who admit the possible existence of a social rea l ity) . Some propose, for exam-ple, a historica l threshold i n the Western cu ltura l trad ition that separates prior conceptions centered on specific behaviors from emergent conceptions of

roles and identities. The threshold may also be geographic or cu ltura l rather than chronologica l : com parativists i nsist that cu lture-specific bund l i ngs of

behaviors and identities should not be app l ied heed lessly to cu ltures that potentia l ly bundle things d ifferently. Pol itica l ly, gay and lesbian conservatives reacting to progressive or l i beration ist gay and lesbian polit ical movements insist that "good gays" can earn "a place at the table" if heterosexua l others would s imply separate behaviors (especial ly stigmatized ones) from identities (which would thus somehow magica l ly lose their stigma) . Pragmatica l ly, peo-ple are accustomed to acting and i nteracting as if behaviors are not automati-ca l ly and perfectly pred ictive of identities, as if one may engage in transgres-sive sex acts whi le never self-identifying as a sexual transgressor. I ndeed , the folk knowledge of the gay culture embodies in countless ways the experience that someone engaging in homosexual acts may indeed have a very unex-pected identity, for instance that of a pol iceman engaged in entrapment or a queerbasher engaged in erotic foreplay to his intended violence.

When queer theorists on the one hand , or just pla i n queers on the other, ca refu l ly d istingu ish " identity" from " behavior, " we th i nk we speak a com­mon tongue and operate with sta ble understand i ngs of those terms­understandings that we share even with those who find our identities objec­t ionable and our behaviors i mproper. I t is not just theorists or i ntel lectua ls who propose ana lytica l d i st i nctions l i ke these: they a re a l so em bod ied in publ ic consciousness and lega l i nstitut ions . I ndeed , the severa b i l ity of " identity" and " behavior" is the rhetorica l keystone of many of the most repressive and retrograde laws, pol ic ies, and ideologies that th reaten our existence as gay folk . Fundamenta l ist Christians " love the s inner, but hate the s in " ; the U .S . m i l ita ry pretends only to prosecute behavior and prom is­es not to persecute identity ; pol it ic ia ns piously profess the i r to lera nce of "what they do in the privacy of the i r bed rooms . " But the i r i nto lerance depends u pon our self-victim izing com pl ic ity i n their rhetorica l d isti nction between actions and essences-com pl ic ity which has the u n i ntended effect of l icens ing and legit imat ing thei r acts of repress ion ( repression which i s , of course, v is ited-often vio lently-both u pon our minds and identities as wel l as upon our bod ies and behaviors ) .

Publ ic sex is one of severa l tra nsgressions that throw that specious d is- 213

t inction i nto question or confus ion , by juxta pos ing and recomb in i ng " behavior" and " identity" i n novel ways-ways that th reaten rece ived Homosex In Hanoi?

notions of both . As Lea p has poi nted out (essay 6) for men engagi ng i n male-to-male sexual acts i n health c l ubs , one may practice the behaviors qu ite publ icly yet d iscla im--even repudiate-the identity, both publ ic ly and privately. The sa me has long been noted for sexua l contacts i n pa rks or other publ ic sett ings that a re accessible to a l l without regard to self- identifi-cation . B ut pub l ic sex a lso exposes u n m ista ka bly the ten uousness of the d ist inction at the moment it is repressed : typica l ly, identity and behavior a re conflated or col la psed and people face lega l or extra lega l sanctions not for thei r erotic i nteractions or gen ita l contacts but s imply for their speech-for "so l ic i t ing" a n i l lega l act, for exa m ple , or for "us i ng obscene la nguage" ( H igg ins 1995: 1 1 6; R u bi n 1985:269)--or even for " look ing fu nny" at a homophobe . 1 1

The conven ient fictions that encourage us to pretend we l ive in a toler­ant society a re pu nctu red and deflated when " pub l i c sex" is pun i shed , especia l ly as is usua l ly the case where that "sex" amounts to nothing more than "sol icit ing" or " loiteri ng" or "frequenting a publ ic nu isance . " The acts

that a re ostensi bly pun ished here are not defined by their practit ioners or by the law as sexual acts , and i ndeed it is clearly our homosexual identity itself that is crim ina l ized rather tha n any sexua l behavior. Th is is nowhere more apparent than in the U .S . m i l ita ry regu lations that purport to concern themselves only with behavior, yet rest u pon the virtual ly un rebuttable pre­sumption that those who s im ply identify themselves as homosexua l pos­sess a " pred i lection" for prohi bited acts . The publ ic speech act of self- iden­t if icat ion is cri m i na l ized j ust as su rely as the private sex acts that it may refer to. I ndeed , the sign " homosexua l " may not refer to any sex acts, if we accept as we must the poss ib i l ity that one may identify ful ly and publ icly as homosexual (and be so identified by others) without ever having engaged in the behaviors "constitutive" of that identity (cf . M urray 1996:202ff. ) . And by conseq uence, " pu bl ic sex" when a ppl ied to gay people may s i m ply mean any k ind of publ ic d isplays of affection or publ ic affi rmations of one's orientation , identity, or desi res-behaviors that would never be identified as sex acts if practiced by those identified as heterosexua l .

T h e Tet hol idays i n February 1996 coi ncide with a ca m pa ign b y t h e Viet­na mese forces of pub l ic order to i ncrease enforcement of laws regu lat ing "socia l evi ls" such as prostitution and gamb l i ng. The cam pa ign is charac­terized by i nternational journal ists as a repressive anti-Western , antica pita l ­ist effort to root out cu ltu ra l pol l ut ion and conta m i nat ing i nf luences from

abroad and to preserve the ever-d im i n ish ing authority of the party and state 214

{see, for exa m ple , Cha l mers 1996a , 1996b, 1996c ; R ichburg 1996) . Yet the only ch i l l that the vis itor perceives is in the weather, as the new year is Jacob Aronson

greeted by tem peratu res colder than they have been a nytime i n the past twenty years . I nternationa l guidebooks for gay travelers a re sti l l s i lent about Vietna m , but I nternet users ca n be advised that Hoa n Kiem La ke is the place to go in Hanoi for cru is i ng, and a ha lf-dozen cafes, ba rs , and d iscos are recommended as meeti ng places in Ho Ch i M i nh City.

At Hoa n Kiem La ke, the shoesh ine boys a re more i ns istent than ever, even if thei r Engl ish voca bu lary sti l l goes hardly fu rther tha n a few words . And maybe it i s the co ld weather that i m pe ls some you ng men to spea k more d i rectly than they would have i n previous years : " Let me i nvite you to a very specia l bar I know about, where men go with women , " one tel ls me, "or men go with men . " Another man moves i n q u ick succession from ask­i ng the i n nocuous q uest ions , "What is you r name? Where do you come from?" to the stra ightforward , yet sti l l exceed ingly pol ite, " Pardon me, I am gay. Do you wa nt to s leep with me?" Some, though , ta ke on a hector ing tone: " I know what you wa nt, you wa nt a boy. Why a re you ta lk ing to that one? Why don't you take my friend here? What's the matter, don 't you th i nk

he is handsome? I know a hotel you ca n go to . " Or, stung by my l ack of i n terest, one man ra i l s at me : " I know what you wa nt . You shou ld be on Nguyen D i nh Ch ieu street [adjoi n i ng Len i n Park] ; that's where the [ma le] prostitutes are . "

The visitor's apprehensions are not necessari ly assuaged by the greater expl icitness of speech . Pol ice a round the lake seem to be far more numer­ous than prev ious ly-there to ta rget c r im ina l s such as p ickpockets and petty thieves, accord ing to news accounts, a nd duri ng the Tet hol iday itself, to enforce the recent national ban on firecrackers. Most encounters are sti l l shrouded i n am bigu ity and den iab i l ity, leaving the i nterlocutors free to d is­c la im cri m i na l actions or even i ntent . Yet the am bigu ity a l so creates sub­sta ntia l sexua l exc itement , i n the h igh ly charged context com bi n i ng r isk a nd recklessness, exposu re and concea l ment, knowing and unknowi ng, publ ic and private.

So, what should be my response when my Vietnamese col league and friend of long stand ing te l ls me, " I n the trad itiona l vi l lage, there was no homosexu­a l ity. That was something the French and Americans i ntrod uced . " Do I join in the playfu l ba nter when Vietnamese friends-people I met when they were studying i n the U n ited States-are teasing another friend because his name sou nds to them l i ke "gay? " When a tra ns lator, formerly a tour ist guide, tel ls me about an American male tourist who i nvited h im to h is room

one even ing, with i ntentions that were unantici pated by the guide, do I ask 215

the myriad questions I would l i ke to ask, or do I let the su bject d rop? I n Viet-nam, where homosexual ity's place i n the pub l ic sphere is vastly d ifferent Homosex in Hanoi?

from its place in the Un ited States , and where the conseq uences of identi-fying as homosexua l-whether pub l ic ly or privately-rema i n uncerta i n to foreigners and ind igenes a l i ke, what does a visit ing ethnogra pher decide to publ icize about h imself to col leagues, friends, a nd vi l lagers?

Recent years have seen i ncreas ing attention to the q uestion of how an ethnogra pher's sexual ity and h i s o r her ethnogra phic fieldwork are inter im­pl icated (see, e.g. , Lewin and Leap 1996; Kul ick and Wi l lson 1995; Seizer 1995; Wi l l iams 1993 ; Bolton 1992; Proschan 1990; Warren 1988; Wh ite­head and Conaway 1986; Hamabata 1986) . We have often been inc l ined to leave vita l l y i m porta nt e lements of our person hood back home when we depa rt for the field , obscur ing signs not only of our gender but especia l ly of our sexua l i ty, adopt ing new, asexua l ized professiona l identit ies. We con­stra i n to the rea l m of the private th i ngs we a re otherwise accustomed to sayi ng or doing in pub l ic ; we su rrender, at least tem porar i ly, our f ierce attachments to i nd ivid ual ism and to subjectivity.

Pa rtak ing as ethnologists in the conjoi ned roles of tourists and colonia ls , we cu riously forsa ke the sexual l icense that both roles afford-or at least we d isavow it by our profess iona l s i lence, even if we may perha ps i ndu lge it secretly ( perha ps donn ing the robes of a th i rd role, that of m issionaries) . 12 In th is case we a re l i ke those we study: we, l i ke they, operate through a series of d isplacements. Vietnamese society today offers l i ttle space with i n t he pub l ic sphere o f sociopol it ical d iscourse even to d iscuss homosexua l i ­ty-a lthough Vietna mese men-who-love-men report that the situat ion is ever im proving. For good or bad , A I DS prevention efforts ignore the possi­b i l i ty of homosexua l transm iss ion , demoniz ing d rug i njectors and female prostitutes a lone as the vectors of infection . Happi ly, gay men are not s imi­la rly demon ized ; u n ha ppi ly, gay men and the i r hea l th r isks are v i rtua l ly ignored . If homosexual ity can be ta lked about, it is most often translocated to places beyond the frontiers of nation and trad ition , conceived as a prob­lem im ported to Vietnam by the Other. Li ke the Vietnamese, we as anthro­pologists s im i la rly situate sexual activity in some neverwhere, neverwhe n : either we do i t but don't ta lk about it, or w e ta lk about i t but don't d o it, o r we don't do it and don't ta lk a bout it.

Working i n Vietnam I have been inc l i ned toward the latter strategy, whi le at the sa me t ime ca rv ing out a reas in wh ich , I te l l myself, I ca n ma inta i n some greater degree o f integrity a s a sexual ly sentient be ing. I keep private from my c losest fr iends some of the most i m porta nt aspects of my self­identity, wh i le shar ing in publ ic with v irtual strangers our sha red identity as

men-who-love-men . B ut to what extent ca n we even ta l k a bout " p u bl i c " 218

and " private" when they are del ineated in ways qu ite different from our own understa n d i ngs , and when they i nterpenetrate in ways that a re l itera l l y Jacob Aronson

unknowa ble? Young cou ples seeking a venue for i ntimacy flee the overbearing priva­

cy of the i r homes in favor of the most pub l ic of setti ngs, where darkness confers some sma l l sh ie ld of anonym ity. A whole s lew of "ga rden cafes"

provide tree-shaded places for young lovers to meet; those who ca n not afford the cafes eagerly seek out em pty park benches, espec ia l ly those h idden in obscu rity u nder d roop ing bra nches . In a c ity where i ndoor p lumbing is fa r from u n iversa l ly ava i la ble, publ ic cu rbs become the s ite of pr ivate acts that ra nge from bath i ng to sh itti ng, wh i l e the passing pub l ic un-sees those so engaged . The protectors of public mora l ity a re concerned more tha n a nyth ing else with private acts , and the "secret" pol ice a re no

secret to anyone. And surely they must be no less adept tha n I at fi nd ing those publ ic places where men come together for those glances that last a moment too long, those synchron ized head-turn i ngs and i nnocuous greet­i ngs, those handshakes that a re an i nf in itesi ma l i n sta nt over long or a n i nf i n ites ima l degree overtender-those pub l i c places that hold out the prom ises of private pleasures.

E N D N O T E S 1 . Older sources use the names Tonk in , Annam, a n d Cochinchina for territories

that are now part of Vietnam , and Tonk inese, Annam ite, and Cochinchinese respec­

tively for the i nhabitants of those areas whose descenda nts are now known as Viet­

na mese. In citing older sources, I repeat the then-current usage.

2. By Mayben's account, the 1812 edition attr ibuted to La B issachere is indeed

heavi ly revised by de Montyon ; the cited passages ca n not be found in La B is­

sachere's original notes (Maybon 1920) .

3. I nsofa r as the early travelers based their accou nts on short vis its where they

had l itt le opportun ity for d i rect contact with Vietnamese people , they necessar i ly

depended on local i nformants and thus are reporting societa l norms and publ ic ide­

ologies of behavior rather than actua l soc ia l l ife or observed behaviors. The i r pious

denials, necessarily based on negative evidence, cannot by consequence be consid­

ered evidence that homosexual ity did not i n fact exist i n precolonia l Vietna m . It

remains to be seen whether these early travelers who were a lmost com pletely depen­

dent on ind igenous i nformants m ight have more accu rately communicated local atti­

tudes and ideologies than later writers who rel ied more upon their own "field

research" and d i rect observations, presenting their own perceptions rather than the

opin ions of loca l people.

4. My d iscussion here necessa ri ly rel ies on colon ial sources that typical ly inform

us more a bout i ntereth n ic sexual ity than they do a bout i nd igenous Vietna mese

behaviors and identities. With a few exceptions, e.g. , the Vietnamese lega l codes d is- 217

cussed above, we have no docu ments that would inform us a bout loca l attitudes and

perceptions, and must rely on outsiders' accounts. Homosex In Hanoi?

5. This is of course a wel l-established pattern, expressed in language, l iterature,

and politica l rhetoric: i n French, homosexua l ity is known as "/e vice allemand"and "le

vice ita lien "; the English word "bugger" derives from "Bu lgar" ; the expressions "Greek

love" or "/'amour grec " have their cou nterparts in many languages. I n modern African

fiction , accord ing to Cobham, "fi rst the Arab, then the European colonizers are pre­

sented as the sources of all evil and corruption in sub-Sa haran Africa , as evidenced by

their decadent sodom ite practices" (Cobham 1992:46) . See a lso Gold berg's d iscus­

sion of Span ish colon ial accou nts of an I nca story where "sodomy is something that

comes from the outside, and is not native at a l l " ( 199 1 :50). The tendency has crucial

i m pl ications today, when A I DS is regularly conceived as originati ng elsewhere and

imported to a given country by female prostitutes and male homosexuals.

6. See, among others, Bleys ( 1995) , Hya m ( 1990) , J u nod ( 19 1 2-13) .

7 . Female prostitution in South Vietnam during the American period is d iscussed

in Bergman ( 1975) , Mai Thi Tu and Le Thi Nham Tuyet ( 1978), and Eisen ( 1984) .

Recent in itiatives of the Vietnamese government include a " Resolution on Prostitu­

tion Contro l " of January 29, 1993 (Voice of Vietnam 1993) and an a rt ic le i n the

Party's theoretical journal (Bui Thien Ngo 1993 ) . For d rugs see, e.g. , The Struggle

Against Drugs ( 1982) .

8. I use "publ ic sphere" here in a way suggestive of but not intending to impl icate

in its strictest sense Ha bermas's ideal ization of the bourgeois Western Europea n

publ ic sphere of " private people come together as a publ ic" to engage as equals in

"critica l-rationa l d iscou rse" ( 1989) . As I use the term , it encompasses the rea lm of

publ ic d iscou rse (without presupposing that interlocutors are equal or that they a re

ensured of the right to spea k freely) , the rea l m of pub l ic behavior of a l l sorts , the

rea lm of publ ic media , and the rea lm of publ ic spaces and sites.

9. Clearly, the set "those who have engaged in male-to-male sexual ity" and the

set "those who have never married " are overlapping but not identica l . But the behav­

iora l option of exc lusive homosexual ity can not exceed the n u m ber of those who

rema in unmarried , even if homosexual acts may be more widespread and even if not

every bachelor is homosexua l . On the question of U .S . urban ization and the emer­

gence of specific configurations of male homosexual ity, see a mong others R u bi n

( 1 985) , Chauncey ( 1994) , Murray ( 1996) .

10. The English loan word " boy" was used by French colonials to refer to you ng

male servants, regard less of their sexual ity. For Jammes, a l l boys were presumed to

be thieves and blackguards ; for some such as Jacobus X., the presumption was that

they were al l sodom ites. The q uote is am biguous as " ba m bou" has two senses:

Jammes refers to " boys familiers aux bambous, " which could refer to those fami l iar

with the op ium p ipe ( i . e . , " ba m bou " ; cf . Abad ie [ 1 9 1 3 1 :642 and thus ha bitu�s of

opi um dens, or those fami l iar with the brothels, whether as attendants or as prosti­

tutes themselves ( i . e . , " bambou " ; cf. Jacobus X. [ 1893) :33) .

1 1 . Copley points out s imi larly that a lthough prostitution , l i ke homosexual activity,

was not cr im ina l ized under French law, " I t took no more than an 'oe i l lade' (a

provocative look) or a 'geste lascif' (a lewd gesture) to find oneself hau led before the 218

Tribune de Simple Pol ice" (Copley 1989:88) .

12 . On gay tourism , see the d iscussion by B leys ( 1993) ; on colonial era explorers' J•cob Aronson

visions of sexual s in , see Poirier ( 1993) and Bleys ( 1995) ; for the place of homosexu-

a l ity in the British colonia l adventu re see Hya m ( 1 990) ; for d iscussions of sexua l ity

and French and Dutch colon ia l ism, see Stoler ( 1989a , 1989b, 199 1 ) . To my knowl-

edge the study of missionary sexual ity remains to be u ndertaken .

R E F E R E N C E S Abad ie, Jea n . 1913 . Les fumeurs d 'opi u m . Archives d'anthropologie criminelle, de

medecine legale, et de psychologie normale et pathologique 28:63�.

Baron , S[a m uel l . 1 732 [ 1 685] . A Description of the Kingdom of Tonqueen. I n

Awns h a m Churc h i l l and J o h n Churc h i l l , eds . , A Collection o f Voyages and

Travels, 6: 1-40. London : Awnsham Churchi l l and John Church i l l .

Bergman , Arlene Eisen . 1975 . Women of Viet Nam. San Francisco: Peoples Press.

B leys , R u d i . 1993. Homosexual Exi le : The Textual ity of the I maginary Paradise,

1800-1980. Journal of Homosexuality 25: 165-82 .

B leys, R u d i . 1995. The Geography o f Perversion : Male- To-Male Sexual Behavior

Outside the West and the Ethnographic Imagination, 1 750-1918. New York:

New York U n iversity Press.

Bolton , Ra lph. 1992 . Mapping Terra I ncognita : Sex Resea rch for A IDS Prevention . I n

G i lbert Herdt a n d Shirley Lindenbaum, eds . , In the Time o f AIDS, p p . 124-58.

Newbury Park, Cal if. : Sage.

Borri , Chr istopher. 181 1 [ 1 63 1 1 . An Account of Cochin-China. I n John P inkerton ,

ed . , A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Trav­

els in All Parts of the World, 9:772-828. London: Longman et a l .

Bu i Thien Ngo. 1993. Organized Crime, Social Vice and Publ ic Disorder I ncreasing.

Tap Chi Gong San 1993( 10) : 3-6. Tra nslated in BBC Summary of World

Broadcasts FE/1841/B, publ ished November 9, 1993.

Chal mers, J o h n . 1996a . Vietna m 's Com m u n i sts make mark with new vice purge .

Reuters World Service, January 30, 1996.

Chal mers, Joh n . 1996b. Hanoi says fights soc ial evi ls not foreign cu lture. Reuters

World Service, February 9, 1996.

Chal mers, John . 1996c . Vietna m lugs old ideology along new road . Reuters World

Service, Apri l 22, 1996.

Chauncey, George. 1994. Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of

the Gay Male World, 1890-1940. New York: Basic Books.

Cobha m , Rhonda . 1992 . M isgendering the Nation : African Nationa l ist Fiction a nd

Nuruddin Farah 's Maps. I n Andrew Parker et a l . , eds . , Nationalisms and Sex­

ualities, pp. 42-59. New York: Routledge.

Copley, Antony R. H. 1989. Sexual Moralities in France, 1 780-1980: New Ideas on

the Family, Divorce, and Homosexuality. New York: Routledge.

Dao Xuan Dung and Le Th i Nham Tuyet. 1996. Vietnamese Attitudes Rega rd i ng

Gender, Sexua l ity, and Reprod uctive Health . Paper presented at the Asia and

Pacific Regiona l Network on Gender, Sexua l ity, and Reprod uctive Health and

Fora on the Teaching of Health Social Science Conference. Cebu City, Ph i l ip- 219

pines, January 1996.

Davidson, M ichael . 1962. The World, the Flesh, and Myself. London : Arthur Barker. Homosex in Hanoi?

Davidson, M ichael . 1988 1 1 970] . Some Boys. London : G M P Publ ishers.

Demariaux, Jea n-Claude. 1956. Les secrets des lies Poulo-Condore; le grande

bagne lndochinois. Paris: J . Peyronnet.

Eisen , Arlene. 1984. Women and Revolution in Viet Nam. London : Zed Press.

Farrere, Claude. 1905. Les civilises. Paris: Ol lendorff.

Goldberg, Jonathan . 199 1 . Sodomy in the New World : Anthropologies Old and New.

Social Text 29:46-56.

Habermas, JO rgen . 1989[1962] . The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere.

Cambridge: MIT Press.

Hamabata , Matthews Masayu k i . 1 986. Eth nogra phic Bou ndaries: Cu lture, Class,

and Sexua l ity in Tokyo. Qualitative Sociology9:354-7 1 .

Heima n , E l l iott M . and Cao Va n Le . 1975. Tra nssexual ism in Vietna m . Archives of

Sexual Behavior4:89-95.

H iggins, Ross. 1995. M u rder Wi l l Out: Gay Identity and Media Discourse in Montreal .

I n Wi l l iam L. Lea p, ed . , Beyond the Lavender Lexicon: Authenticity, Imagina­

tion, and Appropriation in Lesbian and Gay Languages, pp. 106-32. Amster­

dam: Gordon and Breach .

Hoang Ngoc Tha n h . 199 1 . Vietnam 's Social and Political Development a s Seen

Through the Modern Novel. New York: P. Lang.

Hya m , Rona ld . 1990. Empire and Sexuality: The British Experience. Manchester :

Manchester Un iversity Press .

Jammes, Henri-Ludovic . 1 898. Au pays annamite: notes ethnographiques. Paris :

Augustin Chal lamel .

Jammes, Henri-Ludovic. 1900. Souvenirs du pays d'Annam. Paris: Augustin Challamel.

Joleaud-Barra l , J. de St. Maurice. 1899. La colonisation fran9aise en Annam et au

Tonkin. Paris: E . Pion, Nourrit.

J u nod , Henr i Alexandre . 1 9 1 2- 1 3 . The Life of a South African Tribe. Neuchate l ,

Switzerland : Atti nger freres.

Kherian , G. 1937. Le probleme demographique en l ndochine . Revue lndochinoise

Juridique et Economique 1 :3-38.

Kobiet. 1953. Nguyen- Thi-Ba; histoire d'une congai annamite. Nancy: Berger-Levrault.

Kul ick, Don and Margaret Wil lson, eds. 1995. Taboo: Sex, Identity, and Erotic Sub-

jectivity in Anthropological Fieldwork. New York: Routledge.

La Bissachere, Pierre-Jacq ues Lemonn ier de. 1807 , see Maybon 1920.

La Bissachere, Pierre-Jacques Lemonnier de. 1812 , see Montyon 1812 .

Le Dua n . 1976. Let Our Ent ire People U n ite to Bu i ld Our Reun ified and Soc ia l ist

Fatherla n d . In Le Dua n , This Nation and Socialism Are One (ed . Tra n Van

Dinh) , pp. 1 7 5-2 1 1 . Chicago: Vanguard Books.

Lewi n , E l len and Wi l l iam Lea p, eds. 1996. Out in the Field: Reflections of Lesbian

and Gay Anthropologists. U rbana: Un iversity of I l l inois Press.

Mai Thi Tu and Le Thi Nham Tuyet. 1978. Women in Viet Nam. 2d ed. Hanoi : For­

eign Languages Publ ishing House.

Matigno n , Jean-Jacques. 1900. Deux mots sur le pederastie. I n h is Superstition, 220

crime et misere en Chine, pp. 187-209. Lyon : A. Storck .

Maybon , Charles B . 1920. La relation sur le Tonkin et Ia Cochinchine de Mr. de La J•cob Aronson

Bissachere. Paris: Edouard Champion .

Meijer, M . J . 1985. Homosexual Offences in Ch' ing Law. T'oung Pao 7 1 : 109-33.

M ontyon , Antoine de . 1 8 1 2 . Etat actuel du Tunkin, de Ia Cochinchine et des roy­

aumes de Cambodge, Laos et Lac- Tho par M. de La Bissachere. Par is :

Ga l ignan i .

M urray, Stephen 0. 1994. T h e W i l l Not t o Know: Trad itional a n d Recent Accommo­

dations of Homosexual ity i n Med iterranean and Southwestern Asian Is lamic

societies. Manuscri pt, 25 pp.

Ng, Vivien W. 1989. Homosexua l i ty and the State in Late I m perial China. I n Mart in

Bauml Duberman , Martha Vic inus, and George Chauncey, eds. Hidden from

History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past, pp. 76-89. New York : New

American Library.

Nguyen Ngoc Huy and Ta Van Ta n . 1987. The Le Code: Law in Traditional Vietnam: A

Comparative Sino-Vietnamese Legal Study with Historical-Juridical Analysis

and Annotations. Athens: Ohio U niversity Press.

Nguyen Van H uyen . 1944 ! 1939] . La civilisation annamite. Hanoi : D irection de I' I n ­

struction Pub l iq ue de l ' l ndoch ine . [Written i n 1939 but pub l ished on ly i n

1944. ]

Nguyen Van Phong. 197 1 . La societe vietnamienne de 1882 a 1 902, d'apres les

ecrits des auteurs fran�ais. Paris: Presses U n iversita i res de France.

Phi lastre, Paul-Louis-Fel ix. 1909. Le code annamite. Paris: E. Leroux.

Poirier, Guy. 1993 . French Rena issance Travel Accou nts: I mages of S in , Visions of

the New World . Journal of Homosexuality 25: 2 1 5--39.

Proschan , Fra n k . 1990. How Is a Fol k lorist Like a R idd le? Southern Folklore

47:57-66.

Pujarniscle, Eugene. 193 1 . Philoxene: ou, de Ia litterature colonia/e. Paris: F irmin­

Didot .

Reuters. 1997. Furor Erupts Over Vietna m's Fi rst Gay Wedding. Reuters World Ser­

vice, Apri l ? , 1997 .

R ichard, M . I' Abbe [Jerome]. 1 778. Histoire naturelle, civile et politique du Tonquin.

Paris: Moutard .

R ich burg, Keith B . 1996. Ha noi Wa kes U p to Vice. Washington Post, January 29,

1996.

Roux, Dr. [ Emi le?] . 1905. Contribution a I ' etude anthropologiq ue de I 'Annamite tonk­

inois. Bulletins et Memoires de Ia Societe d'anthropologie de Paris ser. 5,

6:32 1-50.

R u bin , Gayle. 1984. Thinking Sex: Notes for a Rad ical Theory of the Politics of Sexu­

a l ity. In Carol Vance, ed . , Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female Sexuality,

pp. 267-3 19. New York: Routledge.

Seizer, Susa n . 1995. Paradoxes of Visib i l ity in the Field : R ites of Queer Passage i n

Anthropology. Public Culture 8:73-100.

Sol , Bernard and Daniel Haranger. 1930. Recueil general et methodique de Ia legis- 221

lation et de Ia reglementation des colonies franr;aises. Par is : Soc iete d 'edi-

t ions geographiques, maritimes et coloniales. Homosex In Hanoi?

Stoler, Ann La ura. 1989a . Mak ing Emp i re Respecta ble : The Pol it ics of Race and

Sexual Moral ity i n 20th-Century Cultures. American Ethnologist 16:634-60.

Stoler, Ann Laura . 1 989b. Reth i n ki ng Colonia l Categories: European Comm u n ities

and the Boundaries of R u l e . Comparative Studies in Society and History

13: 134-6 1 .

Stoler, Ann La ura . 199 1 . Carnal Knowledge and I m perial Power: Gender, Race, and

Moral ity i n Colon ia l Asia . In M icael i d i Leonardo, ed . , Gender at the Cross­

roads of Knowledge: Feminist Anthropology in the Postmodern Era, pp.

51-101 . Berkeley: Un iversity of Ca l ifornia Press.

The Struggle Against Drugs. 1982. Special issue of Vietnamese Studies 66: 1-1 1 1 .

Truong C h i n h . 1977 . Selected Writings. Hano i : Foreign La nguages Pub l ish ing

House.

U nited States Population Census. 1990. 1990 Census of Population: General Popu­

lation Characteristics: United States. Washington D.C . : Bureau of the Census.

Vietnam Population Census. 1989. Completed Census Results, vol . 1. Hanoi : Centra l

Census Steering Committee.

Voice of Vietnam . 1990. Fifth Phase of Crime Crack-Down Begins. Translated in BBC

Summary of World Broadcasts FE/0745/B/1 . Broadcast Apr i l 16, 1990; pub­

l ished Apri l 23, 1990.

Voice of Vietnam. 1993. Resolution on Prostitution Control . Translated i n BBC Sum­

mary of World Broadcasts FE/1 623/B . B roadcast February 1 1 , 1993; pub­

l ished February 26, 1993.

Wa rren , Carol A. B . 1988. Gender Issues in Field Research. Newbury Park, Cal if . :

Sage.

Whitehead, Tony Larry and Mary El len Conaway, eds. 1986. Self, Sex, and Gender in

Cross-Cultural Fieldwork. U rbana: U n iversity of I l l i nois Press.

Wi l l iams, Walter L. 1993 . Being gay and doing research on homosexual ity in non­

Western cultures. Journal of Sex Research 30.

X . , Jacobus. 1 893. L'amour aux colonies: singularites physiologiques et passion­

nelles . . . Paris: Is idore Liseux.

Yeager, Jack Andrew. 1987 . The Vietnamese Novel in French: A Literary Response to

Colonialism. Hanover: Un iversity Press of New England.

Private Acts, Public Space: Defining Boundaries

in Nineteenth-Century Hol land

T H E O V A N D E R M E E R

On January 4, 1827 , the H igh Court of the Netherlands i n The Hague d is­cha rged ten men who had a ppea led a verd ict by a cou rt in Amsterd a m . Some four months before, a l l o f them had been found gui lty o f publ ic inde­cencies with one another a nd sentenced to the maxi m u m pena lty under the law. 1 The pub l ic indecency statute (art ic le 330 ) of the French pena l code, wh ich was enforced i n the Netherlands i n 181 1 after Napoleon had an nexed the cou ntry, sti pu lated a m i n i m u m of th ree months and a maxi­mum of one year of incarceration , as wel l as a maximum fine of 200 French francs, usua l ly converted to 100 Dutch gui lders.2

Although the enforcement of this penal code offic ia l ly brought a long the decrimina l ization of same-sex behavior, it d id not mean that men engaging i n such behavior were set free of lega l action . The appe l l ants were by no means the on ly ones i n the Netherlands convicted under this statute . Si nce 181 1 prosecutors sometimes rigorously pursued sentences of this kind for "sodom ites . " Art ic le 330 d id not a pply to sa me-sex behavior per se, yet men who had engaged in such behavior outn um bered by th ree or four to one men and women ( usual ly prostitutes) who were accused of publ ic sex­ual acts . In the case of the latter usua l ly the m in imum pena lty was a ppl ied , whereas the fi rst always got the maxi m u m . Even though a rt ic le 330 nowhere sa id anyth i ng a bout the gender of " perpetrators" of pub l ic i nde­cencies, i n case of ma le-with-male , sometimes verd icts spoke of an i nde­cency i n the "h ighest degree . "3 As I wi l l show later, evidence i n such cases was often rather f l imsy, the i ndecencies themselves left much to the imagi­nation , whi le the very notion of " publ ic" i n such cases was stretched to the l i m it . Whatever the ten a ppel la nts in 1827 had been found gu i lty of, they had done it i nside a room.

One of the a ppel lants, Adam Cornel issen , provided the H igh Court with a n eloq uently bu i lt lega l expose about notions of " publ ic" and " private . " He showed that neigh bors who had testified aga i nst h i m and the others had

1 1

been spyi ng on the m . He a rgued that there was no such th i ng as pub l ic 224

i ndecency or pub l ic space without the presence of u nwi l l i ng witnesses. Conseq uently the H igh Cou rt d ischarged the appel lants because it consid- Theo van

ered the cha rges brought aga i nst them in Amsterdam not proven .4 G iven der Meer

everyth i ng that had occurred , and espec ia l ly given Corne l i ssen 's a rgu-ments , th is was a ha lf-hea rted judgment at best. Nonetheless, it was Cor­nel issen 's defense that would resound in s im i la r cases and verd icts later i n the n ineteenth centu ry. I n newly fought defi n it ions, if not j ust the actua l , a l so the sym bol ic mean ings of " private" and " publ ic" began only i n a very l im ited sense to refer to " i ns ide" and "outside" or, for that matter, to physi-ca l space. " Private space" a lso beca me the representation of an interiority or subjectivity and in th is case a homosexual self-awareness that had a lso become an i nner sanctum .

I n th is paper I wa nt to show that men l i ke Corne l i ssen i n t he i r battles aga inst courts com pel led society i nto recogn izing the physica l , soc ia l , and

cu ltura l bounda ries of phenomena that had gradua l ly emerged s i nce the late seventeenth centu ry : sa me-sex subcu l tures and the existence of sodom ites as a category in their own right. I a lso want to show that modern notions about " publ ic" and " private" evolved i n n i neteenth-century Hol land a round tria ls l i ke those of Adam Cornel issen and h is friends. The outcome of the appea l of Cornel issen and h is friends im pl ies that the ram ifications of his a rguments go beyond a h istory of homosexual i ty that l im its itse lf to its own s i ngula r ity. Homosexua l i ty may seem to be an obscure subject to mainstream historiogra phy; it is sometimes pivota l to that very mainstream . Corne l issen 's a rguments a bout " pu bl i c " and " private" a re a t t h e bas is of any democracy: how a democratic state relates to its c it izens , or for that matter, how c it izens relate to one another i n a democratic state . I ndeed Cornel issen's arguments are echoed i n modern notions a bout self-determi­nat ion and personal i ntegrity, that determ ine l ife i n a democracy. Or to put i t i n other words , the state itself was redefi ned through lega l battles such as Cornelissen's. I do not wish to suggest that Ada m Cornel issen si ngle-hand­edly created a democracy; I wish to make clea r, however, that h istory-a lso that of the emergence of modern states-in the end is not j ust a h istory of great ideas or the battles of great men . It is a lso a h istory of common people who aga i nst the odds have compel led powers much greater then them­selves to recognize them as a utonomous i nd iv id ua ls who a re entit led to determ ine their own l ives . Adam Cornel issen was j ust a young petty mer­chant from Amsterda m .

My story i m pl ies someth ing else: si nce M iche l Fouca u l t pub l ished the fi rst vol ume of his History of Sexuality i n 1976, a ca non i n h istor iogra phy has emerged that considers the medica l ization of homosexual ity in the sec-

ond ha lf of the n i neteenth century as the most decis ive source for the emer­gence of homosexua l roles and ident it ies. Accord i ng to th is ca non , u nt i l then most sa me-sex behavior was casua l , accidenta l , j ust an eru ption of l ust; sodomy su pposed ly was just an act, homosexual ity on the other hand was the reflection of a personal i ty. Apparently the medica l profess ion pro­vided the world with new notions a bout homosexua l l ity as a mora l pathology and about the existence of a th i rd sex: men with an innate female sou l . 5

However, sodomy was never considered to be "j ust an act" ; q u ite the contra ry! Centu ry-old d iscourses on human desi res-that a lso had roots in ant iq u ity-cla imed that sodomy was the u lt i mate outcome of g luttonous behavior. Each form of gl uttony, or "excess of d iet"-lasc iv ious d ri n k ing and eating, or dressi ng, gambl ing, whoring-would provoke new passions.6 Sodomy could origi nate i n someth ing that was " natu ra l , " a Dutch author

observed i n 1 730. Accord ing to his and other a uthors' a rguments, a vice once tasted s i nged the senses a nd ca used a crav i ng for more and for worse . Such an u ndersta n d i ng of des i res was rooted i n Platon ism and mind/body d istinctions that impl ied on ly a feeble control of reason over cor­pora l crav ings . l As I have a rgued e lsewhere, more tha n j ust ph i losophy, such ideas were pa rt of l i ved exper iences that even show u p i n court records. Once a person reached the pit of h is cravi ngs-same sex desi res and behavior-he would " hold on to them , " as court records of sodomy tri­als preced ing the enforcement of the French pena l code in 181 1 say, over and over aga i n , both by words of prosecutors and of those prosecuted . Such ind ivid uals would sed uce others and spread the vice.

Supposed ly, it was the medical ization that through its notions of a th i rd sex fi rst l i nked homosexual behavior with gender.8 Yet aga i n , th is assertion does not sta nd up to scruti ny. A l ready i n the s ixteenth and seventeenth centur ies, commentators spoke of an "effem i nate d isease" in rega rds to sa me-sex behavior.9 The word "effem inate" l i n ked to "d isease" meant to such commentators that men who engaged in sa me-sex practices morally

resembled women . Females were supposed to b e mora l ly i nferior to ma les because, a ppar­

ently, their bod ies were an i nferior version of those of males . 10 At the very least, they were supposed to be endowed by nature with an i nsatiable l ust in their wom bs , that could only be contro l led when they submitted them­selves to the h ierarchy between the sexes. By i ndu lging i n gluttony, males lost contro l over the i r bod ies, and as such they resem bled women . No dou bt, i n the late n i neteenth-century d iscourses "the homosexua l " was set a pa rt from h i s heterosexua l cou nterparts by " nature" and as such "he" became a persona l ity. "The sodomite , " on the other hand , was supposed to have deve loped h i s condit ion th rough h i s lack of se lf-contro l . Yet as a n

225

Dlfinln& the

Boundaries in

Ninttttnth-Century

Holland

i nsatia ble, effeminate being he was no less-al beit d ifferent-a personal ity, 22&

than h is n i neteenth-century successor was. In med ica l d iscourses "the" homosexua l was not " i nvented " as it is Theo van

often c la imed ; h i s existence, wh ich had a l ready f i rm roots i n common der Meer

sense, was rather scientifica l ly acknowledged and endorsed and ga ined a new status of ind isputa ble scientific truth . 1 1 It was the fact that "sodomites" had become a category i n the i r own right that both ena bled the cou rts i n the early n i neteenth centu ry to prosecute them the way they d id , a nd that ena bled these men to put up forms of resistance aga i nst an host i le environ-

ment. To put the n i neteenth-century pu b l ic i ndecency tr ia ls in a proper context, I wi l l fi rst turn to the enforcement of the French pena l code in the Netherlands and I wil l a lso put these tria ls in an h istorica l perspective .

Pol itical Context of the French Penal Code in the Netherlands

For the Netherlands the last two decades of the eighteenth century and the fi rst decade of the n ineteenth century, l i ke for most of the rest of Europe, had been turbulent yea rs. Democratic u prisi ngs i n the 1 780s-put to a pre­l im ina ry end in 1 787 by fore ign interference (Pruss ian troops and Engl ish money)-had been fo l l owed by a French i nvas ion i n 1 795. The French troops and loca l revolutionaries sea led the fate of the a ncien regime of the Repu bl ic of the Un ited Provinces . 1 2 This republ ic had been a quagmi re of seven v i rtua l ly independent provinces where no one or no institute ( least of all the House of Orange)---except for a fi nancia l ol igarchy-seemed to re ign su preme, and where every city and every loca l cou rt jealously guarded its age-old sovereignty. If th is republ ic had indeed been a pol itica l quagm i re­and for a l l its lack of a centra l power, a near d i plomatic n ightmare to John Ada ms, America's fi rst envoy to the Netherlands13-so its crim ina l justice system had been . In the western provi nce of Hol land alone, there had been more than two hundred courts with j u risd iction in cri m i na l and/or c iv i l cases . 14 Roman law, Em peror Cha rles V 's s ixteenth-century Constitutio

Crimina/is Carolina, customary law, provincia l , regiona l , a nd city statutes for centuries had decided over defenda nts' fates.

From the ashes of this repub l ic in 1 795 a new one a rose : the Batavian Republ ic , na med after a Germanic tri be ( Batavieren) that supposed ly at the dawn of the Chr ist ia n era had i nha bited the swa m ps from which the Low Countries emerged a mi l lenn ium later. The tri be's freedom-loving virtues , of legendary proport ions, had ena bled it to rise aga i nst Roman conquerors . 1 5 With republ ican fervor, o r a t least with revolutionary zea l , and in the name of liberte, ega lite, a nd fraternite after 1 795 the reborn citoyens went to battle aga inst one another over the pol itica l structu re of the country. At stake was

the question how u n ita ria n the new repu bl ic was to be. ( I t must be sa id , however, that these citoyens l i ked their velvet: despite severa l cou p d 'etats between 1 795 and 1800 the Batavia n repub l ic never suffered the explo­sions of violence that accompan ied the French Revolution . ) The new repu b­

l ic surely was less glorious tha n its predecessor had been , and its l ifespan was curta i led by Napoleo n . I n 1806 he turned the cou ntry i nto one of Fra nce's sate l l ite ki ngdoms u nder the reign of h is brother Lou is , on ly to an nex it in 1810, because Lou is fa i led to dance to h is big brother's p ip ing. Yet, whatever the fa u lts of the shortly l ived Batavian republ ic and the even shorter l ived Royaume des Pays Bas may have been , they la id the founda­t ions for the modern Dutch state . Before the eighteenth centu ry ended the

Nether lands had a centra l government, a n e lected nationa l convention , a constitution , re l ig ious freedom, and a declaration of human rights. I n one th ing the sq uabb l ing revol utiona ries fa i led however: when i n 1809 fi na l ly a

new un itar ian crim ina l code was approved by the nationa l convention , it was too late . Whi le th is crim ina l code was not yet enforced because the lega l sys­tem sti l l needed to be reformed , the country suddenly fou nd itself ruled by an em peror in Paris a nd was en riched with a pena l code of foreign making.

Although the end of the Napoleonic era came soon and Hol land saw its i ndependence restored in 1 8 1 3 a nd tu rned i nto a monarchy u nder the retu rned House of Ora nge , despite many attem pts to replace the French pena l code, i t wou ld last unt i l 1886. U p to 1840 each fa i led new d raft of a Dutch crim i na l code i ntended to recrim ina l ize homosexua l behavior. 16

Public I ndecency Trials in Historical Perspective

Ever s i nce the Counc i l of Nab lus i n the twelfth century had decla red

sodomy (ana l i ntercourse with male or female , as wel l as bestia l ity) a cri me that could be prosecuted by ecclesiastica l and secu lar courts , men in the Low Cou ntries have been prosecuted on such charges . Southern pa rts ( F la nders-Belg i u m ) witnessed some severe persec utions in the fifteenth and s ixteenth centur ies . 1 7 In northern pa rts (the present Nether la nds) prosecut ion by a nd la rge rema i ned i nc identa l u nt i l the late seventeenth century. In the fi na l qua rter of that centu ry, the n u m ber of sodomy tr ia ls here gradua l ly bega n to increase, unt i l a rather sudden outburst of such tri­als occurred in 1 730. Between 1 730 a nd 1 732 some 350 men were prose­cuted . About 80 of them suffered the death pena lty; most of the rest man­aged to f lee the i r c it ies or the cou ntry and were proh ib i ted to retu rn on pena lty of more severe pun ishment. 18

Aside from inc identa l sodomy tr ia l s , severa l other waves of a rrests occurred in the course of the eighteenth centu ry: in 1 764 in Amsterdam, i n

227

Dllinin1 the

Boundaries in

Nineteenth-Century

Holland

1 776 i n severa l cit ies i n the provi nces of Ho l land and Utrecht, aga i n i n 228

Amsterdam and other c it ies i n the before-mentioned prov inces between 1 795 and 1 798. Altogether, between 1 730 and 181 1 some 800 sodomy tri- Theo van

a ls were been held here . 19 Women, aside from cross-dressers who tried to der Meer

pass as sold iers or sa i lors and who had managed to marry other women ,20 were hardly prosecuted . It was only in Amsterdam in the 1 790s that severa l women who were accused of same-sex acts , stood tria l . 2 1

The series of tria ls i n 1 730, 1 764, and 1 776 fol lowed the more-or- less accidenta l d iscoveries of networks of sodomites. These tria ls a lso laid bare the existence of elaborate subcu ltures : numerous publ ic and private meet­ing sites a l l over the cou ntry; forms of bod i ly comportment, l i ke signs and signa ls used by partici pants in these subcu ltures, as wel l as a more-or-less specific sodomitica l sla ng; jealously guarded love affa i rs ; a lot of role-play­i ng with effeminacy and travesty-went on i n these subcu ltures. 22

In 1 730 a man i n Utrecht who was to be locked away i n a house of cor­

rect ion beca use of h i s quarre lsome behavior told the court that the yea r before he had seen somebody sodomiz ing another ma n . He was a b le to identify th is "sodom ite " and when the latter was ta ken i nto custody and confessed , a rrests bega n to ava la nche a l l over the country. S im i la r occur­rences took place when i n 1 764 a sold ier was arrested i n Amsterdam and charged with severa l robberies, and aga i n i n 1 776, when two men stood tria l in that city for sel l i ng forged bonds.23

Awa iting h is sentence i n 1 764 the sold ier sudden ly confessed to same­sex practices and revealed nu merous names of accompl ices to the court, resu lt ing i n a wave of a rrests . During the 1 776 tria l , the warder d iscovered letters of a scurr i lous natu re in the l uggage of the forgers . I nvestigati ng these letters, once aga i n the cou rt h it u pon the existence of a network of sodom ites to which the forgers themse lves belonged , aga i n result ing in a roundup of cu l prits.

Despite the quagmi re nature of the lega l system in the Netherlands and despite the wide ra nge of crim ina l laws that could be a ppl ied , the cou rts usua l ly pa i nsta ki ngly fol lowed ru les for tria l proced u res. Arrests could be made only if a prosecutor had clear ind ications of actua l sexual acts com­mitted by a suspect. Verd icts of courts all over the country c losely related to the specific sexual acts defendants were accused of, the extent of the ava i l­a ble evidence, and espec ia l ly the a bsence or presence of a confess ion .

Death pena lties were on ly appl ied i n cases i nvolving ana l i ntercourse; mutu­a l masturbation was usual ly met with sentences to decades of solitary con­fi nement . A confession was an a bsol ute req u i rement for a death pena lty and other forms of corpora l pun ishment executed i n pub l ic . Moreover, i n case of the death pena lty, most courts were obl iged to consult j urists outside

the i r own j u risd iction . These j u r ists wou ld ca refu l ly we igh the arguments 229

and the ava i lable evidence. Such comments , which were often publ ished i n spec ia l co l l ect ions t o serve as a form o f j u r isprudence, together with the Definina the

a ppl icat ion of Roman Law (the mother of a l l laws) provided a surpr is ing Boundaries I n

un ity i n the bewi ldering number of d ifferent k inds of laws and pena lties.24 Nineteenth-Century

Although suspects cou ld be put u nder torture-in case of a poss i b le Holland

scaffold i ng when there was a bundant proof but only a confession was m iss­

ing-courts were rather re l uctant in a pplyi ng such means. It was clearly i n nobody's i nterest to make people confess to th i ngs they had never done. However pa i nfu l the sentences were i n th is period , the att itudes of most prosecutors and j udges may be ca l led exemp lary compared to those of some of their successors beginn ing in 1 795.25

It was especia l ly in Amsterdam when , as pa rt of the Batavian revo lution , the old guard was removed from office, that men were put on tria l j ust for mak ing (verba l ) passes at other men . So fa r, as a sol ic itor had stated i n 1 730, the mere wish to com mit sodomy d i d not constitute a cr ime. 26 After 1 795 a new quasi- lega l expression that referred to sexual i ntentions entered the voca bulary of the court in Amsterdam: "tentamen sodomitica m . " When considered proven , such a "tentamen" was usua l l y met with one or two years of sol ita ry confi nement.27 U nt i l 1 798-when torture was a bol ished­some men charged with a "tentamen" were even put on the rack , some­t imes just for th i ngs they supposed ly had sa i d . In 1 797 Thomas Gouwes was sentenced to two years of sol itary confi nement, because he apparently had to ld a nother man that he had "wa nted to tuck h i m . " Gouwes had denied these charges a lso when he was subjected to a whipp ing. 28

The a bo l ish ment of torture d id not exactly i m prove the posit ion of sus­pects . At the sa me ti me by decree of the Nat iona l Conventio n , courts i n pa rts o f Hol land from then on were a l lowed t o sentence on the basis o f what actua l l y was a l ready practice in Amsterdam s i nce 1 795. "Conviction"­basica l l y on c i rcumsta nti a l evidence-could suffice to pronou nce a verd ict. 29 I do not wa nt to suggest that after 1 795 " i n nocent" people were prosecuted . Lega l practice after 1 795 rather shows that prosecutors and

judges, if they could not accuse a suspect of actual sexual acts , could con­vict a suspect based on what he was presumed to be.

For those who loved others of the i r own sex, the enforcement of the French pena l code i n 181 1 meant that they could count the i r b less ings. The approved 1809 draft of a Dutch crim ina l code, i n accordance with tra­d it ion, sti l l had put severe penalties on homosexual acts . Yet, a lthough the i ntrod uction of the French pena l code offic ia l ly i m pl ied the decrim ina l iza­tion of same-sex behavior, the appl ication of the publ ic indecency act after 1 8 1 1 mea nt that sodom ites were not set free of prosecut ion . I n fact it

meant a conti nuation of a lega l practice that had a l ready sta rted i n 1 795. 230

The notions of pu b l ic and private, as used by the courts , were a mere excuse to prosecute men l i ke Adam Cornel issen in 1826: men whom they Theo van

knew or suspected to be "sodom ites . " Although verd icts i n Corne l issen 's der Meer

and s im i l a r cases referred to a rt ic le 330 i n the pena l code , freq uently phrases l i ke "the crime of sodomy" or "cr imen nefandum" a lso appear in the records , despite the fact that with the enforcement of the French pena l code, sa me-sex practices-if not i n effect-had officia l ly been decrim inal-ized . Th is penal code offered one-if l im ited-advantage: u nder previous laws, it had been n igh im poss ib le to a ppea l a verd ict. However, most who did were , u n l i ke Cornel issen , not very successfu l .

Public Indecency Trials

In 1816 , fol lowing the murder i n Utrecht of what tu rned out to be a young blackmai ler, the pol ice arrested severa l suspects . The prime suspect was a known sodomite . Aside from these men being questioned about thei r possi ­ble i �volvement i n the murder, they were a lso i nterrogated about the i r sexu­a l activities . Some of them admitted that they had had sex at sq uares and in pub l ic toi lets i n that c ity, and a lso mentioned the na mes of men they had encou ntered at such s ites . 30 L ike what had happened with waves of eigh­teenth-century sodomy tria ls , a rrests began to avalanche, wh i le many fled the city. Suspects were i nterrogated in a deta i led man ner, not j ust a bout their sexual behavior at publ ic sites, but a lso a bout th ings they had done in the privacy of the ir homes. Once aga i n the court i n Utrecht la id ba re the existence of a network and it even prod uced sociograms , descr ib i ng who was acq uai nted with whom and who had had sex with whom.31 Some of the names that appear in the records of these tria ls were a l ready known by this or other courts s i nce the previous centu ry. The prosecutor spec ifica l ly asked suspects a bout the i nvolvement of a certa i n Dr. G reeve , who had d ied i n 1815 . As ear ly as 1 792 Greeve had faced sodomy charges, but had been acq u itted .32 Another suspect, Wi l l em Bolderma n , had been sen­tenced i n h is absence i n 1 798 by a court i n The Hague.33 Meeti ng s ites i n Utrecht mentioned i n the 1 8 1 6 tr ia ls were the very sa me that had fi rst appeared in records of sodomy trials in 1676, 1 72 1 , and 1 730. Records of i ndecency tria ls i n other cities show the same proced ures .34

The prosecutor, P ieter Wi l lem Prov6 Kl u it , used th is i nformation to charge 29 men (about half of them in their a bsence) and had them convict­ed for publ ic indecency, a lthough no witnesses had stepped forward who had ever seen them indu lge in such activities. I ndeed , most of these men were found gui lty on the basis of confessions of those who had been arrest-

ed fi rst .35 As if noth ing had cha nged , some verd icts sa id that "over and 231

beyond " a publ ic i ndecency, the "cu lprits" had perpetrated "the gruesome crime of sodomy. "36 Dellninl lht

Elsewhere men were found gui lty of publ ic i ndecencies, just for making Boundaries In

verba l passes at other men i n publ ic spaces . I n many such cases there was Nineteenth-Cantury

only one witness to these i ndecencies, the "victi m " of the "assau lt, " whi le Holland

the records piously mention that decency forbade one to write the actua l occurrences down on pa per. Victims of such verba l assa u lts often were sol-d iers stand ing guard at publ ic bu i ld ings. The freq uency of such events, as wel l as the often scanty test imon ies and a lso the defense of the deta inees suggest that sold iers regu la rly engaged in prostitut ion and conseq uent blackma i iY

On many occasions i t was rather the reputation o f the defendant tha n h i s actua l acts that determi ned a conviction or an acqu itta l . Someti mes defenda nts i ndeed were acq u itted , when neigh bors , doctors , and church m in isters c la i med them to be respecta ble c itizens . Th is occurred to Evert Bosteen after h i s doctor declared i n 1827 that the man was respecta ble and had only consu lted h im a few days before h is ar rest with com pla i nts a bout his pen is , and that he was not ca pa ble of a ny sexua l act.38 Two drunken men who one even ing had been found i ntertwined with one anoth­er on a sidewa lk were acq u itted when neighbors testified that these drunks were known to be decent fa m i ly men . 39 Others were fou nd gu i lty when i nformers wou ld testify a bout the bad reputat ions the defenda nts had . When i n 1814 Freder ik Bontje was a rrested i n Amsterdam beca use sup­posed ly he had made a pass at a sa i lor-the only witness i n this case-the head of the pol ice told the court that Bontje was known to be gui lty of th is k ind of "gruesome cr imes. "40 Consequently Bontje was sentenced . Recid i­v ists espec ia l ly stood no cha nce whatsoever, as ide from the fact that in their case the maximum pena lty could be doubled .41

And it could be worse: as late as 1846 Pieter Wi l lem Prov6 Klu it, who had

been in office si nce the late eighteenth century and who had become presi­dent of a provincia l court , sentenced a man to eight years i n prison and a publ ic whipping, because when making a pass at another man in a bam , he supposed ly had rough ly pul led that man's arm. (Aside from the death penal­ty, which was abol ished in 1870, it was to be one of the last corpora l pun ish­ments appl ied in Hol land . ) The only witnesses were two pol ice officers, who had been outside the ba rn and who told the court that they had heard some ye l l i ng i ns ide .42 Whi le the prosecutor at fi rst had wa nted to th row the case out of court, Prov6 Klu it, pra ised by his contemporaries for his i ntegrity and deep sense of just ice,43 had ordered h im to use a rt ic le 33 1 of the pena l code, which dealt with violent acts upon the honor (chastity) of a person .

Prov6 Klu it's actions i n th is case are not devoid of a certa i n bitter i rony. 232

Artic le 33 1 , wh ich put a maxi m u m of fifteen yea rs on v io lent sexua l assa u lts, was seldom a ppl ied to ra pists. I f a woman was ra ped outdoors, Theo van

the perpetrator, if tried at a l l , was more l i kely to be prosecuted under the der Meer

publ ic indecency statute , with a maximum pena lty of one year. Perha ps i n the best o f a l l possi ble wor lds , prosecutors tu rned to th i s a rt ic le because they fe lt a pu bl ic indecency was easier to prove . However, in 1845 Prov6 Klu it had rejected a prosecutor's a rguments based on a rticle 330 aga inst a man who was accused of the ra pe of a woman in a field . Accord i ng to Prov6 K lu it, a publ ic indecency could never occur aga inst a person and only with m utua l consent.44 Aside from the fact that he considered the ra pe not proven (wh ich would have made a rticle 33 1 a ppl icable) , Prov6 Klu it's argu-ments a bout pub l ic indecency wou ld have made sense, only if he h imself had used them in cases aga inst sodomites as wel l . Yet, on the contrary, in cases of the many men he prosecuted i n h is long career for making passes at other men , it was exactly th is mutual consent that was lacking.

There may be one d ifference com pared to the situation pr ior to 181 1 . Even though most people prosecuted before the enforcement of the French pena l code came from the lower or lower m idd le c lasses, in many of the tria l records names were mentioned of upper-class people who partici pated

in the s u bcu l tures, a l so at the pub l ic meeti ng s ites . Not so in 1 8 1 6 or i n other " i ndecency tria ls" i n the n ineteenth century. That may b e due t o the d i fferent type of records generated by tria ls before and after 181 1 .45 Yet, perha ps it a lso meant that upper-c lass people had grown less dependent on temptations offered by the streets .46

The way i n which the pub l ic i ndecency statute was used aga i nst "sodomites" was in sharp contrast with the way in which the French penal code i n genera l was appl ied in the Netherlands. Both pol itic ians and ju rists fe lt that th is pena l code was a l ien to the sp i rit of the Dutch nation : it was considered to be much too harsh! Judges, especia l ly in non-ca pita l cases, often put all their creativity i nto a mi ld a ppl ication of the penal code. Rather than a pplying the severe penalties the code req u i red , e .g . , for theft or vio­lence, they sometimes acquitted men in their forties because, due to their young age, they were considered to have been ignorant of the seriousness of such crimes.47 The French penal code was a lso considered to be a l ien to the spi rit of the nation beca use it did not deal with sa me-sex acts . Ad m it­ted ly, there was some truth in this comment. Although the Paris ian pol ice in the previous century had kept close track of "sodomites" and ha rassed and lu red them with decoys, most of those put under arrest d id not spend much more then a couple of weeks i n ja i l ,48 whereas the persecutions in Hol land in the eighteenth century, however l im ited , were the worst i n ear ly modern

Europe . Pu bl ic i ndecency tria ls in early n i neteenth-century France seem to 233

have been much ra rer than in Hol land. On the other hand the lega l position of "sodomites" in the Netherlands , when arrested , may have been some- Dlflnin1 the

what more sol id . At least they got a tria l , whereas men who suffered a rrests Boundaries in

for pub l ic indecencies in France were often su bjected to adm in istrative Nineteenth-Century

decrees , wh ich cou ld mea n anyth ing from be ing put in a n asyl u m for a Holland

whi le , a couple of months of i ncarceration , or being relocated .49 It was espec ia l ly the tria l of Johan Klanck, who i n 1816 had murdered a

young blackmai ler, that betrays the fee l ings of Dutch j urists and pol itic ians about the absence of a sodomy law i n the penal code. Prov6 Klu it , who was a lso the prosecutor in this tria l , went out of h is way to get the death pena lty for Kla nck . K lanck one day had made a pass at 1 6-year-old Johan Schroven. The boy had made h im pay dearly, col lecting money from h im a couple of t imes a week for severa l months. After h is a rrest Klanck told how one day he had suggested that the boy should offer h i m sexua l favors for h is money. Angri ly the boy had attacked h i m , accord i ng to Kla nck , who, wh i le defend ing h i mself, had accidenta l ly k i l led the youth . Ma nsla ughter was not a capita l crime un less it was preceded by another felony or m isde­meanor. Prov6 Klu it , without a shred of evidence, managed to convince the court that it had not been the boy who had attacked Klanck, but that Klanck had tr ied a violent sexual assau lt (art icle 33 1 ) on the boy, 50 the same article he would use th i rty years later to convict a man for roughly pu l l i ng another man's arm.

Klanck was sentenced to be hanged .51 When h is wife appealed to the king for grace ,52 both Prov6 Klu it and a com mittee of the H igh Court i n the fiercest terms advised the king to reject the req uest. Although hardly a logi­ca l a rgument aga inst the qu ite common roya l favor, Prov6 K lu it advised the

king to reject the req uest because the d iscovery of "other thugs who exer­c ise that handwork of manstu prat ion (s ic ) and sodom itica l f i l thy th i ngs"

had made it possib le to force a confession from Klanck.53 With arguments that fitted the wish to recrim ina l ize same-sex behavior, the H igh Court stat­ed that "however d ifficu lt it may be to stop with laws the unnatura l vice that has come i nto vogue so much in the Netherlands, in cases l i ke this-when that vice resu lts in such fata l conseq uences as m u rder or vol u nta ry mans laughter-it is nonetheless the i nd i spensable d uty of the judge to apply a l l the vigor of the laws . " 54 The m in ister of j ustice agreed with these comments and consequently the req uest was rejected by the king. 55

J ust m inutes before his execution Klanck confessed to have premed itat­ed the k i l l i ng of Johan Schroven , when he was at h is wit's end because of the boy's blackma i l . Perhaps Klanck had wanted to cleanse h is soul before stepping i nto etern ity, yet by admitting murder instead of manslaughter, he

a lso mocked the lega l mach inations through which Prov6 K lu it, backed by 234

even the h ighest lega l instances, had sought h is death pena lty. Prov6 Klu it spoke h is m ind a bout sodom ites i n a revea l ing way in 182 1 . Tbeo van

As prosecutor he then once more was to advise the king about a req uest for der Meer

grace. The req uest was put up by a Protesta nt church m i n ister and the poet laureate of the day on behalf of a man, Hendrik Herderschee, who in 1 798 at the age of eighteen beca use of sodomy had been sentenced to th i rty years im prison ment. Although pardoned i n 1815 as fa r as h is prison sentence was concerned , Herderschee sti l l suffered part of h is pena lty. He had a lso been exi led forever from the province of Ho l land . 56

Herderschee's benefactors begged the k ing to a l low h im to return to h is place of birth , so that he would be able to earn h imself a l iv ing. That i ndeed was a d ifficult th ing for people who found themselves in parts of the country where they missed the support of fam i ly and friends. Herderschee's benefac­tors were convi nced that he had mended h is ways: in prison Herderschee had taught h imself French and German and had started to write pious poetry, wh ich , a lso with the he lp of h is benefactors , was pub l ished i n a booklet ca l led Gezangen uit den kerker (Songs from Prison) . 57 The request outraged Prov6 Klu it : " Herderschee is a v i l l a in who goes the way of a l l of h is k ind , namely by ca l l i ng every mea ns holy to pursue the i r bou nd less vice . " Prov6 Klu it in ins inuating terms even cal led i nto question the sexual orthodoxy of Herderschee's benefactors . He was convinced that if Herderschee were to return to Amsterdam, he wou ld seek out his former friends, because, accord­i ng to Prov6 K lu it , no one e lse would be wi l l i ng to support h i m , and a lso because the prosecutor was convinced "that people sick with this d isease, let themselves not be cured . " A committee from the H igh Court dea l ing with the req uest sa id that it was wel l known that "this vice usual ly remains with such cu lprits i nto their o ld age . " 58 Nonetheless, Herderschee was a l lowed to return into the province of Hol land , yet was prohibited to enter Amsterdam .

T h e use o f the term "d i sease" b y Prov6 K lu it-as ind icated before , it was a l ready used i n the s ixteenth centu ry ; a lso i n 1 762 a prosecutor i n Utrecht used the very sa me expression59-proba bly referred to a mora l or menta l cond ition , rather than to a physica l one. He thus antici pated notions about mora l pathologies that emerged i n the medical ization of the second half of the n i neteenth centu ry. U nfortu nately for Herderschee, Prov6 Kluit had correctly antici pated h is actions. Although he was denied entra nce to Amsterdam , i n 1827 Herderschee fou nd h imself once more i n pr ison i n that c ity : after making passes near a pub l ic toi let a t two young men , h e was convicted for publ ic indecency.60

Pieter Wi l lem Prov6 Klu it no doubt was a zea lot {and an anti-Sem ite for that matter) .61 Yet, neither d id he sta nd a lone, nor was h is zea lotism a mere

personal id iosyncrasy. H is attitudes rather had to do with the before-men- 235

tioned socia l and cu ltura l boundaries that had emerged si nce the late sev-enteenth century. These boundaries had emerged both in socia l and sexual Dellnin1 th•

practices as wel l as in d i scourses ; or, as a cu ltura l h istoria n m ight say, i n Boundaries in

processes of attr i but ion , a ppropriat ion , and tra nsformation of mea n i ngs Nineteenth-Century

regard ing same-sex behavior. Holland

The contours of these d iscourses had by and la rge been set by the per­secutions as they occurred in the Netherlands from 1 730 onward . Prior to 1 730, sodomy in every respect had been the "unmentionable vice" in Hol­land . Ever si nce the Reformation the Protestant church had been si lent on this subject, except in anti pa pist d iatribes. Dutch seventeenth-century l i b­erti ne novels , un l i ke thei r French and Engl ish counterparts, never referred

to sodomy. It was on ly j u r ists who pub l i shed writi ngs a bout sodomy for a l i m ited professiona l aud ience. Death penalt ies for sodomy prior to 1 730 were usua l ly carried out with i n a courthouse, at least si nce the fi rst quarter of the seventeenth centu ry. I n case of such death penalt ies usua l ly on ly summary verd icts were kept.62

It was not a s imple ta boo that prevented ta lk a bout sodomy; it was a gen­era l bel ief that knowledge about this topic would provoke unnatural desires. Moreover, secu la r and ecc lesiastica l a uthorit ies bel i eved (or wa nted to bel ieve) that same-sex activities were hardly practiced in the Netherlands. The Dutch had been God 's new chosen peop le . For the sobriety and restra i nt i ts inha bitants had exercised s i nce the Reformation , the repub l ic had been blessed i n the seventeenth century with a politica l ly and econom­ica l ly powerfu l position i n the world . In such an ontology, and with notions about what were thought to be the ca uses of sodomy, same-sex practices could hardly exist in Hol land .63

The d iscovery of networks and subcu ltu res in 1 730 provoked a rad ica l cha nge . Most executions were from then on ca rried out i n pub l ic . Tri a l records were kept. The prosecutions and executions were accom pan ied by a torrent of scholar ly and popu la r publ ications . It not on ly meant the

acknowledgment of the existence of the vice i n Hol land , which was consid­ered to be of recent origi n , but a l so that knowledge from then on was thought to serve as a necessary deterrent. Rather than wiping this vice from the face of the earth , as authorities in 1 730 were sa id to i ntend , the prose­cutions from that year hence marked the beginn ing of what Foucau lt ca l led the "desire for knowledge . " Persecutions throughout the century generated new knowledge and new mean ings, not least of a l l because however severe prosecut ions were i n Ho l la n d , with some 800 tr ia ls over a period of 80 years, thei r effect rema i ned ma in ly sym bol ica l . For one th ing the prosecu­tions gradua l ly turned "sodomites" i nto gendered ind iv iduals .

I n 1 730 the supposed ly recent emergence of same-sex practices in Hoi- 236

l and was attr ibuted to a r ise of s i nfu l , g l uttonous behavior a mong the Dutc h . Al l were to a certa i n extent thought to be gu i lty of what had ha p- Tbeo van

pened . Therefore , the pub l icat ions that appeared in 1 730 a l l ca l led for der Meer

com muna l repenta nce. Such com m u na l repenta nce wou ld i ndeed ta ke place a round the scaffolds on which the "cu l prits" d ied as expatiate sacr i-fices .64 By the late e ighteenth century such ideas had van ished and been replaced by ideas a bout the personal cu lpab i l ity of the s inner. At that t ime "the" sodomite at the scaffold was to suffer only for h is own s ins.65

The d iscourses on same-sex behavior changed in another sense as wel l . Whereas a t fi rst , with notions a bout gluttony, desires were ma in ly u nder­stood to be corpora l ; i n the second half of the eighteenth century commen­tators bega n to spea k of " i nner proc l iv it ies. "66 Moreover, even though

sodomites for centuries had mora l ly resembled women , very few authors in 1 730 pa id attention to effeminate features of the "cul prits . " However, in the second ha lf of the eighteenth century, sodomites supposed ly became rec­ogn iza ble by such features: they were sa id to have a whorish look in their eyes, not to grow beards on their cheeks, to have a s l imy speech , to sway their h i ps. It were such features that were said to betray their " i nner procl iv­it ies . " "The" sodom ite in the second ha l f of the e ighteenth centu ry had become a gendered ind ividua l , indeed a "he whore. "67

At the same t ime, men i n Ho l land who engaged i n same-sex behavior bega n to look for legit imat ions . Espec ia l ly devout men wou ld do so, because they were most at need to look at themselves as mora l ly responsi­ble beings. By the mid eighteenth century, they started to refer to the bib l i ­ca l story of David and Jonathan , wh i le at the same t ime c la i m i ng to have been borne with the i r des i res. They a lso a ppropr iated d i scourses a bout effem inacy, yet bend ing them for their own benefit , sayi ng their desi res were i n nate wea knesses . Such "wea knesses" sti l l referred to a fem i n i ne lack of self-contro l . 68 By the end of the eighteenth century sodomites , as much as the i r antagonists l i ke Prov6 K lu it, thought of themselves as repre­senti ng a category or a genus in the i r own right. I m pl ic i t notions a bout a th ird sex in parts of Europe had a l ready fi rmly rooted in folk-knowledge by the end of the eighteenth and the beginn ing of the n ineteenth centuries.

I f anyth i ng, such featu res as sodomites had ga i ned th rough the eigh­teenth centu ry made them more prone to persecution as wel l as to publ ic v io lence. I t seems not u n l i kely that prosecutors and j udges from 1 795 onwards, i n form i ng the ir convictions , based themse lves on the physica l a ppeara nce of suspects . Whereas previously sodom ites had someti mes been beaten up when they were caught i n the act, late e ighteenth-centu ry records show that at that t ime "modern " forms of "queerbashing" emerged ,

which went hand-in-hand with the rise of the notion of sodomites as effemi- 237

nate men .69 "We a re exposed to everyth ing, " i n 1826 a man from Leiden wrote with good reason to h is lover, who happened to be one of the ten men Dlfinln1 111•

from Amsterdam who a ppea led their case at the H igh Court in that year. 70 Boundaries in

At least these men's sense of self-awareness a l lowed them to ra ise among Nineteeniii-Century

one another their own mora l voice: "God has created no human being for its Holland

damnation , " the man from Leiden in 1826 a lso wrote to his lover. 71 " Every-body knows , " a church m i n ister sa id in 1 8 1 7 in a pa m ph let that he pu b-l i shed shortly after the murder of the you ng blackma i ler by Johan Kla nck, "that these scoundrels a mong their eq uals openly speak of their gruesome lusts as someth ing that is natura l and proper to them. "72

Whatever the thoughts of this m in ister on such "scoundrels , " they them­selves through a century of prosecution had bu i lt a self-awareness that had a lso become an i nner sanctu m beyond the reach of thei r persecutors . To

turn one more t ime to the sodomy tria ls of the eighteenth centu ry, one of the th i ngs that prosecutors in those days had tried to do, especia l ly when they steered i n the d i rection of a death pena lty, was that they tr ied to ga in a hold on the cu l prits' sou ls . I n many ways they were l i ke Catho l ic pr iests hearing confession . If not j ust to put their own conscience to rest (God , after a l l , looked as much u pon their deeds as u pon anybody else's ) , they wanted not j ust to hear a suspect tel l h is crimes but a lso to have h im admit that he wel l deserved h is pena lty. Although not a lways successfu l , especia l ly when the accused knew too wel l that mem bers of the c lass to wh ich the j udges belonged were involved in the same kind of activities but escaped prosecu­

tion , others to the del ight of the courts became utterly remorsefu l . In 1 797 a young man , who after hea r ing h i s death sentence had nea rly d ied of a n asthma attack, shortly before h i s execution told a judge that not only d id he wel l deserve his death sentence, but a l so that the members of the court would have com mitted a grave s in if they had not sentenced h im that way. It was with utter tra n q u i l l i ty that he stepped i nto etern i ty, h is prosecutor noted . 73 When the death pena lty was no longer a means to control same­sex behavior, courts more then lost a sanction ; it put the sou l of a convict beyond thei r contro l . At the same ti me, the-not a lways blessed-right to appea l a verd ict under the French penal code a lso enabled men l i ke Adam Cornel issen to stand u p and defend the boundaries o f their i nner sanctum .

Public and Private

Espec ia l ly i n the fi rst decade after the enforcement of the French pena l code, prosecutors and judges a l i ke made a mockery of the notions of publ ic and pr ivate as we l l as of the a rgumentat ion with which they set out sen -

tence suspects i n publ ic i ndecency tria ls . As d ur ing the series of such tria ls 238

i n 1816 in Utrecht, fo l lowi ng the m u rder of a young blackmai ler, "publ ic" j ust meant "outside , " regard less of the question whether anybody had wit- Theo van

nessed the activities. The conviction i n Amsterdam i n 1826 of Ada m Cor- der Meer

ne l issen and h i s fr iends was the epitome of lega l capr ic iousness and n iceties.

Ea r ly in 1826, one of the men , Leendert Rouwen horst, had rented a room i n a house in Amsterdam's now fashiona ble, but then worki ng-class d istrict, the Jordaan . Many men used to gather i n that room; visitors drank and sa ng u nti l late a t n ight. 7 4 I ndeed one o f them prod uced a d ri nking song fu l l of sexua l i n nuendo:

will only drink with deep drafts

no gayety shall be shunned

one may well toast with friends

when champagne foams

wine's always a proper comfort

sometimes to divert the frats

One sees the grapevine grow abundantly

for him who likes to take a draft

he sees the fair grape grow as well

shining brighter than any fruit

wine 's a proper comfort indeed

sometimes to divert the frats. 75

From the dr ink i ng-bouts that went on i n that room, sometimes quarrels between visitors eru pted , and one day Rouwenhorst's wife had sti rred the gathering of a mob i n front of the house whi le loudly accusing her husband

of bei ng a "sodomite . " A l l of this ha ppened much to the annoyance of other i n ha bitants of the house and conseq uently they took the i r case to the pol ice. Accord ing to their testimon ies they cou ld not have esca ped notic ing what was going on i n the room . When passing through the ha l lway through windows and a door in the room where Rouwen horst and his l i kes gath­ered , they had been confronted with i ndecent acts . One day, these witness­es related , they had seen some of the defenda nts na ked on a cu pboa rd­bed ; severa l others had been half naked on the f loor and the rest of the visi­tors had been look ing on wh i le s ipp ing jenever (Dutch gi n ) . Short ly after, the pol ice a rrested severa l men in the room and a lso bega n to round u p other known visitors . The police even confiscated persona l pa pers-includ­ing love letters76-suggest ing that the pol i ce were as m uch i nterested in what these men were supposed to be as i n what they had done. Altogether th i rteen men were arrested a n d , without much ado, twelve of them were

fou n d gu i lty of pub l ic indecency, a lso those who had been merely specta- 239

tors d ri n ki ng i n the roo m . Espec ia l ly the verd icts of the latter read l i ke a n

exerc ise i n lega l creativity. The spectators were fou n d gu i lty of pub l ic i nde- Dlfinin1 the

cency beca use, accord i ng to the verd icts, wh i le s ipp ing the i r jenever, they Boundaries in

had not stopped the activities of the other men. Aga i n , it suggests that these Nineteenth-Century

men were rather convicted for what they were supposed to be than for what Holland

they had done.

Except for one, a l l the "cu l prits" a ppea led their case at the H igh Cou rt in

The Hague. The e l eventh man d ied before he cou ld be moved to The

Hague . In those days to a ppea l a verd ict was u nd e r a n y c i rc u msta nce a

courageous step . It mea nt that a ppel la nts were cha i ned to one a nother and

ta ken by foot to the other court , i n th is case a d ista nce of some forty m i les.

Often such tra i ns of prisoners were exposed to p u bl ic mockery, scorn , and

v io lence.77 Proba bly, pr isoners accused of sa me-sex practices were even

more prone to pu bl ic outrage . A l ready at the day of the tria l i n Amsterd a m

one o f the defenda nts had a rrived i n court w i t h h i s c lothes torn a pa rt .

Asked b y t h e j udge w h y he looked that way, he told that t h e pol ice officers

who had wa l ked h i m from h is ja i l to the court house had ta ken h i m on pur­

pose t h rough c rowd ed streets . Later o n , i n a letter to the H igh Cou rt the

ma n a lso com p l a i ned a bout the a buse he suffered f rom fe l low- i n mates

wh i le be i ng i n custody. 78 Half way between Amsterdam and The Hague two

of the other a ppel la nts got wou nded when a mob h it them with stones and

d i rt . 79

Ada m Cornel issen presented the j udges of the H igh Court h i s handwrit­

ten defense. In it , he told the court that d ue to natu re of h i s supposed cr ime

no lawyer had wa nted to ta ke h is case . N onetheless, h is pa rents had

ena bled h im to consult a j u rist, who had obvious ly provided h im with the

req u i red a rguments. Cornel issen flatly den ied a l l charges (which was prob­

a bly a wise th i ng to do) yet the rest of his defense suggests that i ndeed he

had been one of the on lookers with a glass of jenever i n h is hand . He chal­

lenged the cou rt to show him the law that proh i b ited h i m to d ri n k jenever

while others com mitted a crime . He a lso cha l lenged the cou rt to show h i m

t h e l a w that ordered h i m as a private cit izen t o stop others when they com­

mitted cr imes. And i ndeed , he asked , could one ca l l the supposed behavior

of the defenda nts a cr i me? O bviously, if the other i n ha bitants i n the house

in Amsterdam had seen what they c la i med to have see n , they had gone at

great length to do so. The windows and the door between the room and the

ha l lway sat ten feet high. The room cou ld only be reached by a sta i rway. A

room was a private space, Cornel issen stated , and what c itizens d id private­

ly cou ld not harm pub l ic decency, if there were no u nwa nting witnesses . I n

fact, h e a rgued , there was n o such th i ng a s pu bl ic space without such wit-

nesses, a ny less tha n there existed pub l ic s lander without other people 240

than antagonists themselves being present.80 The outcome of this a ppea l gradual ly forced prosecutors and j udges to Tbeo ven

a rgue their cases . I n 1833 R udolph van l ngen was prosecuted in Amster- der Meer

dam after he had assa u lted a young ma n . The latter had l u red van l ngen i nto a sta ble in wh ich severa l other young men lay in h id i ng, who ca ught va n l ngen when he put his hand i n his "victi m 's" pants. Accord ing to the prosecutor, va n l ngen had com m itted a pu b l ic indecency beca use the doors of the sta ble had been ope n . However, the court acq u itted h i m because, despite t h e fact i t considered van l ngen's behavior despica b le ,

there had been no other witnesses as ide from those who tried to lu re h im .81

When after 1839 offic ia l registers of j urisprudence were publ ished , ver­d icts by the H igh Court of Hol land in s imi lar cases echoed one of the argu­ments Adam Cornel issen had made i n 1826: there is no such th i ng as publ ic i ndecency without people who are unwi l l i ngly exposed to " indecent" behav­ior. In 1839 the H igh M i l itary Court in Hol land acqu i tted a navy capta in for that very reason, when he tried to clear his name after a conviction . Although

the court was convinced the ca pta i n had "a procl iv ity to com mit acts con­tra ry to decency, " it came to the conc lusion that he had engaged in such activities in the privacy of h is cab in . It a lso concluded that sa i lors on the cap­ta in 's sh ip had wi l l i ngly exposed themselves to the ca pta in 's behavior by spy­ing on h im at n ight. Severa l decades later the H igh Counci l (the name had changed ) affi rmed a conviction for pu bl ic indecency of two men, because pedestria ns wh i le pass ing a house one even ing, because of a bright la m p behind glass curtains, could not escape noticing what these m e n were doing beh i nd a window. And aga i n , a couple of men who appealed the i r case in 1888 were acqu itted because neighbors had been spying on them. 82

Obviously, notions a bout " publ ic" and "private" a re related to space. Yet as the defense by Ada m Cornel issen in 1826 and the consequent verd icts by the H igh Court of Ho l land show, the emerging boundaries between "pub­l i c " and " private" d i d not j ust refer to "outs ide" and " i ns ide" and they referred to more than just space.

The boundary between " publ ic" and " private" was set by the presence of witnesses and even more by their i ntentions. In the end it meant that a l l space was " private" un less people aga inst their wish were exposed to erotic or sexua l acts of others . Or to put it the other way rou nd , a l l space was " pub l i c " when people saw themse lves u nwi l l i ngly confronted with other people's sexual acts.

In the e ighteenth century prosecutors and judges th rough an ever th reaten ing death pena lty tried to get a hold over a suspect's sou l , whereas

on the other hand "sodom ites" themselves deve loped a self awareness 241

that was a lso a n i n ner sa nctu m . Even though that i n ner sa nctum got beyond the reach of persecutors with the enforcement of the French penal Dlllnln1 t11•

code, it d id not set "sodomites" free of persecution , nor was the state wi l l - Boundaries i n

ing to respect that sanctum . For the state , i t took a battle l i ke that o f Adam Nlnetnntii-Century

Cornel i ssen and h is friends, to-grudgingly-acknowledge the existence Holland

of that sa nctu m . Private space, as fa r as it referred to a physical category, became the external representation of a subjectivity that in the course of a century had grown i nto a n i n ner sa nctu m . I n the end , emergi ng lega l bounda ries between " p u bl i c " and " pr ivate " i n n i neteenth-century Ho l -land-which were fought for by those who were most at r isk-a lso defi ned the democratic right to determ ine one's own l ife . I t seems only fa i r to say that this created the very basis of the emanci patory movements of the late n ineteenth century.

A B B R E V I AT I O N S U S E D I N E N D N O T E S ARA: Algemeen R ijks Arch ief = General State Arch ive.

H G H : Hooggerechtshof = H igh Court.

GAA: Gemeente Arch ief Amsterdam = Mun ic ipal Arch ive Amsterdam.

GADH: Gemeente Arch ief Den Haag = Mun ic ipa l Arch ive The Hague

GAU: Gemeente Arch ief Utrecht = Mun ic ipal Arch ive Utrecht

GAU SA: Secretariaats Arch ief = Secretarial Arch ive

HvA: Hof van Assisen = Court of Assises.

PG N H : Provinciaal Gerechtshof Noord Hol land = Provincial Court North Hol land

RAN H : R ijks Arch ief Noord Hol land = State Arch ive North Hol land

RAZ H : R ijksarchief Zu id-holland = State Arch ive South Hol land

R EA: Rechtbank va n Eerste Aa nleg = Court of Fi rst I nstance.

StS: Staats Secretarie = State Secretary.

E N D N O T E S 1 . GAA 5074-192

2 . See Theo van der M eer, Sodoms zaad in Nederland: Het ontstaan van

homoseksualiteit in de vroegmoderne tijd (The Hague: N ijmegen S U N , 1995), pp.

480-86, where I have l isted 127 people who were prosecuted for publ ic i ndecency

by cou rts in Amsterdam, Utrecht, and The Hague between 181 1 and 1838. I l im ited

my research-which was an epi logue to more general research up to 181 1-to that

period because in 1838 the organ ization of the courts changed radical ly. The num­

ber of publ ic indecency trials mult ipl ied i n the second ha l f of the n ineteenth century.

Gert Hekma, Homoseksualiteit, een medische reputatie: De uitdoktering van de

homoseksueel in Nederland (Amsterdam : SUA, 1987) , pp. 105-1 1 .

3 . RAN H HvA 162, no. 394.

4. ARA HGH 395 .

5. Many stud ies a bout n ineteenth- and twentieth-century d iscourses have made 242

th is c la i m . In the Netherlands the most outspoken representative of th is canon is

Gert Hekma, Homoseksualiteit and "A Female Soul in a Male Body: Sexual Inversion Theo van

as Gender I nversion in N i neteenth-Century Sexology, " in G i lbert Herdt, Third Sex- der Meer

Third Gender: Beyond Sexual Dimorphism in Culture and History ( New York: Zone

Books, 1994), pp. 2 1 3-39.

6. Ct. Theo va n der Meer, " Sodomy and the Pursuit of a Th i rd Sex in the Ea rly

Modern Period , " i n Herdt, Third Sex, pp. 1 79-89; Theo van der Meer, Sodoms zaad

in Nederland, pp. 1 55-78.

7. Jacob Ca m po Weyerma n , Godgeleerde Zeedekundige en Historische

Bedenkingen over den text des Apostels Pauli aen de Romeynen, ca p . 1 , vers 27

(Amsterd a m , 1 730) , pp. 3-8. Cha rles Taylor, Sources of the Self: The Making of

Modern ldentity (Cambridge: Harvard Un iversity Press, 1996) , pp. 1 15-25.

8. Gert Hekma , "A Female Sou l i n a Male Body. "

9. Henr icus Carolus va n Byler, Helsche boosheit of grouwelyke zonde van

sodomie (Groningen , 1 73 1 ) , p. 5 1 . Van Byler quoted a certa in Joseph us, proba bly

the Ita l ian humanist Josephus Scal iger, who in 1 593 became a professor at the Un i ­

versity of Leide n . Sca l iger was one of many who, i n a nti pa pist d iatr ibes, bla med

Catholics and i n pa rt icular Ita l ians for engaging in same-sex practices. Cf. Wi nfried

Schle i ner, " 'That matter which ought not to be heard of' : Homophobic S lurs i n

Rena issa nce Cu ltural Polit ics , " Journal o f Homosexuality 2 9 , n o . 4 ( 1 994) : 41-75.

Eighteenth-century Dutch authors often quoted or plagiarized Sca l iger on the subject

of sodomy. Van der Meer, Sodoms zaad in Nederland, p. 373.

10. Cf. Thomas Laqueur, Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to

Freud (Cambridge: Harvard U n iversity Press, 1990).

1 1 . Gert Hekma, "A Female Soul in a Male Body. "

1 2 . See for th is a nd fol lowi ng pa ragra phs a bout the Batavian repub l ic : S imon

Scha ma, Patriots and Liberators: Revolution in the Netherlands, 1 780-181 1 ( Lon­

don : Col l ins , 1977).

13. Barbara W. Tuchman, The First Salute ( New York: Bal lantine Books, 1989) ,

p. 58.

14. F lor ike Egmond , " De hoge j u risdicties va n het 18e-eeuwse Hol la n d . Een

aanzet tot de bepa l ing va n hun aanta l , l igging en begrenzinge n , " Holland: Regionaal

historisch tijdschrift 19 ( 1987) : 1 29-6 1 .

1 5 . Leonard I . Leeb, The Ideological Origins o f the Batavian Revolution: History

and Politics in the Dutch Republic, 1 747-1800 (The Hague: N ijhoff, 1973 ) ; Eco

Ha itsma M u l ier, " Between H u man ism and Enl ightenment: The Dutch Writing of H is­

tory, " in Margareth C. Jacob and Wijnand W. M ijnhardt, eds . , The Dutch Republic in

the Eighteenth Century: Decline, Enlightenment, and Revolution ( I thaca : Corne l l

Un iversity Press) , pp. 1 70-87.

16. Maarten Sa lden , "Artikel 248bis Wetboek va n Strafrecht, de gesch iedenis

va n een strafbaa rste l l i ng, " Groniek: Gronings historische tijdschrift 12, no. 66

( 1980) : 38-48.

1 7 . Marc Boode, " Les tres fort, vi la in et detestable criesme et pechi� de zodomie:

homosexual it� et r�press ion a B ruges pendant Ia P�riode Bourguignonne ( F i n

14e-debut 16e sh�cle ) , " in H ugo Soly and Rene Vermeir, eds . , Beleid en bestuur in

de oude Nederlanden. Liber amicorum Prof. Dr. M. de Bae/de (Ghent, 1993) ; and J .

Decavele, " Brugse en Gentse mend icanten o p d e brandstapel i n 1 578, " i n Soly and

Vermeir, pp. 73-93. It should be noted that many of those prosecuted i n Bruges and

G hent i n this period were either Ita l ians or cler ics. The latter were especial ly prose­

cuted on sodomy charges at the time of the Reformation .

18. Van der Meer, "Sodomy and the Pursuit of a Third Sex , " pp. 14 1-42.

19. 1 bid .

20. R udolf M. Dekker and Lotte C . va n de Pol , The Tradition of Female Trans­

vestism in Early Modern Europe ( London : Macm i l l a n , 1 989) , pp . 58-63 . These

women seem to have been prosecuted rather for their transvestism and swindle with

marriage l icenses than for their sexual acts.

2 1 . Thea va n der Meer, "Tri bades on Tria l : Fema le Sa me-Sex Offenders in Late

Eighteenth-Century Amsterda m , " in John Fout, ed . , Forbidden History: The State,

Society, and the Regulation of Sexuality in Modern Europe (Chicago: U n iversity of

Chicago Press, 1992) , pp. 189-2 10; Myriam Everard , lie/ en zinnen: Over liefde en

lust tussen vrouwen in de tweede helft van de achttiende eeuw (Groninge n : H is­

torische Uitgeverij , 1994), pp. 136-79.

22. Van der Meer, "Sodomy and the Pursuit of a Th i rd Sex , " pp. 148-69 . As I

have argued , these subculture emerged in northwestern Europe in the late seven­

teenth century, when mostly h iera rch ical or i ntergenerational forms of sa me-sex

behavior gradual ly began to change i nto more egal itar ian ones, i nvolving adult men

who could change active and passive roles . This change coincided with the transition

from what Norbert E l ias in his The Civi l i z ing Process (Oxford : B lackwe l l , 1996)

termed to be a "shame cu lture" i nto a "guilt cu lture" or, in more modern words , it

coincided wiith the emergence of " i nteriority. " (Cf. Taylor, Sources of the Self) . Both

imply that people from the late seventh century onward started to derive their incen­

tives from a 'self" or a personal conscience rather than from exterior motives that

were rooted i n pursu its of public honor. (Cf, Thea va n der Meer, "Sodom's Seed in

the Netherlands; The Emergence of Homosexua l l ity i n the Earl ly Modern Period , "

Journa/ of Homosexuality 34, no. 1 ( 1997) : 1-16. )

23. Van der Meer, Sodoms zaad in Nederland, pp. 13-19, 81-89.

24. Florike Egmond, "Fragmentatie, rechtsverscheidenheid en recht­

songelijkheid in de Noorde/ijke Nederlanden tijdens de zeventiende en achttiende

eeuw, " in Sjoerd Faber, ed. , Nieuw Iicht op oude justitie: Misdaad en straf ten tijde

van de Republiek ( M u iderberg: Coutinho, 1989) , pp. 9-23.

25. Van der Meer, Sodoms zaad in Nederland, pp. 134-52.

26. Requeste en deductie mitsgaders advisen en bylagen in de zake van Joan

Lucas Bouwens ingedaagde in persoon (Amsterdam: n .d ) .

27. Van der Meer, Sodoms zaad in Nederland, pp . 93-98.

28. GAA 506 1-538, pp. 373-78.

29. Sjoerd Fa ber, Strafrechtsp/eging en criminaliteit te Amsterdam, 1680-181 1 :

De nieuwe menslievendheid (Arn hem : Gouda Quint) , p p . 282-83.

30. RANH 162 , no. 394.

3 1 . RAN H 162, no. 394; GAU R EA 16.

243

Definln1 the

Boundaries In

Nineteenth-Century

Holland

32. GAU SA I I 2244 1 79 1 1 .

33. GADH R A 1 1 .

34 . Van der Meer, Sodoms zaad in Nederland, p . 44 1 .

35. G A U R EA 16.

36. GAU R EA 1 5b.

37. Van der Meer, Sodoms zaad in Nederland, pp. 442-44.

38. GAA 5074--1 5 1 , 193.

39. GAA 5074--1 56, 199.

40. GAA 5074--274.

4 1 . Van der Meer, Sodoms zaad in Nederland, p. 429.

42. RANH PG N H 1 14, no. 609. 43. A. J. van der AA, Biographisch Woordenboek der Nederlanden, 1852-1878,

vol . 9, p. 25 1 .

44. RAN H PG N H 39 no. 886 45. 1b id . , pp. 4 1 6-4 1 7 .

46. I bid . , p. 424.

47. S i bo van R u l ler, Genade voor recht: Gratieverlening aan ter dood vero­

ordeelden in Nederland, 1806-1870 (Amsterdam : De Bataafsche Leeuw, 1987) , pp.

30-3 1 .

48. M ichel Rey, " Pol ice et sodomie ell Paris au xvi i ie siecle: du p�ch� a u d�sor­

dre , " i n Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine 29( 1982) : 1 13-124.

49. M ichael David Sibal is , "The Regulation of Male Homosexual ity i n Revolution­

a ry and Na poleonic Fra nce, 1 789-181 5 , " i n Jeffrey Merrick and B rya nt T. Raga n ,

eds . , Homosexuality i n Modern France ( New York : Oxford U n iversity, 1 996), pp.

80-10 1 .

50. RAN H HvA 162, no. 394.

5 1 . RANH HvA 4 1 , no. 25.

52. ARA StS 355 no. 138.

53. ARA HGH 632, no. 392.

54. ARA HGH 662.

55. ARA StS 355, no. 308.

56. See for this case and the rest of this story a bout Herderschee: Theo van der

Meer, "Gezangen i n den Kerker. De temige gedichten van een sodomiet , " i n Homolo­

gie 12 , no. 1 ( 1990) : 32-35.

57. The church min ister publ ished the poems u nder h is own name, but with an

i ntroduction i n which he told part of Herderschee's l ife story, leaving it however to the

good reader to guess what Herderschee had been convicted for. Although Herder­

schee in many of his poems lamented the sins of h is youth, he never referred to the

actual reason for his conviction . Wi l lem Goede, Gezangen in den kerker: Ten

voordeele van den dichter uitgegeven (Rotterdam, 1819) .

58. ARA HGH 664, no. 1 .

59. GAU SA I I 2244 1 7622 .

60. GAA 5074-- 1 5 1 , 37 1 . Like with other recidiv ists h is pena lty was doubled .

Herderschee claimed to have permission from the head of police to l ive in Amsterdam.

244

TbiO VIn

der Meer

6 1 . Cf. Van R u l ler, Genade voor recht, p. 164. Prov6 Klu it often spoke in deroga- 245

tory terms a bout Jews ( "Jewish braggart" ) . The man who was sentenced by him to a

long term imprisonment in 1846 just for pul l ing another man's arm , was a lso Jewish;

that was repeatedly poi nted out by the pol ice officers who arrested h i m . R A N H

PGN H 1 14, n o . 609. 62. Van der Meer, "Sodomy and the Pursuit of a Third Sex , " pp. 139-14 1 .

63. I bid . , pp. 1 78-189.

64. Van der Meer, Sodoms zaad in Nederland, pp. 385-95.

65. I bid . , pp. 404--8.

66. Franc iscus Lievens Kerstema n , Hollandsch rechtsgeleerd woordenboek

(Amsterdam, 1 768), p. 528.

67. I bid . Th is a uthor was not the only one who thought of sodom ites in such

terms. I n 1751 a thief who was arrested i n Delft and who turned out to have prostitut­

ed h imself spoke in the same terms of sodomites. GAU SA II 2244 1 750-5 1 . In the

final quarter of the eighteenth century, penal reformers in Hol land expl ic itly cal led a l l

sodom ites effemi nate and suggested that they wou ld be scaffolded (wh ipp i ng) i n

female attire before being i ncarcerated i n the women's prison and be shown around

for the publ ic occasionally i n their i nfamous clothes. Van der Meer, "Sodomy and the

Pursuit of a Third Sex," pp. 193-194.

68. 1b id . , pp. 195-203.

69. Van der Meer, Sodoms zaad in Nederland, p. 346.

70. ARA HGH 395.

7 l . l bid .

72. A. V ink , Geschied-en zedekundig verhaa/, omtrent J. C. Klanck aan onnatu-

urlijke zonde en moord schuldig (Amsterdam, 1817) , p. 43.

73. GADH RA 12 , 14-12-1 797; GAU SA 1 1 1 469, 1 5-12-1 797.

74. See for this descri ption as wel l as the verd icts GAA 5074-192.

75. ARA HGH 395.

76. These pa pers, i nc luding the text of the dr ink ing song, rest i n the files of this

case at the h igh court, ARA HGH 395.

77 . Herman Fra n ke, Twee eeuwen gevangen: Misdaad en straf in Nederland

(Utrecht, 1990) , pp. 20-22.

78. ARA HGH 1 258.

79. RAZH R EA The Hague 3 1 , no. 141 .

80. ARA HGH 395.

8 1 . GAA 5074-438.

82. Gert Hekma , " Bewaar m ij voor den waanzin van het recht. De jurisprudentie

met betrekking tot homoseksueel gedrag ( 181 1-19 1 1 ) , " i n Sjoerd Faber et a l . , Crim­

inaliteit in de Negentiende Eeuw ( H i lversum: Uitgeverij Verloren , 1989), p. 1 1 5 .

Dlllnin1 th e

Boundaries in

Nineteenth-Century

Holland

"Living Wel l Is the Best Revenge": Outing, Privacy,

and Psychoanalysis

C H R I S T O P H E R L A N E

To make the private into something publ ic is an action that has

terrific repercussions in the preinvented world.

-David Wojnarowicz

"Terr if ic repercuss ions " : I t wou ld be d i ff i cu l t to f ind a more a pt or a m biguous eva l uat ion of out ing . " Terr if i c " suggests that a bo l i sh i ng the pub l i c/pr ivate d i st i n ct ion ca n generate at least two responses, the fi rst congratu latory, the second fea rfu l . An a rtist and writer who cons istently spu rned fea r, Woj na rowicz seems to favor the fi rst res ponse, te l l i ng us that "each pub l i c d isc losure of a fragment of pr ivate rea l ity serves as a d isma ntl ing too l " a nd that words themselves "can stri p the power from a memory or a n event . Words can cut the ropes of a n exper ience . " 1 I n Close to the Knives: A Memoir o f Disintegration ( 199 1 ) , Woj na rowicz nonetheless shows that " m a k [ i ng] the private i nto someth ing public"

often has devastat ing conseq uences-that refus ing to d isti ngu ish between these registers turns h im and h i s fr iends i nto objects of pub l ic scorn and hatred .2

Th i s essay a i m s to account for the a m biguous and volat i le pol i t ica l effects of out ing-that i s , revea l i ng pu b l i c l y that someone powerfu l , fa mous, possi bly homophobic , a n d supposed ly heterosexua l i s i n fact gay or lesb ia n . Argu ing that we can not r id ou rse lves of these effects, I pro­pose that we refra me a rguments j ust ify ing out i ng in order to grasp the

conseq uences of a bo l i sh ing the pub l i c/private d isti nction . Without a rgu­i ng i n favor of the c loset or exist ing defi n it ions of privacy, I show that shat­te r ing fa ntasies ad her ing to the self-defi n i t ion of gro u ps , cu l tures , and even nat ions has profou nd pol i t ica l reperc uss ions . S i nce out i ng a i ms a bove a l l to demol ish homophobia , I ask whether the complexity of pub l ic and pr ivate fa ntasy does not i n fact prevent outers f rom ach iev ing th i s end .

1 2

The Complexity of Scandal and Hypocrisy 248

Outing proponents argue that cu ltura l hypocrisy a bout sexual ity represents Christopher

a wi l l i ngness to foster elements of heterosexual desire in publ ic forums, but Lane

an ab i l ity to tolerate homosexual ity only in sub l imated forms. La rry G ross, Wa rren Johansson, and Wi l l ia m Percy a rgue of the U n ited States and B rita i n {a long with M ichelangelo Signori le a rgu i ng of the U .S . a lone) that

these countries theoretica l ly support the right to privacy for everyone, whi le rout ine ly denying lesbia ns and gay men th is r ight when pub l ic i nterest, cu rios ity, and percept ions of indecency a re at sta ke .3 These cr it ics elo-quently show that heterosexual journa l ists now denounc ing queer activists for outing c loseted homosexua ls often themselves practiced outing to cre-ate scanda l . Such critics a rgue that it is because outing chal lenges the gen-era l publ ic 's insistence that homosexual ity be a private {and thus apparent-ly pu bl icly reprehensible) issue that the effects of outing are un pred icta ble and the resu lts often questiona ble. And they conclude that hypocrisy pre-vents the publ ic from grasping that homosexual ity preva i ls throughout the world . I am sympathetic to these cla ims and agree that the sym bol ization of lesbia n and gay des i re is bound to be fra ught, cons ider ing our cu lture's avers ion to homosexua l ity-perhaps even to al l sexua l ity.4 At the sa me t ime, I want to com pl icate the idea that out ing can d isband or override pub-l ic fantasies about homosexual ity, whether ben ign or homophobic.

Scandal derives inevitably from the d istance between publ ic and private forms of sexual identity. 5 Such d istance recurs as "common wisdom , " for contemporary citizens routi nely a re asked to check their behavior in publ ic . The tension between fantasized and legislated acts can therefore generate d i stress, tens ion , or furtive pleasure. Not su rpr is i ngly, th is tens ion is the subject, even the ca use, of a great many books and fi l ms .6 Consciously overstepping the l ine between accepta ble and forbidden sexual ity--espe­cia l ly in publ ic-has very sign ificant pol itica l and lega l repercussions.

The outing debates become com pl icated when we i nterpret this l i ne , for they exist tangentia l ly to Brita in 's and North America 's widespread aversion to homosexual desire; their urgency a lso derives from the scandalous delay of both British and U .S . governments regard ing the A I DS pandemic .l More problematic sti l l , the vagarious enforcement of laws a bout consent and pri­vacy l ies in tension with these cu ltures' i ns istence on their laws' sym bol ic coherence. Whi le the repercussions of breaking a law therefore vary greatly from one U .S . state to another-and certa i n ly with i n Europe-the pun ish­ment specific to gay-related "crimes" overrides a genera l , legislative d i lem­ma a bout the law's i nconsistency.8 When a n act such as sodomy, which techn ica l ly was grounds for publ ic execution i n B rita i n unt i l 186 1 and

im prisonment u nt i l 1967 , is now (under certa i n provisions) decrim ina l ized , 249

the law confronts the para meters of its legis lat ive contro l . 9 S ince a l l laws undergo forms of cu ltura l ly determ ined revision , this last point would seem Outlna, Privacy,

obvious, yet the repercussions of th is revision for homosexual ity a re worth and Psychoanalysis

emphas iz ing beca use they a ren 't c lear and beca use conservat ives (and some l i be rta r ia ns and rad ica ls ) often assume that lega l perspectives on homosexual ity a re unchanging and u nambiguous.

The symbol ic effect of th is lega l i nconsistency may expla i n some of the fury su rfac i ng after someone has de l i berate ly broken a soc ia l code-for i nsta nce, revea l i ng another 's sexua l identity. Out ing someone brea ks no statutory law, but it rad ica l ly d isregards our culture 's i ns istence, however recent, i l l usory, or a rbitra ri ly enforced , that homosexual ity is a private affa ir. The d rama of soc ia l fury accompa nying out ing may compensate for the publ ic 's inab i l ity to regulate a l l forms of behavior considered unaccepta ble:

homosexual des i re is much more preva lent than the pub l ic bel ieves . And so outing i nevitably reprod uces i n specific ways what the publ ic suspects but does not tolerate of gay and lesbian l ife .

Although the l i ne between publ ic and private sexual ity is ind ist inct, even nebulous (despite lega l and cu ltura l protestations to the contrary) , outing tr ies to cancel th is l i ne's a mbigu ity. Those advocati ng outing want to revoke the a rgu ment that being gay or lesb ian is someth ing to h ide . I ndeed , to revea l lesb ian and gay l ife in a l l its d iversity, outers eschew the concept of privacy: they c l a im that lesbia ns and gay men have noth ing to h ide and therefore-at least vis-a-vis the publ ic-no re lated c la im to privacy. Signa­

r i le expla ins this strategy in h is i nfluentia l book Queer in America: Sex, the

Media, and the Closets of Power ( 1993) :

I f , as we've been saying a l l along, being gay is not about sex acts o r a bout

what we do in our bed rooms but is a much larger matter regard ing identity

and cu lture and com mun ity, then how can the mere fact of bei ng gay be

private? How ca n bei ng gay be private when being straight isn 't? Sex is pri­

vate . But by outing we do not d iscuss a nyone's sex l ife . We only say

they're gay. (Signorile 79--80; original emphasis).

One m ight wonder, then , why Signor i le uses the fo l lowi ng q uotation from Whitman as an epigra ph for h i s book : "Out of the dark confi nement! out from beh ind the screen ! I t is useless to protest, I know a l l and expose it. "

To demystify gay and lesbian l ife , outing identifies c loset homosexuals as part of a vast network of desires, l ia isons , and relationsh ips that preva i l throughout North America , Eu rope, and a l l other cou ntries and cu ltures. Accord i ng to outers , the extent of th is network is a n "open secret" i n the publ ic 's m i n d ; accord ing to the latter, however, the pub l ic/private d isti nc-

t ion seems necessary (and perha ps a lso "successfu l " ) until outing renders 250

sexual doubt and evasion impossi ble . 10 I n a bol ish i ng the publ ic/private d is-ti nction , outers wa nt to refute a widespread convict ion that gays and les- Christopher

b ians a re few, iso lated , and u n happy. As the activist group Queer Nat ion Lane

proud ly a n nou nced when the group was fou nded in 1990, "We're here, we're queer, get used to it! " (Joha nsson and Percy 1 1 2) .

Our d ifficu lty is not that out ing tries to com bat hypocrisy by promot ing c lear and ethical considerations of d ifferent sexual it ies. I t is that outi ng ca n function only when the ga p between publ ic and private l ife is pol it ica l ly and ontologica l ly i ntolera ble . Outers f ind th is ga p objectionable beca use it pro­motes sexua l hypocrisy, given cu ltura l aversion to pub l ic man ifestations of homosexua l des i re . Yet outers pa rt ly exploit th is ga p even as they try to abol ish it, for the i r strategy necessar i ly rel ies on preexisti ng socia l hatred of lesbians and gay men . If outed i nto these cu ltu res, one does not reduce the ga p between pub l ic and private sexual ity; one becomes instead a symptom

of the cu ltural and pol it ica l violence enforc ing th is ga p. Outing sign ifies "the return of the repressed " beca use it shatters our cu ltu re 's demand that homosexual ity be a private affa i r. And wh i le outers and q ueer activists con­sider this shatter ing a ca use for celebratio n , they underest imate our cu l­ture's ongo ing attachment to th is fict ion and its v io lent reaction to see ing th is fiction desecrated .

The genera l publ ic can respond to outi ng with d isbel ief and denia l ; it can a lso vengefu l ly accuse the outer of depriving its recourse to fantasy at all. We need on ly reca l l that the boy who i ns isted that the emperor had no clothes chal lenged the fau lty perception of adu lts concerned to mainta in what Freud cal led "the future of [their] i l l usion . " 1 1 Outers-and queer activists in gener­a l-obviously hope that honesty eventua l ly wi l l make the publ ic accept that the em peror has no clothes-i .e . , that homosexual ity is a preva lent and sat­isfying form of des i re. Yet in Hans Christian Andersen 's fable "The Em peror's New Clothes" (c. 1837) , the publ ic 's need to bel ieve that the em peror was

clothed demonstrates the extent to which fantasy can (and often must) over­ride empirical evidence. This widespread suspension of d isbel ief m ight lead us to doubt whether the publ ic can accept homosexual ity in any s imple way without profound , even devastating, i nternal or external repercussions-an argument qu ite d ifferent from suggesting that its judgment is correct.

Cons ider ing th i s prob lem's magn itude, out ing emerges not on ly as a pa rtial conseq uence of the publ ic/private spl it-a spl it it tries erroneously to d isband-but as a sym ptom of the impossi ble reconci l iation between pub­l ic and private defi n it ions of sexual ity. The fol lowing sections wi l l ma ke clear why I am ca l l i ng th is reconci l iation " impossi ble . " To avoid m isundersta nd­i ng, however, let me stress that a rgu i ng that the pub l ic/private sp l it is to a

degree pol it ica l ly and psych ica l ly i nevita ble does not stop me support ing 251

pol it ica l i n it iat ives that alleviate th is sp l i t . My i ntent ion is to q u estion

whether the a ntagon ism that out ing fosters-i ndeed , the antagon ism that Dutin1. Privacy,

q ueer activ ism fi nds so com pe l l i ng-ca n add ress the type of resista nce and Psychoanalysis

surfac ing when the i l l us ion of ub iq u itous heterosexua l ity beg ins to fa i l . I n th is respect, m y a rgument a ims not toward a s im ple reformism . I t suggests that outi ng enforces a type of scruti ny that often has been h istorica l ly d isas-trous for lesbians and gay men . To support these c la i ms, I ' l l revisit the out-ing debates i n B rita i n before engaging related a rguments that su rfaced i n North America . My a im th roughout wi l l b e to identify the phantasmatic and psychopol it ical repercussions of the publ ic/private spl it.

Honi soit qui mal y pense

From the i r i ncept ion i n 1990 and 199 1 respectively, the B rit ish activ ist groups OutRage! and FROGS ( Faggots Rooti ng Out C loseted Sexua l ity) tried repeated ly to promote clea r and eth ica l considerations of lesbian and gay l ife . 1 2 OutRage! 's pri nc ipa l spokesma n , Peter Tatche l l , endured fero­

c ious host i l ity and homophobia when he ca m pa igned in 1981-83 to become a La bour Member of Pa r l iament. Thus when Tatchel l th reatened to

out prominent M . P. 's and clergy i n the early '90s, he was a l ready a fami l i a r and despised face i n B rit ish pol it ics. The Sun told severa l m i l l ion B ritons i n September 199 1 , " Peter Tatchel l sq uea led l i ke a stuck p ig because news­pa pers revea led his homosexua l ity when he stood as a La bou r pa r l iamen­ta ry ca nd idate. I nvasion of privacy, he protested . Now hypocrite Tatchel l is backing a spitefu l cam pa ign by gays . " 13 The condit ions seemed primed for Tatche l l to endure more h u m i l iat ion from a nat ion convi nced that he had perpetrated sexual terrorism . Wa lter Schwarz of The Guardian summarized th is conviction by ca l l i ng OutRage! a group of "outrageous tormentors . " 14 The Daily Mirror went further by declar i ng, "The bitches come out! I ca n th i nk of on ly one word to descri be the 'outing' ca m pa ign by those desper­ately sad people who ca l l themselves gay. B itchy. '' 1 5

For many i n B rita i n , Tatchel l became the sym ptom of a d ifficu lty h e and OutRage! tried i n va i n to express . The pub l ic found their pronouncements on others' sexual ity unacceptable , not j ust because of hypocrisy and a wish to enforce the c loset, 16 but beca use the pub l i c found the evidence mar­sha led as sexua l certa i nty i m poss ib le to be l ieve . The B rit ish press ca l led out ing a "witch h u nt" ( Daily Star) ; "sp itefu l " ( The Sun) ; " B itchy and sca brous" ( Daily Mirror) ; "downright nasty" ( The Independent) ; " McCarthy­ism" ( Daily Telegraph) ; "despica ble and v ic ious" ( Daily Mai{) ; and "cruel " ( Daily Express) . 1 7 L ike Tatchel l h i mself, who recently acknowledged h i s pa r-

t ia l re l ia nce on specu lat ion a bout the people he tried to out, 18 the B rit ish 252

pub l ic seemed torn between a des i re to know and an acute resistance to further i nvestigations i nto sexual ity's mean ing. The B ishop of London repro- Christopher

d uced th is d i lemma , after he was outed , with a very B rit ish response : he Lane

ca l led his sexua l ity "a gray area . " 19 Fol lowing a renewed and equa l ly i ntense focus on outing during the win­

ter of 1994 and spr i ng of 1 995, an i m passe has emerged i n B rita i n between gay activists a rgu ing for an end t o sexual hypocrisy a nd t h e closet, and the mainstream med ia and publ ic ( i nc lud i ng many lesbians and gays)

who sense that a more extensive and volat i le issue has been broached . Th is concerns not on ly the numbers of previously c loseted lesbians and gays i n B rita i n 's Pa rl iament and Church , but the mean ing attri buted to sexual ity i n publ ic l ife and the reliability of publ icly renam i ng people as lesbian or gay. Outing cleaves to rel ia ble assertion by c la im ing that someone has " passed "

u nder a fa lse identity. The B ishop of London tried to evade th is pri nc ip le , but out ing presupposes that the outed m ust adopt or deny a posit ion on either side of a supposed ly wel l-demarcated sexual d ivide.

To em phasize the sta ble constituency and bou nda ries of lesb ian and gay com m u n it ies, lesbia n and gay pol it ics down plays that sexua l ity m i l i ­tates aga i nst c lear identit ies. I ndeed , i n a stra nge a bout-face t h i s pol it ics often p lays u p-a nd even enforces-the d i sta nce between queers and the " heteronormative . " I n her recent a rt ic le on our " b isexua l moment, " however, L i l l i an Faderman usefu l ly asks, "What becomes of our pol it ica l movement if we open ly acknowledge that sexua l ity is f lexi b le and fl u i d , that gay and lesbian does not s ign ify 'a peop le ' b u t rathe r a 'somet ime behavior? ' " 20 The q uest ion is i ron ic beca use pol it ica l movements and s u bjects routi ne ly-even necessa ri ly-d isavow what they f i nd i nterna l ly unsta ble . To "open ly acknowledge" that "gay and lesbian does not sign ify 'a people ' " wou ld req u i re lesbians and gays to accept sexua l i nstab i l ity, especia l ly at the level of polit ics and commun ity. As we' l l see , th is i nsta bi l i ­ty underm i nes outi ng's declarative purpose of identifying the constituency of lesb ian and gay com mun ities .

Considering B rita i n 's vehement loath ing of outi ng and outers , a loath ing more pronounced than its general hatred of queers, th is debate a bout sex­ua l ity and comi ng out has importa nt pol itica l consequences. I n Decem ber 1994, at the height of the second wave of nationa l hysteria a bout OutRage! , Edward Pearce publ ished a brief article i n The Guardian entitled " Keep the Closet Door Closed . " He represented outing as "the treacherous breaking

of privacy, the snea k i ng of an ind ivid ua l 's chosen secrets , the treason to common decency. "21 I n denouncing outing, and even gay and lesbian visi­b i l ity, Pearce cla imed that " hypocrisy is a great civi l is ing force" {29) .

Pearce's a rgument has many h istorica l precedents i n B rita i n ; i ndeed , the very idea that thought can beget evi l is stam ped on every Brit ish pass­port. The proverb " Honi soit qui mal y pense, " mean ing "evi l be to h im who

th i n ks evi l , " appears on th is passport beside a nother French a phorism : " Dieu et mon droit, " or "God and my right. " 22 The second a phorism con­ceptua l ly b inds B rita i n 's laws to the a uthor ity of its Church , but both proverbs represent a l l speech and thought contraven ing " Dieu et mon

droit " as heresy and nationa l betraya l . Whether by i ntent o r defa u lt , out ing has become pa rt of these a pho­

risms' com pl icated h istory, for it aims to revoke elements of "treachery" by d rawing clear d isti nctions between stra ight and gay. FROCS tried to revoke hypocrisy and secrecy by d ispe l l i ng every en igma a bout homosexual ity i n B rita i n . I ndeed , the two m e n in charge of this group announced to journa l­ists i n 199 1 that the ir a im of out ing 200 promi nent figures was an ela borate " hoax" designed to h igh l ight media hypocrisy, a fact few newspa pers reported beca use it caused them em ba rrassment .23 Nonetheless, th is demand for c lar ity and accountab i l ity has i mmense conseq uences i n les­

b ian and gay pol it ics, i ron ica l ly when the term "q ueer" seems to d issolve related problems over the gay/stra ight b inary by em phasizing that sexual ity is fl u id and m uta ble . Carole-Anne Tyler put th is wel l when she remarked , "Ours is the era of the passing of passing as a politica l ly viable response to oppression . "24

Pass ing may not be via b le , but sexua l ity's v ic iss itudes cha l lenge the gay/stra ight b inary. And whi le outi ng advocates i ns ist strongly on sexua l c la r ity, sent i ments such as " La be ls a re for ca ns " a re popu la r a mong queer youth and q ueer activist grou ps-for instance, Homocu lt and Sub­versive Street Queers , the fi rst a n a nonymous but mixed-sex col lective i n Manchester, U . K . , who i n 1 99 1 denou nced OutRage! as a n i neffective sha m ; the second more c losely a l igned with that city's punk scene. Com­menti ng on eq u iva lent North America n grou ps from Brita i n , Keith Alcorn has written :

Groups in Toronto, Detroit, San Francisco, a n d Los Angeles are now walk­

ing away from the [gay) ghetto , a rgu ing that gay identity is pa rt of the

power structure i n the same way as white middle-class men and Citicorp

ban k a nd the Pentagon. I t must be destroyed . Even Queer Nation is the

enemy for these rad icals , who bel ieve that q ueers must subsume their

identity i nto a movement of the powerless i n American soc iety, and that

sexual identity is not an axis around which any sort of political activism

should be organised.25

How does this position square with outing, which a ims to pronounce the sexua l truth of "gay hypocrites" ? G roups such as Queer Nation adopt a

253

Outln1, Privacy,

and Psychoanalysis

pos it ion between q ueer a na rch i sts and the "gay esta b l i sh ment" {a term 254

begging many questions, not least about intergenerationa l d ifferences) , but their ensu ing arguments about heterosexual i ty-and sexual ity i n general- Christopher

rema i n pa l pab ly unc lea r, beca use wh i le a rgu i ng aga i nst norms they Lane

nonetheless tend to re instate them . From th is perspective , as exam ples wi l l show, outing i ronica l ly is one way to reinstate the norm .

However d i fficu l t they a re to accept or represent, these d ispa rit ies i n pol itica l strategy and sexual focus profound ly affect ou r abi l ity to d iscuss out­ing. Whi le an anonymously publ ished fou r-page ta bloid man ifesto entitled I

Hate Straights circu lated at a recent New York Pride celebration (2 1-22) , for i nsta nce, other groups and pub l ications consider "stra ight queers " the ir a l l ies against "gay conservatives" (24) . Queer Power Now, a pa mph let d is­tri buted after the B rit ish prem iere of Derek Jarman 's fi lm Edward II,

declared , "There a re stra ight q ueers , bi-q ueers, tranny q ueers , lez q ueers , fag queers, SM q ueers, fisti ng queers" (qtd . 24) . Accord ing to Alcorn , "the pa mph let inc l uded a mong the 'oppressors' of that identity the Stonewa l l Group [ a gay reformist group committed to d iscussion with B rita in 's Govern­ment] , Sir lan McKel len , GALOP [Gay and Lesbian London Pol ic i ng] , and the gay press. 'Haven't we had enough of the l ies being pedd led by our lead­

ers?' the pa mph let asked . ' I t's t ime to turn on our oppressors-gay and stra ight' " (24) . Many other groups reject any cha nce of a l l iance with stra ights and gays, however. In 1991 the Toronto fanzine Bimbox declared ,

in the fol lowing unfortunate words, "We wi l l not tolerate any form of ' lesbian and gay' ph i losophy . . . we wi l l not tolerate the i r vol untary assim i lation into heterosexua l cu l ture . . . Furthermore, if we see lesb ians and gays being assau lted in the streets, we wi l l not intervene, we wi l l joi n in" (qtd . 22).

Eschewi ng a l l of these d i sputes and contrad ictions , Joha nsson and Percy characterize U .S . q ueer activism as a coherent force us ing outing to advance a shared pol it ical goa l :

I n the new concept of a Queer Nation, . . . d isloya lty through hypocritica l

perjury of one's identity seems to merit outing, even if the closeted are in

no other way harming fellow queer nationals. The need for collective visi­

bi l ity overrules the right of privacy . . . . Vociferously condemned as it may

be by the majority of heterosexuals and perha ps even of us, outing is here

to stay. It wi l l not end unti l the trad ition of secrecy and hypocrisy in regard

to the subject ends . . . . Those who do not learn from the past a re con­

demned to repeat its mistakes! Outing of closeted celebrities is needed for

the good of the cause. We insist upon our right to c la im them as our broth-

ers and sisters . (3, 4, 30; my em phasis)

G iven the needs of such brothers and s isters , how should we u ndersta nd the conseq uences of Johansson and Percy's "even if" ? The repercussions

of " hypocritica l perju ry of one's identity" a re i m mense, demand ing poten- 255

tia l ly that we out those who don't te l l everyone they meet that they a re les-bian or gay. Perjury-mea n ing "to be forsworn or gui lty of fa lse sweari ng"- Dutln1, Privacy, der ives from the Lat in perjDrare, to brea k one's oath .26 However, after and Psychoanalysis Faderman 's question a bout sexual ity's vicissitudes in pub l ic forums, what does-or can-this oath mean?

Johansson and Percy ad mit that th is question stri kes at the heart of out­i ng's pol it ica l purpose: "Are we merely ind ivid ua l ' s in ners' or 'deviates , ' " they ask, "or do we form a commun ity or even a ' nation with in a nation' with legit imate i nterests that the rest of soc iety should recognize and respect?" (225) . The fi rst pa rt of th is question is easy to answer, though the second pa rt , "do we form . . . a nation with i n a nation?" req u i res more considera­

t ion . By acknowledging that sexua l ity often confl icts with pol it ica l coher­ence and un ity, we can sti l l a im for a pol it ics that does justice to this ques­t ion's com plexity without i nvoking "the good of the ca use" to denou nce the "hypocritica l perju ry of one's identity" (30, 3). For the idea of "cause" often generates egregious un brotherly and unsisterly notions of polit ica l correc­

tion that revoke conventiona l defi n it ions of com mun ity: " Now some queer nationa ls bel ieve that they have a right to out passive as wel l as active tra i­tors and col la boration ists" (23) . G iven Johansson and Percy's a bove under­stand ing of treachery ( "d isloya lty through hypocritica l perju ry of one's iden­t ity" ) , which unca n n i ly resem bles that of the B ri t ish pub l i c a nd press, wou ld n 't every b isexua l-or even a pol it ica l lesb ian and gay ma n-repre­sent a col la borator?

Many advocates of outi ng down play these questions a bout sexua l and com m u n ity defi n it ion as pol it ica l ly i rre leva nt; they c la i m that a bas ic approximation to lesbia n or gay des i re i s suffic ient to render someone accountable to h is or her subcu ltu re (S ignori le xi-x i i ; G ross 108, 1 2 1 ) .27 In ways that contrad ict their ea r l ier des i re for " brothers a nd s isters , " for insta nce, Joha nsson a nd Percy support activists who "feel it is their mora l right or even duty to force people out of the closet, either to make them sup­port the movement or at least to discredit them as foes, a nd a lso to show

how many idols of the masses or pillars of the nation are in fact closet

queers" ( 1 75 ; my emphases) . Th is contradictory perspective leads Johans­son and Percy to propose a bout a hypothetica l Su preme Court j ustice who is gay "or who even merely enjoyed gay pornogra phy [and) worked aga i nst gay i nterests " : "Such a cha racter, espec ia l ly one with l ife ten u re , wh ich most America n j udges have , shou ld be outed as soon as possi ble, even if

he (or she) is presently deciding for queer national interests, or does so occasional ly, if only because it is t ime to make u p for h istorians' fa i l u re thus fa r to identify even one gay Su preme Court j ustice" (227; my em phasis) .

Si nce outers and activists such as Johansson and Percy usua l ly avoid 256

ca refu l ana lys is of hypocrisy, they down play that out ing ca n backfi re with a ppa l l i ng pol itica l conseq uences. When q ueer theory and activism do theo- Christopher

rize publ ic resistance (and this is curiously rare) , they tend to fol low M ichel Lane

Fouca u lt's assertion that resistance, being d iscursive, is an im pl icit form of power. 28 From th is perspective , outi ng someone-that is , nam ing the d is­cursive "truth " of their sexual i ty-imp l ies pol itica l res ista nce and cha nge . However, outi ng (as other q ueer activists rea l ize) f l ies i n the face of Fou­ca u lt's i ns istence that we not consider sexua l ity the truth of su bjectivity. "Not only d id [ 'the soc iety that emerged i n the n i neteenth century'] speak of sex and com pel everyone to do so, " Foucault warned , but " it a lso set out to formu late the u n iform truth of sex. As if it suspected sex of ha rbori ng a funda menta l secret . "29

It is surely not coi ncidence that the fa mous 1890 Harvard Law Review

article formulating "the right to privacy" as a right "to be let a lone" emerged in the U n ited States soon after Henry La bouchere's a mendment to B rita i n 's 1885 Cri m i na l Law Amend ment Act .3° For good reason , th is a mend ment was known as the " B lackmai lers' Charter. "31 Such l i nks between demands for pr ivacy and sexua l ity's i ntense pub l i c scruti ny i n the 1890s form a n im portant backd rop to contem pora ry debates a bout publ ic sexual identity. On the one hand , the growing strength of Eu rope's and North America 's les­

bia n and gay com m u n it ies pa rtly tra nsforms th is h i story by representi ng outi ng as a col lective , even sed it ious act.32 Thus out i ng seems to defeat hypocrisy and the l i ke l i hood of blackma i l by giving lesbia ns and gay men grou p d ign ity (S ignori le 254) . On the other hand , whether from pub l ic bel ief that outing is sti l l blackma i l or from homophobic ind ifference to a l l lesb ian and gay a rguments, th is d isti nction between out ing and blackma i l i s ra rely u nderstood or accepted in the wider cu lture. Usual ly, the med ia enjoy the spectacle that outing generates:33 They rel ish what seem to be public sacri­fices, witness ing scenes they themselves often create u nder d i fferent c i r­cumsta nces .34

These poi nts contextual ize broad confl icts a bout sexual knowledge and truth i n B rita i n , due i n part to that country's refusal to adopt a North Ameri­can model of civ i l rights . Trad itiona l ly, B rit ish activists have not demanded these rights , based on the i r assu m ption that such rewa rds wou ld be ta r­n ished by co-optive lega l demands to behave.35 To u nderstand the h istory of outi ng in B rita i n , then , we must return to the Wolfenden Report 's 1957 recommendation (enacted ten yea rs later) that B rita i n 's Pa r l iament partia l ly decri m i na l ize male homosexua l ity. 36 We must a lso revisit the 1979 tria l of Jeremy Thorpe, leader of B rita i n 's Li bera l Pa rty unt i l 1976. The effects of this tria l not only partly i nformed Margaret Thatcher's homophobic pol icies

throughout the 1980s , but dramatica l ly refra med debates about publ ic acts 257

and private fa ntasies that i n the 1990s were cruc ia l to F R OCS and Out-Rage! Outln1, Privacy,

and Psychoanalpis

The Trial of Jeremy Thorpe

Jeremy Thorpe was leader of the Li bera l Pa rty from January 1967 unt i l May 1976. Although he never became prime min ister, Thorpe played a decisive role in British polit ics toward the mid '70s because his party's coa l ition with Harold Wilson's Labour government ( 1974-79) increasingly was necessary for the La bour Party to reta i n power. Si nce it jeopard ized the L ibera l Pa rty's awkward coa l it ion with Harold Wi lson's La bour Party, the scandal attached to Thorpe 's tria l contri buted to the Genera l Election i n 1979 that brought Thatcher's government to office for three terms.

With th ree of h is col leagues i n the Libera l Party, Thorpe was arrested on August 4 , 1978, for consp i r ing to m u rder Norma n Scott, a younger man with whom he was sexua l ly involved before the affa i r beca me a pol it ica l embarrassment. Thorpe was a lso charged with inc it ing h is friend and col­league David Holmes to murder Scott (he was acqu itted of both charges in J une 1979). In ways that confi rm my previous c la ims a bout publ ic/private identity, most of this tria l a imed not to determine Thorpe's gu i lt but to exon­erate him of bla me. To this end , the judge and defense counse l focused relentlessly on the sexual behavior of Norman Scott, the plai ntiff and Thor­pe's accuserY This focus preva i led throughout the tria l , despite the court's accepting that Scott was the object of a conspiracy to frighten ( i f not mur­der) h im . The court a lso accepted that Scott's dog was shot, and that Scott m ight have been , had h is potential assass in 's gun not jammed on a desert­ed moor in West England . J udge Joseph Cantley remarked , "That there was a consp i racy of some sort with [And rew] Newton [the man Thorpe's col­leagues a l leged ly h i red to assassinate Scott] I don't th ink is d isputed . I don't th ink Newton went on the moor with Scott just on some frol ic of h is own , or for some eccentric reason of his own . "38 Au beron Wa ugh , who witnessed the tria l , remarks: "When the j udge had fi n ished ch uckl ing to h imself over this sa l ly, he tried fitt ing the evidence to the idea of conspi racy. "39

Although Thorpe faced one charge of consp i racy to m u rder and one charge of i ncit i ng to m u rder, the defense counsel and j udge repeatedly characterized h im as rational and honest. They did so i n the hope of repre­senting h im as i nca pable of participating in homosexual acts . As we' l l see , homosexual ity beca me a h i nge in the tria l , determ in i ng gui l t or in nocence accord ing to the man ner i n which Thorpe and Scott seemed " i m pl icated " in it. Put another way, the court's del i berations tu rned obsessively on Thor-

pe's and Scott's a bi l ity to enjoy homosexual sex . Thorpe 's apparent res is- 258

tance to homosexual ity-later i nterpreted by the court as an " i nca pacity" to experience such desire vol untari ly and with pleasu re-emerged a longside Christopher

repeated em phasis on Scott's excessive enjoyment.40 After dera i l i ng Scott's Lane

testa ment about h is sexual re lationsh ip with Thorpe on severa l occasions,41 for i nsta nce, J udge Cant ley rema rked i n his s u m m i ng up, with spu r ious ba la nce: "You wi l l remember [Scott] wel l-a hysterica l , warped persona l i ty, accompl ished sponger, and very sk i l lfu l at excit ing and exploit ing sym pa-

thy . . . . He is a crook . . . . He is a fraud . He is a sponger. He is a whiner. He is a parasite. B ut of course, he cou ld sti l l be tel l i ng the truth . It is a question of bel ief . . . I am not expressing any opin ion . "42

Although homosexual ity surfaced later in the tria l as one of Thorpe's ten­

dencies,43 Thorpe's two marriages represented sufficient reparation i n the

court's eyes. Waugh remarks,

A further reason why Private Eye [the sati rical journa l ]-and, for that mat­

ter, the whole of Fleet Street-decided [ i n it ial ly] to leave the story alone

was that Thorpe had married , fathered a son and been widowed i n the

meantime and was, i n fact, on the point of remarrying. A bachelor m ight

have been fa i r ga me, but a reformed homosexua l , whose only a pparent

crime was to have had an unfortu nate affa i r with a neurotic many years

earlier, was safe . I stress this point beca use it seems important. There was

not the s l ightest da nger to Thorpe that any newspaper in England was

going to print Scott's a l legation [before the tria l ] .44

Times have indeed changed . Yet th is redem ptive em phasis on marriage endorses a conception of the homosexual as tra itor; and Thorpe and Scott had q u ite d i fferent re lat ions to th is fa ntasy.45 The tria l dehomosexua l ized Thorpe by em phas iz ing the d ifference between private tendenc ies and acts , and aga i n between private acts and pu bl ic test imony. I n th is way, i t d iffered rad ica l ly from out ing debates i n the U n ited States, wh ich tend to accept the subject's homosexual ity but not the med ia 's right to breach their privacy.46

I n Brita i n , projection and d issoc iation ca n dera i l outing so successfu l ly that outers (such as Norman Scott and Peter Tatche l l ) begin to resem ble crim inals . Under fierce public scrutiny, the coherence of outing a lso begins to fray: its constitutive elements-motive , knowledge, princi ple, and a im-are chal lenged and rid icu led . On March 2 1 , 1995, for instance, The Scotsman

reported : " Dozens of [ M . P. 's] a re widely bel ieved to have homosexual lean­ings. "47 I n an "Opin ion" column , publ ished the same day and entitled "The R ight to Stay in the Closet, " however, The Scotsman scoffed at these cla ims: "So , now we know. Twenty Members of Pa r l ia ment, inc lud i ng two Cabinet Min isters, are closet gays. Actual ly, we know noth ing of the sort. Al l we know

is that the mi l itant gay group, OutRage! , bel ieves they are gay and has written 258

tel l i ng them what it th inks they should do a bout the i r sexua l ity, which is to procla im it. It is hard not to detect a note of menace in this tactic. "48 Outln1. Privacy,

Like The Scotsman, the 1957 Wolfenden Report and the 1979 tri a l of and Psychoanalysis

Jeremy Thorpe repeated ly used such terms as " homosexual lean ings" and " homosexual tendencies. "49 However, neither term can be read as a s im-ple eu phemism for homosexual identity. These phrases are part of a serious bel ief i n B rita in that homosexual lean ings , tendencies, acts, and identities a re not identica l , a bel ief seriously jeopa rd iz i ng the poss ib i l ity of gay and lesbian rights. I ndeed , that the Wolfenden Report succeeded at a l l may be due to its ca refu l em phasis on "the Dist i nction between Propensity and Behavior. " 50 By coro l la ry, outi ng's conflation of these terms represents

someth ing of a conceptual v io lence whose "cu l pr it" ( Peter Tatche l l , say) a ims to un ify what others i nsist is nebulous and dou btfu l . 51 By question ing the re lat ion between homosexua l tendency a nd publ ic identity, B ritons assume that an ind ividua l 's a l leged "superiority" ( l i ke Thorpe's) can render

these terms not only nonidentica l , but-in certa in circumstances-mutual-ly exc lus ive. This pattern d iffers rad ica l ly from that i n the U n ited States , where private tendencies a l ready appear to many as publ ic acts. 52

For i m porta nt h i storica l and pol it ica l reasons, B rita i n has resisted the argument adva nced with some success i n the U n ited States that lesbia ns and gays constitute a m inority, even a nation or people ( repeati ng Johans­son and Percy [225] ) . 53 Whatever fa lse homogen ization th is ideal ma in ­ta ins-and the term "queer" a ims to betray such imaginary un ity-the U .S . media fundamenta l ly accepted th i s a rgument i n the early 1990s: there a re gays and there a re stra ights, and the c loseted a re just gays l iv ing erro­neously or hypocritica l ly. Disti nctions between "qua l ity" da i ly newspapers and supermarket ta bloids do not inva l idate the idea that in cases of d isclo­sure or conti n ued secrecy, the U .S . media understood they were s im ply h id ing or exposing closeted gays .

I n Brita i n , however, where lega l and pol itica l d isti nctions between sexual identity and sexual acts freq uently recur (Thorpe's 1979 tria l and the B ish­op of London's recent outi ng are only two important exam ples) , insisti ng on sexua l c la rity ra ises dou bts a bout homosexua l ity's consistency and fea rs a bout its persistence and l i kely treachery. Depa rti ng from the U .S . mode l , which can evacuate sexual ity from gay issues without rescind ing identita ri­an demands for equal ity, sexual ity in Brita in surfaces as a menacing specter lack ing coherence and identity : its d iffusion i n the pub l ic rea lm becomes the source of its th reat, and thus an apparent justification for its violent con­tro l . As the journal ist Edward Pearce excla imed , "A latent loath ing of homo­sexuals has been ra ised l i ke a sma l l virulent poltergeist" (29) .

Poltergeists com bine a n overa bu nda nce of "wi l l " with an acute desire 260

for retri bution: They punish without rationa le, yet never properly materia l ize (poltern in German means "to crash , rant, or create an u proar" ) . Th is "viru- Christopher

lent poltergeist" shows us the ragi ng sym ptom (or "outrage" ) preva i l ing as Lane

Brita i n 's fierce resista nce to pub l ic d iscussion of homosexua l ity. Add th is specter to B rita i n 's r ig id l i be l laws and the h i storica l legacy of the 1880s and '90s purity cam pa igns, which tried to excise desire from publ ic and pri-vate foru ms , and an advocate of out ing ra pid ly becomes a sym ptom of Brita i n 's fears a bout its sexual unmak ing. If for Pearce, " hypocrisy is a great

c ivi l is ing force , " then an imaginary ra pport must joi n truth to degeneration . The strength of th is ra pport makes c lear why B rita i n 's resistance to homo-sexua l ity proba bly wi l l not d isappear i n the foreseea ble futu re without pro-

d ucing another "viru lent poltergeist. " The rest of my essay a ims to expla i n th i s point.

Britain's Poltergeists

When Thorpe resigned from the Li bera l Party on May 10, 1976, the May 16 Sunday Mirror opi ned in th i s leader: "After he heard the news of M r. Thor­

pe's resignation , M r. Scott told reporters that he was so upset he had been s ick . I t is a l l decent people in B rita i n who are s ick, M r. Scott . S ick at your behaviour. Ugh ! " 54 G iven Scott's sym bol ic proxi mity to Peter Tatchel l , it is not su rpr is ing that Tatche l l experienced s im i la r sentiments, severa l years later, d u ri ng h i s unsuccessfu l 198 1 -83 ca m pa ign to become a La bour Member of Par l iament. 55

During Tatchel l 's cam pa ign , B rita i n 's media focused re lentlessly on h is homosexua l ity and Austra l ian b i rth . 56 U n l i ke Thorpe , however, whose ignom iny ra p id ly d issolved after his exit from pol it ics , Tatche l l suffered a ppa l l i ng d isplays of pub l ic cruelty. In The Battle for Bermondsey, a t it le poignantly i nvoking "The Battle of Brita i n , " Tatchel l descri bes how people de l ivered severa l hundred hate letters to him ( 108) and made nu merous and round-the-clock obscene phone ca l l s ( 104) ; accused him of " i nvolve­ment in terrorist activ ity and sexua l assa u lts on young [ch i l d ren ] " ( 104) ; attem pted th ree t imes t o r u n h i m down i n ca rs ( 1 06) ; th rew bott les a n d bricks a t h im ; pa i nted swastikas o n the door of h i s a partment; sent h im bul­lets and wh ite feathers (em blems of coward ice) ; a nd th reatened many t imes to f ire-bomb h i s a pa rtment ( 106, 108) . One man boasted that "he had a l itt le si lver bu l let wh ich he was savi ng to ' plant between [Tatchel l 's l fuck ing eyes ' " (qtd . 106) . "We don 't wa nt sodom ites you sewer rat , " declared another (qtd . 106) . And others wrote of their connection to violent gangs and expressed l im itless d isgust s im ply at Tatchel l 's presence in their

neigh borhood . One "ex-docker and . . . l i fe long member of the La bou r 281

Pa rty" wrote h i s pa rty offices, exc la i m i ng, "At the age of 64 with a hea rt compla int and therefore l ittle to lose, I wou ld be prepared to go to prison for Outln1, Privacy,

the murder of this creep--don't imagine I 'm a crank-far from it. " The man and Psychoanalysis

concl uded : " By the way, how d id a s i ngle homosexual get a counc i l flat to begin with?" (qtd . 72-73).

Duri ng Tatchel l 's ca m pa ign , ten thousand a nonymous election leaflets c i rcu lated featu r ing two sketches: one depicted the Queen of England ; the other, Tatche l l wear ing l i pstick a nd makeu p. U nder the head l i ne , "Which Queen Wi l l You Vote For?, " the leaflet stated :

Peter Tatchel l is an outspoken critic of the Queen and Roya l Fam i ly-he

believes that the monarchy should be abol ished . The people of Bermond­

sey have a lways been loya l to the Crown. Many Bermondsey fami l ies lost

loved ones d u ring two world wa rs. They fought and d ied to save the ir

country-on the other hand Tatchel l ra n away from his home in Austra l ia

to avoid fighti ng for his . Sold iers from th is area also fought i n the Fa lk­

lands-need less to say Tatchel l sta bbed our boys i n the back by opposing

the war. Tatchel l is a traitor to Queen and country. (Qtd . 139-40)

The leaflet publ ished Tatchel l 's home add ress and phone number. Although Tatche l l 's homosexua l i ty appa rently renders h i m effete ( l i p­

stick-wearing), h is "treachery" appears to vir i l ize h im , as if the publ ic's fan­tasy of Tatche l l m ust osc i l late between persecut ing him and d isplaying a defenseless fea r ( "Tatchel l sta bbed our boys i n the back" ) . S i nce Tatche l l nonetheless was invoked overa l l as a deficit to h is commun ity, rather than a potentia l representative of it, he signified the theft of B rita in 's nosta lgic rela­

tion to its past em pire. He represented this nosta lgia 's volati le fa i l u re , con­fi rming a point I made earl ier a bout the tria l of Jeremy Thorpe and its com­plex investment i n fantasies about violence and homosexual enjoyment. 57

Dur ing B rita i n 's "feed ing frenzy" on outing and Tatchel l in the wi nter of 1994 and spring of 1995, these issues recurred with astonish ing du rab i l ity. I n The Guardian, March 1995, Suzanne Moore remarked that "Tatchel l has . . . been denounced as a hypocrite, a blackmai ler, one of the least 'attrac­tive characters in B ritish publ ic l i fe , ' a fascist, a terrorist and , in the words of The Sun, 'an Austra l ian-born Vietnam draft-dodger. ' "58 Moore a lso argued that Tatche l l 's "v i l ification " relates i m pl ic itly to his "delving i nto that fragi le a rea-the ga p between what is private and what is pub l ic . " 59 This "ga p" signifies B rita i n 's generic fea r of sexual certa inty and indeterm inacy, mak­i ng clear why a "victim" such as Tatchel l can sl ip intangibly i nto a " persecu­tor, " even an "executioner. " Pearce ela borates: " [Gays] m ight consider that j ust as acceptance must evolve and deepen , it can a lso regress if the broad publ ic is affronted often enough " (29) .

H ighl ight ing the res i l ience of th is "v i ru lent poltergeist , " which sounds 262

heterosexua l ity's a ntagon ist ic re lat ion to homosexua l ity, out ing ta kes us beyond the eth ica l ly exped ient and pol it ica l ly correct. The heated Christopher

exchanges preva i l i ng throughout North America 's and Europe's lesbian and Lane

gay commun ities duri ng the 1980s and early '90s demonstrate that outing i nvolves more than considerat ions of pr ivacy, autonomy, and the right to self-defi n it ion, though it u rgently engages al l these issues. Outing a lso ra is-es funda menta l q uestions a bout our economy of p leasure , whose pre­sumed superabundance, depletion , and theft have rad ical impl ications for

theories of phobia and hatred . Thus far, I have merely ampl ified the relative opacity of psychic pleasure

and satisfact ion . Such complexity req u i res us to consider the i m pl ic it " price" of enjoyment i n an economy that has l ittle ( but not noth i ng) to do with wea lth , rational a rgument, or conscious knowledge.60 Considering this com plexity, how can we d iscuss outing without understand ing publ ic fanta­sy and revenge? I f outi ng represents a n u rgent need for lesb ian and gay

freedom , of what does freedom rea l ly consist when homosexua l ity-a nd espec ia l ly homosexua l enjoyment-prec i p itates such fea r and vio lent repr isa ls? The fo l lowi ng section tr ies to answer these q uest ions, a rgu ing that the lesbian a nd gay com m u n ity must face these concerns without accusations of ca l umny: the a rgument on al l s ides of the "out ing" debate leads beyond questions of treachery, though the debate's su bstantive focus repeats this notion with unfortunate persistence.

The Ecstasy of Bigotry

If we be l i eve that out ing is a pol it ica l need with ta ngib le rewa rds , what rema ins of the right to pr ivacy a rgument? In Queer in America, S ignori le concedes that outers oppose not on ly homophobes and bigots but those ( i nc lud i ng fe l low gays and lesbians) who support the right to privacy (76, 80, 84-88 , 128, and 254) . Cla im ing that gay and lesbian defenders of pri­vacy u lt imately defend hypocrisy, Signori le a rgues that hypocrisy resci nds one's pol itica l rights . In this respect, h is aim appears revolutionary (disman­t l ing the c loset to reveal homosexual ity's i nfluence on al l aspects of Ameri­can cu lture ) , whi le his strategy resem bles that of a rch-homophobes such as J udge Robert H. Bork.61 I f we accept Signori le 's s imp l istic c la i m that everyone i n the c loset is a hypocrite, what e lse-besides privacy-do we lose? What fundamenta l ly do we ga in?

"Out ing demands that everyone come out , and defi nes the c loseted­especia l ly those in power-as cowards who a re sta l l i ng progress at a critica l t ime , " dec lares S ignor i le (84) . Wh i le representi ng the stra ight and gay

med ia as coward ly, Signori le mainta ins that he has the implicit a pprova l of a l l those wanti ng to correct a pol itica l wrong. This position ga ins some sup­port from R ichard Roui lard , former ed itor of The Advocate, who asks us to "watch . . . dou ble standards . " B ut watch the fol lowi ng sh ift i n Rou i la rd 's own a rgument:62

The c loset in the 90s is too com plex a h istorical phenomenon to be d is­

m issed perfu nctor i ly by the mora l i sts a nd activists du jour. Clearly, it

should n 't be supported and co-opted , but neither should it be i nvaded or

evaded without some i nspection of the homophobic undercu rrent that

ins in uates itself i n al l Americans' consciousness, gay or stra ight. So sit

back, think about hurting someone, helping thousands, and feel that gui lt .

Another closet door wi l l certa in ly be pried open soon enough . More tha n

l i kely not by The Advocate. But that is why God made Queer Nation.63

Although this statement pa rtly endorses Signori le , it impl icates us a l l i n a d i lemma concern i ng more than pol it ica l j ustice or coward ice. The " homophobic u ndercu rrent tha t i ns i n uates itself i n a l l America ns ' con­sciousness" connects i m pl icit ly with Rou i lard 's i ronic i nvitation to "th i n k

a bout hurting someone"-that i s , th ink about what David Mayo a n d Martin Gu nderson have cal led everyone's ca pac ity for "ma l ice . "64 I n th is context, and from knowledge a bout the "v i ru lence" of Conservative-Ch rist ia n homophobia , the gay com mun ity's overa l l reticence on the subject of out­ing suggests not coward ice, but j ustifiable concern that Signori le's rejection

of privacy a rguments resc inds every lesbia n 's or gay's right to protection from the law and state, however out or closeted she or he may be .65 Signa­rile a rgues that the state has placed privacy enti rely beyond the reach of gays and lesbia ns, as in the Supreme Court's 1986 Bowers v. Hardwick ru l­i ng, and that th is apparently is to our advantage:66 we ca nnot mainta i n the closet i n such a c l imate, he c la ims, for the state wi l l not a l low it ( 1 7 1 , 396; see a lso G ross 142-46) . The Su preme Cou rt's ru l i ng on May 20, 1996, aga i nst Colorado's Amend ment 2 nonetheless suggests that the state's relation to lesbians and gays is com plex and not predetermi ned .67 Howev­er, is Signorile's position to our advantage?

If we heed the words of rights advocates, the demand for privacy repre­sents more tha n a na ive q uest for eq ual ity; it stems from a rea l ization that some d istance from the law is a prerequ isite for sexual emancipation . More sophisticated privacy arguments, such as Jed R u benfeld 's recent article i n the Harvard Law Review, question the pol itica l efficacy of fighti ng a " reverse d iscourse" for the autonomy of homosexuals whi le recogn izing that mal ice and prejud ice prevent us from d isband ing this d iscourse enti rely, and that lega l protect ion from homophobia is a vita l aspect of freedom from the state .68 R u benfeld put th is conceptual d i lemma wel l : "Once personhood 's

283

Outln1, Privacy,

and Psychoanalysis

logic is extended to the 'communa l aspects' of our identity, the right to pri- 2&4

vacy of the intolerant-or s imply of those committed to preva i l ing va lues-wi l l a lways confl ict with the right to privacy of the iconoclast. . . . [T]he iden- Christopher

tities that personhood strives most vigorously to protect a re themselves l i ke- Lane

ly to imp inge u pon others' self-defi n ition . . . . [Tlhe neigh bor's private l i fe is precisely not one's own " (766-67, 770) .

This a rgument has profound impl ications for commun ity j ustifications of out ing. Whi le outers ignore group and commun ity i nto lera nce (theirs and

others ' ) by ecl i psing complex aspects of sexual identity and pub l ic fantasy, R u benfeld asks pointed ly of homophobe and gay activist a l i ke : " I s homo­sexua l sex sa id to be self-defi n itive s im ply beca use it i s sex , or especia l ly

beca use it is homosexual sex?" (777-78) . Such d i strust of personhood leads R u benfeld to a Foucau ld ian position that is strangely underrepresent­ed in outing debates: " I n the very concept of a homosexual identity there is someth ing potentia l ly d isserving-if not d isrespectfu l-to the ca use advo­cated . There is someth ing not a ltogether l i berating" (779) .

R u benfeld i nadvertently turns the q ueer out ing argument on its head : he demonstrates that out ing someone i nto rigid d ist inctions between het­erosexual ity and homosexua l ity has conservative imp l ications : "The mere act of being homosexual is seen as defin itive in itself precisely beca use of its supposed abnorma l ity, and it rema ins categorica l ly defi n itive regard less of what sort of partners or sexual encou nters the homosexua l pursues . . . . Thus personhood , at the insta nt it proc la ims a freedom of self-defi n it ion , reproduces the very constraints on identity that it purports to resist "

(780-8 1 ; my emphasis) . Despite this a rgument's pol it ical and conceptual va lue , R u benfeld sta l ls

on q uestions of i nteriority versus exteriority, fol lowi ng h is incorrect charac­

terization that for Freud "sexual ity . . . de l i neates an i nner boundary of the strictly persona l that the state ought not to be a ble to cross" (770-7 1 ) ,69 and on the soc ia l and psychodyna m ics of "theft , " given h i s Fouca u ld i an understand ing of power (783) . With its attention to fa ntasy and identifica­t ion , psychoana lys is wou ld d i spute R u benfe ld 's confident assert ion that "the neigh bor's private l i fe is precisely not one's own " ; indeed , as the previ­ous section demonstrated , both outers and homophobes ceaselessly con­front the en igma (and occasional horror) of the neighbor's demand . I return to this point.

"There is someth i ng funda menta l at sta ke in the pr ivacy decis ions , " R u benfeld c la ims, " but it is not the proscribed cond uct, nor even the free­dom of decision-it is not what is being taken away. The d isti nctive and s in­gu lar characteristic of the laws aga i nst which the right to privacy has been a ppl ied l ies in the i r productive or affirmative conseq uences" {7�; orig-

i na l em phases ) . We cannot d i spute that such laws " take over the l ives of 2&5

the persons i nvolved : they occu py and preoccu py" (784; origi na l em pha-sis) , but such c la ims ignore how laws also operate by detraction , i m pedi- Dutin1, Privacy,

ment, and proh i bition . To consider Bowers v. Hardwick solely a mechanism a n d Psychoanalysis

that " forcea bly [sic] cha n ne l [s ] certa i n i nd ivid ua ls-supposing the law is obeyed-into a network of socia l institutions and re lations that wi l l occu py the i r l i ves to a su bsta nti a l degree" ( 799-800) provides on ly a vague account of the i ncident prec ip itat ing the Su preme Court's 1986 ru l i ng: a state such as Georgia a pparently can make homosexual sodomy a crim ina l offense without violating either man s right to privacy.

Th is returns us to S ignor i le's a rgu ment, wh i le casti ng h i s c la ims i n a more com pl icated l ight. After the Georgia pol ice arrested M ichael Hardwick for having anal sex with another man i n h is bed room, they invoked a statute that renders sodomy i l lega l ; more im porta nt for ou r read i ng, they d id "deprive [h im] o f someth ing deeply important to [ h im ] , " perha ps a lso "cru­

cia l to [his] happiness" (799) . Psychoana lytic theory adds this d imension to R u benfe ld 's a rgument to consider the extent to wh ich laws negotiate between desire and imped i ment. Th is negotiation may "affi rm" and " pro­duce , " in a strictly Fouca u ld ian sense, but it a lso ra ises u rgent q uestions a bout the law's vagar ious enforcement and i m pl ic i t " p leasures , " and the

ease with which such pleasures override our own (as i n the Bowers v. Hard­

wick ru l i ng) precisely because they deprive us of sexual freedom. For q u ite d ifferent reasons, then, R u benfeld and Signor i le ignore th is d i mension of the law: R u benfe ld , to sh ift privacy debates away from proh ibition and per­sonhood ; Signori le , to down play the conseq uences of outing people to prej­udic ia l media and homophobes.

Signori le tries to destroy the homophobic myth that lesbian and gay sex­ua l ity renders us i nhuman-a myth that wou ld q u ick ly turn privacy i nto a need-but out ing does not fu lfi l l th is a i m ( i ndeed , it often confi rms the myth by h igh l ighting rifts with i n the lesbian and gay commun ity) . The price we pay for d i sba n d i ng a l l c l a ims to privacy-as a l l who agree to out ing, however fervently or halfhearted ly, eventua l ly concede-is an aston ish ing absence of any recou rse to lega l and state protect ion . Reprod uc ing the worst excesses of publ ic surve i l lance between the 1890s and 1990s, out­i ng ca n represent lesbia n and gay desire only as a pub l ic affa i r. Th is ren­ders the outed-a n d , by defa u lt , every lesbia n and gay-a sym ptom of soc ia l hatred : the outed is subject enti re ly to the Other's jou issa nce, the agent that tr ies to stea l our pleasure by insist ing that we renounce and sac­rifice this pleasure . 7° Th is may expla in why we commonly hear that we do not deserve rights, homes, or l ife ( reca l l what Tatchel l endured for stand ing for office). Wi l l iam F. Buckley J r. 's fantasy of tattooing people with H I V and

AI DS, echoed by Pat Robertson's i nfamous pronouncement, "AI DS is God 's 286

way of weed i ng h is ga rden , " a re bruta l exam ples of the Other's jouissance. S i nce out ing ca nnot detach itse lf from th is jou issa nce, despite Signori le 's Christopher

and Gross's c la ims to the contrary, why do we consider it progressive? Lane

All s ides of the outing debate downplay the extent to which jouissance­which I am ca l l i ng "the ecstasy of bigotry"-lies at the heart of this issue. Jou issa nce is not a force or p leasure perta i n ing only to the out law; it inc l udes the homophobe who considers h imself an agent of the law. Con­s ider Fra n Lebowitz's i m porta nt concerns a bout outi ng, wh ich echo fea r a bout Bork and h is a l l ies : " [Out ing is ] da maging, it's i m mora l , it's McCarthyism, it's terrorism, it's cann iba l i sm, it's beneath contempt. . . . To

me th is is a bunch of Jews l i n ing u p other Jews to go to a concentrat ion camp . " 7 1 Li ke Lebowitz , psychoana lysis asks us to consider the jouissance operati ng in these scenarios and the d i lemma that rights and outing advo­cates face over sexua l ity's "treacherous" relation to identity.

Without theorizing homophobia and sexual aversion , Signori le asks us to resc ind a l l " benefits" related to the closet-includ ing com promised forms of pr ivacy-beca use they a re hypocrit ica l and conti ngent on whatever power is at sta ke. By d i splaying our col lective v is ib i l i ty, he argues, we wi l l compel the state to recogn ize our numbers and accord us human rights . Ignoring the present lega l paradox in which states such as Massachusetts and M innesota have antid iscrim ination legislation for lesbians and gay men as well as sodomy statutes ( M i n nesota a l so has legis lat ion defi n i ng gay

bash ing as a hate crime) , 72 Signori le cla ims that outi ng and mass com ing out wi l l make the c loset red unda nt: "Out ing is a natu ra l process that w i l l eventua l ly make itself obsolete " (83) . However schematic th is sou nds , i t h igh l ights a conceptua l u nderstand ing of the c loset that has tremendous im portance for queer activism : that the state often (though not exclus ively) relegates every lesbian and gay to a lega l outcast, l iv ing below or beyond society's m in ima l terms of inc lus ion . B riefly eschewing h is idea l istic vis ion of homosexual ity's eventua l mass accepta nce (83)-that is , post-out ing, Signori le gives us a perspective on lawlessness that not only justifies anger, but a lso deems homosexual desire axiomatica l ly rebe l l ious, even sed it ious.

Signori le's conviction that most lesbians and gay men na ively defend the right to privacy i ron ica l ly repeats Judge Bork 's and others' c la ims that homosexua l ity resc inds lesb ians ' and gays' human r ights , and-by a biza rre twist of projection-that it fosters a need for protection a mong het­

erosexuals. Signori le seems to grasp this pol itica l and psychic issue on ly i n h is Afterword to Queer in America, when he cautions aga inst assum ing that greater opposit ion is a sign of our i m m i nent victory. S im i l a r ly, Johansson and Percy acknowledge only in the preface to their book's second print ing,

"time has a lso shown that progress in gay rights seems a lways to be dogged by backlash " (xxx i ) . This leads them to admit , somewhat remarkably, given thei r prior hypotheses and statements a bout " hypocritica l perj u ry of one's identity" (3 ) : "We fee l that at th is t ime the non-Engl ish speak ing a reas­even France and most of the other a reas of Western Europe, with their long­time cu ltural trad itions of respect for privacy, longtime decri m ina l ization of sodomy, and their strict l i bel laws , a re perha ps not ri pe for outing" (xxxi i i ) .

" Progress in gay rights seems a lways to be dogged by backlash " : unfor­tunately, Signori le reprod uces this situation in h is book when defi n i ng les­bian and gay politics by strict bina ries between honesty and deceit. a l ly and enemy, hero and col la borator. The sta kes of hypocrisy logica l ly esca late here-reprod uc ing the problem I identif ied ea r l ier in J oha nsson and Percy's work-to the point where no one can feasibly partici pate in pol itics without foreclosing on the indeterminacies of their sexual identity, fantasies,

and past. 13 Th is is not a pro-c loset a rgument ; what concerns me a re the broader i m pl icat ions of out ing, pub l ic ma l ice , and our assu m ption that des i re must correspond publ icly to identity for our pol it ics to be cogent. As Alan Si nfield remarks of compara ble issues in Brita i n : "We don't know how many stra ights a re confi rmed in thei r mal ice by Queer and how many a re im pressed by its boldness. We don't even know how fa r we should be both­ering a bout what stra ights th i nk anyway. "74 Argu i ng that "we don't need to prod uce our own v i l l a ins ; the stra ight media w i l l do that for us , " and that "commun ity doesn't mean establ ish ing a pa rty l i ne , " S i nfield usefu l ly adds, " if you are struggl ing to be Gay [ in rura l England ] , the last th ing you want is someone l iv ing i n more fortu nate c i rcumstances te l l i ng you that you don 't measure up because you can 't th ink of yourself as Queer. " 75

Those em phas iz ing outi ng's pol it ica l and sym bol ic necessity often defend it on the grounds that it not only defeats pol itica l hypocrisy and pro­vides role models , but corrects a d istorted self-image by demand ing com­mun itarian i nvolvement. This a rgument represents coming out not only as a right but as a duty; it assumes, pr imari ly, that being c loseted is a man ifest betraya l of others, whi le comi ng out is itself pol itica l ly reparative .

Perhaps not su rpr is i ngly, such out ing advocates i n B rita i n and North America ma inta i n a strong-but sti l l content ious-bel ief that pol it ica l hypocrisy d i sbands a l l related concerns a bout outi ng's efficacy. I nvok ing hypocrisy inaugurates a zero-sum strategy, however, i n which the debate's many sides ra pidly d im in ish to two: for or aga inst. When ph i losophers such as R ichard Mohr a rgue vigorously for the r ight to out the c loseted , for i nsta nce, they s imp l i fy the issues and gloss over the fact that out ing ca n (and has) cost lesbians and gays dearly in happiness. Mohr unusua l ly con­cedes that "v ind ictive outing is l i ke McCarthyism: such outing feeds gays to

267

Out1n1, PriVIClf,

and Paychoanallfala

the wolves, who thereby are made stronger. And to the extent that outing is 268

viewed as pun ish ment of a ny sort . . . [ it] seems to pa nder to the va l ues and pun itive i nstrumenta l ities of the dominant cu lture, givi ng them at least Christopher

the a ppeara nce of credence . " 76 B ut he i ns ists: "The poi nt of outi ng, as I Lane

have defended it , is not to wrea k vengea nce, not to pun i sh , and not to deflect attention from one's own debased state . Its poi nt is to avoid degrad-

ing oneself" (36) . Mohr doesn 't seem to rea l ize that the motivation beh ind h is a rgument

h i nges not on ly on agency a nd i ntention , but on u nconscious pred icates . Si nce he theorizes only conscious i ntention , Mohr urges "the outer . . . not [to] pledge a l legiance to the phobia-d riven cyclone of hate that adm ittedly is sometimes a foreseea ble conseq uence of outi ng" (36-37) . Nonetheless, h is section on "Outing as Vi nd ictiveness and Pun ishment" ends by vac i l lat­i ng: "What is trou blesome is the doubt, the poss ib i l ity, that some outing is i ndeed motivated by l i ngeri ng self-hatred on the part of the outer" (37; sec­ond em phasis mine) . The point is surely that outi ng can not avoid th is " pho­bia-d riven cyclone of hatred " by goodwi l l , strategy, or rad ica l i ntention ; its risk l ies precisely in the immense volati l ity of publ ic reaction to homosexual­ityJ7 To this extent, what happens to the r ight to self-determi nation even in

exa m ples of man ifest hypocrisy, even when a ntic i pat ing that such hyp­ocrites wi l l eventual ly jo in the gay and lesbian commun ity? Si nce the pr inci­p le of self-determi nation often va n ishes at th is point ( it must for out ing to seem justifiable) , how ca n we accept the commun itar ian argument and d is­t inguish justification from pun ishment and hum i l iation? We read such con­f ident assert ions as Mark Chekola 's: " [A lny loss of ' privacy' enta i led by com ing out of the closet can be more than compensated by the rewards of casti ng off impl ications of worthlessness. "78 Why does privacy req u i re quo­tation marks in this citation? Chekola's point may be true, but it doesn 't take us far enough ; troub l ing questions sti l l rema i n . How, for exa m ple , ca n pri­vacy van ish so qu ickly from d iscussion? And what is at stake i n i nsisti ng on unequ ivoca l and publ ic forms of sexual ity?

Those advocat ing outi ng often respond that the c loset is e ither a n a n noying sym ptom of sexua l reticence or, as Leo Bersa n i has put i t qu ite d ifferently, a widespread aversion to sex . 79 But to do j ustice to Bersa n i 's a rgument , we must ask whether outi ng (or even com i ng out) ca n resolve sexua l ity's d ifficu l t-perha ps i m possi ble-relat ion to identity and pub l i c sym bols . I s there not someth i ng at sta ke i n the ten uous qua l ity of outi ng and com i ng out that m i l itates aga inst fi na l c losure , sta ble u nderstand i ng, and even lasting satisfaction?

In Bersa n i 's essay, avers ion is not l i m ited to the phobic; i t i s a d rama affl ict ing us a l l .80 Mayo and G u nderson argue related ly that we need pro-

tection-however imaginary or l im ited in practice-not only from prejud ice , but from our ca pacity for "ma l ice" against "our own " ; that is , from our jouis­sance and avers ion .81 These arguments com plement, not contrad ict, the contention of many q ueer activists and writers that coming out should not

be reconci l iatory, but a trenchant statement a bout the d ifferences (and surely the agon ist ic s im i la rit ies) between stra ights and gays . 82 S i nce th is argument a lso engages d ifferences among gays , we must consider the role of jou issance here ; class and racia l pol itics tel l us only ha lf the story.

I ron ica l ly, S ignor i le-i n la nguage that now wou ld proba bly make h i m cringe-once offered a related assessment of these d ifferences: " Be part of the solution instead of the problem. If not, then get the tuck out of our way. Because we're coming through and noth ing is going to stop us . And if that means we have to pu l l you down , wel l , then , have a n ice fa l l " (73). Whatev­er we th ink a bout this statement, it troubles Signori le's and Ga briel Rotel lo's related but nonidentica l efforts to replace the term "outing" with one they consider fa i rer: "equa l izi ng" (78) .83 Here, the obstacle to "equa l iz ing" rela­tions between stra ights and gays is not s im ply the closet, hypocrisy, c lass,

or " power" ; it is a lso "the ecstasy of bigotry. " Thus Signori le writes of Roui lard , former editor of The Advocate:

Roui lard 's change of mind is fa irly typical for gay men and lesbians: Fi rst,

they're adama ntly opposed to out ing; then it's okay, if the person to be

outed is i nvolved in blatant and vicious homophobic actions. F inal ly, most

come to the conclus ion that a person 's sexual ity should be d iscussed

whenever it is pert i nent to a news story. Often opi n ion swi ngs 180

degrees, so that in a vindictive stage we stretch circumstances to say that

the person being outed has engaged in the most horrendous, ruthless

activities imaginable. I did this sometimes myself-often in capita l let­

ters-i n my OutWeek col umns . Even lawyer Sa ndra Lowe did it , at fi rst

adama ntly opposed to outing, then comparing [then Assista nt Secretary

of Defense Peter) Wi l l iams to "a Jew in the SS . " . . . . It's hard to say if The

Advocate's demoniz ing h i m actua l ly hel ped or h u rt the story. I confess

that it made me uneasy. ( 1 28; my emphasis)

Signori le does at least rea l ize here that outi ng's political certa i nty con­fl icts with the psychic am bigu ities that i nform it; this is q u ite a concession . To grasp th is poi nt's repercuss ions , however, we shou ld note that when Edward Pearce tried to point up outi ng's psychic underpinn ings , he offered this homophobic perspective on "ma l ice" in The Guardian: " I suspect that if we had a wave of vicious anti-homosexual ity here [in England ] , with politi­cians on the right picking it up as they have picked up the chea p national­ism of anti-European ism, some gays would be deeply, contented ly, b l issfu l­ly happy. I t seems that self-pity and masochism are kissing cous ins" (29) .

269

Outin1, Privacy,

and Psychoanalysis

Pearce's a rgument rests on the fantasy that such "a wave of v ic ious ant i- 270

homosexua l ity" is e lsewhere-that it has not a l ready occu rred on B rit ish soi l (Tatchel l 's parl iamenta ry cam pa ign proves otherwise) . Such imaginary Christopher

d ista nce b l i nds Pea rce to the recu rrence of v io lence i n h i s own a rt ic le , Lane

where lesbia n and gay anger converts magica l ly i nto sexua l self-debase-ment. The point is that Pearce's rhetoric anticipates this pleasure, though he leaves others to act it out. And so, l i ke Signori le, he ind icates why jou is­sance--"the ecstasy of bigotry"-recurs in contem porary pol itics.

Pearce returns us to the French proverb " Honi soit qui mal y pense" ( " Evi l be to him who th inks evi l " ) , which every B rit ish passport reprod uces and which Pearce would rewrite as " Evi l be to him who outs others. " Mayo and

G underson actual ly touch on this proverb's impl icit violence when argu ing, "Respect for privacy is a mechanism we adopt to . . . ease this tension [ i .e . , the] . . . prej ud ice and ma l ice we m ight experience-and practice-if we

knew how d ifferent we a re from each other. "84 Seen in th is l ight, privacy is less a means of perpetuating the closet than a form of protection we may a l l requ i re , given our astonishing and agonistic proxim ity to others. If the closet formerly ensured this protection (or someth ing close to it) , the outed-l i ke a l l lesbia ns and gay men-req u i re an ana logous defense aga inst the ecstatic bigotry that Bork, Buckley, and Robertson are on ly too keen to rea l ize: the imagined ann ih i lation of al l lesbians and gays. Consider a " ben ign" example of this fantasy, a letter written by two parents to their son after they had a l l vacationed together: "We're devastated that you 're a homosexua l . When we found out, we felt that if our plane had crashed on the way back from Hawa i i , our whole fami ly would have been better off than this" (qtd . in Signori le 250).

Th is exa m ple re i nforces my ear l ier poi nts a bout publ ic des i re and pri­vate retr i but ion : The parents be l ieve that when they " lost" their son to homosexua l i ty, their l ives (and those of other passengers and the a i rpla ne crew) became worthless. This bel ief takes us beyond conscious statements a bout loss and grief; it gestu res toward imagined theft, as if the gay commu­n i ty has robbed these parents of satisfaction (and the i r son ) . Th is fa ntasy strengthens percept ions that gay men have robbed others to have too much pleasure, sex, and d isposable i ncome. In th is fantasy's most volati le form, we see a grotesque rationale for the hum i l iation or death of gay men and lesbians; such fa ntasies become the stuff of genocide. Aga in , that this fantasy appears credible to this fam i ly and so many others clear ly warrants our concern .

Th is l i n k between ma l ice and enjoyment recu rs whenever we reflect ser iously on the pol it ica l and psych ic sta kes of outi ng lesbia ns and gay men. Thorpe's tria l and Tatchel l 's persecution demonstrate that we cannot practica l ly d istingu ish outing from the publ ic's fantasies of vengeance (th is

a lso a ppl ies , a l be it d i fferently, to the U n ited States) . Hence the com plex a phorism i n my title, " Living wel l is the best revenge , " attri buted to George Herbert 's Jacula Prudentum { 1 65 1 ) , wh ich rad ica l ly i m pl ies that " l iv ing wel l " can deprive others of pleasure.85 Th is a phorism relates enjoyment to how we tolerate and l ive with others. Herbert of course was not a lone in for­m u lat ing th is notion ; the Germans i nvoke the term Schadenfreude to express the pleasure of another's hu bristic fa i l u re .

The idea that another's pleasure depletes us asks us to reth i n k a long and turbulent sexual h istory, of which outing is merely the latest sym ptom . But materia l ist accounts of homophobia can take us only so far in i nterpret­ing these l i n ks between p leasure and a n n i h i lat ion . By coro l l a ry, psycho­ana lysis ca n add much to this complex debate about sexual identity, pol it i­ca l res ista nce, and pub l ic fa ntasy, for its em phas is on the d ifferences between socia l and psychic resistance h ighl ights the insuffic iency of Fou­

ca u ld ian conceptions of power. Rather than c la i m i ng that na m i ng sexual categories and revea l i ng hypocrisy a re i n herently rad ica l , psychoana lys is

i m pl ies that these acts ca n have conservative, even d i sastrous , conse­q uences. Psychoana lys is a l so argues that despite pol it ica l d ifferences between outing and blackma i l i ng, these acts may be i nseparable i n publ ic fa ntasy.86 As Shane B roomha l l , spokesman for FROCS, acknowledged , apparently without seeing h is grou p's strategy as exacerbati ng this d ifficu l­ty, " It's the homophobia that needs changing. Journal ists can help do that, but the majority of them prefer to attack us, victim ise us, t ie us with pae­doph i l i a and say we are d isgusti ng people, and make money out of that. "87

The q uest ion therefore rema ins : Does out ing d i m i n ish homophobia? I th i n k it does j ust the reverse . S i nce unconscious factors preva i l i n outing cases with aston ish ing force, it is v ita l to reth i n k the c la i m that outing d is­ba nds psych ic en igmas and pol it ical deceit . H igh l ight ing a cruc ia l d i ffer­ence between " Foucau ld i an " notions of power and psychoana lytic accou nts of defense, a poria , and d i ff icu lty, I have tr ied to conceptua l ize out ing with i n specific theories of res ista nce and identif icat ion . Without focusing solely on assertions of ind iv idual hypocrisy and group accounta bi l ­i ty, I have stressed that widespread fa ntas ies of retr ibut ion make out ing u n pred icta ble a nd an un l i kely way of d i m i n i sh ing homophobia ; both out­comes are a pol itica l concern .

Discussions of outing q u ickly expand i nto debates a bout identity pol i­t ics, eth ics, sexual fantasy, accountabi l ity to grou ps and subcu ltures, class confl ict, and pol it ica l freedom . I wi l l conc lude, however, by rem ind ing us that the ga p between the "out" and the "closeted " i nfl uences sexual pol itics beyond our conscious com prehension and contro l . Th is ga p , which on ly approximates to publ ic/private d isti nctions, h ighl ights our pol itica l and psy-

271

Outln1, Privacy,

and Psychoanalysis

chic resistances, sometimes underm in ing our cherished bel iefs a bout sex- 272

ual desire , identity, and community. Stand ing in for related en igmas a bout fantasy, this gap points up a d ifficu lt lesson: what we want as a community Christopher

is frequently not what we desire . Lane

By assum ing that the death of pr ivacy is our goa l , however, and by d i recti ng out ing toward th is idea l , lesbia n and gay pol it ics is ten d i ng to ignore pub l ic reactions to out ing, with thei r va r ied and u n pred icta b le effects . As my essay has repeated ly shown , there a re c lea r s igns that we cannot overcome res istance in th is way. Moreover, desi re's com plex rela­t ion to identity, activism , and pub l ic sym bols concerns every s u bject, regard less of pol it ica l or sexual orientation . This a rgument does not i mply defeat or q u ieti sm ; on the contra ry, it cha l lenges us to find new ways of combin ing sexual freedom with socia l eq ual ity.

E N D N O T E S I tha nk Larry Gross for shar ing h i s press cutti ngs, a n d Carlos A . Bal l , Leo Bersa n i ,

lim Dea n , Jason Friedman, Kevin Kopelson, B i l l Lea p, Robert McRuer, Chris Reed ,

and Vince Samar for i nva lua ble com ments on an earl ier draft. The reference staffs at

the New York Publ ic Li bra ry and the U n iversity of Pennsylva n ia's Van Pelt L ibra ry

and B idd le Law School were i m mensely he lpful on a n u m ber of occasions. I a lso

thank the English Department at Penn for i nvit ing me to present an earlier version in

November 1 995, and the U n it for Crit ic ism at the U n iversity of I l l i nois , U rba na­

Champa ign, for hosting my vis it in March 1997.

1 . David Wojnarowicz, Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration (New York:

Vintage, 199 1 ) , pp. 1 2 1 , 1 53.

2 . I n tel l i ng us that "Words can cut the ropes of a n experience, " Wojnarowicz is

deta i l i ng what is most l i berating about " mak[ ingl the private i nto something public"

(pp. 1 53 , 1 2 1 ) . Elsewhere, however, he is more attentive to the violent repercussions

of this revelation , endorsing the thoughts of his friend Johnny, who "ta l ked about the

th in line people conta in , which they can insta ntaneously cross to become windmi l ls

of sla ughter" (p . 1 78) . Woj narowicz ends h is memoir thus: " M eat. B lood . Memory.

War. We rise to greet the State, to confront the State. Smell the flowers whi le you can "

(p . 276) .

3. Larry Gross, Contested Closets: The Politics and Ethics of Outing ( M i n neapol is :

U of M i nnesota P, 1993) , pp. ix-x; Warren Johansson and Wi l l iam A. Percy, Outing:

Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence (B inghamton, N . Y. : Harrington Park, 1994) , p.

1 ; M ichelangelo Signori le , Queer in America: Sex, the Media, and the Closets of

Power ( 1993; New York: Doubleday, 1994) , pp. 79-80. Subseq uent references to

these books give pagination in main text.

4. See Leo Bersan i , " I s the Rectum a G rave?" A IDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural

Activism, ed . Douglas Cri m p (Cam bridge: M IT, 1988), p. 197. I return to this point at

the end of my essay.

5. See Wi l l i am A. Cohen , Sex Scandal: The Private Parts of Victorian Fiction

( Durham: Duke U P, 1996) , pp. 5, 7, 12 .

6. The fi lm Personal Services (d i r. Terry Jones , 1987) is a usefu l exa m ple

beca use it depicts B rit ish sexua l hypocrisy. The fi lm ada pts the rea l- l ife story of

Christine Painter, a British wa itress, who later managed a successfu l brothel catering

to prominent English lawyers and businessmen .

7. The title of my essay derives in part from Andrew Holleran 's thoughts about l iv­

ing with AI DS, in Ground Zero (New York: Morrow, 1988), p. 74.

8. My point a bout homosexual ity's varied lega l status is not equ ivalent, however,

to a c la im for lega l relativism and voluntarism .

9. England and Wales's fi rst lega l statute aga inst sodomy dates from 1 533. U nder

Henry VI I I , this statute endorsed and superseded ecclesiastical law by condemning

a l l acts of buggery as "crimes aga i nst nature" pun ishable by hanging. Although one

of the last enactments of this statute was in England in February 1816 , when four

c rew mem bers of H . M .S . A fricaine were ha nged for buggery after a major naval

scandal , the statute remained part of English and Welsh law u nti l 1861 and Scottish

law unti l 1 889: The 1861 Offences Aga inst the Person Act removed the death penal­

ty for buggery, " replacing it by sentences of between ten years and l ife " ; see Jeffrey

Weeks, " Discourse, Desire, and Sexual Deviance: Some Problems in a H istory of

Homosexual ity, " The Making of the Modern Homosexual, ed . Ken neth P l u m mer

( London: H utch i nson, 198 1 ) , p. 85. See a lso note 36 below.

10 . D. A. M i l ler, "Secret Subjects, Open Secrets , " The Novel and the Police

( Berkeley: U of Cal ifornia P, 1988) , pp. 192-220.

1 1 . Sigmund Freud , The Future of an Illusion ( 1927) , Standard Edition of the

Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, ed . and trans . James Strachey

( London : Hogarth, 1953-74), 2 1 :3-56.

1 2 . OutRage! was founded in 1990 by Tatchel l and others in response to the mur­

der of gay activist M ichael Boothe, who was kicked to death by a gang in West Lon­

don ( " Teach ings by the Church U nderpinned Persecution , " The Guardian [March

14 , 19951 . p . 3 ) .

13 . The Sun, Ed itoria l , reprinted i n Terry Sanderson , " Media Watch , " Gay Times

( London ; September 199 1 ) , p. 19.

14 . Walter Schwarz, " P repare for S ins of the Father to Shock the Parish , " The

Guardian ( March 15 , 1995), p. 22. See also Lawrence Donegan , "OutRage! Threatens

to 'Out' M Ps Who Fa i l to Admit Homosexual ity, " The Guardian ( March 2 1 , 1995) , p. 2 ;

"The R ight to Stay in the Closet , " The Scotsman "Opinion" (March 21 , 1995), p. 12 .

1 5 . The Daily Mirror, reprinted i n Sanderson , " Media Watc h , " Gay Times (Sep­

tem ber 199 1 ) , p . 19.

16. See Signori le, Queer in America, pp. 68, 7�76, and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick,

Epistemology of the Closet ( Berkeley: U of Cal ifornia P, 1990) , pp. 56-57 .

1 7 . Al l quotations i n Sanderson , " M edia Watc h , " Gay Times (September 199 1 ) ,

p . 18.

18 . "The R ight to Stay in the Closet , " The Scotsman, p . 12; Alex Duva l Sm ith ,

" Everybody's Ta l k i ng a bout . . . Out ing!" The Guardian ( December 2, 1994) , p. 3 ;

273

Outln1, PriVIClf,

and PsychOIDIIlllil

and Schwarz, "Gay Demonstration Na mes 10 B ishops , " The Guardian ( December 1 , 274

1994), p. 8, which quotes Tatchell as saying "We cannot a lways be certa in that a l l 10

bishops a re gay. We do know there have been persistent reports i n Church c i rc les Christopher

which c la im a present or past homosexual orientation . " Lane

19. Qtd . in " B ishop Attacks Gay Campa ign to 'Out' H i m , " The Herald (March 14,

1995), p. 4.

20. Li l l i an Faderma n , "A B isexua l Moment, " The Advocate 689 (September 5 ,

1995) , p. 43.

2 1 . Edward Pearce, " Keep the Closet Door Closed , " The Guardian ( Decem ber

10, 1994), p. 29, my emphasis. Subseq uent references give pagination i n main text.

See a lso two responses by Guardian readers: "Out ing as an Expression of I m pa­

tience, Frustration, and Pa i n , " The Guardian ( December 12 , 1994) , p. 19.

22. Both aphorisms a lso appear on the European passports that British citizens

now receive. Fol lowing the convention of non-Francophone usage, I have a ltered the

spel l ing of the French participle " honni. "

23. David Smith , "Stopping Them in Their Tracks: David Smith Ta lks to Shane

Broomhal l , One of the Men beh ind the G reat Out ing Sca m , " Gay Times (September

199 1 ) , p . 9.

24. Carole-Anne Tyler, " Passing: Narcissism, Identity, and Difference , " differ­

ences 6, nos.2-3 ( 1 994) : 2 1 2 .

2 5 . Keith Alcorn , "Queer a n d Now, " Gay Times ( May 1992) , p. 2 2 , my emphasis.

Subsequent references give pagination i n main text.

26. T. F. Hoad , The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (Oxford :

Clarendon , 1986), p. 347 .

27 . See a lso Taylor B ranch , "C losets of Power, " Harper's Magazine (October

1982) , pp. 35-50.

28. M ichel Foucault, " Power and Strategies , " Power/Knowledge: Selected Inter­

views and Other Writings 1 972-1971, ed . Col i n Gordon , trans . Gordon , Leo Mar­

sha l l , John Mepham, and Kate Soper (New York: Pantheon , 1972, 1980), p. 142.

29. Fouca ult , The History of Sexuality, vol . 1, trans . Robert H u rley ( New York :

Pantheon , 1978) , p. 69.

30. Samuel Wa rren and Lou is Brandeis , "The R ight to Privacy, " Harvard Law

Review4.5 ( 1 890) : " Pol itica l , socia l , and economic changes enta i l the recogn ition of

new rights, and the common law, in its eternal youth, grows to meet the demands of

society . . . . !Wl ith the recognit ion of the lega l va lue of sensations, the protection

aga inst actua l bod i ly i nju ry was extended to proh i bit mere attem pts to do suol [sic)

i n jury ; that is , the putt ing a nother in fear of such in jury . . . . So regard for h u ma n

emotions soon extended the scope of persona l i m m u n ity beyond the body o f the

ind ivid ua l . . . . Recent i nventions and business methods ca l l attention to the next

step which must be taken for the protection of the person , and for securing to the

i ndividual what J udge Cooley ca l ls the right 'to be let alone' " (pp. 193-95). I n 1885,

however, Section 1 1 ( "The La bouchere Amendment" ) of B rita i n 's Cr im ina l Law

Amendment Act designated all male homosexual acts, whether public or private, i l le­

ga l and pun ishable for a "term not exceed ing two years, with or without hard labour"

( previously, only buggery was i l lega l ) . See Weeks, Coming Out: Homosexual Politics 275

in Britain, from the Nineteenth Century to the Present ( London: Quartet, 1977) , p.

14 , and F. B . Smith , " La bouchere's Amend ment to the Cri m ina l Law Amendment

B i l l , " Historical Studies 1 7 ( 1976), pp. 165-73.

3 1 . Weeks, Coming Out, pp. 14, 22.

32. Concern ing the presumption that homosexual ity is intr insical ly radical and

sed itious, however, see Bersan i , " I s the Rectum a Grave?" p. 205: "To want sex with

another man is not exactly a credentia l for pol itical radica l ism . "

33. Media hypocrisy is not a sufficient basis to justify eq ual opportun ity scandal ,

however. For the reverse c la i m , see Signori le , Queer in America, pp. 60-6 1 : "We

weren't ' pushing the envelope . ' We were having our own Carn iva l every n ight. . . . Our

only recourse was to create a spectacle, something the media could sel l . "

34 . I b id . , pp. 183-87. See a lso pp . 42-43 , wh ich refers to the psychology of

scandal for lesbians and gay men: " Perhaps because i nformation is power, gay peo­

ple, trad itional ly powerless, love to revel in gossip and dish . ''

35. For a summary of these arguments, see R ichard Smith , " Pa pering over the

Cracks , " Gay Times ( May 199 1 ) , pp. 28-29.

36. The 1967 Sexual Offences Act did not fully lega l ize male homosexual ity in Eng­

land and Wales. It stated , "Subject to the [following) provisions . . . , a homosexual act

in private shal l not be an offence provided that the parties consent thereto and have

atta ined the age of twenty-one years" (The Sexual Offences Act 1967, Chapter 60,

1 . 1 , The Public General Acts and Church Assembly Measures 1967, Part II [london :

H MSO, 1967) , p. 1 269; my emphasis). The age of consent for heterosexual sex was

(and remains) sixteen in England and Wales while that of lesbian sex is normally the

same (the legal status of lesbianism in B rita in is notoriously vague), but the 1967 act

stipulated a higher age for homosexual consent because, the 1957 Wolfenden Report

a rgued , "We should not wish to see lega l ized any forms of behaviour which would

swing towards a permanent habit of homosexual behaviour a young man who without

such encouragement would sti l l be capable of developing a normal habit of heterosex­

ual adu lt l ife " ( The Wolfenden Report: Report of the Committee on Homosexual

Offenses and Prostitution, i ntra. Karl Menninger [New York: Ste in and Day, 19631 . p.

50) . Departing from the law's wider provisions for heterosexual sex in publ ic and pri­

vate, the 1967 act insisted not only that sex between men occur "in private, " but that it

be unseen. If a neighbor or window-cleaner happened to see two (or more) men hav­

ing sex, for instance, the act would be i l legal and revised elements of the 1885 Crimi­

nal Law Amendment Act would a pply. In February 1994, Brita in 's Parl iament voted

i nto law that men aged eighteen and above could lega lly consent to gay sex.

37. See Auberon Wa ugh , The Last Word: An Eye-Witness Account of the Trial of

Jeremy Thorpe ( Boston : Litt le , Brown , 1980) : " By generously supporting the more

favoura ble i nterpretation of Scott's motives, M r. Taylor [ lead ing counsel for the

Crown) may have encouraged the m isa pprehension of which Scott h imself frequent­

ly com plai ned-that he was on tr ia l as much as Thorpe, and the j u ry were being

i nvited to choose between the two" (p . 97) .

38. J udge Cantley, qtd . i n i bid . , p . 229.

Outin1, Privacy,

and Psychoanalysis

39. Waugh, i bid . 276

40. See J udge Cantley's insistence that whi le Thorpe's letters to Scott ind icated

an affectionate relationsh i p , "you [the j u ry] m ust not assume that mere affection Christopher

necessari ly impl ies buggery" (qtd . in i bid . , 1 1 ) ; and Thorpe, "The Lies of Norman Lane

Scott, by J eremy Thorpe , " Sunday Times ( M a rc h 14, 1976) , qtd . in i bid . , pp.

162�3.

4 1 . See, for instance, Wa ugh, The Last Word, p. 1 0 1 : " I n 1963 . . . [Scott's] rela­

tions with Thorpe conti n ued as before. At th is point the j udge i nterru pted to ask a

question a bout [Scott's nationa l insura nce] cards , say ing he d id not wa nt to hear

about the relations. "

42 . Ib id . , pp. 223-25. On the fifteenth day of the tria l , Waugh remarks with char­

acteristic understatement: " I began to watch M r. J ustice Cantley rather more closely.

What had seemed a healthy sceptic ism, at the beginn ing of the tria l , now began to

seem a larm i ngly one-sided " ( p . 142) . Wa ugh's tit le for h is eyewitness account

derives from J udge Cantley's astonishing boast at the end of the tria l : " Remember, I

have the last word . "

43. I bid . , p . 1 84 : " M r. Thorpe i n 1961 was a bachelor with homosexual tenden­

cies . " See a lso George Alfred Carmen , QC, and lead ing counsel for Thorpe, in a l lud­

ing to the sa me fact: "He [Thorpe] is human l i ke us a l l . We learn , do we not, that

idols sometimes have feet of clay? . . . There are people who have propensities which

we persona l ly may not understand . To them we have to extend tolerance, sym pathy

and compassion , " M r. Carmen , QC (qtd . in ibid . , pp. 206, 208) .

44. I b id . , p. 19 . Wa ugh later specu lates "a bout a possi ble agreement between

prosecution and defence, with or without the judge's knowledge, that no evidence of

Thorpe's homosexual background would be cal led provided Thorpe was prepared to

acknowledge homosexual tendencies at the relevant time" (p . 49) .

4 5 . Here w e c a n consider the relevance in nationa l myth o f such figures as G uy

Burgess , the Cam bridge grad uate who fa mously defected with Dona ld Maclean to

the Soviet Un ion in 195 1 . To the British publ ic , Burgess's homosexual ity confi rmed

his treachery. We m ight a lso consider the relevance of Roger Casement's homosexu­

a l ity to his tria l and execution for treason in 1 9 1 6 for assist ing the I r ish d u ring its

" Easter rebel l ion . "

46. T h e med ia 's relation t o privacy is changing a l l t h e t ime, however. For

accounts largely contem pora neous with the first wave of outing in the Un ited States

(Ma lcolm Forbes was outed in March 1990) , see Suzanne Garment, Scandal: The

Culture of Mistrust in American Politics ( N ew York: Times, 199 1 ) , pp. 191-97, and

Larry Sa bato , Feeding Frenzy: How Attack Journalism Has Transformed American

Politics (New York: Free Press, 199 1 ) .

4 7 . Ja mes Ha rdy, "Gay Lobby U rges M Ps t o Admit Homosexual ity, " The Scots­

man (March 2 1 , 1995), p. 9.

48. Ed itoria l , The Scotsman (March 2 1 , 1995) , p. 12.

49. The Wolfenden Report, p. 1 28; Wa ugh , The Last Word, p. 1 1 7 . For related

accounts of Thorpe's trial and checkered ca reer, see Lewis Chester, Magnus L in­

klater, and David May, Jeremy Thorpe: A Secret Life ( London : Deutsch , 1979); Barrie

Penrose and Roger Courtiour, The Pencourt File (New York: Harper and Row, 1978) ;

and Peter C h i pp inda le and David Leigh , The Thorpe Committal ( London : Arrow,

1979) .

50. The Wolfenden Report, pp. 27-30.

5 1 . In the Glasgow Herald, the R ight Rev. M ichael Turnbu l l , B ishop of Durha m ,

who was "given a cond itiona l d ischarge 2 6 years ago after adm itting committ ing an

act of gross indecency i n a pu blic lavatory" is quoted , after denying he is gay, as say­

i ng that a gay l ifestyle is " i ncompatible with ful l -t i me st i pendiary m i n istry, " qtd . i n

" B ishop Attacks G a y Ca m pa ign t o 'Out' H i m , " The Herald (G lasgow; March 1 4 ,

1995) , p . 4 . See a lso Schwarz, " ' I nconsistent' B ishop Dismays Ca m paign i ng

G rou p , " The Guardian (September 28, 1994) , p. 3, and Schwarz , " B ishop U rges

Dismissed Gay Clergy to Appea l , " The Guardian (November 7, 1994), p. 6.

52. I m pl ic it i n the cu rrent U . S . ad m i n istration's "sol ution" to lesbia ns and gay

men in the armed forces , " Don't Ask, Don't Tel l , Don 't Pursue , " is a correlation

between desire and act, i n which desire a l ready renders one unfit for m i l itary service.

For expl ication of this assumption, see Marc Wol i nsky and Kenneth Sherri l l , eds . ,

Gays and the Military: Joseph Steffan versus the United States (Princeton: Princeton

U P, 1993) .

53 . Faderman 's doubts, cited earl ier, may recur in recent q ueer theory, but they

are relatively uncommon in U .S. lesbian and gay politics.

54. The Sunday Mirror ( May 16, 1976) , qtd . in Waugh , The Last Word, p. 1 6 1 .

See a lso Frank Pearce, "The British Press and the ' P lacing' of Male Homosexual ity, "

The Manufacture of News: Social Problems, Deviance and the Mass Media, ed .

Stan ley Cohen and Jock Young ( 1973; London: Consta ble, 198 1 ) , pp. 303-16.

55. See Peter Tatchel l , The Battle for Bermondsey ( London : Heretic, 1983) . Sub­

seq uent references give pagination in main text.

56. It is i nteresting, and perha ps symptomatic, that the same press struggled to

ignore a l l sca ndal attached to Thorpe 's homosexual ity only two to four years earl ier,

unti l h is tria l inevita bly publ ic ized it. Waugh emphasizes this in The Last Word: " It is a

fact that for the five years u p to the dog-shoot ing, there had been no mention of

Scott's a l legations in any national newspa per, despite strenuous attem pts by Scott

and the [South African] journal ist Gordon Winter to get them pri nted " (p . 1 6 1 ) .

57. I advance this argument i n The Ruling Passion: British Colonial Allegory and

the Paradox of Homosexual Desire ( D u rha m : Duke U P, 1995) , pp . 229-3 1 . For a

related but nonidentical argument about contem porary B rita in , see Sa lman Rushdie,

"The New Empire with in B rita i n " ( 1982) , Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criti­

cism 1981-1991 (London : Granta , 199 1 ) , pp. 129-38.

58. Suzanne Moore, "Stra ight Ta lk ing," The Guardian (March 10, 1995) , p. 5 .

59. I bid . See a lso Quentin Crisp's witty article " Let Sleeping Men Lie , " Guardian

(Apri l ? , 1995), p. T4.

60. Concern ing th is last issue, Weeks has usefu l l y characterized su perfic ia l

accou nts of homophobia as fol lows : " Host i l ity towa rds homosexual ity has usua l ly

been seen as an arbitrary figment of men's unreason, which would soon be th rown

out on the junkyard of prehistory . . . . A more rad ical view of homosexual ity wi l l have

277

Outln1, Privacy,

and Psychoanalysis

to take account of the varieties and d iversity of sexual expression, of the arbitrari ness 278

of soc ial labels, of the cu ltura l moulding of gender and sexual identities; in short, of

the h istorica l creation of sexual be l iefs and att itudes" ( Coming Out, p. 7 ) . S ince Christopher

Weeks's work, much theoretical work in lesbian and gay stud ies and q ueer theory Lana

has usefu l ly enu merated th is " radica l v iew" but not a lways exa m i ned its psych ic

underpinn ings or effects .

6 1 . See Robert H . Bork, The Tempting of America: The Political Seduction of the

Law (New York: Free Press, 1990) , pp. 1 1 7-26, and Slouching Towards Gomorrah:

Modern Liberalism and American Decline ( N ew York: Rega n Books, 1996) , pp .

1 12-14.

62. R ichard Rou i la rd , ed itoria l , The Advocate 587 (October 8, 199 1 ) , qtd . i n

Gross, Contested Closets, p. 317 .

63 . 1 bid .

64. David J . Mayo and Mart in G u nderson , " Privacy and the Eth ics of Outing, "

Gay Ethics: Controversies in Outing, Civil Rights, and Sexual Science, ed . Timothy F.

M u rphy (New York: Haworth, 1994) , pp. 50, 53 .

65. See Anya Pa lmer, "Cornered in the Confessiona l : Outing Is the Issue Which

Spl its the Gay Community, " The Guardian (March 15, 1995), p. 22.

66. Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 ( 1986) .

67. See John Ga l lagher, " H igh Drama : The Su preme Court Ta kes a Powerfu l

Sta nce on Gay R ights , " The Advocate 710 (June 25, 1996) , which q uotes J ustice

Anthony M. Kennedy as argu i ng, "We must conc lude that Amendment 2 [wh ich

would have proh i b ited Colorado from ever passi ng a nondiscri m ination law, a lso

void ing exist ing ones] classifies homosexuals not to further a proper legislative end

but to make them uneq ual to everyone else. This Colorado cannot do. A State cannot

so deem a class of persons a stranger to its laws" (p . 24) .

68. Concerning the fi rst issue, Jed Ru benfeld argues bluntly in "The R ight of Pri­

vacy, " Harvard Law Review 102, no. 4 ( 1989) : 755: "There has been a pecul iar wil l­

i ngness s im ply to state or to assume-as if it req u i red no explanation-that matters

of sexual ity go stra ight to the heart of personal identity. " Su bseq uent references to

Ru benfeld's article give pagination in main text. For sl ightly different accounts of pri­

vacy and outing, see Susan J. Becker, "The I m moral ity of Pub l ic ly Outing Private

People , " Oregon Law Review73, no. 1 ( 1994) : 1 59-234; Andrea Austen and Adrian

Alex Wel l i ngton , "Out ing: The Supposed J u stification s , " Canadian Journal of Law

and Jurisprudence 8, no. 1 ( 1995) : 83-105; Vincent J. Samar, The Right to Privacy:

Lesbians, Gays, and the Constitution ( P h i lade lph ia : Tem ple U P, 199 1 ) , esp. pp .

ix-x i i ; and Ja net E. Hal ley, "The Politics of the Closet: Towards Equal Protection for

Gay, Lesbia n , and B isexual Identity, " rept. in Jonathan Gold berg, ed . , Reclaiming

Sodom (New York: Routledge, 1994), pp. 145-204.

69 . R u benfe ld ela borates on th is " Freud ian" argument, which he attr ibutes to

advocates of personhood : " I n sexual ity l ies the hidden truth of our identity, and for

the sake of our identity, society must not be a l lowed to repress that truth or to prevent

us from d iscovering it" (pp . 770-7 1 ) . Such characterizations betray the voice and

convictions of Anglo-American Foucau ldians unaware of Foucau lt's ambiguous rela-

tion to psychoa nalysis. Freud 's Civilization and Its Discontents ( 1930 [ 1929) ) , Stan- 279

dard Edition 2 1 : 57-145, argues strongly that sexual ity can never del i neate an i nner

boundary and that our "d iscontent" derives precisely from "civi l ization's" i nsistence

that its satisfactions must override our own . To this extent, and in a way that Foucau lt

down played in h is later writi ng, m uch of Freud's work would support R u benfe ld 's

concerns a bout the state's encroaching on our l ives . What psychoana lysis gives us,

moreover, is a way of reading publ ic fantasies that cannot s imply be classed as politi­

cal aims or strategies.

70. "Jou issa nce" is beyond the pleasure princ ip le-it refers to psych ic d rives

that are ontologically satisfying but subjectively destructive (lim Dean , "The Psycho­

analysis of A I DS , " October 63 [ 1993] : 1 10-16) . See also Jacq ues Laca n , Four Fun­

damental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis, ed . Jacq ues-Ala in M i l ler and trans . A lan

Sherida n (New York: Norton, 1978) , pp. 1 74-200.

7 1 . Rebecca Lewi n , "A Few M i n utes with Fractious Fra n , " The Advocate 554

(J u ly 3, 1990) , p. 63.

72. "Various Sexual Prohib itions and Pro-Gay R ights Legislation, by State , " Har­

vard Gay and Lesbian Review2, no. 3 ( 1 995): 27.

73. Signori le acknowledges, for insta nce, that whi le working with ACT U P, " my

closet wasn't tota l ly open . I was , of course, out in Manhatta n , but I wasn't out on Stat­

en Is land . I had convinced myself that I had once told my parents I was gay" ( Queer

in America, p. 63) .

74. A lan Sinfield , "What's in a Na me?" Gay Times ( May 1992) , p. 27 .

75 . I bid . , p. 26. R ichard Smith a lso notes a bout queer activism in Brita in , " U nder

this pretence of bringing us all together there were a lso some who appropriated the

word [ queer] to signa l an el ite-that they comprised a select band of sussed queers

who had gone beyond being Good As You [ i .e . , gay, pleading equa l ity] , beyond being

d ifferent to them , to th inking themselves better than the rest of us. "Queer" for them

beca me a show of contempt for ord inary lesbians and gay men . Oddly enough their

main a l l ies were the main critics of queer" ( " Papering over the Cracks, " p. 28) .

76. R ichard D. Mohr, Gay Ideas: Outing and Other Controversies ( Boston : Bea­

con , 1992) , p. 36. Subsequent references give pagi nation i n main text.

77 . Whi le urging outers and activists to ta ke this cla i m seriously, I do acknowl­

edge that out ing ca n have d ifferent repercuss ions in B rita i n and the U n ited

States-i ndeed , my essay bega n precisely from a concern to theorize these d iffer­

ences. For i nsta nce, as Carlos A. Ba l l and Robert McR uer of the U n iversity of I l l i ­

n o i s usefu l ly observed w h e n respond ing t o a n ear l ier version o f th is pa per, t h e

recent ( 1 996) outing o f Republ ican Re presentative J i m Kol be o f Arizona-fol low­

ing his support for the 1996 Defense of Ma rriage Act-was singula rly unspectacu­

lar, a l lowi ng Kolbe to i nsist that being known pu bl ic ly as gay has not, and wi l l not,

affect the way he votes or legislates. Kol be's response prom pts me to repeat my

c la i m above that "the U.S. model . . . can evacuate sexual ity from gay issues with­

out resc ind ing identitar ian demands for eq ual ity. " The argument here is conceptu­

a l , but the fact that out ing has not encouraged Kolbe to advance " ident itar ian

demands for eq ual ity" must be noted . I f outers acknowledge i n advance the strong

Outin1, Privacy,

and Psychoanalysis

poss i b i l ity that the outed 's pol i t ics w i l l not in fact cha nge i n the lesb ian and gay 280

com m u n ity's favor, outing represents only the satisfaction of h ighl ighting hypocrisy

without substantive ga i n . Christopher

In contrast to Kolbe's outing, a recent (March 1997) copy of Brita in 's Gay Times Lane

conta ins two lead stories on outing, both endorsing my a rgument that out ing i n

Brita in c a n generate very d ifferent issues. I n "Out the Homophobes , " Peter Tatchel l

"expla ins why two-faced gay M . P.s should be outed " (p . 4) . And , more sign ificant, in

"Stoned Love , " "a 24-year-old former Tory activist, Pau l Stone, [expla ins why he) det-

onated a bom bshel l in the pre-election ca m pa ign with h i s c la ims of an underage

affa i r with a Tory M . P. " " B ut why did he do it? , " asks Gay Times. " I s he merely a

ta bloid patsy, in it for the money? Or is he a crusader aga i nst esta bl ishment

hypocrisy?" ( p . 20) . The a rt ic le notes sign ifica ntly that a lthough The News of the

World was not particularly homophobic in its coverage ( perhaps because Stone sold

them his story ! ) , su bsequent reports in other B ritish papers-including the nation-

wide lesbian a nd gay Pink Paper-denounced Stone for being opportun istic and

treacherous rather than communitarian-that i s , for preferring self- interest to a con-

scious attem pt to resc ind hypocrisy and advance gay and lesbian rights. This is

merely a condensed version of the wider problem all lesbian and gay comm u n ities

face when attempting to justify outing. Sad ly, the same issue of Gay Times inc ludes a

sarcastic letter from Peter Tatchel l respond i ng to its national readersh ip , which i n

1996 voted h i m "Gay Shame o f the Year" ( p . 104).

78. Mark Chekola , "Out ing, Truth-Te l l i ng, a nd the Shame of the C loset , " Gay

Ethics, p. 67. Consider as an exam ple Signori le's account of OutPost's "Absolutely

Queer" cam pa ign : "The anti-outing charges ca me mostly from older gay and lesbian

writers, a nd from c loseted ones. However, on the streets d u ring Gay Pride Week ,

crowds of young gays, many in their teens, gathered around the posters. None were

upset or spoke about privacy [ ! ) ; most of them were thr i l led and excited to fi nd that

some of their heroes and heroines were gay" ( Queer in America, p. 88). This quota­

tion obviously contradicts Signorile's c la im on p. 81 that he rejects the idea that out­

i ng can generate role models.

79. Bersan i , " Is the Rectum a Grave?" p. 198.

80. I bid . : " I 'm i nterested in . . . something both camps have in common, which

may be a certa in aversion, an aversion that is not the same thing as a repression and

that coexists qu ite comfortably with , say, the most enthusiastic endorsement of poly­

sexual ity with m u lt ip le sex partners" (fi rst emphasis m ine) . For ela boration of th is

poi nt, see Bersan i , Homos (Cambridge: Harvard U P, 1995) , p. 1 .

8 1 . Mayo and Gu nderson, " Privacy and the Ethics of Outing, " Gay Ethics, pp. 50,

53.

82. G regg Bordowitz , " Picture a Coa l it ion , " A IDS: Cultural Analysis/Cultural

Activism, pp. 183-96; Wojnarowicz, Close to the Knives. See a lso Joshua Gamson's

i nterest ing essay, " M ust Identity Movements Self-Destruct? A Queer D i lemm a , "

Social Problems 42, n o . 3 ( 1995) : 390-407.

83. See a lso Gabriel Rotel la, "Theory and Practice: Commentary: Why I Oppose

Outing, " OutWeek (May 29, 199 1 ) , reprinted in Gross, Contested Closets, p. 278.

84. Mayo and Gunderson , " Privacy and the Eth ics of Outing, " Gay Ethics, p. 50;

see a lso p . 53: "The violation of privacy i nvolved in outing someone is---{)r at least is

very much l i ke-theft. I t is theft from that person of control of private i nformation .

When someone loses control of that information , he or she may very wel l suffer seri­

ous harms, especial ly if that i nformation triggers responses of prejud ice, intolerance,

and mal ice i n others. Moreover, un l i ke most thefts, it may be i rreversible . " For related

d i scussion that a ided many of my a rguments a bout privacy and jou issa nce, see

Dean , "Hart Crane's Poetics of Privacy, " American Literary History 8, no. 1 ( 1996) :

83- 109 ; and Joa n Copjec, Read My Desire: Lacan Against the Historicists (Ca m­

bridge: M I T Press, 1994) , pp. 191 and 2 1 5-16.

85. George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum, or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences &c. ,

sel . M r. George Herbert ( London : T. Maxey for T. Garthwait, 165 1 ) .

86. G ross acknowledges : "Sti l l others i n t h e gay and lesbia n com m u n ity have

cla imed that outing anti-gay pol itic ians is blackma i l . This is not, perhaps, an untrue

statement but one which fa l ls flat s ince most people rea l ize that all pol itics are fought

with th reats and blackma i l of some sort" ( Contested Closets, pp. 269-70) . In th is

move from the pa rt icu lar to the genera l , Gross down p lays the strength of feel ing

accompanying outing from the gay and lesbian community and stra ight med ia-the

precise degree to which outing does not-and must not-"fal l flat" because its pur­

pose is to engender reaction , whether confrontation, surprise, denia l , shock, accep­

ta nce, or contrition . Thus Signorile avows, in Queer in America: "Going over the top

was the only way to get a lot of attention " (p. 72) .

87 . Shane Broom ha l l , qtd . in "Stopping Them i n Their Tracks , " p . 9 .

R E F E R E N C E S Alcorn , Keith . "Queer and Now. " Gay Times (London ; May 1992) : 20-24.

Bersan i , Leo. " I s the Rectum a Grave?" In Douglas Cri mp, ed . , AIDS: Cultural Analy­

sis/Cultural Activism. Ca mbridge: M IT Press, 1988. 197-223.

-- . Homos. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.

Chekola, Mark. "Outing, Truth-Te l l i ng, and the Shame of the Closet . " In Timothy F. M urphy, ed . , Gay Ethics: Controversies in Outing, Civil Rights, and Sexual Sci­

ence. New York: Haworth Press, 1994. 67-90.

Cohen , Wi l l iam A. Sex Scandal: The Private Parts of Victorian Fiction. Durham : Duke

Un iversity Press, 1996.

Copjec , Joa n . Read My Desire: Lacan Against the Historicists. Cam bridge: M I T

Press, 1994.

Edge, Simon . "Stoned Love . " Gay Times (March 1997) : 20.

Faderma n , Li l l i an . "A B isexua l Moment . " The Advocate 689 (September 5, 1995) :

43.

Fouca ult , M ichel . " Power and Strategies . " In Col i n Gordon, ed . , Power/Knowledge:

Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977. Trans. Col i n Gordon , Leo

Marsha l l , John Mepha m , and Kate Soper. New York: Pantheon , 1972, 1980.

-- . The History of Sexuality, vol . 1 ( 1976). Tra ns. Robert H urley. New York: Pan­

theon , 1978.

281

Outln1, PriVICJ,

1nd Psychunalysls

Freud , Sigmund . The Future of an Illusion. 1927. I n James Strachey, ed . and trans . ,

The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund

Freud. London : Hogarth Press, 1953-74. 2 1 : 3-56.

-- . Civilization and Its Discontents ( 1 930 1 1929] ) . Standard Edition. 2 1 : 57-145.

Gross, Larry. Contested Closets: The Politics and Ethics of Outing. Minneapol is: Un i ­

versity of M i nnesota Press , 1993.

Herbert, George. Jacula Prudentum, or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences &c. Select­

ed by Mr. George Herbert. London: T. Maxey for T. Garthwait, 165 1 .

Hoad , T. F. , ed . The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford : Claren­

don Press, 1986.

Joha nsson Wa rren and Wi l l i am A. Percy. Outing: Shattering the Conspiracy of

Silence. B inghamton, N .Y. : Harrington Park, 1994.

Lacan , Jacques. Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis. Ed . Jacq ues-Ala in

M i l ler, trans. Alan Sheridan . New York: Norton, 1978.

Lewin , Rebecca . "A Few M i n utes with Fractious Fra n . " The Advocate 554 (Ju ly 3,

1990): 63 .

Mayo, David J . and Martin G underson. " Privacy and the Ethics of Outing. " I n Timothy

F. M urphy, ed . , Gay Ethics: Controversies in Outing, Civil Rights, and Sexual

Science. New York: Haworth Press, 1994. 47-65.

M i l ler, D . A. The Novel and the Police. Berkeley: U n iversity of Cal ifornia Press, 1988.

Mohr, R ichard D . Gay Ideas: Outing and Other Controversies. Boston : Beacon Press,

1992.

Moore, Suzanne. "Stra ight Ta lk ing." The Guardian (March 10, 1995) : 5.

Pearce, Edward . " Keep the Closet Door Closed . " The Guardian ( Decem ber 10,

1994) : 29 .

The Public General Acts and Church Assembly Measures 1 967, Part 2. London :

H MSO, 1967 .

R u benfe ld , Jed . "The R ight of Privacy. " Harvard Law Review 102, no . 4 ( 1 989) :

737...!(307 .

The Scotsman. Ed itoria l . "The R ight t o Stay in the Closet . " (March 2 1 , 1995) : 12 .

Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. Epistemology of the Closet. Berkeley: U n iversity of Cal ifor­

nia Press, 1990.

Signori le, M ichelangelo. Queer in America: Sex, the Media, and the Closets of Power.

1993. New York: Doubleday, 1994.

Sinfield , Alan . "What's in a Name?" Gay 7imes ( May 1992) : 25-27.

Smith , David . "Stopping Them i n Their Tracks: Dav id Smith Ta l ks to Shane

Broom hal l , One of the Men Behind the Great Outing Sca m . " Gay Times (Sep­

tember 199 1 ) : 9.

Smith, Richard . " Papering Over the Cracks . " Gay Times ( May 1992) : 28-29.

Tatchel l , Peter. The Battle for Bermondsey. London: Heretic Press, 1983.

- . "Out the Homophobes . " Gay 7imes (March 1997) : 16.

- . "Am I Rea l ly Such a 'Gay Shame'?" Gay Times ( March 1997) : 104.

Tyler, Carole-Anne. " Passing: Narcissism , Identity, and Difference . " Differences 6,

nos. 2-3 ( 1994) : 2 1 2-48.

282

Chrlstapher

Lane

"Various Sexual Prohibitions and Pro-Gay R ights Legislation , by State . " Harvard Gay

and Lesbian Review 2, no. 3 ( 1995) : 27 .

Warren , Samuel and Louis Brandeis. "The R ight to Privacy. " Harvard Law Review 4,

no. 5 ( 1 890) : 193-220.

Waugh , Au be ron . The Last Word: An Eye- Witness Account of the Trial of Jeremy

Thorpe. Boston : Little, Brown, 1980.

Weeks, Jeffrey. Coming Out: Homosexual Politics in Britain, from the Nineteenth

Century to the Present. London: Quartet, 1977.

-- . " D iscourse, Desire, and Sexua l Deviance: Some Problems in a H istory of

Homosexual ity. " I n Kenneth P lummer, ed . , The Making of the Modern Homo­

sexual. London: H utchinson , 198 1 . 76-1 1 1 .

Wojnarowicz, David . Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration. New York: Vin­

tage, 199 1 .

Wolfenden Report, The: Report o f the Committee on Homosexual Offenses and Pros­

titution. 1957. l ntro. Karl Menninger. New York: Stein and Day, 1963.

283

Outin1, Privacy,

and Psychoanalysis

Index

AI DS/H IV, x, 2, 14, 16, 6 1 , 72, 76,

1 1 1-13, 1 15-16, 133, 136, 138,

1 4 1 , 142, 1 5 1 , 1 66, 183119, 2 1 5,

2 1 7 n5, 265-66

Alcorn, Keith , 253, 274n25, 281

Aronson , Jacob, ix, 18n7 , 203-2 1

Bangkok, 1 76-78

Barnett, Alan , 1 12-13

Bel l , David , 3, 9, 19

Bergman , David , ix , 5, 8, 95-1 14

Bersan i , Leo, 77 , 93

Bok, Sisela , 9, 1 1 , 19

Bolton, Ralph, v i i , 14, 19, 70n1 , 70,

72, 93, 138, 142, 1 50, 1 52 , 154,

1 58, 182, 185, 2 1 5, 218

Bowers v. Hardwick, see Hardwick

Chauncey, George, 62, 2 1 7119, 2 1 8

China, lega l attitudes toward homosex

i n , 204-5

Cherry Grove, 95, 97, 98, 99, 100, 102

Christopher Street, 95, 190

Clatts, M ichael, ix, 5, 8, 15 , 138,

141-55

Colon ia l ism, homosex and, 205, 206,

2 1 7n10

Community, formation of through pub­

lic sex, 65-66, 187-202

Community, gay, 8, 12 , 184, 188, 189

Cosgrove, D. E . , 7, 19, 1 15 , 139

Cruising, 8, 3 1 -33, 56--57, 58-60, 19 1 , 209

de Certeau , M ichel , 6-7, 1 7 n6, 19,

70n3

Delaney, Samuel X . , 89, 93, 190, 201

Delph , Edward , 18n10, 19 , 70n2, 70,

127, 139, 187, 188, 196, 198,

200n4, 201

Deeter, M idge, 96-97, 1 13

Edelman , Lee, 10, 16, 19, 20

Eigo, J i m , 17n3, 20, 72, 93

Faderman , Li l l ian , 252, 277n53, 281

Fag bash ing, see Gay bashing

Fire Is land , 5, 8, 95-1 14

Foucault, Michel , 70n1 , 224, 256,

27 1 , 274n28, 278n69, 281

Freud , Sigmund, 264, 273n1 1 ,

278n69, 282

Gay bash ing, 60--6 1 , 135, 166,

236-37, 266

Gay l iberation , 73, 195

Goodwin , Joseph P. , 198, 201

Great Brita in , 251-62

Greenwich Vi l lage (New York City) , 5, 8,

12 , 142-49

Gross, Larry, 248, 255, 272, 272n3,

280n83, 28 1 n86, 282

Habermas, Ju rgen , 2 1 7n8, 219

Hardwick, 9, 18n7 , 72, 263, 265,

278n66

Hekma, Gert, 242n5, 245n82

Herdt, G i l bert, vi i

H iggins, Ross, ix, 5, 8, 187-202, 2 13,

219

H i rsch, David , 7 , 20

Hol land, 5, 12 , 22�5

Holleran , Alexander, 86, 95, 97, 98,

102, 104-5, 106-7, 1 1 2 , 1 13 , 197,

201 , 273n7

Hol l ister, John, ix, 5, 1 5, 55--7 1

Homosex a s treason, homosexual as

traitor, 235, 258, 261 , 276n45

Humphreys, Laud, x, 5, 13, 18n1 1 , 20,

23-27, 29-54, 55, 58, 63, 70n 1 ,

7 1 , 1 5 1 , 1 55, 162, 185, 187 , 201

Johansson , Warren and Wi l l iam Percy,

248, 249, 254, 255, 259, 272n3

Kinsey, Alfred , 187, 190, 200n3

Kramer, Larry, 97, 98, 99, 107-9, 1 14

Lane, Christopher, x, 18n7 , 247-83

Landscape, 1 1 , 1 25, 138n1 ; sexua l ,

6-8, 12 , 59, 72, 1 16, 136

Language and homosex: nonverba l ,

24, 33-34, 60, 65, 72, 82-83 , 84,

168, 1 70, 2 10, 228; verba l , 33-34,

89, 95, 1 19, 133, 145, 169, 208,

209, 2 1 1 , 2 14, 2 1 7n10, 228, 229,

23 1 , 235

Leap, Wi l l iam L., x, 1-2 1 , 69, 1 1 5--40,

182, 185, 223, 225, 229, 272

Leavitt, David, 106

Lewin, El len , x, 20, 139, 2 1 5, 2 19

Leznoff, Maurice 197, 200n2, 201 n12 ,

201

Mohr, R ichard , 9, 1 1 , 20 , 73 , 94,

182n2, 185, 267-68, 279n76, 282

Montrea l , 5, 8, 187-202

Mordden, Etha n , 1 12 , 1 14

M urray, Stephen , x, 5, 10, 15 , 1 7 n3,

20, 66, 7 1 , 189, 194, 199, 201 ,

207, 213 , 2 1 7n9, 220

Nard i , Peter, x, 5 , 18n1 1 , 20, 23-27

Newton, Esther, 18n9, 98, 99, 1 14

Outing, 247-83

Pearce, Edward , 252, 259, 261 ,

269-70, 274n2 1

Picano, Felice, 99, 101 , 107, 1 10, 1 14

Pines, The ( Fire Island) , 95--1 14

Police, gay harassmenUarrest by, 25,

4 1 , 43, 60-6 1 , 163, 194-95, 203,

207, 208, 214

Policing Public Sex, �. 19

Privacy (sexua l ) : as concea l ment, 9,

87, 1 19, 1 25, 135, 2 1 5, 2 16; as fic­

tional construction, 4, 1 1 , 12 ,

1 7 n8, 73 , 1 57-59; as

protection/safety, 9, 72, 92, 135,

165, 2 1 1 , as restricted access, 77,

1 29-30; " right" to, 161, 224,

238-40, 248, 256, 262-72

Publ ic , defin ition(s) of, 9

Publ ic sex:

-"aging crisis" and, 37-39, 43, 62

-anonymity and, 14, 25, 33, 62, 74,

127 , 135, 1 50, 161-62

-class and , 1 1 , 34, 36-37 , 44, 77,

87, 1 1 7 , 125, 195, 232

-drug use and, 101 , 144, 148, 1 51-52

-gay taxonomies of sites for: 6 1 , 90,

1 23, 1 26-27, 136-37, 146,

180-182, 200n9

-identities (sexua l ) and , 3, 1 1 , 25, 26,

32-33, 35, 39, 44-46, 63, 69, 7 1 ,

78, 92, 1 2 1 , 124-26, 1 79, 187,

2 13, 2 1 7n9, 224, 253

-"invention " of " homosexua l ity" and,

224-26, 243n22

-lega l i nconsistencies toward , 228,

237, 248

-observed sex, 1 57-82

288

Index

-race and, 3 1 , 34, 77, 87, 1 1 7 , 1 18,

129, 132

-research , see Studying publ ic sex

-safety and , 141-55

-sexual risk and, 2 , 1 1 1 , 1 50-54

-sites for : back rooms, 12 , 15 ,

1 16-20, 1 27-35; bathhouses, 5, 8,

10, 12, 71-94, 1 57, 169, 1 7 1 , 181 ,

195; beaches, 12 , 162-63, 167,

1 7�5; cinemas, 10, 1 9 1 , 196;

health c lubs ( "straight" ) , 12, 1 5,

1 16-20, 1 2 1-27; " M eat Rack"

(F i re Island) , 98-99, 102, 104,

109; parks, 8, 135, 163, 165, 1 9 1 ,

196, 203, 207 ; rest areas , h ighway,

5, 12 , 15 , 55-7 1 ; restrooms, 10,

29-54, 144, 192, 193-94, 196,

198; (steam)baths, 7 1 -94, 195;

"trucks , " 190

-site-specific activity, as, 2 , 34, 65-69

-social reproduction of sites for, 65-69

-"stra ights' " taxonomies of sites for,

125-26, 137

-watching/ witness(es) , importance

of, 164-67, 168, 1 7 1 , 175-76, 240

-women and , 1 1 , 17n6, 18n9, 65

Publ ic vs. private: boundary between

debated and contested , 1 , 2, 4,

8-1 2 , 63, 72, 73, 98-100, 136,

163 , 247-5 1 , 264, 270: court

debates over, 9 , 18n7, 72, 230,

232 , 237-4 1 , 257-60, 263 , 265,

278n66; importance of witnesses

and, 240; media debates over, 258,

275n33, 279n77

Queer activism, 253-56, 266

Queer bashing, see Gay bash ing

Queer theory/theorists, 26, 69, 2 1 2

Rechy, Joh n , 90, 94, 141 , 1 54, 1 55

Rotel la, Gabriel , 2, 6, 17n1 , 1 7 n2, 2 1 ,

269, 280n83

Rubenfeld , Jed , 263-65, 278n68,

278n69

Rubin , Gayle, 183n13, 186, 2 1 3 ,

2 1 7 n9 , 220

Sanzio, Ala in , 198

Sex workers (male) , 143-44, 146-49,

1 52

Signori le, M ichela ngelo, 2, 6, 1 7 n 1 ,

17n2, 2 1 , 248, 249, 255, 262-72,

272n3, 275n33, 279n73, 282

Silence: as publ ic response to homo­

sex, 204-5, 208, 235; dur ing "pub­

l ic" sex, 24, 33-34, 61-62, 72, 84

Sodomy tria ls, 18th-19th-<:entury Hol-

land and, 223-45

St. Marks Baths (New), 12 , 75-93

Studying publ ic sex: ethics i n , 13-16,

19n13, 52-54; methods used in, 2 ,

4, 1 2-16, 18n10, 52-54, 57-58,

66-69, 1 20-2 1 , 128, 188, 197;

problems of representation i n , 2 ,

1 5-16

Styles, J . 18n10, 21

Tatchel l , Peter, 25 1-57, 260-262, 282

Tattelman , I ra , x, 5, 8, 7 1 -94

Tearoom Trade, ix, 5, 13 , 16, 18n1 1 ,

20, 25-27 , 58

Thorpe, Jeremy, 257-60

Tourism , gay, 2 14, 2 18n12

va n der Meer, Thea, x, 5, 223-45

Vietnam , 5, 8, 18n7 , 203-2 1

Violet Qui l l (writer's project), 97-1 14

Warren, Samuel and Louis Brandeis,

256, 274n30

Weinberg, Martin S . and Col i n J .

Wi l l iams, 18n10, 7 1 , 74, 94

White, Ed mund, 96, 97, 98, 103,

104-5, 1 14

Whitmore, George, 100, 105-6, 1 14

Wi l l iams, Raymond , 7, 1 1 5, 139, 189,

202

Wolfenden Report (Great Brita in ) , 256,

275n36, 276n49, 277n50, 283

287

Index