Cruising for gay men
Cruising
This blog was written by our Sexual Health Outreach Worker, Chris Dunbar.
Sometimes, having sex in the safe confines of your bedroom just doesn’t cut it. You may be looking for somewhere new, seeking thrill or adventure, or just not be able to hold the sex you want within your four walls. You may have heard someone talk about cruising, or own been asked if you want to go, but what does it actually mean?
Let’s have a look together at what it means, the laws, and general safety if you do settle to give it a go.
Definition
Cruising is walking or driving about certain areas, called cruising grounds, looking for a sexual partner. These meetings are usually one-off, anonymous encounters.
Cottaging is a legal title used to detail anonymous sex meetings in public toilets.
Where do the terms come from?
Cruising: The word originated as a gay slang term, sometime in the early 1960s, as a way for people who knew its sense to arrange sexual meetings. It was a way to plan sexual encounters without attracting the attention of people who may hope to report them to the authorities, or inflict impair. The term is used many countries including the UK, the U
Ahoy, land lovers! Just kidding – we’re not talking that kind of cruising…more ‘park lovers’ if you catch our drift.
Yep, we’re talking all things homosexual cruising – what it is, where it’s from and how to obtain involved (if that’s your thing, of course). We’re talking gay cruising because let’s be decent, who doesn’t cherish a bit of out-there sex chat, right?
Now before you make any snap assumptions, or instantly let any prejudice get the enhanced of you, just remember that it’s 2023 and kink shaming is low-key gronk – everyone’s got their thing. If you’re all adults and you’re all consenting, then get your rocks off any which way you hope – honestly, you do you, darl. We’ll support it.
Gay cruising, for those not in the know (…or pretending to not be), is the do of looking for sexual partners at a ‘beat’ (think discreet parks, unofficial nude beaches and even the odd public toilet). The term ‘cruising’ originally emerged as a code word in the closeted lgbtq+ community, so those “in the know” could discuss the topic openly without the fear of facing homophobic hurt. Since then the term cruising has actually been absorbed into the mainstream heterosexual vocabulary, of
Brian Gerald Murphy
These days lots of gay guys are using Grindr for hooking up. But we didn’t always contain sex available at our fingertips. For centuries (or longer!) same-sex attracted and bi guys have set up ways to connect with each other, even when doing so was illegal. Most of us don’t come from queer families and so we don’t study our LGBTQ history at dwelling. So, I set out to uncover the ways that lgbtq+ and bisexual guys have met each other for friendship and sex. Here’s a brief history of gay cruising
These days lots of gay guys are using Grindr for hooking up. But we didn’t always acquire sex available at our fingertips. From bathhouses to bars, sex parties to saunas, even to parks and bathrooms. Gay guys have found a way to find each other, even before Grindr.
For the past 11 years, up until this past January, I lived in Recent York City. It’s one of the centers of gay being in the United States. It’s a port city and after the sailors returned home from World War II, many of the guys who had set up connec
The Freddie Guide to: Cruising
What is gay cruising?
Straight cruising is a vacay on a boat. Gay cruising is the art of hooking up in universal.
Cruising is almost always anonymous, and can be one-on-one, in groups, or with others watching. It’s done by using non-verbal cues to show you’re both interested – consider of it like a secret, horny code. Some people will have sex right there, while some may take their loved one to a more modest location.
Where did cruising approach from?
Cruising has a prolonged history in the homosexual community. There are recorded cruising spots in cities like Toronto, London and New York dating endorse over a hundred years. In the time before gay bars, when homosexuality was illegal, public places were often the only option for queer people to meet each other.
Evidence for this often comes from prosecution records – we know where people were cruising based on arrests for “sodomy” or “gross indecency”. These were historic offences made to criminalize gay sex, and were almost exclusively applied to queer men. Sodomy and indecency laws were common throughout the British Empire, but have been repealed in most countries.
In the US, anti-sodomy laws were r