cruising

(4)


‘the action or practice of wandering about a place in search of a casual sexual encounter’


The first records of cruising culture are documented through police records of raids on queer spaces as far back as 1810 in England. Whilst homosexuality was still largely criminalised, the rare opportunity to practice your sexuality could be found in public gardens and parks. Moving through the foliage, identifying and signalling your sexual partner could be achieved with as little as a moments eye contact. 


Other popular spaces frequented by men of this kind included the saunas, turkish baths and puclic bathrooms; spaces and environments where non-sexual intimacy was customary, where nudity, exhibition and close contact was norm, often allowed deviant sexual practices to go unnoticed.

It was these places, that had become a safe haven for pleasure and self-discovery for men of this kind.



2021


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