Tearooms

Tearooms are public restrooms where men gather to have sex with other men. Tearooms are commonly found in public buildings, shopping malls and stores, on university campuses, and in hotels and gyms. Tearooms are one variety of the larger category of public places (including parks, public parking lots, and highway rest areas) known as erotic oases. These are locations men learn about by word of mouth, through subcultural publications and websites, or simply by accident. Public sex locations for men seeking to have sex with men are numerous, with some online listings reporting more than 6,000 sites in the United States.

Tearoom behavior involves men being present and waiting for other men to come into a restroom and “signal” a desire to engage in sex—typically by publicly displaying one's genitals to others or making subtle but overt attempts to observe another man's genitals, to make eye contact, or to “accidentally” touch another man. If the recipient of such behavior is interested in sex, he will signal back to the first man, and overt sexual acts will ensue. Most research has shown communications to be largely silent but do occur through gestures, gazes, and body language. However, more recent research suggests that in at least some types of public environments, there is significant verbal conversation between the men present.

The most well-known research on tearooms is Laud Humphreys's controversial Tearoom Trade. This classic work was based on Humphreys's observations of men's meetings and sexual encounters in a public park restroom followed by his conducting a “public health” survey with them while disguised. The ethics of Humphreys's work are staples in social science research debates. What Humphreys found was that these men are very “normal,” regular, typically heterosexual, often married with children, community members who have no known deviant identity or behaviors.

In the more than 40 years since the original publication of Tea Room Trade, several scholars have attempted to replicate Humphreys's work. This line of research has largely validated his findings, across types of settings and time. Later scholars have focused more closely on the interactional dynamics of such encounters but otherwise have largely replicated his findings.

The first and best known of these efforts is Edward Delph's The Silent Community (1978). In this, Delph examines multiple settings where men engage in public sex. He outlines common physical structures, and the “taken for granted functions of these settings, as perceived by the population at large, (which) serve as a cloak of concealment for illicit activity” (p. 60). Others have looked at the same issues as Humphreys and Delph but drew on law enforcement generated data, typically surveillance video. Their findings largely echo those of Humphreys about who is involved, how sexual encounters are negotiated and consummated, and how physical structures can facilitate or inhibit sexual encounters. Research in other erotic oases, including public parks, has also shown similar processes and impacts of physical environments.

It is important to note that dangers may be associated with tearooms. Men who meet and engage in sex with other (almost always anonymous) men in any type of public sex environment run risks of sexually transmitted diseases, robbery, assault, and arrest. Interestingly, men who frequent public sex environments do recognize that there are dangers associated with their behaviors. While some engage in activities they believe may limit their risks/dangers, such as carrying defensive items/weapons, avoiding men who look “dangerous,” or limiting the days/times they are present, these measures are not necessarily effective.

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