Agay bathhouse, also known as agay sauna or agay steambath, is apublic bath targeted towardsgay andbisexual men. Ingay slang, a bathhouse may be called just "the baths", "thesauna", or "the tubs". Historically, they have been used forsexual activity.[1][2]
Bathhouses offering similar services for women are rare, but some men's bathhouses occasionally have a "lesbian" or "women only" night. Some, such asHawks PDX, offer so-called "bisexual" nights, where anyone is welcome regardless of gender.
Gay bathhouses differentiate themselves from similar gay sex clubs or gay bar darkrooms by offering communal and/or individual water facilities (and thus, a more sanitary experience).
Bathhouses vary considerably in size and amenities—from small establishments with 10 or 20 rooms and a handful of lockers to multi-story saunas with a variety of room styles or sizes and severalsteam baths,hot tubs, and sometimesswimming pools and private outdoor facilities. Most have a steam room (or wet sauna), dry sauna, showers, lockers, and small private rooms.
Different cultures emphasize different uses of a gay bathhouse. In Asia, nearly every gay sauna includes a communal karaoke room complete with handheld microphones and large selections of songs for their toweled patrons. In Northern Europe, there are often small cafes or even restaurants offering full meals within a gay bathhouse. In North America, many gay bathhouses include a large dedicated gym area with weights and exercise machines.
In many countries, bathhouses are "membership only" (for legal reasons); though membership is generally open to anyone over theage of consent who seeks it, usually after paying a small fee. Unlikebrothels, customers at gay bathhouses in the U.S. pay only for the use of the facilities. Sexual activity, if it occurs, is not provided by staff of the establishment, but is between customers with no money exchanged. Many gay bathhouses in the U.S., for legal reasons, explicitly prohibit and/or discourageprostitution and ban known prostitutes.
In other countries (notably Thailand, Switzerland, and Brazil), bathhouses may employ male prostitutes to work directly on site. Their availability may be blatant (patrons choose a numbered male who is viewable behind a partition), or subtle (male prostitutes may wear a towel and mix in as a general patron, but when approached will clarify they are solely "for rent".) These men for hire may have access to private rooms in the establishment that are otherwise off-limits to general guests. Sex fees are typically set by the management, although tipping is encouraged. Private session lengths and costs may be tallied up as "per song" playing overhead on the bathhouse's audio system. Since true male-only brothels are rarely found anywhere in the world, gay bathhouses sometimes also act as this hybrid model. However, unlike an actual brothel, patrons can choose to solely have sex with each other for free (without paying anything in addition to the price at the door).[3]
Gay saunas have become important safe locations for men to meet and explore their sexuality, according to the LGBTQ+ community. These establishments first appeared in large European cities in the early 20th century, providing undercover and remote settings for same-sex interactions at a time whenhomosexuality was strongly stigmatized and illegal.[4] A tradition of public baths dates back to the 6th centuryBC, and there are many ancient records ofhomosexual activity in Greece.[5][relevant?] In theWest, gay men have been using bathhouses for sex since at least the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time when homosexual acts were illegal in most Western countries and men who were caught engaging in homosexual acts were often arrested and publicly humiliated. Men began frequentingcruising areas such as bathhouses, public parks, alleys, train and bus stations, adult theaters, public lavatories (cottages or tearooms), and gym changing rooms where they could meet other men for sex. Some bathhouse owners tried to prevent sex among patrons while others, mindful of profits or prepared to risk prosecution, overlooked discreet homosexual activity.[6]
In New York City, theEverard (nicknamed "the Everhard")[11] was converted from a church to a bathhouse in 1888 and was patronized by gay men before the 1920s and by the 1930s had a reputation as the "classiest, safest, and best known of the baths".[12] It was damaged by fire on May 25, 1977, when nine men died and several others were seriously injured. The Everard closed in 1986.[13] Also popular in the 1910s were theProduce Exchange Baths and theLafayette Baths (403–405 Lafayette Street, which from 1916 was managed byIra &George Gershwin). Americanprecisionist painterCharles Demuth used the Lafayette Baths as his favorite haunt. His 1918 homoerotic self-portrait set in aVictorian Turkish bath is likely to have been inspired by it.[12] The Penn Post Baths in a hotel basement (the Penn Post Hotel, 304 West 31st Street) was a popular gay location in the 1920s despite a seedy condition and the lack of private rooms.[12]
The American composerCharles Griffes (1884–1920) wrote in his diaries about visits to New York City bathhouses and theYMCA. His biography states: "So great was his need to be with boys, that though his home contained two pianos, he chose to practice at an instrument at the Y, and his favourite time was when the players were coming and going from their games."[14]
When a friend with "little experience but great desire" confided his homosexual longings to Charles Griffes in 1916, Griffes took him to the Lafayette so that he could meet other gay men and explore his sexual interests in a supportive environment: the friend was "astounded and fascinated" by what he saw there. The baths also encouraged more advanced forms of sexual experimentation. Griffes himself had had his first encounter with a man interested in sadomasochism at the Lafayette two years earlier (he found the man "interesting" but the experience unappealing), and several men interviewed in the mid-1930s referred to experimenting in the baths and learning of new pleasures.[10]
— George Chauncey,Gay New York, 1995
In London, the SavoyVictorian-style Turkish Baths at 92 Jermyn Street became a favorite spot (opening in 1910 and remaining open until September 1975).[15] The journalist A.J. Langguth wrote: "...[The baths at 92 Jermyn Street] represented a twilight arena for elderly men who came to sweat poisons from their systems and youths who came to strike beguiling poses in Turkish towels... although they were closely overseen by attendants, they provided a discreet place to inspect a young man before offering a cup of tea atLyons."[16] Regulars includedRock Hudson.[17][18]
In the 1950s,Bermondsey's Victorian-style Turkish Baths[19] were rated byKenneth Williams as "quite fabulous" in his diaries.[18]
Steambaths in the 1930s: The steambaths that had been well known to me were those of East Ham, Greenwich and Bermondsey. In the first two it was frequently possible to indulge in what the Spartacus Guide coyly describes as 'action', but behaviour at all times had to be reasonably cautious. In the Grange Road baths in Bermondsey, however, all restraint could immediately be discarded with the small towels provided to cover your nakedness."[20]
— Anthony Aspinall,Gay Times
In the 1950s, exclusively gay bathhouses began to open in the United States. Though subject tovice raids, these bathhouses were "oases of homosexual camaraderie"[6] and were, as they remain today, "places where it was safe to be gay",[6] whether or not patrons themselves identified as homosexual. The gay baths offered a much safer alternative tosex in other public places.[6]
In the late 1960s and 1970s, gay bathhouses—now primarily gay-owned and operated—became fully licensed gay establishments which soon became major gay institutions. These bathhouses served as informal gay meeting places, places where friends could meet, relax and have sex. Gay bathhouses frequently threw parties forPride Day and were usually open, and busy, on public holidays such asThanksgiving andChristmas, when some gay men, particularly those who had been rejected by their families due to theirsexual orientation, had nowhere else to go. The American writerTruman Capote was a regular at New York City baths in the 1970s, in particular the sauna at West 58th Street.[21]
Another service offered by the baths wasvoter registration. In the run-up to the1980 election, theNew St. Mark's Baths in New York City, with the assistance of theLeague of Women Voters, conducted a voter registration drive on its premises.[6]
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In Australia, the first gay steam bath was opened inSydney in 1967. This was the Bondi Junction Steam Baths at 109Oxford Street.[22][23] From 1972 through 1977 the following gay steam baths opened: Ken's Karate Klub[24] (nicknamed "KKK"), later called Ken's atKensington; No. 253; King Steam; Silhouette American Health Centre; Colt 107 Recreation Centre; Barefoot Boy; and Roman Bath (nicknamed "Roman Ruins").[25] InMelbourne the first gay bathhouse was Steamworks at 279La Trobe Street, which opened in 1979 and closed 13 October 2008.[26]Adelaide's Pulteney 431 is one of the oldest gay saunas in Australia still in operation, having opened in 1977.[27]
Gaysaunas, as they are more commonly known in Australia and New Zealand, were present in most large cities in those countries by the late 1980s. As homosexuality waslegalised in New Zealand andmost Australian states during the 1970s and 1980s, there was no criminal conduct occurring on the premises of such "sex on site venues".
In theUnited Kingdom, gay saunas were routinely raided by police up until the end of the 1980s; for example, raids in May 1988 on Brownies inStreatham resulted in the establishment's owner getting a six-month jail sentence and a £5,000 fine,[28][29] and the Brooklyn House Hotel sauna inManchester.[30][31] By the 1990s, with increasing scrutiny of the costs of such operations (charges ofgross indecency in a sauna normally needing the expense of undercover officers), a reduced likelihood of successful prosecution, concerns of being perceived ashomophobic, and littlepublic interest invictimless crime, gay saunas became free to operate without the risk of being raided by police. Also, police attitudes meant that they were more willing to turn a blind eye because they preferred such activity to take place in a contained environment rather than outdoors even though users were still committing the homosexual sexual offence ofgross indecency, until gross indecency was wiped from the statute books following theSexual Offences Act 2003.
Gay bathhouses today continue to fill a similar function as they did historically. The community aspect has lessened in some territories, particularly where gay men increasingly tend tocome out.
Some men still use bathhouses as a convenient, safe place to meet other men for sex.[32] In areas where homosexuality is more accepted, safety may no longer be a primary attraction.
Many bathhouses are open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. There is typically a single customer entrance and exit. After paying at the main entrance, the customer is buzzed through the main door. This system allows establishments to screen potential troublemakers; many bathhouses refuse entry to those who are visiblyintoxicated, as well as known prostitutes. In some areas, particularly where homosexuality is illegal, considered immoral, or viewed with hostility, this is a necessary safety precaution.
Sexual encounters at bathhouses are frequently, but not always, anonymous. Some feel that the anonymity adds to the erotic excitement: that is what, for these patrons, one goes to the bathhousefor. Bathhouse encounters sometimes lead to relationships, but usually do not.[33] Bathhouses are still used bymen who have sex with men and do not identify as gay orbisexual, including those that arecloseted or inheterosexual relationships.
In many bathhouses the customer has a choice between renting a room or a locker, often for fixed periods of up to 12 hours. A room typically consists of a locker and a single bed (though doubles are sometimes available) with a thin vinyl mat supported on a simple wooden box or frame, an arrangement that facilitates easy cleaning between patrons. In many bathhouses (particularly those outside the United States), some or all of the rooms are freely available to all patrons.
Some bathhouses have areas designed to facilitate impersonal sex. These areas – rooms or hallways – are illuminated only by a (dim) red exit sign. It is possible to have sex, but not to see with whom. Other bathhouses, such as theContinental Baths in New York or theClub Baths in Washington, D.C., have two or more bunkbeds in close proximity, in a public area. This provides a place to have sex for those who could afford only a locker, and facilitatedexhibitionism andvoyeurism for those so inclined. Baths often have a (porn) TV room or snack bar where patrons can recuperate between orgasms.
Some men use the baths as a cheaper alternative to hotels,[34] despite the limitations of being potentially crowded public venues with only rudimentary rooms and limited or non-existent pass out privileges.
These guys will actually call me at home or send me e-mails and we will make a date and we will meet at the baths purely because the sling is there and it's easier and we go for a beer afterwards. I use the bathhouse more as an ancient Greek, Roman social centre and also a fucking centre and afisting centre as well, and there's a lounge where I can sit and relax with a coffee and a cigarette.
— "Peter",Haubrich et al. (2004)
Bathhouses are not always identifiable as such from the outside. Some bathhouses are clearly marked and well lit, others have no marking other than a street address on the door. Bathhouses sometimes display therainbow flag, which is commonly flown by businesses to identify themselves as gay-run or gay-friendly. Bathhouses commonly advertise widely in thegay press and sometimes advertise in mainstream newspapers and other media. In 2003 Australia began airing possibly the world's firsttelevision advertisements for a gay bathhouse when advertisements oncommercial television in Melbourne promotedWet on Wellington, a sauna inWellington Street,Collingwood.
In many countries, being identified in such a sauna was still viewed by the press as scandalous. InIreland in November 1994, theIncognito sauna made mainstream press as the gay sauna where a priest had died of aheart attack and two other priests were on hand to help out.[35]Scott Capurro is known for his deliberately provocative comedy material and often refers togay sexual culture including gay bathhouses.[36]
On being buzzed in, the customer receives a towel (to wear, around the waist) and the key for his room or locker. The customer undresses, storing his clothing in the locker provided or room, and is then free to wander throughout the bathhouse which typically includes the amenities of a traditional bathhouse orsteambath. In contrast with traditional bathhouses for bathing, the common areas of a modern gay bathhouse resemble a gym's locker room or a small lobby.
Many bathhouses also provide freecondoms andlubricant.[34] Some establishments require a piece of identification or an item of value to be left with the front desk on entry.Homosexualities[37] emphasized the importance of a towel:
Visiting a downtown gay bath was in many ways like revisiting a high-school gym – everyone wearing the same towel, in the same color, on the same part of the body. There was no status consciousness in the social-stratification sense; the towel or loincloth created a sort of equal-status social group.
— a paragraph, Homosexualities, p239, 1979
Bathhouses are often designed with imagery and/or music to create surroundings that are arousing to the visitors.
Bathhouses are usually dimly lit and play music, although an outdoors, enclosed rooftop or pool area is not uncommon. They are often laid out in a manner that allows or encourages customers to wander throughout the establishment; a space laid out in this way is often referred to as a "maze".[38] Some bathhouses have a space where random, anonymous sex is all that can occur. These spaces—rooms, hallways, ormazes, sometimes withglory holes—have as their only illumination a (dim) red "Exit" sign, so one can have sex but one cannot see with whom. Other clubs, such as the Continental Baths or theClub Baths of Washington, D.C., would have two or more bunk beds placed near each other, in a public area, thus providing a place to have sex for those who can afford only to rent a locker, and also maximizing the chances of being watched, for theexhibitionists so inclined. Rooms are usually grouped together, as are lockers. Bathhouses are frequently decorated with posters of nude or semi-nude men, and sometimes explicit depictions of sex. It is not uncommon to seepornographic movies playing on wall-mounted televisions throughout the bathhouse. The same movies may be shown on smaller screens in the individual rooms, sometimes for an extra fee.
Most men, beyond footwear, typically just wear the towel provided. According to bathhouse etiquette, it is perfectly acceptable, even friendly, to put one's hand under someone else's towel to feel his penis, which, if well received, is the first step in sexual intimacy. Some bathhouses permit and others not only permit but encourage total nudity. In some bathhouses nudity is forbidden in the common areas of the establishments. Some men may wear underwear orfetish-wear, but it is unusual for customers to remain fully or even partially dressed in street clothes. Bare feet are frequent, though some men prefer to wearflip flops orsandals, sometimes provided by the establishment, for foot protection. The room or locker key is usually suspended from anelastic band which can be worn around the wrist or ankle.[39]
Some bathhouses require customers to purchase yearly memberships and many offer special entry rates to members, students, military, or other groups.[38][40] In some countries, bathhouses can restrict entrance to men of certain age ranges (apart from the general requirement of being an adult) or physical types, although in other places this would be considered illegaldiscrimination. Some bathhouses hold occasional "leather", "underwear", or other theme nights.
In the 1970s bathhouses began to install "fantasy environments" which simulated erotic situations that would be illegal or dangerous in reality:[6]
Orgy rooms... encouraged group sex, while glory holes recreated (public) toilets, and mazes took the place of bushes and undergrowth (in public parks). Steam rooms and gyms were reminiscent of the cruisy YMCAs, while video rooms recreated the balconies and back rows of movie theaters. A popularChicago bathhouse calledMan's Country[41] provided a full-size model of an Everlast truck where visitors could have sex in the cab or in the rear, which served as an orgy room... Man's Country also offered a [...] fake prison cell made of rubber bars.[42]
— Eddie Coronado
Many bathhouses sell food and drinks, cigarettes,pornography,sex toys,lubricants, andtoiletries. Some bathhouses also provide non-sexual services such asmassage andreflexology.[43][44]
Customers typically divide their time between the showers, saunas, and hot tub area and the main areas of the establishment. Customers who have rented rooms have free access to their room.
Customers who have rooms may leave their room doors open to signal that they are available for sex. An open door can also be an invitation for others to watch or join in sexual activity that is already occurring.
When a room is occupied only by a single person, some men will position themselves to suggest what they might like from someone joining them in the room: those who would like to bepenetrated anally ("bottoms") will sometimes lie face down on the bed with the door open, while those who prefer to penetrate others ("tops") or to receivefellatio might lie face up.[45]
In the past, the baths served as community spaces for gay men. Even now, some men choose to go to the baths with their friends (even though they may not necessarily have sex with each other).[46] While many men talk to each other at the baths, even forming long-lasting friendships or relationships, many others do not, preferring, for various reasons, anonymity.
But I've been to a sauna recently in New Zealand, where everyone just chatted away, which I found very strange. Um, but you know, that's because I guess it was a smaller city and people generally knew each other.
— "S Alfred", The Social Construction of Sexual Practice, (Richters 2006, PhD Thesis)
In this highly sexualized environment a look or nod is frequently enough to express interest. In darkened areas of the establishment including the mazes, video rooms, group sex areas, and the saunas or hot tubs (but not generally in the showers, toilets, hallways, gyms, café areas, and lounges), men are usually free to touch other patrons; it is expected, and often welcomed. A shake of the head, or pushing away the other's hand, means that the attention is not welcomed.[47][48]
I normally find people with groping don't go away. You really have to as they grope your crotch area grab their hand and push it away and there have been times when I've had to do that three, two or three or four times before they actually get the message. There's also been times when I actually just had to say to them to fuck off.
— "Richard", The Social Construction of Sexual Practice, (Richters 2006, PhD Thesis)
Some establishments allow or encourage sex in specific group sex areas. In some jurisdictions such activity is prohibited, and sex must be confined to private rooms. Some forbid sex in pools for hygiene reasons. In the United Kingdom, the requirement is often set by the local authority's Environmental Health department.
From the mid-1980s onward there was lobbying against gay bathhouses blaming them for being afocus of infection encouraging the spread ofsexually transmitted diseases (STDs), in particularHIV, and this forced their closure in some jurisdictions (see Legal issues, below).[49][38]
In some countries, fears about the spread of STDs have prompted the closing of bathhouses—with their private rooms—in favor ofsex clubs, in which all sexual activity takes place in the open, and can be observed by monitors whose job it is to enforce safe-sex practices. However, proponents of bathhouses point out that closing these facilities does not prevent people from engaging in unsafe sex.[38]
Neither the claim that bathhouses are responsible for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, nor the claim that they are not, has been conclusively proven. However, it is known that STDs are spread viaunprotected sex, and as part of their membership agreement, or as a condition of entry, some bathhouses now require customers to affirm in writing that they will only practicesafe sex on the premises. In addition, venues frequently provide freecondoms,latex gloves, andlubrication (and/or have them available for purchase).[38][50] In New Zealand and Australia, the New Zealand AIDS Foundation and constituent members of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organizations provide safe sex information for sex on site venue users.
Some anti-bathhouse activists argue that these measures are not enough, given that it is virtually impossible to monitor sexual activity in a bathhouse. However, while they acknowledge that closing gay bathhouses may force some men into unsafe or illegal situations in public parks and lavatories, they point out that they may be less likely to engage in anal or multi-partner sex, both of which put participants at greater risk for contracting STDs.[51]
Others counter these claims by pointing out that bathhouses are a major source of safer sex information, providing pamphlets and posting safer sex posters prominently (often on the walls of each room as well as in the common areas). In cities with larger gay populations, STD andHIV testing and counseling may be offered on-site for no charge.[52][53][54][55]
In some countries, bathhouses are prohibited from selling alcohol. (In Canada, where some bathhouses serve alcohol, a bathhouse holding a liquor license may be required to submit to liquor inspections, which activists claim are often a pretext for regulating gay sexual activity.) Many bathhouses deny entry to those who are visibly intoxicated but do not—or cannot—regulate the consumption of drugs (typicallymarijuana,poppers,ecstasy,cocaine, andcrystal meth) by their patrons. The use of drugs may make people more likely to engage in unsafe sex.[56] Sex clubs with no private areas may find it easier to regulate the consumption of drugs on their premises.
The use ofcrystal meth is also known to lead to riskier sexual behavior, but since gay crystal meth users tend to seek out other users to engage in sexual activity, they often prefer to make such arrangements via the internet.[57][58]
In some countries straight and gay bathhouses are used byrent boys to find customers by offering massage services, the "complete service" is often used as a euphemism for sex.[59]
All interviewees were asked whether or not they used condoms, and all with the exception of Fabian, said they used them when having penetrative sex with clients. For fellatio, sometimes they used condoms and sometimes not ... For him (Fabian), it was all the same whether he used a condom or not. He also talked about the drugs he had taken, pure alcohol, crack cocaine, and 'sometimes I inject, maybe 15 times I've injected, crystal, cocaine and sometimes heroin'.
— Interviews withmasajistas ('masseurs') in aMexico City gay bathhouse, Peter Aggleton, Men who Sell Sex, 1999
As of 2013,Los Angeles,Chicago,Philadelphia,Atlanta,Seattle,Berkeley, San Jose,Cleveland,Portland,Reno,Las Vegas,Detroit,Indianapolis,Dallas,Houston,Denver,Miami andFort Lauderdale were some of the American cities that had bathhouses in operation.[70]
In 1985, theNew York City Health Department ordered that the city's gay bathhouses be closed. As a result, heterosexual sex clubs such asPlato's Retreat had to shut down as well because the city had just passed agay rights ordinance, and allowing the heterosexual clubs to remain open while closing the gay establishments would have been a violation of that ordinance.[71]
On October 8, 2010, ten patrons and one employee were arrested during apolice raid at Club Dallas inTexas. The patrons were charged with eitherpublic lewdness orindecent exposure while the employee was charged with interfering with the police. TheDallas Police Department's liaison to the gay community stated that their actions were in response to a complaint.[72]
InCalifornia the "Consenting Adult Sex Bill", passed in January 1976, made gay bathhouses and the sex that took place within them legal for the first time. During the 1970s, the two most popular gay bathhouses in San Francisco, both located in theSOMA neighborhood, were the Ritch Street Health Club, the interior of which was designed like aMinoan palace, and The Barracks, aBDSM bathhouse on Hallam nearFolsom Street, in which each room was designed to accommodate a different BDSMsexual fantasy. In 1978, a group of police officers raided the Liberty Baths in thePolk Gulch neighborhood ofSan Francisco and arrested three patrons for "lewd conduct in a public place", but the District Attorney's office soon dropped the charges against them.[6]
In 1984, however, fear of the surgingAIDS epidemic caused theSan Francisco Health Department, with support from some gay activists, likeRandy Shilts, and against the opposition of other gay activists, to ask the courts to close gay bathhouses in the city. Judge Roy Wonder instead issued acourt order that limited sexual practices and disallowed renting of private rooms in bathhouses, so that sexual activity could be monitored, as a public health measure. Some of the bathhouses tried to live within the strict rules of this court order, but many of them felt they could not easily do business under the new rules and closed their doors.
Eventually, the few remaining actual bathhouses in San Francisco gave in to either economic pressures or the continuing legal pressures of the city and finally closed. Several sex clubs, which were not officially bathhouses, continued to operate indefinitely and operate to this day, though following strict rules under court order and city regulations. Bathhouses themselves, however, operate just outside the city, thus outside of their laws, such as inBerkeley andSan Jose.
The last gay bathhouse in San Francisco, 21st Street Baths, closed in 1987.[73]
In March 2008, a series of police raids in gay bathhouses and at gay meeting spots in Beijing have resulted in arrests and bathhouse closures. This included raids on two branches of the Oasis bathhouses, known to be the most popular in Beijing.[74][75][76] In 2000, police arrested 37 men in aGuangzhou gay spa on charges of prostitution.[77] Homosexuality was legalised inChina in 1997.[78]
The German-speaking countries have many gay bathhouses (schwule Saunas) since homosexuality had been legalized in 1969 (and later). The oldest ones are the Hotel Deutsche Eiche (German Oak) in Munich, the Vulcan-Sauna inHanover andKaiserbründl in Vienna.
Duringthe AIDS crisis in the 1980s, the Swedish government in 1987 banned gay saunas (Swedish:bastuklubb), by amending the country's public health law, the Infections Protection Act under the law known informally as theBastuklubbslagen (SFS 1987:375).[79] The aim was to stop the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. The law was criticised by noted gay rights organisationRSFL.[80] Gay saunas were re-legalised on the 1 July 2004 due to a revision of law.[81] The first gay sauna to be opened since the law was repealed was Klubb Vegas in Stockholm in April 2005.[82]
SingerBette Midler is well known for getting her start at the famous Continental Baths in New York City in the early 1970s, where she earned the nickname Bathhouse Betty. It was there, accompanied by pianistBarry Manilow (who, like the bathhouse patrons, sometimes wore only a white towel[93]), that she created her stage persona "the Divine Miss M". On getting her start in bathhouses, Midler has remarked:
Despite the way things turned out [with the AIDS crisis], I'm still proud of those days [when I got my start singing at the gay bathhouses]. I feel like I was at the forefront of thegay liberation movement, and I hope I did my part to help it move forward. So, I kind of wear the label of 'Bathhouse Betty' with pride.[94]
The Flex club opens in August. It's legal. No money is exchanged for sex. It's adults only. My copy of the U.S. Constitution still guarantees a right to privacy and freedom of assembly.
[Rock Hudson] nursed many a hangover in the Hollywood bathhouses. He chose Craig and me to be his confidants when he hadcrabs, that niggling hazard of promiscuity (before the penalty became life‑threatening).
To make a long story short it's where men have sex with men in water
'There was also', he said, an 'element of corruption'. 'Anyone who came off the street merely to take a sauna ... would be able to see what was going on and be invited to take part. The possibilities are quite devastating and the sentence must demonstrate society's shock and horror at what was going on.'
Have you noticed that besides the deluxe safe-sex kits, every sauna we've visited has an on-site clinic for counseling and disease testing? Hopefully, they'll survive the current wave of attacks. The real survivor is the KLYT, having stayed open for almost an entire century as the Palace Turkish Baths... Nowadays, the KLYT is sexual in the day and at night they rent all the rooms (which are really just cubicles) to the homeless, which at $11 is cheaper than a hotel.
'I hate groups of drunk blokes who behave like arseholes towards women. I don't know what's worse, being attractive to them or not. The former, I suspect; not a problem for me.' Jo Brand, comedian ... 'How about that gay sauna in east London? I've gotten scabies there, THREE TIMES! And no, before you ask, it wasn't worth it.' Scott Capurro, comedian.
At the St. Marks Baths, for the price of a locker or a room, patrons now get a free condom, enclosed in a package that bears the legendthe contents of this envelope could save your life.
Researchers from theSan Francisco Department of Public Health report that meth use among men who have sex with men has decreased over the past three years.
Police inChina are reported to have raided a gay health spa in the city of Guangzhou and arrested 37 men on charges of prostitution.
An Official Publication of The Institute for Sex Research founded byAlfred C. Kinsey
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{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location (link)Citing violations of a state health code that bars oral, anal, and vaginal sex in businesses, the city on November 15 closed El Mirage, a sex club that has operated at 253 EastHouston since 1999.
Here's a handy list of tips to help make the experience more fun for everyone.
Men are dogs. Put 'em in a kennel, and you get pretty much what you'd expect.
