| Fuck Tree | |
|---|---|
 The Fuck Tree in 2025 | |
 Interactive map of Fuck Tree | |
| Species | Sessile oak (Quercus petraea) |
| Location | Hampstead Heath, in theLondon Borough of Camden |
| Coordinates | 51°33′53″N0°11′11″W / 51.564844°N 0.1863602°W /51.564844; -0.1863602 |
| Custodian | City of London Corporation |
TheFuck Tree is asessile oak tree[1] on West Heath onHampstead Heath in north London. It is located in an establishedgay cruising area. It is noted for its prostrate trunk which facilitatesgay sex.
In 2025, an article in theDaily Telegraph said that the Heath has been used forcruising sinceVictorian times.[2] Bron Maher visited the tree in October 2023 forThe Fence, a British satirical magazine.[3] He described the tree as having managed to "elude public consciousness" and described it as "... poetically perfect for its role. The roots of the tree splay out like a hand clutching a bed sheet; the trunk is prone and abdomen-high, its belly flat to the Heath floor before making an abrupt 45-degree lift toward the canopy. This tree, I tell you, has a slutty little back arch".[3] The tree was described inArmistead Maupin's 2024 novelMona of the Manor. The character Wilfred visits the tree while cruising for sex. Maupin writes that the Fuck Tree "stood in a clearing bordered by dark thickets on all sides. The trunk of the tree swooped so low to the ground that it became a chaise against which you could lean for wanking or bend over to be fucked".[4] A 2025ACT UP protest against anti-cruising notices in West Heath included a sign that said "take me to the fuck tree".[2]
The 2017art filmFuck Tree by performance artist Liz Rosenfeld was created as a portrait of the Fuck Tree and as a response to the 1989 filmSodom byLuther Price.[5] Rosenfeld subsequently soaked parts of the film inher own ejaculate to erode its image and buried it in the garden of the art galleryLUX.[5] Rosenfeld's film has been described as examining " ... queer dystopia, a positive embrace of apocalypse, invisible genocide, and queer life after queer death".[5]
The artist Trevor Yeung recreated the tree in soap at his 2023 exhibitionSoft Ground at theGasworks Gallery in Kennington.[6] Yeung described the tree as a " ... a physical embodiment of desire, that most enigmatic of feelings" and a monument to "human interactions".[6]
Media related toThe Fuck Tree at Wikimedia Commons
