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The tearoom revisited: A study o f impersonal homosexual
encounters in a public setting
Gray, Jane Karen, Ph.D.
T he O hio S tate University, 1988
Copyright © 1988 by Gray, Jane Karen. A ll rights reserved.
UMI
THE TEAROOM REVISITED:
A STUDY OF IMPERSONAL
HOMOSEXUAL ENCOUNTERS IN A PUBLIC SETTING
DISSERTATION
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the
Graduate School of the Ohio State University
Jane Karen Gray, B.S., M.P.A.
The Ohio State University
1988
Dissertation Committee:
S. Dinitz
J . Scott
A. Clarke
M
Approved by
Simon
rimon Dinitz, A
Advi®(
dvi^r
Department of Socrology
Copyright by
Jane Karen Gray
1988
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to a
number of individuals who either made this endeavor possible
or more palatable.
First, my deepest gratitude goes to
Dr. Simon Dinitz whose guidance, insights, and patience
throughout this research will always be remembered.
Secondly, Dr. Joseph Scott deserves recognition and thanks
for his interest and advice in this project, and his con­
fidence in my ability to complete it.
Gratitude is also
extended to Drs. E.L. Quarantelli, Coramae Mann, Alfred
Clarke and Ron Huff for their encouragement and support.
Further thanks go to the members of the law enforcement
agency involved in this research.
These individuals, who
must remain unnamed, truly made this work possible.
Finally, a healthy dose of appreciation goes to John Durst
for providing me with the motivation to scale that final
hurdle in the preparation of this text.
January 5, 1953 ........... Born - Toledo, Ohio
1978
..................... B.S., The Ohio State
University, Columbus, Ohio
1978-79 ...................
Graduate Research Associate,
Disaster Research Center,
The Ohio State University,
Columbus, Ohio
1979-81 ................... Project Manager, Disaster
Research Center, The Ohio
State University,
Columbus, Ohio
1980
..................... M.P.A. , The Ohio State
University, Columbus, Ohio
1981-82 ................... Field Director, Disaster
1983-85
Research Center, The Ohio
State University,
Columbus, Ohio
1985-87 ................... Graduate Teaching
Associate, The Ohio State
University, Columbus, Ohio
1987-88 ................... Assistant Professor,
School of Criminology,
Florida State University,
Tallahassee, Florida
1988-Present
.............
Assistant Professor,
Department of sociology.
Capital University,
Columbus, Ohio
PUBLICATIONS
"Research Findings on Community and Organizational
Preparations for and Responses to Acute Chemical
Emergencies," Public Management, Vol. 68, No. 3 (March,
1986): 11-13 (with E.L. Quarantelli)
"First Responders and Their Initial Behavior in
Hazardous Chemical Transportation Accidents," in Recent
Advances in Hazardous Materials Transportation Research:
An International Exchange, ed. by Edythe Traylor Crump
(Washington, D.C.: Transportation Research Board,
National Research Council, 1986) (with E.L. Quarantelli)
"The Behavior of First Responders and Their Initial
Definitions of Acute Chemical Emergencies," Disaster
Management, Vol. 4, (1984): 6-12 (with E.L.
Quarantelli)
"First Responders and Their Initial Behavior in
Hazardous Transportation Accidents," Article #180,
Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware,
Newark, Delaware, 1984 (with E.L. Quarantelli)
"Socio-behavioral Aspects of Chemical Hazards: Summary
Findings of Preparations for and Reponses to Acute
Chemical Emergencies at the Local Community Level," in
Sociological Research Symposium XIII, ed. by Marie
Larkin, Julie A. Honnold, and J. William (Richmond,
Virginia: Department of Sociology, Virginia
Commonwealth University, 1983) (with E.L. Quarantelli)
"Three Case Studies of Organized Responses to Chemical
Disasters," Miscellaneous Report #29, Disaster Research
Center, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, 1981
"Characteristic Patterns of and Variations in community
Responses to Acute Chemical Emergencies," Journal of
Hazardous Materials, Vol. 4, (1981): 357-365.
FIELDS OF STUDY
Major Field:
Sociology
Studies in:
Criminology/Deviance
(Dr. Simon Dinitz)
Collective Behavior/Social Movements
(Dr. E. L. Quarantelli)
Research Methodology
(Dr. Katherine Meyer)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION
.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
..................................
Ü
................................
iii
V I T A ............................................
iv
LIST OF T A B L E S ...............................
ix
LIST OF FIGURES...............................
X
PREFACE ..........................................
CHAPTER
I.
1
PAGE
INTRODUCTION ..............................
Scope and Organization of the Report
....
II. LITERATURE REVIEW: AN INTERACTIONIST VIEW OF
DEVIANCE...............
6
13
16
Definition of Behavior as Deviant......
21
Definition of Individuals as Deviant
. . . . 24
Social Control and the Application of
S a n c t i o n s .........................
29
Consequences of the Labeling Process
. . . . 37
Summary and Concluding Remarks ...........
55
III.
METHODOLOGY.............................
57
General Methodology: Strategies, Sources
and S a m p l e s .......................
57
Problems Encountered in Field Research . . .
65
Phase I: Initial Contact and
Organizational Entry .........
67
Phase II: Acceptance by the Sheriff. . . .
73
Phase III: Assessing the T a p e s ......
78
IV.
RESEARCH F I N D I N G S ...................
82
Patterns of Social Interaction .............
83
Positioning.............................
86
S i g n a l i n g ..............................
95
Contracting............................... 102
Culminating............................... 108
.......... 110
Other Relevant Observations . .
Temporal Ordering ........................
110
The Use of Drugs
......................... 116
Social Characteristics of the Tearoom
P a t r o n s ................................. 117
A g e ....... ......................
118
R a c e ...................................... 119
Marital Status ........................... 121
Occupational Class ........................
122
Place of Residence......................... 125
Police Practices, Court Dispositions, and
Administrative Processing ..............
128
Police Practices ..........................
128
V.
INTERPRETATION........................148
The Tearoom Ritu a l......................... 149
The Social Character of the Tearoom
Collectivity ............................
154
Police and Court Officials' Roles in the
158
Tearoom Phonomenon ......................
Concluding Remarks; Implications for
Social Policy and Future Research . . . .
162
LIST OF REFERENCES ................................. 169
APPENDICES
A.
Standard Analytical Format ...............
176
B.Analytical Notes- and Numerical Summaries . . .
178
C. Definition of Criminal Charges ...............
186
FOOTNOTES.......................................... 190
LIST OF TABLES
able
Page
1. Distribution of Charges Leveled
Against Arrestees Between February,
1983 and April, 1984
139
2. Court Disposition of 72 Charges
Brought Against Men Arrested Between
February, 1983 and April, 1984 . . .
146
LIST OF FIGURES
1. Diagram of the Tearoom Facility . .
2. Volume of Activity by Months of the
Year as Measured by Frequency of
Arrests .........................
3.
Volume of Activity by Time of Day as
Measured by Frequency of Arrests . •
PREFACE
Male homosexual encounters in public settings
constitute a persistent social, legal, and moral problem in
American society.
Although much police activity and public
curiosity surround the phenomenon, sociologists have shown a
general reluctance to examine this particular type of
deviant behavior.
Indeed, the only major source of socio­
logical information on such behavior is provided by Laud
Humphreys' observations of homosexual activity in park
restrooms.
Published as a book entitled. The Tearoom Tradf:
Impersonal Sex in Public Places in 1970, Humphreys' work
engendered considerable controversy over the appropriateness
of his research.
While most criticisms centered on his
choice of methodology, the very subject matter of his
research was also called into question.
Some social scien­
tists seemed to maintain that certain social interactions
and associations were simply too private or distasteful to
subject to sociological study.
Other critics denigrated
Humphreys as a mere "pornographer" because of his detailed
descriptions of homosexual activities.
On the basis of
these and other more legally-oriented allegations, it is not
surprising that this specific form of deviance has received
very little attention from sociologists since the publica­
tion of The Tearoom Trade.
This study represents an effort to resubmit this
subject matter to sociological inquiry.
In fact, a number
of smaller-scale studies on the topic have been undertaken
since Humphreys' publication —
see, for example, Corzine
and Kirby (1977); and Ponte (1974).
These papers, however,
are largely descriptive and offer little in the way of
explaining the various interactional components of the
tearoom phenomenon within a conceptual framework.
The pre­
sent study seeks to provide answers to some basic questions
concerning the nature, structure, and consequences of such
encounters by formulating a conceptual scheme for viewing
not only this particualr behavior, but some other forms of
sexual expression as well.
As such, it is hoped that the
study will constitute a meaningful contribution to the scant
empirically-based literature which presently exists on the
subj ect.
This study is undertaken partially in the spirit of the
pursuit of knowledge, and partially in the spirit of protest
over the implications of some of the criticisms leveled
against Humphreys for his involvement in the study of sexual
deviance.
While I fully agree with those who have raised
questions concerning Humphreys' ethics in regard to his
method of investigating the phenomenon, I am nevertheless
vehemently opposed to any attempt to circumscribe the realm
of social experience deemed "acceptable'' or "appropriate"
for sociological study.
Sagarin (1980), in his discussion
of taboos in criminology, addresses the issue of how oppo­
sition to certain research methods can very often lead to
circumscription of research on particular subjects.
It is
well recognized that some forms of social behavior (sexual
behavior, in particular) present unique difficulties to
those wishing to study them.
These problems most often
manifest themselves as methodological problems.
How does
one gather information on a topic that most people are
reluctant to discuss when it pertains to their, or even
others', experiences?
Furthermore, in the event that the
researcher is able to locate individuals who are willing to
share their experiences in the area, it will be necessary to
question the representativeness of such people, as well as
the quality of such self-reported data.
Thus, it is a given
that certain social behaviors will necessitate rather
imaginative research techniques for their study.
It is also
a given that certain research techniques will elicit
controversy with respect to a number of issues —
rights of
privacy, informed consent, participation in or knowledge of
deviant or illegal activities, etc. —
issues which, to
date, have not been fully resolved in the academic, legal.
or political worlds.
Finally, it is understood that public
and professional controversy over the study of certain forms
of social behavior can be a powerful deterrent to further
investigation of such topics.
In short, future reseachers
will learn to avoid opening what is professionally consid­
ered a "Pandora's Box" and will, consequently, exercise
prudence when it comes to undertaking studies on subjects
deemed "too controversial" by their colleagues and
professional peers.
It is my feeling that this type of self and other
censorship can only serve to limit our understanding of
ourselves and the complexities which surround our concepts
of social reality.
Various subjects in the social world may
not be pleasant to think about (much less study), but study
them we must if we are ever to understand their causes,
characteristics, and consequences for society.
A thorough
understanding of social problems, in particular, is impera­
tive to the development of responsible social policies and
effective techniques aimed at their prevention and control.
For example, where would we be now if problems such as drug
abuse and alcoholism were still considered too "unpleasant"
for scientific study?
Would we have available to us the
many substance abuse centers and public educational programs
designed to treat and prevent such problems?
And, what are
we to do about the problems of child abuse and sexual
exploitation that exist in our society today?
Can va afford
to simply ignore them and hope that, despite our reluctance
to tackle such problems, they will somehow cease to exist or
gradually fade away? Similarly, what are we to do, espe­
cially in the face of the AIDS epidemic, about promiscuous
and impersonal homosexual activity?
Do we, once again,
stick our heads in the sand and pretend that such behavior
does not constitute an important enough problem for socio­
logical attention?
In short, are we, as sociologists, going
to confine ourselves to "safe" or so-called "legitimate"
topics of study until these and other "distasteful" phenom­
ena acquire some degree of academic respectability —
through social urgency or otherwise?
either
These are questions
which must be addressed by every sociologist hoping to
contribute in some way to our understanding of human nature
and the ways in which society can influence and/or regulate
such behavior.
It is only through the persistent pursuit of
knowledge on all aspects of the social experience that we
can come to fully appreciate the complex nature of our­
selves, our interactions, and our roles in the maintenance
and preservation of the social order.
CH&SÎER I
INTRODUCTION
Although human sexual behavior has been a topic of
interest since the dawn of humankind, its emergence as a
subject of scientific study is a relatively recent
development in the field of sociology.
Although certain
scholars of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries —
Tarde, Lombroso, Beccaria —
were quite concerned with the
sexual offender, their interest did little in the way of
establishing a sociology of sexual behavior.
To the
contrary, the pioneers of the study of sexuality —
Ellis, Bloch —
ogy.
Freud,
sought to preempt the subject for psychol­
While these individuals studied unconventional as well
as conventional forms of sexual expression, they approached
their subject from a clinical perspective and were only
marginally concerned with establishing the prevalence of
various forms of sexual behavior.
This is not to imply that the body of sociological
literature is completely devoid of early efforts to view
sexual behavior from its disciplinary perspective.
As early
as 1907, W.I. Thomas published a work entitled. Sex and
Society.
Although this work claimed to be and roughly did
approximate a sociological analysis of sexual behavior, its
subtitle, "Studies in the Social Psychology of Sex," was
indicative of its strong psychological orientation to the
topic.
Even more revealing of the theoretical and analyt­
ical barriers separating early sociology from the study
of sexuality was the subject matter of this study. Quite
simply, it emphasized gender over sex, and focused on
primitive rather than contemporary human beings.
It was, perhaps, the work of Kingsley Davis that
provided a point of departure for the sociological analysis
of sexual behavior.
Beginning in the 1930's, Davis made a
series of efforts to correlate sexual behavior with social
structure, and to view such behavior (be it normative or
deviant) as a response to socio-cultural conditions.
Although Davis' work inspired a few subsequent sociological
inquiries on the subject, it was not until Kinsey came along
—
a zoologist with no discernible sociological interest —
that the walls of silence previously surrounding matters of
sexuality were toppled.
Since publication of the first Kinsey study in 1948, the
body of sociological literature on sexual behavior has grown
considerably.
Indeed, laudable efforts have been made to
establish the sociology of sexual behavior on a theoret­
ically and methodologically sound basis.
As Sagarin notes.
sociological research in the area has reached a point where
"... it is almost respectable to investigate the world of
sexual disrespectability" (1968:3).
A noticeable feature in the literature is the prepon­
derance of research on homosexual behavior.
The literature
is replete with material on sexual orientation in general,
and male homosexual behavior in particular.
Despite the
numerous works in the area, a certain bias exists with
respect to the theoretical underpinnings of the research.
That is, the existing literature is largely grounded in
Goffmanian notions of the "deviant collectivity" and there­
fore tends to focus on the more overt and subcultural forms
of homosexual behavior.
Some examples of this orientation
are provided by the works of Hooker (1965, 1967); Reiss
(1960, 1961); Cory (1951, 1963, 1965); Simon and Gagnon
(1967a, 1967b, 1968) and Weinberg and Williams (1974).
Where any mention at all is given to the existence of covert
groups of homosexuals, it is usually found in discussions of
'modes of adaptation' and typically refers to small,
clandestine, friendship networks which serve the social and
psychological needs of their members. (See, for example,
Rubin, 1961 and 'eznoff and Westley, 1956.)
An exception to the above is provided by research
conducted by Humphreys (1970).
In his study of impersonal
homosexual encounters, an effort is made to examine the more
covert, less subcultural manifestations of homosexuality.
Thus, his study is nontraditional in the sense that it takes
place outside of the analytical restrictions imposed by the
deviant collectivity model.
In fact, one of Humphreys'
research objectives was to ground his theoretical
interpretations in the field data so as to resist
temptations to invoke subcultural elements where they may
not actually exist.
Based on fifty systematic observations of tearoom
transactions, Humphreys' findings suggest that the rules
governing social behavior in this setting possess unique
characteristics and operate somewhat differently than those
regulating other types of sexual interaction.
His findings
further suggest that tearoom behavior is highly organized
around specific norms which direct the transaction in a
value-added or sequential manner.
Moreover, the findings
indicate that, for the majority of men participating in such
activity, the tearoom serves as their only contact with a
deviant sexual milieu.
This implies that most participants
in the tearoom variety of homosexual behavior never actually
become members of the homosexual community.
To the
contrary, these men often maintain heterosexual identities
and lifestyles and, therefore, typically share a sense of
moral outrage over many aspects of homosexuality.
Thus, it
appears that not all social deviants come together in a
deviant collectivity to reinforce and validate new value
systems.
Clearly, on the basis of Humphreys' findings alone,
there is ample evidence to support further inquiries into
this particular form of sexual deviance.
Moreover, when one
considers the reported prevalence of this behavior in the
U.S., the need for additional research becomes all the more
compelling.
In a study conducted by Gallo, et al.
(1966:804) it was found that 56% of 493 arrests for homo­
sexual conduct over a four-year period in Los Angeles were
made in public restrooms.
Humphreys, furthermore, claims
that there is no major city in the U.S. without tearooms and
maintains that these facilities represent an integral com­
ponent of the "free sex market for those in the homosexual
subculture —
and for millions who might never identify
with the gay society" (1970:21).
In light of these
findings, the present study represents an effort to resubmit
this specific matter to sociological inquiry.
It is hoped
that through a careful analysis of empirical data and an
application of existent theories of deviance, an interpre­
tive model will emerge that may serve to augment the paucity
of sociological literature on a form of deviance that is
organized and sustained with minimal subcultural support.
This study is essentially one of the public management
of deviance and, therefore, will focus upon the various
strategies used by the tearoom patrons to sustain their
involvement in a deviant activity while protecting their
identities.
Thus, special emphasis is placed on the manner
in which the patrons structure their behavior to fit the
exigencies of the tearoom setting.
It is important to note that these strategies are
conditioned by the nature of the environment in which the
activity occurs.
Specifically, the activity takes place in
a public restroom and most men take for granted the social
structures which guide normative behavior in such a facil­
ity.
In other words, there is a set of expected behaviors
normally associated with public restrooms and those who use
these facilities invoke these norms to structure social
interaction occurring within this environment.
Conse­
quently, any deviant activity taking place in this setting
must recognize and accommodate to these norms and attendant
behavioral patterns if it is to be inconspicuous.
Given the private nature of the normative activity which
occurs in a public restroom, it is not surprising that
privacy norms operate to control interaction in this
setting.
For example, it is not considered acceptable to
openly stare at another in such a facility because to do so
would violate the rule governing the maintenance of social
distance.
Similarly, one is not expected to engage in
12
conversation other than, perhaps, fleeting comments con­
cerning the weather, road conditions, or other such
impersonal matters.
Consequently, those who come to the
facility in search of "instant sex" must carry out their
activities in a manner conducive to the maintenance of
privacy.
Furthermore, they must establish some system for
recognizing others who share this interest, communicating
their intent, and avoiding the possibility of detection by
outsiders.
For these purposes a type of "tearoom ritual"
has developed and become institutionalized within this
particular sphere of the deviant subculture.
This ritual,
(staging, in Coffman's terms) and the sequence of inter­
actions which constitute it, is the central focus of the
present study.
A secondary research objective is to develop a profile
of the typical patron who participates in what Humphreys has
termed the "tearoom trade."
Thus, an effort is made to
analyze the data available on the social characteristics of
the men who comprise the research sample.
The reader may
find the results of this analysis rather surprising, since
most individuals have a tendency to view the sexual deviant
as having undesirable, or at least somewhat unusual, social
attributes.
The analysis reveals that this is clearly not
the case for this particular class of social deviant.
Lastly, an effort is made to examine the problem from
the perspective of the law enforcement agency charged with
monitoring this behavior as well as from the perspective of
the court system.
How do the officers perceive the problem
and what do they feel their role is in curtailing or other­
wise controlling the activity?
What are the common methods
used by police to collect evidence on and arrest individuals
engaging in public displays of homosexuality?
How is police
discretion freely exercised and how does it affect who will
be arrested and who will be released?
Similarly, questions
concerning how the courts typically dispose of such cases
will be addressed.
Based on the data collected from inter­
views with the arresting officers and an examination of
court records, an attempt is made to provide answers to
these and other questions relevant to the analysis.
Scope and Organization of the Report
The scope of this dissertation is limited to an analysis
of the three areas of inquiry described above.
An additional
constraint on the study derives from the particular theo­
retical approach chosen for the analysis of the research
problem.
Specifically, the subject is viewed from an
interactionist perspective and, therefore, emphasis is
placed on arriving at an understanding of the meanings of
the social actions undertaken in the tearoom setting as
14
perceived by those within the setting, and the way in which
these meanings affect behavioral outcomes.
The dissertation is organized into a number of
subsequent chapters.
In an effort to provide the reader
with a more thorough understanding of how the interactionist
perspective has been used to analyze deviant behavior, the
following chapter discusses this theoretical perspective on
deviance in considerable detail.
An attempt is made to
explicate and apply those concepts of the theory which are
seen to have particular relevance to the tearoom variety of
homosexual behavior.
The third chapter describes the methodology employed in
this research project.
Information on techniques of data
collection and analysis, data sources, sample size, and
problems encountered during the research process is included
in this section of the dissertation.
The results of the analysis are presented in the fourth
chapter of this paper.
These findings are organized along
the three dimensions or research objectives previously
defined.
More specifically, the results of an analysis of
the tearoom ritual are presented first, followed by a
discussion of the social characteristics of the typical
tearoom patron.
Information relevant to police perceptions
and en f o r c e m e n t strategies is also offered in this section
15
of the dissertation.
Finally, the manner in which the cases
were settled or disposed of by the courts is discussed.
In the fifth and final chapter, the results of the
analysis are interpreted and discussed within the framework
of the interactionist perspective.
In addition, certain
issues of concern for social policy and future research on
impersonal homosexual encounters in public settings are
raised and their implications are discussed.
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
AN INTERACTIONIST VIEW OF DEVIANCE
Numerous theories have been advanced within the field of
sociology for purposes of explaining deviant behavior.
Like
most explanations of social behavior, these theories tend to
be bifurcated according to whether they focus on the more
structural, or macro, elements of social life or the more
interactional, or micro, characteristics of the social
experience.
Inasmuch as the subject of the present study is
distinctly interactional in nature, an appropriate theoret­
ical framework for its analysis would be one that seeks to
explain deviance at the micro level of abstraction.
More
specifically, what is needed is a conceptual structure upon
which one can organize information relevant to the most
central features of the tearoom phenomenon, such as the
construction of social meaning in the definition of the
situation, the ordering of interactional patterns, the
transformation of personal and social identity, and the
management of stigma.
Given the dimensions of the research
topic, the interactionist tradition provides an extremely
attractive paradigm for its analysis and interpretation.
Thus, this chapter details the interactionist perspective of
deviant behavior and emphasizes labeling theory as the
guiding framework for the present study.
Generally speaking, the interactionist school views the
world as constructed by social actors via their complex
interactions in concrete situations.
Consequently, interac-
tionists do not consider society to be "a separate reality"
as Durkheim once remarked.
They, rather, see society as the
product of what individuals are and what they do; as an
entity derived from people in interaction with one another.
Furthermore, interactionists do not share with others,
functionalists in particular, the belief in a consensual
model of society built upon some absolute system of moral­
ity.
Alternatively, they maintain that social meanings,
including values and rules, are social constructs which are
applied to the practical situations encountered in everyday
life.
According to this perspective, behavior and events
are assigned meaning through the social definition of the
situation, and it is in this manner that values and rules
are communicated to group members.
Once these definitions
become internalized, individuals are then able to interpret
their environment.
These interpretations, in turn, become
the basis of social action.
Therefore, inasmuch as the
definition of the situation includes expectations for
behavior, it is a self-fulfilling phenomenon.
Insofar as
the assignment of meaning precludes alternative lines of
action, it operates in a manner which produces behavior
consistent with original ascription.
The self-fulfilling nature of deviant definitions and
their social psychological impact on those so defined
constitute a central theme for one particular theory of the
interactionist tradition —
labeling theory.
This theory is
not new; in fact, its origins are rooted in the writings of
Cooley, Mead, and W.I. Thomas.
It was not, however,
considered a prominent perspective of deviant behavior until
the latter half of this century.
Several scholars are responsible for bringing labeling
theory into the arena of academic respectability.
Lemert
was, perhaps, most instrumental in popularizing this theory
among students of deviance.
He was first to assert that
social reaction to deviant behavior was an inextricable
variable in the analysis of the subject.
Following his
lead, Becker (1963), Goffman (1963), Erikson (1960), and
Kitsuse (1964) went on to make considerable contributions to
the development of the theory in the early sixties.
Since
that time, a number of other authors (Matza, Schur, Pfohl,
and Lofland to name a few) have elaborated and augmented
this perspective on deviant behavior.
As a result, there
exists today an impressive body of literature on the role of
labeling in the production and amplification of social
deviance.
Inasmuch as labeling theorists view deviance as a
product of social interaction, they are naturally concerned
with the analysis of interactional patterns.
For purposes
of this discussion, the ordering of the patterns consti­
tuting the interactional process will follow a four-step
model largely derived from guidelines posited by John
Kitsuse (1964:87-102).
The analysis begins with an attempt
to ascertain how a group comes to define certain behaviors
as deviant.
Thus, attention is directed towards the process
whereby the boundaries distinguishing acceptable behavior
from unacceptable behavior are socially negotiated and
institutionalized within the social structure.
The second step in the analytical model focuses upon the
manner in which the group reacts to those individuals who
breach the boundaries established by the social order.
Consequently, this part of the analysis is concerned with
the transference of the deviant label from the abstract to
the concrete; that is, from the behavioral category to the
individual violator of the negotiated rules.
It is during
this particular phase that the problematic nature of deviant
behavior becomes most apparent.
For instance, it becomes
evident that certain individuals can breach the boundaries
of acceptable behavior with little or no punitive reaction
20
from the group, whereas other individuals may be severely
sanctioned for such transgressions.
Thus, this portion of
the analysis seeks to discover the intervening variables
involved in the labeling process, and attempt to ascertain
how they influence the degree of social reaction engendered
by specific acts of deviance.
Thirdly, attention is paid to the treatment accorded to
deviant individuals by the offended members of the group.
This step in the model considers the manner in which society
attempts to regulate and control its deviant elements.
Hence, the application of sanctions by the relevant social
groups and agencies, particularly law enforcement organiza­
tions, is discussed in some detail.
The fourth and final step in the analytical model
concentrates on the effects of stigma for the deviant
individual.
An attempt is made to determine the various
methods available to the deviant for the management of his
discrediting or discreditable status, and emphasis is placed
upon the manner in which the labeling process, as well as
the label itself, can operate to transform identities and
amplify deviance.
These four areas of interest constitute the fundamental
components of the interactionist perspective in general, and
labeling theory in particular, as applied to the study of
deviant behavior.
In an effort to demonstrate their
applications to and implications for past and present
research, each area is discussed in further detail below.
Definition of Behavior as Deviant
As indicated above, a primary objective of labeling
theory is to determine how certain behaviors come to be
defined as deviant by social groups.
This goal is facil­
itated by first posing some elementary questions concerning
the nature of deviant phenomenon, and then attempting to
formulate answers within the broader framework provided by
the interactionist tradition.
deviance?
For example, what exactly is
Which behaviors constitute deviant acts and why?
Is there some quality inherent in certain behaviors which
distinguishes them as socially pathological?
According to the interactionist perspective, deviance
can only be understood in relation to the rules which, when
violated, constitute its existence.
In other words, inter­
actionists conceive of rule-making and rule-breaking as
reciprocal terms, each deriving its meaning from the other.
Accordingly, it is impossible to understand deviance (or
even detect it, for that matter) outside of the context of
the rules which serve to define it.
From this point of
view, then, it is the rules that create deviance since if
there were no rules, there would be no rule violations.
Tannenbaum (1938) argues, if there were no rules against
As
22
heroin, there would be no heroin deviants.
Therefore, when
attempting to explain any particular form of deviance, one
must first make an effort to explain why a rule exists
against it.
How, then, do the members of society go about
constructing their values and rules?
How do certain forms
of behavior become proscribed and what influences determine
whether or not the rules regulating such behavior will be
enforced?
Becker (1963) discusses the creation of rules and their
enforcement by tracing what he refers to as the "natural
history" of rules in society.
While he agrees with most
other sociologists that social rules generally arise from
social values, he nevertheless argues that "rules do not
flow automatically from values."
He elaborates this point
as follows:
Just because values are ambiguous and general,
we interpret them in various ways and deduce
many kinds of rules from them. A rule may be
consistent with a given value, but widely
differing rules might also have been deduced
from the same value. Furthermore rules will
not be deduced from values unless a problematic
situation prompts someone to make the
deduction. We may find that certain rules
which seem to us to flow logically from a
widely-held value have not been thought of by
people who hold the value, either because
situations and problems calling for the rule
have not arisen or because they are unaware
that a problem exists. Again, a specific rule,
if deduced from the general value, might
conflict with other rules deduced from other
values. The conflict, whether consciously
known or only recognized implicitly, may
inhibit the creation of a particular rule
(1963:132).
Given the nonlinear relationship between
valuesand
rules, Becker goes on to inform that "social rules are
creation of specific social groups" (1963:15).
the
He notes that
modern societies are highly differentiated entities
comprised of myriad groups and interests.
Thus, not all
members can be expected to agree upon which rules are valid
and deserving of enforcement.
As Becker remarks, "insofar
as the rules of various groups conflict and contradict one
another, there will be disagreement about the kind of
behavior that is proper in any given situation" (1963:15).
Given this lack of consensus over matters of morality, how
is it possible for a society to institutionalize a set of
values with corresponding rules of conduct?
In other words,
how does one group's set of rules become applicable to all
members of society despite opposition from others?
Along
with the conflict theorists, Becker believes that this is
largely a question of economic and political power.
He
asserts that "differences in the ability to make rules and
apply them to other people are essentially power differ­
entials (either legal or extralegal)" (1963:17-18).
Simply
stated, then, it appears that rules are made and enforced by
groups with the
power to do so.
Thus, for Becker, rule
creation and enforcement are distinctively political in
nature, and the activities associated with them constitutes
what Becker terms a "moral enterprise."
As he states:
Wherever rules are created and applied, we
should be alive to the possible presence of an
enterprising individual or group. Their
activities can properly be called moral
enterprise, for what they are enterprising
about is the creation of a new fragment of the
moral constitution of society, its code of
right and wrong (1963:145).
In conclusion thus far, the interactionist perspective
views rules not as the inevitable outgrowth of communal
attachment and shared commitment to absolute morality, but
rather as products of socio-political forces which operate
in the context of social interaction.
Definition of Individuals as Deviant
Another major theme for the interactionist study of
deviance is the social labeling of individuals as deviant.
This necessarily entails an analysis of how others react to
individuals who engage in activity which has been defined as
unacceptable according to the rules established through the
25
entrepreneurial acts discussed by Becker.
According to both
Lemert (1951), and Goffman, (1963) this reaction is the
critical determinant of deviance in society.
They argue
that deviants are socially created through the successful
application of labels which then confer the deviant quality
upon certain individuals.
An analysis of this phase of the interactional process
is beset by a number of difficulties and irregularities.
As
Becker notes, "the degree to which other people will respond
to a given act as deviant varies greatly" (1963:12).
Factors
such as social time, place, and the social statuses of those
who were involved and those who were offended all have an
effect on the nature of the social reaction occasioned by a
particular act of deviance.
With respect to variation over
social time, Erikson (1966) and Becker (1963) both suggest
that at certain times deviants are considerably more
vulnerable to arrest, such as during "drives" to eradicate
some forms of deviance.
For example, prior to local
political elections, law enforcement officials are often
pressured by their superiors to crack down on particular
forms of crime, such as homosexuality, prostitution, or drug
trafficking, in an effort to publicly demonstrate the
present administration's concern for the protection of
community morality.
During such periods, it is obvious that
a greater risk of arrest is posed to individuals engaging in
these behaviors.
Thus, mere participation in deviant
activities may be a necessary, but not always a sufficient,
factor in determining who will be publicly labeled as
deviant.
The social timing of such participation can also
be assumed to be influential in the labeling process.
Social place is another variable which can intervene in
the labeling process and influence who will be defined as
deviant.
Tolerance to nonconformity varies among different
communities and social regions.
What may be viewed as
tolerable behavior is major metropolitan areas could very
likely be considered reprehensible in smaller, less
urbanized communities in society.
Even within the
geographical confines of the same metropolitan community,
variance in social tolerance to acts of nonconformity may
exist.
For example, in San Francisco's Castro district
(which is peopled predominantly by gay men both in terms of
residents and business owners) a wide range of otherwise
"outrageous" behaviors is not only tolerated but, at times,
actually celebrated in the context of neighborhood
festivals.
However, this same type of behavior is strictly
regulated, both by formal and informal means of social
control, in the city's upper-class and financial districts.
Similarly, behaviors which are easily tolerated in any major
city's zone of transition are often times sanctioned in the
middle-class sections of the same community.
Thus, with
27
respect to the influence of social time and place, it
appears that the often heard excuse of "being in the wrong
place at the wrong time" may actually have some legitimacy
in the determination of who will be labeled as deviant.
The social class affiliation of the offender and the
offended is an additional variable which deserves
consideration in any discussion of the labeling process.
The relationship between social class of the offender and
social reaction to the act of transgression is a topic which
has been examined by a number of researchers.
For example,
studies conducted on police reactions to juvenile offenders
indicate that a middle-class bias exists relative to arrests
made by attending law enforcement officers.
In addition,
the race of the offender (an indicator of social class)
appears to be a significant variable in determining the
severity of the social reaction engendered by the offense.
Cameron (1987) and Black (1980), for instance, independently
report that black offenders are more likely to receive
stricter penalties (in terms of prison sentences) than their
white counterparts.
Moreover, the social class affiliation
of those offended by deviant acts can also be seen to
influence the labeling process.
For instance, Cohen and
Short (1961) indicate that middle-class boys are treated
with more leniency than lower class boys when apprehended by
police.
They are, in other words, less likely to be
processed through the juvenile justice system for any given
offense than are boys from the lower classes.
Finally, as Becker (1963) notes, the specific
consequences of the deviant act can also influence the
nature of the social response.
He cites as a case in point
Vincent's work on unmarried mothers.
In that study, Vincent
suggests that mere participation in illicit sexual activity
does not necessarily result in social censure for the
participants.
activity —
Rather, it is one possible outcome of sexual
i.e., pregnancy —
that brings forth severe
social sanction.
These and various other factors which influence social
reaction to deviant behavior reflect an important underlying
assumption about the nature of deviant phenomena as viewed
from this perspective.
As Becker so aptly states;
Why repeat these commonplace observations?
Because, taken together, they support the
proposition that deviance is not a simple
quality, present in some kinds of behavior and
absent in others. Rather, it is the product of
a process which involves responses of other
people to the behavior. The same behavior may
be an infraction of the rules at one time and
not another; may be an infraction when
committed by one person, but not when committed
by another; some rules are broken with
impunity, others are not. In part on the
nature of the act (that is, whether or not it
violates some rule) and in part on what other
people do about it (1963:14).
Thus, in concluding this section of the discussion, it
is apparent that deviance cannot exist in the absence of
some type of negative social reaction which serves to define
it.
Furthermore, there does not seem to be a simple, linear
relationship between acts of deviance and labels of
deviance.
To the contrary, a number of intervening
variables operate to either facilitate or impede the
successful application of the deviant label to certain
individuals.
Social Control and the application of Sanctions
In addition to their concern for the definition of
behaviors and individuals as deviant, interactionists are
also interested in the manner in which labeled persons are
treated in society.
This part of the analysis, then,
focuses on the social control of deviants.
Once an individual has been labeled as a deviant, the
social reaction to him will invariably involve some form of
sanction.
The particular form of response may range from
mere ridicule to physical punishment or incarceration.
is important, however, is that whatever the form of
What
sanction, it represents some attempt on the part of society
to control or otherwise regulate deviant behavior.
Formal social control necessitates the creation and
effective operation of specialized agencies or
organizations charged with the responsibility of regulating
deviance.
Research indicates that agents of these control
institutions share unique perspectives and values which come
into play when they process or type their "clients."
With
respect to law enforcement agencies, several researchers
(among them Westley, 1970; Kirkham, 1974; and Bayley and
Mendelsohn, 1969) comment on the rather unique personality
exhibited by police officers.
As Bayley and Mendelsohn
Our study demonstrates that police live in a
particular perceptual world — a cop's world if
you will. This perceptual world is common to
all police officers regardless of social
background, personality, years on the force,
nature of duty, or location of assignment.
Police share a set of expectations about human
behavior, which they carry into professional
contacts, precisely because they are policemen
(1969:106).
This "perceptual world" of police officers includes cues
for identifying potential deviants.
According to the
authors, these cues are based upon a simple incongruity of
appearance.
Specifically, police officers tend to be
especially sensitive to anything which appears to be "out of
place" or unusual relative to their own frames of reference
or realms of experience.
Since minority group members often
share cultural values and forms of expression which are
alien to the typical law enforcement officer, police tend to
be cued to the activities of these individuals.
Thus,
Bayley and Mendelsohn report that police officers tend to
associate high crime rates with minority populations.
In
essence, they learn to expect criminal behavior from
minority group members as a result of occupational socializ­
ation and as a consequence of their lack of references for
subcultural patterns of behavior.
This stereotyping on the part of the police has been
corroborated by a number of other researchers as well.
Lundman (1980), for instance, remarks on the authoritarian­
ism, suspicion, racism, conservatism, and hostility evident
in the personality of the average police officer.
With
respect to the suspicion exercised by most police officers
in their day-to-day experiences with citizens, Kirkham
As someone who had always regarded policemen as
a "paranoid" lot, I discovered in the daily
round of violence ... that chronic suspicious­
ness is something that a good cop cultivates
in the interest of going home to his family
each evening (1981:81).
On the basis of the research evidence, then, it is
strongly suggested that the social control agents respon­
sible for the regulation of deviance have a distinctive way
of typing certain individuals as potential rule-breakers.
This, of course, implies that society's first line of
defense against deviance operates on the basis of a
selective perception of reality.
It targets deviant
activities engaged in by certain segments of society, while
it overlooks or remains ignorant of acts of transgression
committed by others.
In essence, a situation arises wherein
the guardians of morality selectively enforce the rules
which constitute society's code of conduct.
Such police
discretion has been recognized as a crucial factor in most
all law enforcement decision-making.
Richard Donnelly
comments on this issue as follows:
The policeman's lot is indeed a difficult one.
He is charged with applying or enforcing a
multitude of laws or ordinances in a degree or
proportion and in a manner that maintains a
delicate degree of social protection. His task
requires a sensitive and wise discretion in
deciding whether or not to invoke the criminal
process. He must not only know whether certain
behavior violates the law but also whether
there is probable cause to believe that the law
has been violated. He must enforce the law,
yet he must determine whether a particular
violation should be handled by warning or
arrest
He is not expected to arrest every
violator. Some laws were never intended by the
enactors to be enforced, and others condemn
behavior that is not contrary to significant
moral values. If he arrested all violators,
the courts would find it impossible to do their
work, and he would be in court so frequently
that he could not perform his other
professional duties. Consequently, the
policeman must judge and informally settle more
cases than he takes to court (1962:91-92).
Police discretion, or the selective enforcement of
rules, has been the subject of numerous studies in the
social sciences.
One such study, conducted by Piliavin and
Briar (1974), reports that police officers rely upon simple
cues that emerge from the interaction between themselves and
youthful offenders when making their decision concerning
disposition.
They describe some of these cues below:
Juveniles who were contrite about their
infractions, respectful to officers, and
fearful of the sanctions that might be employed
against them tended to be viewed by patrolmen
as basically law-abiding or at least "salvage­
able." For these youths it was usually assumed
that informal or formal reprimand would suffice
to guarantee their future conformity. In
contrast, youthful offenders who were
fractious, obdurate, or who appeared nonchalant
in their encounter with patrolmen were likely
to be viewed as "would-be tough guys" and
"punks" who fully deserved the most severe
sanction: arrest (1974:210-211).
34
A hypothesis implicit in the above findings is that it is
suspects who do not display proper demeanor in their inter­
actions with police who are most likely to be arrested.
If
this is the case, then it may provide a possible explanation
for the higher arrest rates among juveniles from minority
groups.
Lundman, Sykes and Clark (1978) address this in
their study of police-citizen encounters.
Specifically,
they note that an "asymmetrical status norm" characterizes
such encounters and that this norm requires that police
receive more deference than they give.
This expectation on
the part of police officers becomes particularly problematic
when issues of race or ethnicity enter into the situation.
For example, by expecting general deference, the average
(i.e., white) police officer may be construed by a minority
group member as an individual who believes he is superior
due to his racial group affiliation.
By the same token, the
minority citizen's reluctance to show deference may be
interpreted by the officer as a refusal to conform to the
norm which requires all citizens to recognize the officer's
legitimate status.
In effect, this asymmetrical status norm
places both the officer and minority group member in a type
of double bind.
Consequently, Lundman, Sykes and Clark
assert that this may cause the officer to apply more
punitive sanction to the minority group offender.
35
The role of stereotyping in matters of differential
labeling has been examined with respect to deviants other
than offenders.
For example, several researchers (Lemert,
1951? Goffman, 1959a, among others) claim that the label of
"mentally ill" is decidedly dependent on social contin­
gencies rather than on medical findings.
Accordingly,
mental illness becomes a socially ascribed status.
Scheff
and Culver (1964) agree with this proposition and find
support for it in their study of court appointed psychia­
trists.
They remark that "there appears to be a large
element of status ascription in the official reaction to
persons alleged to be mentally ill" (1964:413).
Pfohl
(1978) also addresses the role of social and interactional
contingencies in his study of psychiatric diagnoses.
Specifically, he reports that psychiatric decisions are
largely dependent on the manner in which the diagnostic
agents negotiate a set of constitutional and contingent
elements of social interaction.
In other words, Pfohl
suggests that a patient’s psychiatric status is assessed on
the basis of a construction of reality which emerges in the
context of the diagnostic agents' interactions with one
another.
He claims that rules only "appear" to govern these
decisions and that such rules are actually ad hoc displays
of rationality and justification.
Thus, as Pfohl notes, if
a patient who has previously been diagnosed as a sociopath
daims to have really adjusted for the better during his
interview with diagnosticians, he is likely to be evaluated
by these individuals as not actually having improved, but
rather as displaying the sociopathic symptom of
manipulation.
Thus, this patient is likely to be given an
undesirable psychiatric status on the basis of a constructed
"rule" which justifies doing so.
This ad hoc rule states
that if you know a patient is sociopathic, then any
favorable presentation of self on his part is, by
definition, a facade.
Therefore, according to this
perception of reality, the team of diagnosticians will be
justified in recommending further treatment for this
individual.
Based on the above discussion, it appears that deviant
labels are, indeed, differentially applied to individuals
who are seen to break certain "rules" negotiated by others.
Furthermore, research indicates that social control agents
tend to base decisions regarding the disposition of deviants
on their particularistic definitions of the situation at
hand.
These definitions, in turn, are conditioned by what
the agents learn to expect from certain types of individuals
in certain contexts. Thus, we once again see deviance as
the product of many different social actors in interaction
with one another, and as the consequence of a socially
constructed reality.
Consecnienees of the Labeling Process
The fourth and final step in the analysis involves an
examination of the social consequences of the labeling
process.
Here, an effort is made to ascertain the manner in
which the labeled individual accommodates him/herself to
being identified by others as somehow different or
"deviant."
This necessarily entails an analysis of the
effects of labeling on identity, both social and personal.
Under what conditions does the individual accept or reject
the negative connotations of the label?
Does a self-
fulfilling prophecy emerge and function to produce further
deviance?
In order to answer these questions, interaction-
ists turn their attentions to the management of the deviant
Becker discusses the effects of the labeling process by
utilizing Hughes's distinction between master and auxiliary
status traits.
He argues that once a person has been
publicly identified as deviant, the concomitant label
becomes the overriding trait for distinguishing the indi­
vidual from others; in other words, it becomes a master
status.
As Becker remarks, "possession of one deviant trait
may have a generalized symbolic value so that people auto­
matically assume that its bearer possesses other undesirable
traits allegedly associated with it" (1963:33).
Thus, to be
publicly labeled as deviant invokes a new identity for the
individual.
As Becker states:
The most important consequence is a drastic
change in the individual's public identity.
Committing the unproper act and being caught at
it place him in a new status. He has been
revealed as a different kind of person from the
kind of person he was supposed to be. He is
labeled a "fairy," "dope fiend," "nut" or
"lunatic" and treated accordingly (1963:12).
It has been suggested that this experience can be a
catalyst for further deviations on the part of the publicly
labeled individual.
Once stigmatized, a person tends to be
socially restricted to certain lines of behavior through a
denial of access to more conventional modes of action.
No
longer able to pass as "normal" or "respectable" in the eyes
of others, the stigmatized individual may find it necessary
to resort to deviant associations and activities.
Association within a deviant subculture, in turn, is likely
to crystalize or stabilize the deviant role for the labeled
individual.
Consequently, the stigmatized person may learn
to use his newly acquired role as a means of defense or as a
method of adjustment to the socially conferred label.
Leraert refers to this transformation of identity as
secondary deviance (Becker terms it "pure" deviance) and
suggests that the secondary deviant actually organizes his
life around the facts of his deviance.
He expounds upon
this as follows:
In effect, the original causes of the deviation
recede in importance or give way to the central
importance of the disapproval and isolating
reactions of the community. A person who began
to drink heavily because of anxieties over his
professional competence now drinks heavily
because of the failures due to his drinking and
corresponding guilt and introjected self­
definition (1948:28).
From this perspective, then, it appears that the labeling
process and the label itself have an independent effect on
the amplification of deviance.
The above discussion deals with stigma management based
upon the acceptance of the deviant role.
The publicly
labeled individual, in effect, learns to use his deviance to
defend or justify further deviations in his behavior.
This
is not, however, the only option available to the individual
for the management of his spoiled identity.
Goffman (1963a)
informs that, rather than organizing behavior around a
deviant role, the discredited deviant may attempt to manage
his stigma and reduce its social devaluation by acknowled­
ging his deviance while simultaneously making a bid for
normality.
For example, Levitin (1975) reports that people
who are temporarily handicapped often times engage in
deviance avowal techniques by asserting that although they
are presently impaired, this will not be the case in the
future.
This strategy enables them to not only resist the
permanent label, but also retain the attribution of normal­
ity in the face of the deviant-defining trait.
Levitin
further indicates that this same technique can be employed
by the permanently handicapped with one alteration.
In this
case the message sent to others is one which implies that
the individual's deviance does not holistically define him.
This message is typically accompanied by efforts to bring
forth the more "normal" or untainted elements of the self.
Thus, we find amputees running marathons with the use of
prosthetic devices, ex-convicts involved in crime preven­
tion programs, and victims of cerebral palsy actively
pursuing careers which require that they be publicly
conspicuous in their handicap.
In addition to the above, the discredited individual may
alternatively attempt to manage his spoiled identity by
invoking various excuses or justifications for his untoward
behavior.
Whether the deviant chooses to employ an excuse
or a justification for his behavior depends upon:
(1)
whether he recognizes the act as "deviant" or somehow
unacceptable, and (2) whether he is willing to assume
responsibility for the act.
An excuse represents an
admission that the act was wrong in some sense (deviance
avowal) along with an assertion that participation in the
41
act was an exceptional case —
extenuating circumstances.
a case mitigated by
On the other hand, a justifi­
cation is a statement that connotes an admission of some
responsibility with a denial of the deviant or unacceptable
nature of the act (deviance disavowal).
Scott and Lyman (1968) discuss a number of different
excuses used by deviants to ameliorate the social signifi­
cance of the stigma attached to their behavior.
The first
of these, an "appeal to accidents," serves to release one
from responsibility by representing the act and its conse­
quences as the result of something over which the individual
had no control.
Excuses which rest on claims of a temporary
inability to control one's responses (due to, perhaps,
intoxication) or the various hazards posed to everyone in
daily life illustrate this type of account.
A second excuse
pattern involves an "appeal to defensibility."
When
employing this option, the deviant individual seeks to
absolve himself of responsibility by claiming to have acted
upon faulty or erroneous information provided by others.
The deviant will typically argue that had he genuinely
understood the situation, he would have behaved quite
differently.
This is exemplified by the man who defends
himself against allegations of statutory rape with a claim
of being intentionally misled and/or seduced by the minor in
question.
Similarly, the secret homosexual man who is
observed at a gay bar by his heterosexual associates may
claim to have had no prior knowledge of the nature of the
establishment, or may allege to have been "set up" by his
friends as the unwitting victim of a practical joke.
A
third and final order of excuse consists of accounts based
on genetic propensities.
The phrase "boys will be boys" and
comments concerning the irrational behavior of women at
certain points in the estrus cycle (PMS, for example) attest
to this format by suggesting that some behaviors are sexlinked or biologically determined.
This, of course, implies
a fatalistic view of behavior which, consequently,
exonerates the individual of culpability for actions
executed under such influences.
Justifications can also be used by deviants to mollify
the sense of social devaluation associated with the deviant
label.
As stated above, the individual utilizing these
statements typically assumes some responsibility for the act
but denies the negative qualities of the behavior.
This
individual may claim that his behavior is either "completely
natural" or situationally appropriate, despite his accuser's
statement to the contrary.
Four of the five "techniques of
neutralization" identified by Sykes and Matza (1957)
represent such attempts to justify deviant behavior.
The
first of these strategies involves a "denial of injury" and
focuses on the nature of the consequences of the act rather
43
than on the nature of the act itself.
In this case, an
effort is made to serve the linkage between the act and its
outcome by suggesting that, since no one was actually harmed
in the incident, no serious act of deviance was committed.
For example, a shoplifter may assert that, although she
would never steal from another individual, she sees no harm
in pilfering insignificant items from major department
stores since such establishments can afford to take the loss
while a private individual cannot.
This type of justifi­
cation is frequently used by participants in the so-called
"victimless" crimes (such as prostitution, noninstitu­
tionalized gambling, and homosexuality) as a means of
neutralizing the effects of their stigma.
Another technique of neutralization which serves to
justify deviant activities, the "denial of the victim,"
operates on a reconstruction of reality involving a
definition of the individual offended by the act as a
deserving target.
In short, the act itself is presented as
one which is victim precipitated.
This is illustrated by
heterosexuals who justify their assaults on homosexuals by
asserting that such individuals deserve to be punished for
their immoral sexual conduct.
Another example of the use of
this method is provided by the relatively recent "Subway
Vigilante" case wherein Bernard Goetz and his supporters
argue that the juvenile' offenders in the incident were
legitimate marks for violence.
According to their view, the
boys were "asking for it" and therefore deserve "whatever
was coming to them."
In essence, this technique rests on a
definition of the act as a form of rightful retaliation
against the evil-doers in society.
What emerges here is
somewhat akin to the "Robin Hood effect" in that deviant
activities are rationalized or justified on the basis of
some notion of the common good.
A third technique of neutralization, "condemnation of
the condemners," focuses on those who rej ect or denounce the
deviant for his actions.
When using this tactic, the
deviant individual redefines the situation through a
perception of his condemners as hypocrites or deviants in
disguise.
This effectively permits the individual to reject
his rejectors and develop some sense of superiority relative
to those who censure him.
For example, during the student
riots of the late sixties and early seventies an arrest made
on the basis of one's participation in an act of civil
disobedience was viewed by most students as a source of
pride and honor.
This perception was based on a definition
of the "establishment" as a manifestation of an immoral and
unjust society.
Thus, to have been singled out and
sanctioned by the "stooges" of such a system was, in effect,
an exultation of the righteousness of the arrested
individual.
A variation of this technique, as used by male
45
homosexuals to neutralize their stigma, is addressed by
Warren (1974) and by Berger and Luckmann (1967).
These
researchers suggest that many such individuals will nihilate
the "straight" world by viewing heterosexuals as latent
homosexuals, thereby eroding any substantial differences
thought to exist between the stigmatized and the stigma­
tizing.
For this purpose, Warren indicates that these men
draw upon Freud's theory of primal bisexuality and
repression.
In doing so, these men can rationalize that a
person's homophobia (expressed as an overt abhorrence of
homosexuality) is a strong indicator of the degree to which
the latent, homosexual tendency has had to be repressed by
said person.
Thus, they are able to neutralize society's
condemnation on a sort of sliding scale (1974:128).
Another neutralization strategy identified by Sykes and
Matza involves an "appeal to higher loyalties."
The use of
this technique creates a situation of role conflict between
competing social norms in that it requires the deviant
individual to sacrifice the demands of the larger social
order for those of the smaller group to which he belongs.
An example of this is given by the juvenile gang member who,
despite legal implications concerning his own culpability,
refuses to cooperate with law enforcement officials by
informing on the whereabouts of a fellow gang member who is
a fugitive from the law.
It is important to note that the
46
use of this technique does not necessarily require that the
individual repudiate the norms of the larger society simply
because he is not conforming with them.
In other words, the
juvenile offender may well believe that his friend's actions
were deserving of punishment.
He furthermore may resent the
fact that he is "taking the fall" for his friend's trans­
gressions.
However, in this case the larger social norm
demanding that citizens cooperate with legal authorities is
not as strong as the gang's norm requiring that one never
"squeals on a buddy."
As viewed in this manner, then,
violation of the larger social norm is more a matter of
degree, than a matter of kind.
An additional mechanism for justifying deviant acts is
described by Scott and Lyman (1968) as the "sad tale," and
is somewhat akin to Sykes and Matza's "denial of responsi­
bility."
This strategy is used to justify social breaches
through a distorted presentation of facts concerning the
deviant act or the offender's biography.
For example, the
deviant may try to exaggerate the influences of a bad
environment on his behavior by claiming to be more "acted
upon" than "acting," more "victimized" than "victimizing."
By way of example, a juvenile offender may seek to ration­
alise his larcenous behavior by asserting that, given his
lack of opportunity for gainful employment along with his
unemployed and uncaring parents, he really has no choice but
to steal that which he needs to survive.
Alternatively, he
may choose to selectively arrange or distort the facts
surrounding his participation in the larcenous act by
claiming that he really did not intend to steal the object,
but merely use it temporarily for some specific reason
(e.g., "joyriding" in another's automobile).
In addition to the excuses and justifications used by
deviants to defend their behavior, labeled individuals may
also seek to mitigate the social significance of their
stigma by presenting their deviance in the least offensive
terms.
Goffman refers to this strategy as "covering" and
states that it may include methods of diverting attention
away from one form of stigma and directing it toward some
lesser form.
He remarks on the use of such a strategy in
his discussion of a blind man who wore dark glasses
(signifying his lack of vision) for the express purpose of
concealing a facial disfigurement that existed in his eye
region.
Goffman states that this represents a "case of
revealing unsightedness while concealing unsightliness" and
speculates on the rationale of such a strategy by citing
Chevigny's (1962) work on the topic as stated:
The blind, in all conscience, have enough
advertisement of their condition without adding
a cosmetic factor to it. I can think of nothing
that would add so much to the tragedy of a blind
man's position as the feeling that, in the fight
to regain his vision, he had lost not the fight
but the wholesomeness of his appearance as well
(1963a:103).
An alternative method of covering involves the avoidance
of behaviors which would cause the stigma to loom large in
the course of social interaction.
In this case, the
objective is to actually minimize the social presence of the
stigmatizing trait so as to prevent it from obtruding itself
into the center of interaction.
For example, blacks often
refrain from affecting any subcultural speech and behavioral
patterns when in the company of their white associates
because to fail to do so would draw attention to their
differentness and, consequently, disrupt the flow of social
interaction.
Another example of this is provided by the
male homosexual who conspicuously avoids mannerisms
considered as feminine when interacting with his hetero­
sexual friends.
The final form of covering addressed by Goffman focuses
on the organization of social situations.
In this case, the
obtrusiveness of stigma is minimized through the mimicry of
the various patterns of interaction deemed to be appropriate
or "normal" to a given social situation.
Goffman cites as
examples the manner in which the blind learn to look
directly at the speaker and how the hearing impaired learn
to speak with what is considered by others as the
appropriate level of loudness (1963a:103).
This is also
illustrated by homosexuals who learn to imitate the
heterosexual pattern of commitment and stability in intimate
49
relationships.
Humphreys reports that, in an effort to
lessen the degree of social devaluation associated with
their stigma, male homosexuals may choose to publicly
display fidelity in monogamous relationships and perhaps
even sanctify these relationships by means of some formal
ritual akin to the marriage ceremony (1972:140).
The discussion thus far has dealt with one particular
type of deviant, the discredited individual, and the methods
available to him for reducing the social significance of his
stigma.
However, some people possess deviant-defining traits
that are not immediately noticed or known to others.
Such
individuals are considered discreditable deviants and
include as examples the ex-mental patient, the secret or
latent homosexual, and the AIDS carrier who has not yet
manifested noticeable symptoms of the syndrome.
Discreditable deviants have a number of additional
stigma management techniques available to them which are
aimed at controlling information about their deviance.
According to Goffman, these persons are confronted with the
dilemma of whether to reveal or conceal information
regarding their differentness in most all of the social
situations in which they find themselves, and in each
situation a decision must be made regarding how, when, where
and to whom this information is communicated (1963:18).
Discreditable individuals are usually painfully aware of the
fact that acceptance from others could radically turn to
rejection as a result of an unstrategical disclosure of
social information about their deviance.
Thus, these
deviants tend to possess an overriding concern for secrecy
in their everyday lives.
This concern for secrecy is particularly relevant to the
present study of tearoom activities.
Past research on the
subject indicates that the men who seek such impersonal
sexual encounters place an extremely high premium on the
value of secrecy.
Research conducted by Humphreys (1970,
1972) and by Corzine and Kirby (1977) suggests that it is
primarily this demand for secrecy that is responsible for
the structure of the interactional patterns which define
the course of these encounters.
Specifically, they point
to the fact that persons engaged in this activity display
a general reluctance to exchange personal information or
become involved in any type of social interaction which
would increase their risk of public disclosure.
The
various nonverbal cues which have evolved in place of
verbal exchanges attest to this overriding concern for the
concealment of identity.
Inasmuch as verbal exchanges are ,
prohibited or strictly limited, the participants can
interact with a greater degree of anonymity and, therefore,
security in knowing that their identities are protected.
Goffman identifies three techniques commonly used by
discreditable deviants for controlling information about
their stigmatizing statuses.
The first of these involves
the avoidance of stigma symbols or indicators which call
attention to one's deviance.
Pfuhl (1978) illustrates the
use of this tactic in his discussion of unwed fathers.
Specifically, he notes that an unwed father frequently
abandons the pregnant woman or encourages her to reside in
some other community until the infant is born and turned
over to an adoption agency.
He suggests that by avoiding
all contact with the woman who symbolizes his "failure," the
unwed father is attempting to control or conceal information
regarding his violation of the moral code.
An additional
example is provided by the homosexual male who, seeking to
conceal information about his sexual preference, carefully
avoids known gay establishments and behaviors that may be
construed as even marginally homosexual in nature.
A second format for the control of stigmatizing
information is the use of disidentifiers.
This method
involves the manipulation of social symbols which denote
qualities and attributes that are the opposite of what, in
reality, are the characteristics of the deviant.
Thus, the
homosexual male may attempt to conceal his sexual interests
by affecting an exaggerated front of masculinity or,
perhaps, even entering into a heterosexual relationship.
Such methods of impression management create a type of
"smoke screen" behind which the individual may more safely
engage in deviant activities.
A third strategy available to the discreditable is one
which requires the deviant to socially separate those who
know from those who don't know about his stigmatizing
condition.
This necessitates a compartmentalization of
one's social experiences into deviant and nondeviant worlds
and, consequently, tends to take its toll psychologically on
those who employ it as a method of identity protection.
Unable to fully commit himself to either world, the
discreditable deviant who chooses to lead a double life
typically suffers from some sense of alienation from one's
true self as well as from others.
Furthermore, the constant
attention one must pay to the various exchanges made in
casual social situations is an additional source of stress
and tension imposed by the necessity of maintaining distance
between one's social worlds.
For instance, the secret
homosexual may find it necessary to monitor his every
gesture and word when interacting with his heterosexual
associates for fear of accidentally revealing information
which could attest to his homosexuality.
Casual
conversations concerning how one spent an evening or which
social establishments one frequents can present unique
problems for the individual who engages in deception in
order to separate his social contacts.
Moreover,
compartimentai ization of one's spheres of life requires
considerable prearrangement and planning with respect to
one's involvement in disreputable circles.
For example, the
tearoom patron employing this technique may find it
necessary to select a facility only when he can conveniently
account for the time it takes him to drive there,
participate in the activity, and return home.
Humphreys
notes that for this reason, many patrons will only visit
tearooms on the way to or from their places of employment.
By doing so, they have a readily available excuse for being
there, should they happen to encounter a nondeviant
associate ("I was on my way to work and had to answer a
'call of nature'").
Furthermore, the tearoom patron will
have to take special care to avoid signs of recognition when
he encounters other patrons outside of the tearoom setting.
Fortunately, this practice of nonrecognition is facilitated
by a type of mutual aid system which tends to exist among
those who share a particular stigmatizing condition.
As
Goffman remarks, "those who can be most threatening are
often those who can render (the) most assistance" in the
maintenance of social distance (1963a:97).
Before concluding this section of the dissertation, it
is advantageous for purposes of the present study to note an
additional form of stigma which has significant implications
54
for the discreditable deviants' sense of self or personal
identity.
Warren (1974) refers to this as "symbolic stigma"
and states that it is based on highly negative social
imagery of certain forms of behavior.
She applies it to her
studies of secret homosexuals and contends that such
individuals are deeply affected by the consequences of this
form of stigma.
In short, she identifies it as a source of
self-hatred and self-denial for the secret homosexual,
having its roots in and being perpetuated by our society's
mass media, educational system, and format of ordinary
social discourse.
She claims that given our society's
negative view of homosexuality, the absence of any positive
imagery, and the corresponding absence of homosexual role
models for the young, it is not surprising that the
development of a gay identity is frequently delayed for a
considerably long period of time after one's first
homosexual experience or feeling.
This form of stigma is
pertinent to the findings presented in the following chapter
since it sheds light on the ability of some tearoom patrons
to deny their participation in anything which could be
construed as homosexual behavior.
Consequently, it may help
us to understand at least one of the factors involved in
not only a denial of deviance, but also a denial of self.
These and similar issues will be readdressed in Chapter V.
55
Summary and Concluding Remarks
In this section of the dissertation, the interactionist
perspective was examined along four dimensions, each having
particular relevance for the present study of tearoom
encounters.
The first of these concerned the definition of
certain behaviors as deviant and, consequently, focused on
the manner in which rules are created and enforced.
This
particular process will be re-examined in a later chapter
from the perspective of the rules which serve to govern
sexual behavior in general, and public displays of
homosexuality in particular.
The second dimension along which the interactionist
perspective was discussed involved an analysis of the manner
in which the deviant label is transferred from the behav­
ioral category to the individual.
The various factors
identified as influential in determining how others will
react to deviant acts will be incorporated into an analysis
of how and why the deviant label was applied to those
arrested in the tearoom setting.
The third phase of the interactional process focused on
the manner in which society seeks to regulate or otherwise
control deviant behavior.
Information gleaned from this
discussion will be utilized later in an interpretation of
how the apprehended patrons were processed by the attending
officers.
The data will indicate that police discretion
56
was, indeed, exercised and that arrests were oftentimes made
on the basis of a variety of social variables or "cues."
Finally, the consequences of the labeling process were
discussed utilizing a predominantly Goffmanian framework for
the identification of a variety of stigma management tech­
niques.
This perspective is helpful in arriving at some
understanding of the nature of the interaction which charac­
terizes the tearoom encounters.
Special emphasis will be
placed upon the concern for secrecy and minimization of risk
inherent in the interactional patterns observed in the
tearoom setting.
The general themes outlined above provide the theoreti­
cal underpinnings for the present study of tearoom behavior.
Throughout the course of this study, efforts were made to
view the phenomenon as the product of collective action
requiring the tacit cooperation of all the relevant actors
involved in the creation of this particular form of sexual
deviance.
By adopting this type of processual approach to
the subject, it becomes evident that the phenomenon consists
of more than just the simple commission of acts deemed to be
deviant.
To the contrary, what emerges is the unfolding of
a social drama wherein the meanings attributed to "morality"
or "propriety" are continually being reconstructed, reaf­
firmed and reassessed in the context of the interactional
processes which ultimately serve to define social deviance.
CHAPTER 111
METHODOLOGY
The preceding chapters outlined the substantive focus of
and theoretical approach to the present study of male
homosexual behavior.
This chapter describes the methodology
used to gather and analyze data on the tearoom phenomenon.
First, general information concerning the field research and
analytical techniques used throughout the study will be pro­
vided along with a discussion of the characteristics of the
samples analyzed for each of the three research objectives.
Next, problems arising in the course of gathering data on
this rather sensitive subject are discussed in the context
of an outline depicting the various stages of the field
research process.
General Methodology;
Strategies. Sources and Samples
As previously indicated, the research goals of the study
are three-fold:
(1) to ascertain the pattern of interaction
constituting the tearoom ritual? (2) to develop a social
profile of the "typical" tearoom patron; and (3) to examine
the phenomenon from the law enforcement perspective.
Given
58
these goals of the research problem, the methodology chosen
for the study consists of a triangulation of field research
techniques, each providing insight into these different
dimensions of the phenomenon.
The primary method used to gather information on the
pattern of interaction occurring among tearoom patrons was
observation of video-recorded material provided by the law
enforcement agency involved in policing the particular
tearoom under study.
As will be discussed later, the
police officers video-recorded some of the homosexual
exchanges taking place in the facility as part of their
strategy for collecting and preserving evidence against
those they arrested for sexual misconduct.
In the event
that a defendant contested the arresting officer's alle­
gations, the video-recorded tape was used in court to
corroborate the officer's testimony.
Thus, inasmuch as this
material was collected and used by police officers for the
express purpose of conducting ordinary police work, it is
considered secondary data as utilized for this study.
Given
the controversy over the appropriateness of covert research
strategies in the study of deviant activities, this is an
important affirmation.
It indicates that these data were
collected by public authorities in the course of their
performance of a public service, that said authorities made
the data available to the researcher with full knowledge of
59
her intentions to use it for research purposes only, and
that no breach in ethics was, in fact, committed by either
party.
A total of 18 hours of video-taped material was analyzed
for the study, using the analytical format indicated in
Appendix A.
Of these 18 hours, approximately 6 hours of
tape depicted illegal sexual activity which resulted in the
arrest of the individual or individuals involved; the re­
maining 12 hours of tape depicted activity (either sexuallymotivated or otherwise) which did not result in arrest.
In
all, the arrests of 28 individuals were video-recorded.
The analysis of these tapes was structured along
guidelines established in Humphrey's study.
For this pur­
pose, a systematic schema was developed to identify and
record the general characteristics of the tearoom ritual.
(See Appendix B for an example of this schema). This schema
provides information relevant to the time and date of the
occurrence, the movements of the patrons involved in the
exchanges taking place, and the number of individuals
present in the facility.
It is worthwhile to note that
analytical notes were also tape-recorded by the researcher
as a method of preserving her impressions for future refer­
ence.
Inasmuch as the activity included subtle gestures
and, often times proceeded at a rapid pace, this strategy
was thought to be a necessary means of recording the data.
60
Information relative to the social characteristics of
the "typical" tearoom patron was also provided by the rele­
vant law enforcement agency.
This information was drawn
from the statistical and documentary data available in the
arrest reports prepared by the officers subsequent to the
arrests made in their police work.
These reports contained
information relevant to six variables included in the analy­
sis;
(1) age; (2) marital status; (3) occupational status;
(4) race; (5) proximity of patron's residence to the tearoom;
and (6) statutory criminal offense for which the patron was
arrested.
In addition to this information, a review of the
arrest reports also provided insight into the manner in which
the police made the arrest, the enforcement strategies used,
and the exchanges which took place leading to the arrest.
Although the overall analysis was based on a universe of
61 men arrested for their participation in homosexual activ­
ities at this particular tearoom between February, 1983 and
April, 1984, that part of the analysis seeking to determine
the above described social characteristics of the tearoom
patrons was based on a sample of 43 men for whom adequate
data were available.^
Finally, since this study attempts to view the tearoom
phenomenon from the perspective of the rule-breakers as well
as from that of the rule-makers, information pertinent to
police perceptions and activities was considered an integral
61
part of the data.
The primary method used to gather such
information was extensive, open-ended interviewing with the
five officers involved in patrolling and policing the homo­
sexual activity taking place in the facility under study.
During these interviews, the officers were questioned with
respect to their impressions, opinions, and perceptions of
the activity in which they were involved.
For example, an
effort was made to ascertain how these officers felt about
this particular aspect of their jobs.
Did they view the
policing of homosexual activity as an important part of
police work or, rather, as a nuisance or as a form of
"paying your dues" in the career of a police officer?
Along
these same lines, an attempt was made to determine if their
involvement in this police activity had any significant
effects on their personal lives.
In other words, did their
involvement with a deviant subculture lead them to question
some of the beliefs concerning sexual morality or the
acceptable forms of sexual expression?
What were their
impressions of the sexual code violators and how, if at all,
did their interactions with the tearoom patrons affect these
images?
Also, an effort was made to determine how the
officers viewed their role in the regulation of this form of
deviance. Did they feel that the existing statutes provided
them with the legal authority and protection necessary for
62
the effective control of this and other forms of sexual
deviance?
In addition to questions geared to police perceptions of
tearoom behavior, inquiries were also made into the various
enforcement strategies used by the officers to gather
evidence on those they arrested.
of enforcement —
For example, which methods
police decoys, clandestine observation,
routine patrol and harassment —
did they use and how
effective did they feel each was in securing evidence or
deterring the activity?
Was discretion exercised with
respect to the arrests made and, if so, on what basis did it
operate?
While information relevant to police perceptions and
activities constituted the central focus of these inter­
views, the officers were also questioned about the patterns
of interaction occurring among the tearoom patrons.
What,
on the basis of their experiences in the tearoom, did they
see as the essential features of the interaction?
How did
they think the encounters were managed in the absence of
verbal exchanges?
In other words, what did they learn about
the dynamics of the tearoom ritual as a result of their
enforcement activities in this loosely-defined subculture.
These questions were included in the interview for two
reasons.
First, it was hoped that their answers would
provide a source of supplemental information on the patterns
of interaction constituting the tearoom ritual.
Inasmuch as
the officers did not video-tape all of the men they
ultimately arrested, it was not possible to observe, first­
hand, all of the interactions which resulted in arrest.^
Therefore, it was necessary to ask the officers to try to
reconstruct the activities of these individuals.
Secondly,
these questions were included in the hope of obtaining
information relevant to the way in which one becomes
socialized into this pattern of sexuality or learns about
the behaviors appropriate to this setting.
In total, at least 50 hours of interviewing time was
amassed with these officers, 14 of which were recorded on
tape.
These tapes, along with notes taken during the
untaped interviews, were later analyzed and included in the
study.
In addition to the above data sources, supplemental
information was drawn from several other areas.
included:
These
(1) observations of three arrests made at the
tearoom facility; (2) interviews with two of the three
individuals arrested at the facility; (3) extensive inter­
views with two individuals who frequent tearooms regularly
but have never been arrested for their involvement in this
activity; and (4) a review of the legal statutes governing
sexual conduct in the State of Ohio.
64
These data sources and their inclusion in the study will
be further detailed in the following discussion of the prob­
lems encountered in the research process.
At this point,
however, it is important to note that the use of multiple
data sources (triangulation) provides the researcher with a
valuable tool for the study of complex social behavior.
In
effect, it offers a type of built-in "check and balance"
system for assessing the information obtained from each
single source of data.
For example, while the video-taped
recordings offered a rich and reliable source of data on the
nonverbal cues which characterize the tearoom ritual, a
thorough understanding of the significance of these cues was
only made possible through interviews with actual tearoom
patrons and police officers who somehow learned to recognize
and use them in this setting.
Similarly, interviews con­
ducted with police officers provided valuable information on
their attitudes concerning homosexuality and the role of the
police in controlling tearoom sex.
However, it was only
through observations of actual or video-recorded policepatron interactions that one could speculate on the effect,
if any, these attitudes had on police behavior.
In short,
it may be that extreme problems in research (i.e., those
posed by the study of discreditable behavior) require some­
what extreme solutions (i.e., the careful construction of a
research design capable of "getting to the root" of the
subject without inadvertently breaching any code of moral or
professional ethics).
It is hoped that the methodology
chosen for the present study contributes to the achievement
of this delicate balance.
Problems Encountered in Field Research
The following discussion details some of the more
significant problems encountered during the course of
conducting field research on the tearoom phenomenon.
It is
obvious that, even under the best of circumstances, gather­
ing reliable data on sexual deviance is a difficult task —
one that is beset by a number of impediments, ranging from
the public's general reluctance to discuss such matters to
problems involved in observing the deviant activity without
infringing upon the research subjects' rights to privacy.
However, aside from the usual and expected problems involved
in gaining entry into any subculture or organization, the
present study posed an additional problem for the author.
Specifically, the focus of the study was male homosexual
behavior and the organizational conduit for accessing the
data (i.e., the law enforcement agency) was a male dominated
one.
These facts, compounded by the very nature of the
behavior under study (sexual) all worked together to impede
the collection of information on the subject.
For example,
if the author were a male, perhaps it would have been
possible to make a few preliminary forays into the tearoom
setting before approaching the police officers.
This would
have enabled the researcher to establish some kind of
"common ground" with the officers (Yes, I've seen what these
guys do in there and I'm coming to you for information on
what you do to control it). Moreover, had there been no
gender differences, much valuable time would not have been
wasted in nervous joking, the negotiation of an "acceptable"
vocabulary for the description of the sexual exchanges
taking place in the tearoom, and the many attempts made on
the part of the interviewees to establish exactly why a
female graduate student would be interested in this
behavior.
Suspicions concerning the author's real motives
and intentions were quite explicit during the course of the
field research.
The possibility that she could be deriving
some "vicarious thrills" from talking about and observing
such behavior was a popular theme among police respondents.
This impression, in turn, made it more difficult for the
author to establish her legitimacy as well as utilize her
time most efficiently in the research process.
More
specifically, since there loomed this suspicion about her
actual motives, there was a general atmosphere of jocularity
during the initial stages of field research —
an atmosphere
which was far from conducive to getting serious work
accomplished.
As will be discussed below, however, this
problem was eventually resolved and the research continued.
For purposes of conveying the author's perceptions,
observations and impressions during the field research
process, the remainder of this chapter will be in narrative
form.
In addition, the discussion is organized into three
distinct phases which denote certain "breakthroughs" that
were made during the course of conducting field research.
As such, these phases represent "milestones" or indicators
of progress in the overall effort to acquire adequate
information on the tearoom phenomenon.
Phase I:
Initial Contact and Organizational Entry
This project was initiated in the context of a graduate
criminology seminar I was attending in the summer of 1983.
During the seminar, I was asked by my professor to prepare
and present a lecture on the sexual offender due to my long­
standing interest in the area.
After the lecture had been
presented, a fellow student approached me and asked if I
would be interested in doing research on some of the men who
had been arrested at a local tearoom situated at a roadside
rest area.
These arrests had received a considerable amount
of media attention in the community in the previous few
months, and I was naturally curious about it.
After indi­
cating my interest in the subject to this student, she
proceeded to inform me that she was a lower-level officer in
a nearby sheriff's department which had been engaged in
making these arrests at the roadside tearoom over the past
six months.
After several hours of discussion, she agreed
to provide me with some demographic information on the men
who had been arrested to date.
This information included
data relevant to the time and date of the arrest; the
statutory criminal offense with which each man was charged;
the martial statuses of the arrestees; their city of
residence; their occupations and places of employment; and
physical descriptions of each individual.
Once I had obtained this preliminary data, I wanted to
know more about these men who sought impersonal sex inside
of men's rooms. For example, how were these sexual
agreements negotiated in this setting; how did the police
feel about their role in these transactions?
These and
other concerns motivated me to attempt to gain entry into
the sheriff's department for purposes of conducting
dissertation research on the topic.
Resistance to my attempts to gain entry arose almost
immediately after my acquisition of the demographic data.
My fellow-student police officer felt reluctant to ask her
superiors to cooperate with me in conducting this research.
To complicate problems further, she requested that I not
contact the sheriff for purposes of negotiating an interview
with him.
Consequently, with all identifiable avenues to
entry into the organization effectively blocked, I had no
choice other than to "wait it out" and try to utilize the
time to become better acquainted with my contact in the
organization.
Inasmuch as my police contact and I were students at the
university, we had many opportunities to interact in an
academic environment.
In fact, she would oftentimes visit
me in my campus office to discuss some of the latest arrests
made in the tearoom.
At this particular time in my graduate
career, I was employed as the field director of a research
center which conducted fieldwork on a worldwide basis.
Perhaps the opportunity for her to observe me in my
researcher role, rather than my student role, led her to
trust my intentions to utilize information obtained through
her for research purposes only.
Irrespective of the precise
reason, trust did develop in the relationship over the
following two months and, consequently, an interpersonal
foundation was laid for the acquisition of additional data.
In September of 1983, my police contact invited me to
come to the sheriff's office during the "graveyard shift" to
conduct interviews with some of the other officers in the
department. The so-called graveyard shift extended from
11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., and was typically staffed with
lower-level or low-seniority personnel.
Serendipitously,
the officers who were charged with responsibility for
patrolling the tearoom were also lower-level officers, as
this particular assignment was not considered a particu­
larly attractive one by most in the department, and was
therefore assigned to those who lacked sufficient seniority
to effectively protest it.
Thus, on any given night, I
could expect to find working on the graveyard shift at least
one of the five officers who were involved in the tearoom
patrol.
During the next five months I visited the sheriff's
office during the graveyard shift on a regular basis, always
making certain that I left before the end of the shift.
I
did this primarily as a strategy of maintaining social dis­
tance with my respondents.
As previously mentioned, the
officers directly involved in policing the tearoom were
males who were somewhat suspicious of my real motives for
conducting this type of research.
This, coupled with the
fact that our central point of commonality was involvement
or interest in sexual deviance, created a rather uncomfort­
able, or at least unusual, context for the development of
social relations.
Moreover, I felt that a significant
degree of personal detachment was necessary to overcome the
many problems posed by our gender differences as well as to
assure some degree of objectivity in the research.
71
An additional reason for leaving the office before the
end of the shift was to avoid any contact with employees
scheduled to work the morning shift.
Specifically, I did
not want to be seen (especially by the sheriff) as a dis­
ruptive factor in the department.
I felt that my presence
in the office at 7:00 a.m. would have aroused the curiosity
of these employees and would possibly have led to questions
and/or gossip concerning my objectives.
Inasmuch as permis­
sion to interview had not at this time been directly granted
by the sheriff, I felt it best to maintain a low profile in
the setting.
During this first phase of the field research, I began to
note some rather interesting comments concerning the social­
ization of tearoom patrons.
In the course of interviewing
the officers about their activities and perceptions, I began
to realize that they were, in fact, being socialized into
the tearoom trade.
For instance, I learned that when they
initially started using police decoys in the restroom for
purposes of apprehending suspects, they had very little
success.
When I asked the officers what they felt were the
reasons for this failure, they responded with comments such
as, "Well, we didn't know what we were doing then," "That
was before we knew about the masturbation part," or "That
was when we were talking too much."
These comments led me
to question them about the manner in which they came to
72
learn about the appropriate tearoom behavior.
Their
responses indicated that they had learned about dynamics of
this particular interaction largely by way of observation
and a type of "trial and error" method of displaying what
they had observed in others' behavioral patterns. This
information proved valuable to the researcher since data on
exactly how one became socialized into a subculture
characterized by nonverbal communication was not only
unavailable at the time, but also quite elusive when efforts
to obtain it were later undertaken.
In addition to the data gathered through these
interviews with the officers and the entry established with
the organization, this phase of the research proved benefi­
cial for one other reason.
Specifically, it was during this
phase that I was able to review the arrest reports compiled
to date on those apprehended in the tearoom.
Given the fact
that I was stationing myself at the sheriff's office for
rather long periods of time (i.e., 5-6 hours) on any given
night, along with the inevitability of my respondents being
called away from the interviews in order to perform their
duties, I had a considerable amount of time to myself during
these late night visits.
Inasmuch as my respondents were
considerate individuals, they were concerned about leaving
me with little or nothing to do while they worked on the
computer, dispatched information, or left the office to
respond to an incident.
Consequently, they were quite
agreeable when I asked them for permission to peruse the
documentary data available on the tearoom arrestees until we
could continue with the interviews.
They only stipulated
that no copies be reproduced of the material and that no
evidence be removed from the filing room.
Phase II:
Acceptance by the Sheriff
This phase of the research was important to accessing
the information available on the video-recorded tapes of the
tearoom interactions.
It was understood during the first
phase of the field research that I could only view the tapes
if I obtained the sheriff's explicit permission to do so.
Inasmuch as my late night conversations with the officers
kept me abreast of certain developments in the sheriff's
attitude toward my research, I was able to judge when my
request for viewing tapes was most likely to be met favor­
ably by him.
As previously mentioned, these tearoom arrests
had attracted a great deal of media attention over the
preceding months and this had, understandably, made the
sheriff cautious and somewhat reluctant to discuss this
topic with "outsiders."
However, he finally agreed to meet
with me and discuss the possibility of my viewing the tapes
in February of 1984 —
contact.
some seven months after my initial
74
During our initial meeting, I deliberately avoided
raising the issue of the video tapes.
It was my intention
to use this meeting as an opportunity to our becoming better
acquainted with one another so that a mutual understanding
of interests, concerns, and objectives could develop.
Thus,
the conversation during this meeting centered less on
research-oriented matters than on social and interpersonal
topics.
That is to say that our initial discussion was
similar to most other conversations held between virtual
strangers.
We exchanged information on our backgrounds,
jobs, political views, and the like.
While the topic of my
research was certainly dealt with (especially during the
first 20 to 30 minutes of the meeting) comments focused more
on theoretical matters than on methodological concerns.
For
example, the sheriff was interested in discussing the
origins of homosexuality, the various manifestations of
sexual deviance, and the need for social control in the
area.
He also wanted to discuss what he saw as his precar­
ious position in the regulation of tearoom activities.
For
example, he informed me of the problems he was having with
the media and how public attention to his organization's
activities in the area could prove harmful to his upcoming
campaign for re-election.
Thus, this initial meeting was
less fruitful for data gathering purposes than it was nec­
essary for establishing relations conducive to conducting
75
research within the jurisdiction.
At the conclusion of this
meeting, I felt confident that some very important ground­
work had been laid for furthering the research endeavor.
Eight days after our initial contact, I telephoned the
sheriff to request a subsequent meeting to discuss my
research plans.
At that time he indicated that he could
meet with me later in the day and suggested that we use the
time to view some of the tapes.
When I arrived at the
office a few hours later, he told me that he wanted me to
view the tapes in his presence only.
this stipulation was twofold.
His reason for making
First, he was concerned about
my ability to discern exactly what was transpiring in the
course of the interactions filmed on the tapes.
He felt
that he could clarify ambiguities on the tapes by helping me
to identify who was the suspect, who was the police decoy,
and how the action was monitored and recorded.
His second
reason for wanting to be present was more legalistic in
nature.
Specifically, he informed me that he had discussed
the possibility of my viewing the tapes with the county
prosecutor and that the prosecutor had warned him against
allowing me to do so.
This warning was based on the fact
that their county was, at that time, named in a number of
law suits for actions taken against some of those arrested
in the tearoom facility.
While the sheriff was willing to
act against the prosecutor's warning, he understandably
sought to safeguard his position by keeping watch over me as
I viewed the tapes.
The preliminary viewing of the tapes was conducted,
therefore, in the sheriff's private office and in the
presence of the sheriff and three of the officers assigned
to the tearoom patrol.
Once again, this meeting proved to
be more valuable for purposes of establishing trust than for
purposes of gathering or analyzing data.
The jocular atmos­
phere, the numerous jokes and nervous outbursts of laughter
—
all of which is quite common when viewing films of sexual
activity in mixed company —
prevented any serious efforts
to code or analyze the material documented on the tapes.
This is not to say, however, that our second meeting did
nothing to advance my field research.
Indeed, an important
breakthrough was made during this meeting.
Since I was
having difficulty comprehending exactly where everything was
located in the setting, how the camera was positioned to
film the activity, and what was being said at the time of
arrest, I raised the possibility of accompanying the offi­
cers on their next patrol of the facility.
A bit to my
surprise, the sheriff granted my request with little to no
obvious hesitation.
He simply asked that I "keep it under
my hat" since certain local media personnel were requesting
the same opportunity.
I readily agreed to this condition
and within six days I was allowed to accompany the officers
to the facility to observe the interactions taking place.
During this visit to the tearoom I was afforded the
opportunity to observe three arrests made with the use of a
police decoy.
Subsequent to each arrest, the offender was
taken to the sheriff's office for further processing.
I was
able to accompany the officer who drove these men to the
office and was present in the office (although physically
removed in another room) when she processed these individ­
uals.
When she had completed her work, she would inform
each arrestee of my research objectives and ask each indi­
vidual if he would be interested in talking with me.
Two of
the three offenders agreed to permit me to interview them.
Thus, I was able to briefly question these men about the
patterns of interaction constituting the tearoom ritual,
their personal histories of tearoom behavior, their reasons
for engaging in this behavior and their feelings concerning
the role of the police in regulating this behavior.^
These
interviews were then used to provide insight into the phe­
nomenon from the perspective of those who participate in it
and maintain its existence.
In conclusion, while the second phase of the field
research did not afford me access to the tapes for purposes
of coding and analyzing the content contained therein, it
nevertheless did provide me with some crucial data on
78
several features of the research topic, ranging from the
modus operand! of the police in this setting to the motives
of two of the tearoom patrons for engaging in this activity.
As such, it constituted an important step in the overall
Phase III:
Accessing the Tapes
The final phase of the field research involved the
actual acquisition of the video tapes for analytical
purposes.
Due to problems which arose as the result of
three civil suits brought against the sheriff's department
by certain tearoom arrestees, this objective proved to be
the most difficult to accomplish.
In short, I was unable to
acquire the tapes until February of 1986, at which time the
sheriff's legal liability in this litigation was decided.
Consequently, there was another rather lengthy delay in the
research process and, once again, I was left no other alter­
native but to bide my time and hope that, once the legal
dueling had ended, my respondents in the sheriff's depart­
ment would again cooperate with my efforts.
During the 19 month period in which I waited for the
opportunity to analyze the tapes, I made regular visits to
the sheriff's office for purposes of maintaining favorable
relations with my police contacts.
These visits were
usually brief in duration and primarily social in nature.
While I would pose to my respondents certain questions
concerning the developments in and ramifications of the law
suits, I made an overall effort to keep such inquiries to a
minimum.
Inasmuch as the sheriff and his deputies were
extremely sensitive to matters concerning the legality of
their activities in the tearoom operation, I felt it best to
avoid discussion of the subject as much as possible.
Final­
ly, in February of 1986, when the statute of limitations had
expired on the arrests made in the facility, the sheriff
granted me permission to analyze the tapes —
stipulation.
with one
The tapes had to be analyzed in the sheriff's
office and I was not to produce any copies.
I responded to this breakthrough with mixed feelings.
While I was gratified to have the opportunity to analyze the
tapes, I was nevertheless concerned about conducting the
analysis in the presence of others.
As previously men­
tioned, the officers proved to be quite disruptive to any
attempt on my part to systematically view the tapes from a
researcher's perspective.
During my attempts to analyze the
tapes in the sheriff's office, these officers would inter­
rupt my efforts by inquiring about my progress, offering
their assistance, or engaging me in social conversation.
This, coupled with the inevitable jokes and editorial com­
ments about the activities depicted on the tapes, proved to
be problematic.
To resolve these difficulties, I requested
permission from the sheriff to take the tapes to my initial
contact's (herself a sheriff's deputy) place of residence
for the remainder of the analysis.
The sheriff agreed to
this arrangement but requested that I return the tapes to
his office after each study session.
A final breakthrough occurred after I had been analyzing
the tapes at my contact's residence for approximately two
weeks.
At that time, I began to experience considerable
difficulties with my automobile which made the rather
lengthy drive from my home to that of my contact's somewhat
hazardous.
Upon learning of this problem, the sheriff
granted his permission to duplicate the taped material pro­
vided 1 use it for research purposes only and was discrete
about the matter in general.
Thus, with my final field
research objective realized, I was able to complete my
analysis of the video-taped interactions.
It is interesting to note the role played by happen­
stance in the above described field research.
Almost from
its inception, this research project was characterized by
fortuitous occurrences (e.g., the meeting of a sheriff's
deputy in a graduate seminar), unanticipated developments
(e.g., the law suits brought against the sheriff's depart­
ment), and accidental occurrences (e.g., the automotive
malfunctions and the effect these had on my acquisition of
the tapes).
This attests to a matter with which most
81
everyone who has conducted research is quite familiar —
the
fact that even the best laid plans are subject to change in
the course of doing research.
It is virtually impossible to
anticipate all of the impediments and breakthroughs which
are likely to arise when studying social phenomena.
Consequently, the researcher must be willing and able to
recognize opportunities, overcome obstacles, and adapt his
or her chosen strategy to fit the particulars of the
situation at hand.
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS
This chapter presents the results of an analysis of the
observational, documentary, and interview-based data des­
cribed in the preceding chapter.
These analytical results
are organized into three distinct categories.
First,
findings derived from a qualitative analysis of observations
of actual tearoom activity are presented in an effort to
illustrate the patterns of social interaction which con­
stitute the tearoom ritual.
Also included in this category
is information relevant to the temporal ordering of these
patterns, both in terms of the duration of the various
phases of the sexual transaction as well as in terms of the
frequency of interaction with respect to time of day, days
of the week, and months of the year.
Secondly, the results
of a simple, univariate analysis of several social charac­
teristics of the men comprising the sample are discussed.
Finally, information relevant to police discretion and court
disposition of the apprehended offenders is included in this
chapter.
Patterns of Social Interaction
As Humphreys (1970) points out, the very nature of
sexual activity poses certain difficulties to those who seek
ephemeral sex in impersonal situations.
One problem arises
from the social character of the activity.
That is, with
the exception of masturbation, almost all sexual activity
requires participation on behalf of at least two individ­
uals.
Hence, sex necessitates some degree of communication,
be it verbal or symbolic.
Under normal circumstances, this
transpires in the context of courtship rituals wherein
verbal agreements are negotiated and intentions are communi­
cated.
In the tearoom environment, however, silence is more
than just a norm —
it is the very premise upon which all
activity is founded.
Thus, typical modes of sexually-
oriented communication must be modified to preserve the
anonymity and impersonality of the tearoom encounter.
Furthermore, as Humphreys notes (1970:60), an additional
problem confronted by the tearoom patron involves the cul­
tural connotation of sex in the Western World.
In Western
culture, sex is associated with a variety of personal and
social meanings:
mutual commitment, romantic love, affec­
tion, sentimental involvement, and so forth.
In fact,
excepting prostitution, sex without personal meaning for the
participants is viewed as pathological, to some degree, in
American society.
Thus, the "normal" sexual preface usually
involves some semblance of sentimentality whereby personal
feelings are shared and mutual commitments are, at least
superficially, established.
Given the fact that individuals
who patronize tearooms typically do so in an effort to avoid
such personal by-products of the sexual exchange, it is
crucial that they develop some specialized forms of
interaction whereby sex can be had without verbalization
and/or commitment.
For this purpose, a specialized ritual
has evolved for tearoom encounters which consists of
progressive stages of increasing mutuality.
The results of an analysis designed for the express
purpose of identifying the nature and structure of inter­
action constituting the tearoom ritual are described below.
These findings are organized around some of the basic
components of the collective action defined by Humphreys in
his study of tearoom encounters.
These are;
(1) position­
ing; (2) signaling; (3) contracting; and (4) culminating.
In addition to information directly pertinent to these
general stages of the encounter, observations relevant to
the time-sequencing of interaction as well as the frequency
with which encounters occur over the various hours of the
day, days of the week, and months of the year will be dis­
cussed.
Finally, other relevant observations are included
in this section, such as the use of drugs during the
encounters and the occurrence of heterosexual activity near
the facility.
It is necessary to indicate that, while this
discussion provides a reasonably accurate account of the
overall pattern of tearoom interaction, it does not neces­
sarily illuminate some of the less salient, or more subtle,
features of the sexual exchanges taking place in the tearoom
setting.
This limitation is imposed by the nature of the
data utilized in this analysis.
Specifically, the data were
drawn primarily from video-taped material and not direct,
first-hand observations such as those made by Humphreys for
similar purposes.
Hence, the researcher must assume that
many of the subtleties of the interactions escaped her as
she analyzed the video-tapes.
Furthermore, the reader
should be advised that these findings pertain to one partic­
ular tearoom and, therefore, may or may not be represen­
tative of the concurrent actions taking place at other
locales subculturally designated as sites for impersonal,
homosexual activities.
With these qualifications in mind,
then, the following discussion should provide some indica­
tion of the manner in which homosexual exchanges are
accomplished in an impersonal and public setting.
Positioning
This stage of the encounter refers to the initial
actions taken by the individual who has just entered the
tearoom environment.
It is during this particular phase
that the individual's willingness to participate in homo­
sexual activities is first indicated.
Upon entering the facility, the prospective participant
has the opportunity to peruse the tearoom for available or
acceptable partners.
In the event that no other individuals
are present in the tearoom, the man who has come in search
of impersonal sex is likely to await the arrival of a
willing participant by lowering his pants and taking a seat
on a toilet located in one of the two available stalls.
Inasmuch as these stalls lack doors and are divided by
cinder block partitions in which "glory holes" (i.e., an
opening through which a patron can insert his penis) have
been carved, individuals entering the facility can be
readily observed from positions inside the stalls.
In this
particular tearoom, as was the case in the tearooms studied
by Humphreys, the preferred stall was the one located
farthest from the entrance (stall 2 on the diagram).
Presumably, this stall is preferred because it is contiguous
with the back wall of the facility and, therefore, affords
its occupant a greater degree of privacy than does the
alternative stall, which is adjacent to the urinals.
Thus,
Custodial Closet
S-1
Hole-2'
U - 1 , U-2 = Urinals
S-1, S-2 = Stalls
Figure l:
Diagram of the Tearoom Facility
the person occupying stall 2 is relatively free from
intrusions or unsolicited observations made by others since
the stall is not directly located along a pathway leading to
other utilizable features in the restroom.
It is important
to note, however, that the field of vision enjoyed by the
occupant of stall 2 is not significantly obstructed despite
the fact that it is shielded from the view of others.
The
occupant need only lean forward and peer around the
partition or look through the glory hole to observe persons
who may be positioned at the urinals or in the adjacent
In the event that others are already present in the
restroom when the prospective participant arrives, he will
typically position himself at one of two possible locations:
either in a vacant stall or at an available urinal.
Note
that both of these locations allow a man to legitimately
expose himself in this environment.
It is at this point,
when there are least two parties present in the facility,
that one can begin to discern the pattern of nonverbal
communication that transpires in the course of what
Humphreys (1970) has termed the "tearoom ritual."
If the individual who enters the facility is not a
potential patron (i.e., he is "straight" and wishes only to
use the restroom for its officially intended purpose), this
fact is generally conveyed to patrons who may be present by
his maneuvers at the urinal or in the stall.
For example,
if positioned at a urinal, it is customary for the nonpatron
to stand relatively close to the structure and to avoid
making eye contact with others in the facility by directing
his gaze downward while urinating.
This strategy effec­
tively establishes some degree of privacy for the individual
in a couple of ways.
First, by standing close to the
urinal the individual is able to partially obstruct his
genitals from the view of others.
Secondly, the common
practice of rounding-down one's shoulders and gazing toward
the floor serves to provide a type of "interactional shield"
for the individual by communicating a general lack of
interest in his social surroundings.
Similarly, if the nonpatron is positioned in a stall, he
will normally seek to create a sense of privacy by gazing
downward and ignoring the presence of the glory hole or,
perhaps, even covering this opening with his hand.
These
maneuvers at the urinal or in the stall, followed by a
prompt departure from the premises, precludes the non­
patron's involvement in the ritual.
Thus, it is more or
less by default, or ignorance of the prescribed activities
constituting the tearoom ritual, that the nonpatron's
status is established in this setting.
If, on the other hand, the newly arrived individual is
interested in making sexual contact, a pattern emerges with
90
respect to the physical gestures he is likely to make either
at the urinal or in the stall.
For instance, a patron who
chooses to position himself at a urinal will typically stand
a considerable distance away from the fixture (approximate­
ly 12 inches) and maintain this posture while making some
effort to establish eye oontact with others in the room.
In
order to make eye contact with individuals who may be
occupying stalls, he may lean forward and downward to peer
through the glory hole into stall 1, or lean backward and
sideways to look through the open entrance into stall 2.
Similarly, should this patron wish to attract the attention
of a man positioned at the adjacent urinal, he will typi­
cally direct several quick and intermittent glances toward
this individual.
Should any of these individuals return his
glances, the patron can be expected to attempt to maintain
eye contact with said person for approximately 3 to 5
seconds.
If the interested parties manage to sustain eye
contact for this brief but significant period, then an
attempt will usually be made on the part of one of these
people to advance the ritual into the next stage of
interactions:
signaling.
In the event that a patron chooses to position himself
in one of the stalls upon his arrival, he is likely to sit
on the toilet, lower his pants to a point near his ankles,
and part his knees slightly in an effort to provide maximum
visibility of his genitals.
While in this position, the
patron will typically monitor the activities of others
present in the restroom and attempt to make eye contact with
a prospective partner.
As previously mentioned, the patron
located in a stall will make his observations through the
glory hole or by leaning forward to peer around the
partition.
A couple of relevant observations should be noted at
this point.
First, it should be mentioned that, unlike
Humphreys' findings suggest, there appears to be no
correlation between where a man initially positions himself
in the facility and what role he is seeking to play in the
transaction (i.e., whether he wishes to be the recipient of
oral stimulation —
the "genital partner" —
wishes to be the provider of such —
or whether he
the "oral partner").
Humphreys indicates that those who occupy a stall upon
entering, or who make a move to a stall after briefly
stopping at a urinal, are making a bid to play the role of
the oral partner.
He further asserts that the men in his
sample who wished to receive oral stimulation (i.e., the
genital partners) were twice as likely to begin at the
urinals as were the oral partners.
The data gathered for
this study, however, reveal no such pattern with respect to
positioning and role-playing in the encounter.
As will be
discussed below, solidification of the respective role is
accomplished during a later stage in the transaction.
Humphreys also indicates that a significant portion of
the men in his sample who sought to play the oral partner
role made no further efforts to advance the interaction
after the positioning stage.
Specifically, he found that in
16 out of 50 encounters observed (or approximately 32 per­
cent of the encounters analyzed) the oral partner who had
positioned himself in a stall remained interactionally pas­
sive until the final stage of transaction.
As will also be
pointed out below, the present study reveals that it is the
oral partner who is most aggressive in terms of the solicit­
ation of contacts, and most persistent in the maintenance of
the interactional ritual.
It is important to note these
differences in findings as they serve to provide a basis for
comparison with the existing literature on the topic.
One reason for the aggressiveness of the oral partner
may concern the likely objects of sexual preference associ­
ated with each of the tearoom-relevant roles.
As has long
been recognized in the research literature, especially on
prison rape and juvenile hustling (see Scacco, 1975 and
1982; Weiss and Friar, 1974; and Wooden and Parker, 1982),
men who play what has traditionally been viewed as the female
role in a homosexual encounter (i.e., the oral partner, in
this case) typically either recognize their homosexuality or
93
are stigmatized as homosexuals by others.
Conversely, men
who play the traditional male role in such an encounter
(i.e., the genital role) are able to not only maintain their
heterosexual self-images, but also keep their heterosexual
social reputations intact.
Given this state of affairs,
then, one could speculate that the oral partner in a tearoom
encounter is typically the aggressor because he has accepted
his homosexuality and has a genuine desire to make contact
with another man.
On the other hand, the genital partner in
the encounter is usually trying to preserve some part of his
heterosexual identity and, therefore, will be more passive
in an attempt to assume a type of victim role in a
homosexual seduction.
Another explanation may rest on the social desirability
associated with the typical encumbents of each of these
roles.
Specifically, the genital partners appeared to be
significantly younger and, in most cases, better looking
than the oral partners.'^
As Humphreys notes, "it appears
that, during the career of any one participant, the role of
insertor (genital partner) tends to be transposed into that
of insertee (oral partner)" (1970:56).
He refers to this
role drift as part of the "aging crisis" that is met by
tearoom patrons in the course of their careers.
Specifical­
ly, he notes that younger, better looking patrons are sought
out as "trade" by older, more experienced patrons.®
As
trade, they are not expected to play the oral role in any
encounter.
It is understood that they are there for the
express purpose of obtaining oral gratification and not
necessarily because they have any strong inclinations
towards homosexuality.
However, as they begin to reach
their late thirties, these men face a "crisis" in terms of
role assignment in the tearoom.
No longer as young or
desirable as they once were, they will find it more and more
difficult to procure oral gratification in this environment.
As Humphreys notes:
Presuming that he has been sufficiently
reinforced to continue this form of sexual
operation, he will be forced to seek other men.
As trade he was not expected to reciprocate, but
he will soon be increasingly expected to serve
as insertee
" (1970:108).
Given the relative desirability of the man assuming the
genital role, it may be that he simply doesn’t need to make
an effort to keep the interaction flowing.
He can be
passive and somewhat aloof, confident that an oral partner
will actively seek him out.
A second point which should be emphasized is the
significance of the establishment of eye contact during the
positioning stage of interaction.
Eye contact, in fact,
appears to be the critical element in this phase and.
consequently, ser\»^ss as the precursor for all subsequent
interactions culminating in a sexual exchange.
Without the
establishment of eye contact, the interaction is usually
halted, or at least seriously impeded with respect to
advancing any mutuality of intent between tearoom
participants.
In fact, the importance of eye contact to the
maintenance of the interaction is so well understood by
tearoom patrons that refusal to engage in it is actually
used as a strategy to reject solicitations made by
undesirable partners.
For instance, one respondent
interviewed for the study revealed that when he wished to
reject the advances of another patron who was positioned in
an adjacent stall, he would simply fold a few sheets of
toilet paper over the glory hole to preclude the possibility
of making meaningful eye contact with this individual.
Thus, one may conclude that the estciblishment of eye contact
is the pivotal feature in this first stage of the tearoom
ritual.
Signaling
Subsequent to the establishment and sufficient
maintenance of eye contact between patrons, an exchange of
sexual signals is usually accomplished.
The predominant
form of sexual signaling involves casual masturbation by one
or both of the patrons involved in the interaction.®
The
96
data gathered for the present study indicate that this form
of signaling was used in nearly every encounter observed on
tape (specifically, it was observed in 25 of the 28
encounters which resulted in arrest, and was also seen to
occur in 4 instances which did not result in arrest). In
fact, in one encounter involving a police decoy, the patron
who approached the officer grew suspicious of him because of
his reluctance to engage in such autoerotic stimulation.
The following is an excerpt from the corresponding arrest
The defendant asked if I was from this area.
He also asked if I was a police officer.
When I asked the defendant why he asked if I
was a cop, he stated, "Because I didn't see
you playing with yourself." I then asked the
defendant if he had a problem with guys who
didn't play with themselves. He stated, "Not
really. It's just that I've learned to watch
for certain things in these places.
Once one or both of the partners are engaged in
masturbation, the encounter will generally proceed to the
next stage of interaction:
contracting.
Thus, like eye
contact in the positioning stage, casual masturbation
appears to be the most expeditious method of conveying a
willingness to enter into a sexual exchange in the signaling
97
Although casual masturbation was observed in nearly all
of the taped encounters and was reported to have occurred in
most of the arrest reports, a number of additional signals
were also used by the patrons in approximately 10% of the
cases (6/61) to supplement this activity.
These
supplemental signals typically preceded masturbation and,
therefore, can be viewed as preludes to the principal method
used for conveying intentions during this particular stage
of the ritual.
One of these techniques, or supplemental signals,
involves the use of the glory hole and is typically
performed by the man seeking to play the role of the oral
partner.
This technique is executed in one of two ways;
(1) by inserting one's tongue through the opening and moving
it around the circumference of the hole, or (2) by projec­
ting one's finger through the opening and moving it about in
an erratic or wagging fashion.
This particular strategy was
observed in four of the videotaped encounters.
Two additional supplemental signals were not directly
observed by the researcher but were reported to occur in
this context by both police and patron respondents.
One
consists of tapping one's foot against the concrete floor of
the facility.
This foot tapping activity is usually
performed in an intermittent manner, and is normally
accompanied by the individual's fixed gaze through the glory
98
hole or in the general direction of the object of his
attention.
The final supplemental signal reported involved the
unraveling of toilet paper so as to create a trial of paper
which can then be waved out of the entrance of the stall.
It is interesting to note that all of these signals were
employed exclusively by men who were positioned in the
stalls.
One possible explanation for this could involve the
limited visibility of those who occupy stalls in the tea­
room.
Whereas positioning oneself at a urinal affords one
the advantage of full-body exposure thereby maximizing
physical presence, situating oneself inside the confines of
a stall works to reduce one's presence in the setting.
Con­
sequently, these individuals may find it necessary to use a
variety of techniques to attract the attention of potential
partners.
Occasionally, there appears to be no need for interested
parties to exchange sexual signals during the tearoom
encounter.
Interviews with police respondents reveal that,
in rare cases, the encounter proceeds without any attempt on
the part of either partner to signal his intentions.
While
the quality of these data do not permit one to draw unequi­
vocal conclusions concerning this matter, it is possible to
posit some tentative hypotheses.
For instance, the patrons
may have exchanged the necessary signals outside of the
99
facility —
in the parking lot, perhaps —
thereby preclu­
ding the necessity of these actions within the restroom
itself.
Alternatively, the patrons may be acquainted with
one another through previous encounters in the setting and,
thus, be knowledgeable of each other's intentions.
Whatever
the precise reason for this lack of signaling during the
interactions taking place inside the tearoom, the data
suggest that its occurrence is quite rare (reported to have
occurred in only two of the 64 cases).
With respect to the time period over which this phase of
the encounter generally extends, the available data indicate
that, on the average, men will masturbate approximately 1012 seconds before making a move to advance the interaction
smoothly into the next phase if, and only if, sufficient eye
contact has been established during the positioning phase.
It is once again important to emphasize that eye contact is
the inextricable prerequisite to a successful attempt to
signal one's intentions in a manner which will advance the
encounter forward.
There were, indeed, cases of men
engaging in masturbation for significant periods of time.
However, this behavior was not considered to constitute
actual "signaling" in this analysis unless the individual
had made a previous, or even simultaneous, attempt to
establish eye contact with some prospective partner.
For
example, one rather elderly gentleman who positioned himself
in the second stall of the restroom engaged in intermittent
masturbation for approximately 33 minutes before police
officers, who were observing him through an air vent, placed
him under arrest. Although other men entered the restroom
during this time period, 3 of whom actually appeared to have
made some attempt to establish eye contact with him —
one
as blatantly as standing
in thestall with him —
individual never averted
his eyes from some point on the
floor in front of him.
this
One can only assume that solitary
masturbation in the restroom was this man's sexual objective
on that particular evening; he was apparently not inter­
ested in making physical contact with another and, there­
fore, cannot be defined as a social participant in an actual
tearoom encounter.
He did, however, seemingly come to the
tearoom for some publicly-oriented sexual purpose, albeit a
solitarily executed one.
Thus, he can be considered a
social participant in the tearoom setting.
This raises some interesting questions about the nature
of public displays of sexual expression.
It may lead one to
hypothesize that for certain individuals, it is the social
character of the setting (i.e., publicor quasi-public)
and
not the social character of the sexual act itself that is
most attractive.
In other words, it appears that there is
something associated with the publicity of the act that
motivates and gratifies certain individuals.
It would
101
follow, then, that individuals who engage in acts of inde­
cent exposure or "flashing" may have something in common
with men who engage in solitary masturbation in the tearoom
setting.
In sum, it appears that what evolves in the course of a
tearoom encounter up to this point is a type of value-added
system of nonverbal communication aimed at establishing an
unmistakable mutuality of intent between prospective
partners.
In other words, a very specific pattern of sexual
gestures emerges in which each element is predicated upon
the successful completion of some prerequisite action.
Eye
contact does more than simply set the stage for the exchange
of sexual signals.
It, in fact, appears to be what makes
the successful exchange of signals possible; the necessary
antecedent to such an exchange of intentions.
Evidence for
this conclusion is found in two cases analyzed on the tapes.
In each of these cases, a man was positioned in a stall and
engaged in solitary masturbation.
When others entered the
facility and/or approached his stall, he ceased to mastur­
bate and did not resume this activity until eye contact was
established with another patron in the tearoom.
In both
cases, the interaction then proceeded to the next stage of
the encounter, the contracting stage.
Thus, one can
reasonably assume that if the form of sexual expression
sought by individuals in the tearoom setting is one which
102
involves actual physical contact with another person, then
such individuals must adhere to a highly structured and
sequential pattern of interaction.
As a final note on this stage of the tearoom ritual, it
should be mentioned that masturbation may serve a dual
purpose in the encounter.
As previously mentioned, when
accompanied by eye contact it has a high degree of social
significance in that it conveys a willingness to enter into
a sexual exchange in the setting.
serve a more practical purpose.
However, it also may
Specifically, this type of
autoerotic manipulation may be useful in helping a parti­
cipant achieve and/or maintain an erection —
an obvious
advantage for,the genital partner, in particular.
As
previously noted, the glory role was used in nearly all of
the cases analyzed.
Inasmuch as the partitions in which the
glory holes are carved are approximately 1 1/2 inches thick,
an erection is imperative for most individuals seeking to
play the role of the genital partner.
Hence, masturbation
may serve to ready these men for the successful performance
of their roles in these encounters.
Contracting
Once the participants have assumed their respective
positions and conveyed their intentions, it becomes
necessary for them to define the specific terms of the
103
sexual encounter into which they are about to enter.
Thus,
the third stage of the interaction involves reaching some
mutual agreement regarding who will play what role in the
transaction, and precisely what types of sexual contact will
be tolerated in the exchange.
It should be obvious to the reader that tacit agreements
concerning the above tend to emerge during the course of the
first two stages of the encounter.
Indeed, certain inten­
tions are mutually understood, to a greater or lesser
degree, by the time the encounter moves into this third
stage of interaction.
Nevertheless, the contracting stage
of the encounter provides an opportunity for either party to
retreat from the implicitly-derived agreements without
significantly disrupting the social climate of the tearoom
environment.
Most of the contracts observed were negotiated in one of
two possible ways depending upon which of the partners
initiated the contract-relevant actions.
If the genital
partner initiated the actions, he typically did so by rising
from the commode, moving slowly toward the glory hole, and
inserting his penis through the opening.
He would then
remain in this position until the oral partner placed his
mouth to the glory hole and began to fellate him.
If the
oral partner did not seal the contract by placing his mouth
to the glory hole, the genital partner would usually
104
withdraw his penis from the opening and masturbate for a few
seconds before reinserting his penis through the glory hole.
If the oral partner still failed to reciprocate his actions,
the genital partner would typically sit down on the commode
and attempt to reestablish eye contact through the glory
hole.
This pattern was observed in two of the nine
encounters depicting the contracting phase.
An alternative pattern of contracting involves actions
initiated by the oral partner and is similar in structure to
the pattern described above.
The data indicate that when
the oral partner initiated the contract, he typically did so
by simply remaining seated on the commode and leaning toward
the glory hole until his mouth was resting very near, if not
directly on it.
In the event that the genital partner did
not reciprocate the action by inserting his penis through
the opening, the oral initiator would rather quickly (within
4 to 5 seconds) remove his mouth from the glory hole and
look immediately through it, presumably in an attempt to
reestablish eye contact.
This particular pattern occurred
in four of the nine cases depicting contracting.
It was as
if, having understood that something had gone awry, the oral
partner was making an effort to move the entire interaction
back to its beginnings;
encounter.
the positioning phase of the
105
It is interesting to examine the difference in each role
partner's reaction to his unsuccessful attempt to contract
the exchange.
Specifically, the genital partner tends to
deal with nonreciprocation by first moving the interaction
back to the signaling stage, as evidenced by his masturba­
tion, whereas the oral partner takes it back to the posi­
tioning stage.
Once again, restrictions on the data do not
allow one to draw obvious conclusions on this matter;
however, one can advance some possible hypotheses.
For
instance, the oral partner may choose to try to reestablish
eye contact primarily because he is in a good position
relative to the glory hole for doing so.
That is, given
that this man is seated on the commode, the glory hole is
situated more or less at this person's eye level.
There­
fore, attempting to reestablish eye contact is not only an
expeditious way of maintaining the interaction, but also a
relatively natural reaction for this individual.
Similarly,
the genital partner who is standing at the glory hole with
his penis exposed is in an excellent position to show or
reaffirm his willingness to participate by masturbating and
displaying his erect penis to the oral partner seated on the
other side of the glory hole.
According to this hypothesis
then, the behaviors displayed by both parties subsequent to
an unsuccessful attempt to contract the exchange may simply
reflect those actions which are easiest and most practical
to undertake.
An alternative hypothesis deals with the extent of
tearoom experience associated with each of the two roles
available to the prospective patron.
More specifically, the
present study's data concur with Humphreys' finding that the
oral partner in a tearoom encounter is, on the average,
older and more experienced in this environment than is the
genital partner.
Giving consideration to this observation,
one may reasonably assume that the genital partner would be
somewhat more timid than the oral partner, and may
occasionally need additional time to make his decision of
whether or not to participate in the encounter.
By taking
the interaction back to the positioning stage and "starting
all over again" the oral partner is employing a strategy
which has the latent effect of affording the genital partner
the additional time needed to make his decision.
This strategy of taking the action back to its
beginnings could also serve as a type of confirmation of
intent for genital partners who are less experienced in this
environment.
In fact, one patron interviewed for the study
revealed that during his first encounter the oral partner
moved the action back to the positioning stage from the
contracting stage several times before he (the prospective
genital partner) fully understood what was being
communicated, and felt confident enough to reciprocate by
inserting his penis through the glory hole.
In this sense,
then, the replay of the action could be viewed as a type of
socialization mechanism —
one that serves to induct or
introduce young novices into the world of tearoom
encounters.
In the three cases where the glory hole was not used
during the execution of fellatio by the partners, the
pattern was for the man wishing to become the genital
partner to step into the stall occupied by an oral partner
who had previously signaled or indicated his willingness to
play his role.
In all of these cases, the oral partner had
indicated or established his role by placing his mouth very
near the glory hole so that the prospective genital partner
in the adjacent stall could observe him making this attempt
to negotiate the contract.
Once inside the oral partner's
stall, however, the prospective genital partner did not
boldly attempt to place his organ in his partner's mouth.
Rather, he hesitated for a few seconds, apparently making
strong eye contact with his partner, then proceeded to
casually masturbate.
In two of the three cases, the oral
partner responded to this masturbation display by
immediately placing the genital partner's penis in his
mouth.
In the remaining case, the individual seated on the
commode spent approximately 30 seconds fondling his
partner's genitals before proceeding to fellate him.
Generally speaking, the contracting of the tearoom
encounters seems to present little if any substantial
difficulties for the participants.
It seems to proceed
relatively smoothly and with a minimum of misunderstanding
of intentions.
In fact, the data did not reveal a single
case of refusal to perform one's assigned or presumed role.
Even the previously discussed strategy of "starting over"
can be viewed as a minor adjustment for the many
uncertainties which tend to characterize intimate contact
between strangers.
Culminating
This final stage of the interaction represents the
culmination of the sexual encounter and, hence, can be
referred to as the orgasmic phase.
Since this phase
consists of the interactions constituting the physical sex
act which characterizes this sexual setting —
fellatio —
i.e.,
it involves a greater degree of intimacy and
physical proximity than any of the preceding stages of the
encounter.
Inasmuch as the vast majority of the exchanges were
executed through the glory hole, the primary points of
physical contact between the participants were the penis of
109
the genital partner and the mouth, lips, and tongue of the
oral partner.
Because of the presence of a physical barrier
between the two men (i.e., the stall partition), the hands
of the partners could not come into play during the culmin­
ating phase of most of the encounters.
However, in the
three cases that took place inside the same stall, the hands
of both partners did come into play.
In these cases, the
movements and positions of the participants’ hands seemed to
be highly restricted as compared to what one would generally
expect in terms of hand usage in most sexual exchanges.
Hence, contrary to some of Humphreys' findings, this study
reveals no evidence of affectionate petting, caressing or
extensive fondling during the acts of fellatio taking place
in the tearoom.
For all practical purposes, the hands of
the oral partner were restricted to the genital partner's
genitals and hip region (excluding the buttocks). Similar­
ly, the genital partner's hands seemed to be confined to the
oral partner's head and neck area.
One can only speculate
that a norm may exist which dictates the personal region
each partner's hands may explore.
Given the fact that the
objective of this encounter is impersonal sexual gratifi­
cation, it makes sense that the region would be quite
limited and defined by practical or functional considera­
tions rather than interpersonal ones.
By restricting the
hand exploration area to the pelvic region of the genital
110
partner and the head/neck region of the oral partner, the
encounter may unfold with a minimal amount of personal
contact and a maximal degree of sexual gratification in the
briefest amount of time.
The culminating stage of the interaction is usually
terminated by th^ genital partner's orgasm which punctuates
the completion of the entire sexual encounter.
Having
completed what they presumably set out to accomplish, the
partners cease to interact with one another.
In fact, in
all of the encounters observed, the genital partner left the
facility immediately after reaching orgasm.
Police respon­
dents could recall only four instances where the partners
continued to interact after the genital partner had clim­
axed.
However, even these exchanges were severely limited
in both duration and significance.
Specifically, they were
characterized by simple and brief conversations, such as
utterance of "thanks" or "take it easy, now."
Again, it
appears that a norm exists to curtail all tearoom inter­
actions to sexual exchanges only.
Other Relevant Observations
Temporal Ordering —
Concurrent with Humphreys'
findings, a pattern emerges with respect to the volume of
activity in this tearoom over the months of the year.
Humphreys notes the existence of what his subjects referred
to as the "Hunting Season," which extends from April to
October.
The so-called hunting season for this particular
tearoom appears to begin sometime in May and continue
through September, roughly approximating Humphreys' pattern.
Figure 2 graphically depicts the frequency of arrests made
at the tearoom analyzed for the present study.
One must be
cautioned, however, that the frequency of arrests does not
necessarily conform to volume of activity.
That is, in
order for arrests to be made, police officers must be
present at the facility.
Thus, the distribution of arrests
may depict nothing more than the police perception of
periods of high activity in the tearoom.
In other words,
believing that June is a preferred month among tearoom
patrons for cruising the local rest areas, the police are
more likely to station themselves at such locations for the
express purpose of arresting individuals who appear to be
searching for sexual partners.
Likewise, believing that
January is too cold or otherwise unpleasant for cruising the
tearooms, police are unlikely to make frequent or even
regular stops at these facilities for purposes of monitoring
sexual activity or making arrests.
Thus, these data on the
volume of activity are unavoidably biased due to police
perceptions concerning the likelihood of finding arrestable
individuals in any given month of the year.
•Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr
Months Involved in study
Figure 2;
Volume of Activity by Months of the
Year as Measured by Frequency of Arrests
113
Furthermore, mention must be made of the fact that many
of these arrests may have been motivated by political
reasons.
Specifically, the Sheriff of this small community
was running for reelection in November of 1983.
Considering
the fact that he informed the researcher that he decided to
start patrolling the tearoom facility in response to numer­
ous citizen's complaints over such homosexual activity, it
seems reasonable to assume that he also may have found it
beneficial to his campaign to maintain a strong police
presence in and around the tearoom during the summer prior
to reelection.
Similarly, a strong and consistent arrest
record for sexual misconduct in this facility could not harm
his campaigning efforts.
Note the manner in which the
frequency of arrest falls off after the November election in
which, by the way, he was successfully reelected.
This
pattern suggests that the manpower committed to tearoom
patrols may have been somewhat politically determined.
When attempting to discern a daily rhythm of activity in
the tearoom, one is confronted with the same problem of
police perception and presence.
More specifically, the data
indicate that the evening hours were the most popular among
the patrons of this particular tearoom.
One must keep in
mind, however, that it was during these evening hours that
police were patrolling the tearoom for purposes of making
arrests (see Figure 3).
13
12
I! I
M iiri,
12
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
1
2
Time of Day
Figure 3:
Volume of Activity by Time of Day as
Measured by Frequency of Arrests
3
115
It is interesting to note that during one of the
author's initial interviews with two of the police respon­
dents, she asked whether they had found an increase in
activity during the evening "rush hour," which extends from
approximately 5:00 to 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The
respondents replied that they had never been in the facility
during that time of day.
When she then suggested that there
may be sufficient reason to believe that this would be a
popular time period (particularly for those patrons return­
ing home to their families after a day at the office) they
indicated that they would arrange to monitor the facility
during that time period in the future.
As it turned out,
due to employee scheduling difficulties, they were only able
to monitor the tearoom during the evening rush hour on two
separate occasions.
seven arrests —
However, these two occasions produced
a high arrest rate in this environment over
the course of three hours.
Had police officers continued to
patrol the tearoom during this time throughout the course of
the study period, the graph depicted in Figure 3 may have
taken a different form.
Consequently, due to these con­
straints on the data quality, one must again keep in mind
that the temporal patterns of tearoom activity described in
this study may be unreliable.
116
The Ose of Drugs —
The use of drugs was observed or
reported to occur in a number of tearoom encounters.
In
each of these, the same drug was used by the same role
partner.
Specifically, in four of the encounters (one of
which was depicted on the video tapes) the genital partner
inhaled a derivative of amyl nitrate, commonly known as
"Rush" or "Locker Room."
This particular compound is a
vasodilator medically intended for use in cases of extreme
angina.
Among the gay community especially, this product is
used as a type of sexual aide.
When inhaled through the
nasal passages immediately prior to orgasm, the drug is
reputed to have the effect of heightening the physical
sensation associated with the orgasmic event.
In other
words, the drug is thought to produce a more intense and
satisfying orgasm for the user.
Thus, it is not at all
surprising to find its use in the tearoom environment where
sexual gratification is the primary objective and inter­
personal contact is tolerated only in the physical sense.
In concluding this section, it is necessary to emphasize
the function served by the structure of the tearoom ritual.
As should be obvious now, the ritual is a type of valueadded communications system, each phase being predicated and
dependent upon the successful completion of the preceding
one.
Throughout the ritual, each specific stage imparts an
additional element of the participants' mutuality of intent
117
until it is fully understood that each individual is pur­
suing a compatible goal.
Should confusion or disagreement
occur between the partners, the interaction is halted or
regressed to a previous state for further clarification.
In
any event, the structure of the ritual ensures that inten­
tions are conveyed and preferences are communicated in a
manner which maintains an affectively neutral social
climate.
The following section of this chapter reports on the
social characteristics of the tearoom patrons.
Social Characteristics of the Tearoom Patrons
O.K., here goes — no self-respecting
homosexual in his right mind should condone
sex in public places, but let's face it.
It's fun.... The danger adds to the adven­
ture. The hunt, the cruise, the rendezvous,
a great little game. Then more likely than
not, 'instant sex'. That's it.
I know it's weird, but what can I say?
It's one of the biggest turn-ons I know.
Besides, it's quick, it's easy, and you can
meet some really juicy things in there.
The copSgare a drag, but I'll take my
chances.
118
What type of man is attracted to the activity taking
place in tearooms?
Who would resort to hanging around
public toilets in search of partners for impersonal,
homosexual exchanges?
What kinds of people share the
sentiments evident in the above statements concerning
tearoom sex?
Since definitive answers to these questions are outside
the scope of this study, it is not possible to delineate all
the characteristics or circumstances relevant to participa­
tion in tearoom encounters-
However, the data analyzed for
this study indicate some general trends in a number of
variables related to certain social characteristics of the
patrons.
form.
These findings are presented below in descriptive
(Numerical summaries and graphic displays of the data
are provided in Appendix B.)
Age
The average age of the tearoom patrons in the research
sample was 35.2 years.
The range on this variable was quite
high, with the oldest individual being 61 years of age and
the youngest patron being 18 years old.
Within these
limits, the distribution of ages approximates a normal curve
for the sample of men and, therefore, can be interpreted as
fairly representative of the population frequenting this
site over the study period.
Race
All but one of the men in the sample were white with
respect to race.
This homogeneity in the racial composition
of the sample is troublesome in terms of generalizing from
the data.
It is possible, but unlikely, that this lack of racial
variation reflects an actual characteristic of the tearoom
phenomenon; that is, that it is predominantly a white man's
game.
The unlikely nature of this interpretation is based
upon the previous research findings on the subject.
For
instance, Humphreys found that blacks were adequately
represented in his sample of tearoom participants (1970:111,
125).
Furthermore, interviews with patrons who frequent
facilities other than this particular tearoom indicate that
minorities are active in the search for impersonal sex in
public restrooms.
It is far more likely, therefore, that the limited
distribution on this variable is indicative of racial
prejudices prevalent in the specific geographical region
under study.
Although attitudinal
population in the area surrounding
dataon the general
the tearoom is
unavailable, some indication of racial tolerance can be
inferred from the demographic character of the region.
Specifically,
it is known that the
areawithin a 20 mile
radius of the tearoom is primarily rural in nature and
dominated by white residents.
Moreover, on the basis of
data drawn from interviews with police respondents, there
appears to be considerable racial bias in the community.
In fact, these officers themselves admitted to some
prejudice against blacks that influenced how they performed
certain police duties.
Specifically, it was mentioned that
whenever a black individual was seen driving through this
jurisdiction, it was customary for these police officers to
run a check on the license plate and to follow the vehicle
until headquarters had cleared the driver.
Clearly, this
type of racial discrimination can make itself evident in the
black community's stock of knowledge and serve as a warning
to avoid the area in general, and particularly if one is
interested in locating partners for illegal sexual
practices.
It should also be noted that the section of the highway
upon which the tearoom is situated does not directly serve
areas that are heavily populated by black residents.
Thus,
blacks travelling along this highway are relatively few in
number and, consequently, so are the blacks frequenting this
particular tearoom.
121
Marital Status
At the time of their arrests, 65.1 percent (N=28) of the
patrons were single; 25.6 percent (N=ll) were married; and
9.3 percent (N=4) were divorced.
Information on the number
of arrestees widowed or separated was not available for
analysis.
Nevertheless, given the data analyzed, it appears
that more than one-third of the men arrested are or were
married at one time in their lives.
An interesting result occurs when marital status is
cross-tabulated with age.
It shows that married persons are
considerably older than those who are single or divorced
(married patrons have an average age of 42.1 years; single
and divorced patrons have an average age of 32.9 and 32.5
years, respectively).
This finding may indicate a general
tendency on the part of older patrons to maintain their
marriages despite their participation in homosexual
activities or possibly, in Davis's functionalist approach,
because of such participation (1937).
In one particular
case, a 61 year old man actually brought his wife with him
to the tearoom and left her in the car while he went inside
to find a sexual partner.
Upon his arrest, the woman
claimed to have had no prior knowledge of her husband's
homosexual involvement despite having lived with the man for
over forty years.
Another implication of this finding is that younger
tearoom patrons may be more aware of, or comfortable with,
their homosexual proclivities and, therefore, tend to avoid
or forfeit marriage.
Occupational Class
A modified version of the classification scheme utilized
in the Kinsey study (1948) was employed to create the
occupational categories for this analysis.
As per Kinsey's
work, this scheme is used to designate the social status of
an individual by measuring the prestige of the work in which
s/he is engaged.
Hence, this classification system, while
somewhat correlated with income levels, does not necessarily
reflect income distributions.
For example, employment as a
college professor is not seen to generate much income but
this particular occupation does afford its incumbent a
considerable degree of social prestige.
Inasmuch as the
present study is concerned primarily with the social status
of the patrons, and not necessarily their financial worth,
this classification scheme seemed most appropriate for use.
(For a more detailed description of the scheme, see Appendix
B.)
With respect to occupational class, a number of
interesting features were observed in the data.
First, the
unemployment rate for the sample was approximately 19
123
percent.®
This unemployment rate for the sample is
considerably higher than comparable figures for the same
time period for the state-wide and national population-atlarge.
Secondly, when the category for the unemployed is
omitted, (and the sample size is adjusted accordingly), we
find that of those patrons employed at the time of their
arrest, the majority fell into the lower and upper whitecollar classes (23.3 percent, or 7 men, engaged in lower
level white-collar work, and 30 percent, or 9 men, were
employed as upper level white-collar workers).^®
Indeed,
with the exception of the highest possible class, the upper
end of the classification scheme is well represented by the
data. (Note that classes 4, 5, and 6 account for 70 percent
of the data.)
Interpretation of this finding cannot overlook the
possibility of the data reflecting "real world" conditions.
While this is probably not the best explanation available
(the obvious rarely is), it must nonetheless be considered.
One may speculate that men on the upper end of the
occupational scale may be limited to certain places when it
comes to searching for and/or procuring impersonal, sexual
contacts.
Massage parlors, street corners, gay bars, and
even heterosexual "meat market" nightclubs may be too risky
for these gentlemen given the public knowledge of these
places along with their high degree of social visibility.
124
In other words, it is simply more difficult to explain being
seen entering a gay bar or massage parlor than it is to
explain entering a public men's room.
One can always claim
to be answering a "call to nature" and, if some known person
happens to point out the social reputation of the particular
restroom in question, the patron can easily claim ignorance
of the fact, as this type of information is far from being
common knowledge among the general public.
Thus, men who
actually stand to lose a lot in terms of status, reputation,
and employment may be more or less compelled to resort to
public places for their sexual encounters —
places where
they can legitimately claim a non-sexual presence.
Aside from the above interpretation, one must also
acknowledge the possibility of unrepresentative data on
this particular variable.
Note its restricted range and
lack of adequate representation in classes 1 and 7 (see
Appendix B for a graphical distribution).
For analytical
purposes, these classes could be omitted or at least
combined with others to create more empirically meaningful
response categories.
In addition to this range-related
problem, other features in the distribution of the data are
troublesome.
For example, if one were to include class "0"
(indicative of the proportion of unemployed patrons), the
data would reveal a U-shaped distribution.
This would
then suggest that the population sample was dichotomous with
respect to occupational class.
Such distributions should
always be interpreted cautiously and generalizations and
conclusions pertinent to the larger population should be
tentative at best.
Place of Residence
This variable was chosen for inclusion in this analysis
for its use as an indicator of the distance the patron had
to travel in order to locate partners for impersonal sex.
While it is recognized that not all patrons in the sample
were necessarily travelling from their homes directly to the
tearoom, the variable nonetheless reveals some information
about the location of at least one of the typical patron's
sources of sexual outlet and its distance from his home.
Analysis of the data suggests that, when the outliers
are eliminated from the sample, the average distance
travelled to the tearoom was 22.5 m i l e s . O v e r half of the
patrons' residences were in the 20-29 mile category, with 90
percent of these individuals residing in the nearest metro­
politan area (situated approximately 20 miles from the
tearoom).
Other than this overrepresentation in the third
category, the variable demonstrates a normal distribution
with no serious restriction in range (i.e., all categories
contain at least 10 percent of the cases available for
analysis).
One might assume that the rather large distance existing
between the tearoom location and the average patron's home
is, to some degree, intentionally imposed on the patron
himself.
Given the fact that these men are highly
vulnerable to public exposure that could do irreparable
harm to their personal identities and professional reputa­
tions, it is not suprising that most patrons attempt to
establish some distance between these two locales.
By
segregating one's personal audiences, a step is taken to
reduce the liklihood of discovery in the various spheres of
activity constituting the discreditable person's social
network.
Additional support for this argument is provided by the
low number of patrons with homes located within 5 miles of
the tearoom.
Only 3 out of 43 patrons resided within a 5
mile radius of this tearoom.
Thus, on the basis of this
finding, one may reasonably assume that the typical tearoom
patron would prefer to operate in locations far removed from
his home environment.
In concluding this section, it is possible to sketch a
rough profile of the type of individual likely to patronize
public restrooms for the purpose of engaging in homosexual
activity.
It appears that the man who is in search of
impersonal homosexual contact has much in common with your
neighbor, your local pharmacist, or the minister at your
127
church.
In short, he represents a sort of "Everyman"
demographically, according to the social dimensions examined
in this analysis.
He is typically white, in his mid­
thirties, and engaged in some type of white-collar work.
He
probably enjoys a higher than average degree of social
status in the community, is rather meticulous in regard to
his personal appearance, and is probably judged by both men
and women alike as being above average in physical
attractiveness.
Given these characteristics, plus the fact
that he is likely to be single, the typical tearoom patron
may well be considered an "eligible bachelor" in the context
of his more legitimate social circle.
In addition to the above attributes, the average tearoom
participant is likely to take certain precautionary measures
to assure his anonymity in the tearoom and reduce the risk
of public disclosure.
One such measure may be the estab­
lishment of considerable geographical distance between his
home environment and the tearoom he frequents.
Other
measures, as discussed in the preceding section, include
following a code of silence and immediate withdrawal from
the environment upon completion of the sexual act.
Finally, in the event that the typical patron is appre­
hended by law enforcement officers and arrested for his
activities in the tearoom, he is likely to be charged with
importuning when police decoys are used, and public indecen­
cy when caught while engaged in a consensual exchange with
another man.
Police Practices, Court Dispositions, and
Administrative Processing
This section of the dissertation involves an examination
of the tearoom phenomenon from the perspective of the "rule
enforcers."
More specifically, a discussion of police
activity will follow, highlighting areas such as the
discretionary use of enforcement powers, the use of various
enforcement techniques and their effect on arrests and
convictions, and the manner in which the arresting officers
viewed their assignment to the tearoom patrols.
In addition
to the analysis of police activities, the results of an
examination of the manner in which the courts disposed of
the cases which were brought to their attention will also be
offered.
Finally, information relevant to the legal actions
taken by some of the tearoom patrons who were arrested will
be discussed.
Police Practices
In beginning the discussion of police activity in the
tearoom, it is perhaps wise to first identify the manner in
which the officers sought to curtail or control the
129
homosexual encounters taking place in the facility.
As
Gallo (1966:686-724) has noted, there are generally three
techniques available to officers charged with the respon­
sibility of controlling tearoom activity;
(1) the use of
decoys, (2) enforcement by observation, and (3) routine
patrol and harassment.
All three of these strategies were
used at one time or another by the sheriff's department in
this study.
It was learned through police interviews that when the
sheriff's department first started seeking arrests in the
tearoom, deputies relied primarily on clandestine observa­
tion.
As indicated in Figure 1, a custodial closet was
situated contiguous to the men's portion of the rest area
restroom.
Within the wall that separated the custodial
closet from the men's room was an air vent.
It was through
this air vent that the deputies could observe the activities
taking place inside the tearoom.
To facilitate this
purpose, the deputies bolted a large mirror onto the
opposite wall.
By looking into the mirror from the air
vent, they could observe individuals seated in both of the
stalls.
It was in this manner, then, that the illicit
activities engaged in by those seeking sex in the tearoom
were observed and later filmed.
As previously mentioned, the sheriff's deputies began
their tearoom assignment by simply making observations
through the air vent.
When they saw what they considered to
be a sexual encounter, they typically would dispatch someone
from their party to go into the men's room and place the
suspicious individuals under arrest.
When several of the
individuals arrested during this initial phase of the patrol
began protesting the validity of the arrest, (sometimes with
the aid of attorneys), the sheriff, in response to advice
from the county's prosecuting attorney, made the decision to
begin filming the activity to use as evidence in a court of
law and to begin using police decoys to facilitate making
arrests before actual sexual exchanges took place.
With this decision, which took place in June of 1983,
the deputies on the tearoom patrol began to assume a more
active role in the tearoom phenomenon.
Now the male members
of the patrol squad were actually in interaction with
tearoom patrons on their turf.
No longer were these men
able to remain detached and interactionally isolated from
the sexual deviant.
It was during this period of time,
during June and July of 1983, that the deputies remember
having experienced the greatest degree of discomfort with
their roles in this assignment.
Police respondents indicated that they felt nervous and
uncomfortable as decoys and, in fact, revealed that not a
few disagreements flared among themselves over who was going
to assume the role of decoy for any given night.
When asked
131
to describe some of the difficulties experienced, it was
learned from these officers that an element of fear clouded
their performance in this role, at least during the initial
period.
Although each of the officers had trouble
expressing exactly how he was feeling, comments such as,
"Jesus!
You just never know what a guy like that will do in
that situation," or "I didn't care what they did just as
long as they didn't touch me," and "I admit.
I was really
nervous about being around those fags" could lead one to
believe that a certain degree of homophobia characterized
these men.
When asked if they noticed any changes in their
own sexual relations with wives or girlfriends during this
time period, one responded;
Another responded:
"Yeah, I was horny as hell."
"Me, too.
After hanging around those
fags all night, all I wanted to do was go home and screw my
wife."
Again, these statements may reveal an underlying
source of anxiety associated with the tearoom assignment —
one that demands a reaffirmation of one's heterosexuality.
However, one cannot ignore the fact that these officers may
have exaggerated their responses for the sake of the female
researcher who was interviewing them.
In other words, as
mentioned in Chapter III, a lot of time was spent by these
officers to establish clearly their sexual preference in the
company of the researcher.
Had the researcher been a male,
these men may not have felt as compelled to establish this
fact.
Also, the fact that none of the male members of the
tearoom patrol squad had educational levels above the high
school level may have had something to do with their
repeated affirmations of heterosexuality.
It may have been
that they were mistakingly assuming that the researcher,
having told them that she had studied male homosexuality for
some time, was capable of seeing things they were not; of
reading between the lines of their responses, so to speak.
It seems apparent that those who ]ack advanced degrees tend
to attribute a lot more knowledge to those who possess them
than is actually the case.
If this is so, then it is not
surprising that these men would try to state their position
vis-a-vis sexual preference as clearly as possible.
As alluded to earlier in this work, it was during the
time period of decoy use (extending from June, 1983 through
October, 1983) that the deputies began to learn or become
socialized into the covert techniques used by tearoom
patrons to communicate intent.
Police respondents indicated
that, in the beginning of their decoy phase, they rarely met
with success in terms of patrons making advances of a sexual
nature towards them.
When probed by the researcher as to
why this was the case, it was learned that the officers were
engaging in a lot of nervous conversation with suspected
patrons and, consequently, signaling these patrons as to
their naivite or police affiliation.
Furthermore, as
133
discussed in the previous sections of this chapter, the
officers' reluctance to masturbate may have aroused the
suspicion of some of the patrons.
Through a system of trial-and-error, the officers
learned what was expected of them by the patrons and,
consequently, became more polished in the performance of the
decoy role.
This entailed refraining from any impulse to
engage in conversation of any type while in the tearoom and,
also, the use of what the officers seemed to regard as
simulated masturbation.
Specifically, when asked how they
resolved the problem of appearing to be police officers by
their failure to masturbate, they replied that they simply
began to "pretend to masturbate."
Although numerous
attempts were made to clarify what was meant by this
statement, a clear understanding of how one "pretends to
masturbate" escaped the researcher by virtue of the
officers' reluctance to elaborate.
The matter also failed
to be clarified by the visual assessment of the tapes, due
to the practice of aiming the video camera at the decoy's
head and shoulders and away from the groin region.
Let it
suffice to say, however, that given the motion of the
decoy's shoulders during these simulated events, the
pretense was adequately convincing to those lacking a clear
and complete view of the exhibit.
The decoy stage of enforcement seemed the most effective
in terms of obtaining arrests in this setting.
As is
evident from Figure 2, the majority of arrests were made
during this period. Ob vi ous ly, playing an active rather
than passive role in any police activity affords the
arresting officer a better degree of control and a greater
scope of knowledge concerning the more subtle aspects of a
suspect's behavior.
Furthermore, the improved performance
of the decoy role by officers having had the opportunity to
practice it seems to have had a positive effect on their
ability to identify and apprehend individuals who were
trying to secure sex partners.
Given this fact, the
increase in the number of arrests made during this period is
understandable.
The third enforcement technique mentioned, routine
patrol and harassment, was also utilized by these officers
throughout the course of the study.
However, the use of
this strategy was confined to the last 4 months in 1984 over
which the study extends.
One cannot help but speculate that
the move from decoy use to simple patrol and harassment
(which produces few arrests) was partially a politicallymotivated one.
As already mentioned, the sheriff was re­
elected in November of 1983 and police activity in the
tearoom during the months immediately after the election
dropped to an all-time low.
In fact, although the officers
indicated that they did make a few sweeps through the
tearoom during December and January, they failed to make any
arrests during that period.
Additionally, they felt that
their involvement in that activity would produce few, if
any, results since they believed that the adverse weather
conditions would naturally curtail homosexual activity in
the unheated restroom.
In summarizing the use of enforcement techniques, it is
possible to see a progression of sorts —
from an
experimental stage of simple observation during which
officers became familiar with the phenomenon, to a more
focused enforcement stage resulting in a high frequency of
arrest, to a winding-down stage during which a final showing
of police presence may have been staged to serve as a
reminder that arrest activity could resume at any time.
The
movement through these stages is likely to be determined by
a number of political and practical considerations as well
as perceptual assessments of the degree of threat posed to
the community by the presence and extent of tearoom
activity.
In discussing police practices relative to the tearoom
phenomenon, the subject of discretion is unavoidable.
Perhaps nowhere is police discretion as much a central
consideration as in areas dealing with issues of morality.
This, coupled with the fact that what is being dealt with
136
here is considered a victimless crime (i.e., one that
involves consensual, if illegal, behavior on the part of
adults), makes the tearoom phenomenon all the more likely to
be colored by the differential administration of justice.
And, to be sure, the data gathered for this study bear this
In the course of the study, three cases of blatant
police discretion became known to the researcher.
In two of
the cases, police respondents were the sources of informa­
tion.
In the remaining case, the county's prosecuting
attorney informed the researcher of the circumstances sur­
rounding the incident.
The two cases referred to by the
police respondents both involved the use of discretion in
the decision-making process relevant to the arrest phase of
the police-patron interaction.
In one of the cases, the
arresting officer learned that the patron he had just placed
under arrest was a Catholic priest and, consequently,
decided not to officially arrest this individual.
When
asked why he decided to let the suspect off, the officer
responded that he himself was Catholic and he simply did not
feel it was appropriate to arrest a Catholic priest.
When
the researcher asked if it would have been all right to
arrest say, an Episcopalian priest, the officer became
visibly annoyed and indicated that police have the right
to make such decisions and that such decisions were
137
integral parts of policing.
He further informed the
researcher that he had made the dismissal of the arrest
contingent upon the priest's promise to seek psychological
counseling.
The second case involved the apprehension of a man who
turned out to be a prosecuting attorney from a neighboring
county.
In this case, the arresting officer, after talking
to the sheriff, rescinded the arrest and informed the
gentleman that the sheriff's office would be contacting his
superior to disclose information relevant to his behavior in
the tearoom and subsequent apprehension by police officers.
In these two cases it appears that the mitigating factor
was the apprehended person's occupational status.
In the
first case, the individual's affiliation with the church and
his respectable position within this institution seemed to
be the deciding factor in the officer's failure to proceed
with the arrest.
Furthermore, the fact that this particular
arresting officer had a Catholic background cannot be over­
looked.
In this case it appears that the "rule enforcer"
had difficulty reconciling the "rule breaker's" social
status with his behavior and, therefore, redefined the rule
violating behavior as a symptom of some psychological
illness rather than as a criminal act.
Consequently,
through this redefinition of the situation, a crime was not
committed.
138
In the second case, occupational status again seemed to
play the most influential role in the decision to arrest or
warn the individual.
This time, however, the decision to
simply warn and not arrest the individual seemed to be made
on the basis of professional courtesy rather than deference
to the particular social position of the apprehended person.
Police respondents infomed the researcher that the sheriff
had decided that it would be unwise to bring charges against
this prosecuting attorney since it would only serve as a
source of embarassment for the entire political structure of
the neighboring county.
Hence, a decision was made to
forego arrest procedures, but to notify the appropriate
superiors thereby passing the buck to them, so to speak,
in terms of deciding how to proceed with this rather messy
situation.
The third case of discretion involved the arrest of the
son of a high standing official in the criminal justice
system in the sheriff's county.
Although an arrest was made
and a charge was leveled against this young man, it was all
done in the absence of information concerning the identity
of the arrested individual's father.
According to the
prosecuting attorney, who informed the researcher of this
case, by the time the sheriff's department learned of this
man's identity it was too late to simply drop the charges
against him.
Thus, the charges were reduced from
importuning to public indecency.
Again, it seems apparent from these cases that police
discretion is commonly practiced at the time of arrest as
well as throughout various stages of the criminal justice
system.
As one of the police respondents indicated, there
is a feeling among law enforcers that they are well within
their rights to decide who shall be bound over for prosecu­
tion and who shall not, especially for crimes of this nature.
A final point of discussion relative to police practices
concerns the charges applied to the men who were arrested at
the site of the tearoom (see Appendix C for a definition of
the relevant charges).
In short, a total of 72 charges were
leveled against the 61 men arrested in this tearoom between
February, 1983 and April, 1984 (see Table 1).
Obviously, a
number of those arrested wre charged with multiple offenses.
Table 1:
Distribution of Charges Leveled Against
Arrestees Between February, 1983 and
April, 1984
Charge
Loitering
Importuning
Public Indecency
Sexual Imposition
Drug Abuse
The most frequently made charge was loitering,
comprising 28 of the 72 charges or 38.8 percent of the
t o t a l . I n addition, loitering was the most common addi­
tional charge when multiple charges were leveled against an
arrestee.
For example, loitering was piggybacked upon 4
charges of public indecency, 4 charges of importuning, and 2
charges of sexual imposition.
After loitering, importuning was the most common charge
constituting 29.1 percent of all charges or 21 of the 72
offenses.
Charges of public indecency follow with23.6
percent of the total (N=17).
Finally, the remaining bulk
of charges were for sexual imposition which comprised 5 of
the total 72 charges or 6.9 percent of all charges brought
against the tearoom arrestees.
abuse was
It is
An additional charge of drug
also applied in one arrest.
interesting to note that all five of the
individuals charged with sexual imposition (the most serious
of the offenses) were arrested by the same two police
officers.
Furthermore, these five arrests were also made
during the same two week period in mid-summer.
The
possibility of an intervening variable arising from the
influence of these two officers needed to be examined.
After additional interviews with the police respondents, it
was learned that the two men in question had a reputation
141
for being cverzealcus in their police work.
It was also
learned that the sheriff had directed these men to refrain
from assessing charges of sexual imposition against tearoom
patrons in future arrests.
According to these police
respondents, the county prosecutor had advised the sheriff
in this matter and had explained to him that sexual
imposition charges were not only likely to elicit denials on
the part of the arrestee, but were also extremely difficult
to prove in a court of law.
Given the sensitivity of the
matter, the prosecutor felt it would be best to arrest on
the basis of the importuning charge which is easier to
prove and less likely to attract unnecessary public atten­
tion since in most cases the offender will choose to waive
his right to a jury trial and simply pay a fine or serve a
short jail term for this particular offense.
It is interesting to note that, given the current
terminology used in the Ohio Criminal Code, even the lesser
importuning charge is debatable in most of the cases in
which it was imposed.
These cases always involved the use
of a police decoy who would occupy stall 2 and wait for
advances to be made toward him by a tearoom patron.
From
interviews with officers who had served as decoys, it was
learned that these men were far from passive in their roles
as decoys.
As previously mentioned, police decoys had dif­
ficulties getting any of the tearoom patrons to make
142
advances toward them before they developed an understanding
of the structure and significance of the tearoom ritual.
In
réponse to questions concerning how they were eventually
socialized in this environment, these officers responded
that they learned about "the ways of the trade" and,
consequently, how to get patrons to approach them from
watching others and attempting to emulate observed patterns
on a trial-and-error basis.
This suggests that through
their nonverbal gestures the officers were communicating
sexual consent to those individuals whom they subsequently
arrested.
According to the Ohio criminal Code, the importuning
charge, when applied to a tearoom patron, requires that the
individual "... solicit a person of the same sex to engage
in sexual activity with (him), when (he) knows such solici­
tation is offensive to the other person, or is reckless in
that regard" (1984:133).
Given the situation described
above, where the police decoy is engaged in activities
ranging from waving toilet paper out of a stall to
"pretending" to masturbate (activities which are socially
significant in this context) it is unlikely that the indiv­
idual charged with importuning had any reason to believe
that his advances were viewed as "offensive" by the police
decoy with whom he had been nonverbally communicating.
viewed from this perspective, the issues of intent and
entrapment become central features to an understanding of
the nature of the offense.
One must question whether or
not an offense would have occurred had the police decoy not
performed his role quite so well.
As indicated throughout
this work, the tearoom ritual is a highly structured and
sophisticated pattern of social interaction aimed at
maximizing sexual gratification and minimizing personal risk
of exposure for the participants.
Thus, all participants in
the ritual are expected to exchange certain nonverbal cues
which serve to communicate intent, provide a sense of same­
ness, and, consequently, establish a safe and secure social
climate for the exchange of sexual favors.
Considering that
the police decoy knew which cues to exchange at which stage
of the ritual, it is quite likely that his prospective
partner was led to believe that he was, indeed, a confede­
rate in this deviant subculture.
It therefore follows that
this same partner had no reason to believe that his advances
would be found offensive by the police decoy; rather, he had
every reason to believe that they would be welcomed and
acted upon.
In fact, given the reciprocal nature and value-
added structure of the ritual, it is unlikely that an
advance will ever be made toward an individual who would
find such behavior offensive.
The justification of the
144
importuning charge is, therefore, questionable in this
setting.
As noted earlier, almost 23 percent of all charges were
for public indecency.
These charges were normally applied
to cases characterized by consensual sexual contact between
two patrons in the absence of a police decoy.
That is,
these arrests were usually made by officers who were viewing
the action inside the tearoom from within the confines of
the adjacent custodial closet.
Interestingly enough, the
men who were charged with public indecency were usually
those who were caught in the act of fellatio; not just in an
attempt to procure the act of fellatio, as was presumably
the case for those arrested by police decoys for importuning.
Given the fact that an arrest for public indecency can be
easily covered up by claiming, for instance, that it results
from being caught answering a "call to nature" on the side
of the road, those individuals apprehended while engaged in
an actual homosexual exchange were in better positions to
defend their social reputations than those who were appre­
hended while simply exploring the possibilities of a sexual
encounter.
Thus, it appears that risk of exposure as a
sexual deviant is more closely linked to whom one approaches
rather than what one actually does for purposes of sexual
gratification in this setting.
145
Moving to a discussion of the court disposition of these
cases, the reader should refer to Table 2.
As the table
indicates, for all offenses except the loitering charges,
the majority of the defendants were found to be guilty as
charged and made to pay some kind of penalty.
While there
were a few dismissals, these were primarily cases dealing
with the lesser loitering charge.
Of the remaining 5
dismissals, 2 were for charges of sexual imposition.
These charges were dismissed in both of these cases as a
result of legal pressure placed upon the sheriff's office
and the prosecuting attorney by the lawyers retained by
these defendents. Similarly, the two cases in which
importuning charges were dismissed involved threats of law
suits by the defendants.
Thus, we can see yet more
instances of what may be referred to as the differential
administration of justice —
this time as the result of the
prosecutor's and court's discretion.
To summarize this chapter, numerous research findings
have been discussed and tentative explanations of many of
these observations have been advanced.
An attempt was made
to present research findings relevant to all of the actors
involved in the tearoom drama:
patrons, nonpatrons, police
officials, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges.
TABLE 2:
COURT DISPOSTION OF 72 CHARGES BROUGHT AGAINST MEN ARRESTED BETWEEN
FEBRUARY, 1983 AND APRIL, 1984
Charge
G
NG
NÇ
G
Verdict/
Disoosition
NG
Dis W
Penalty
F I F±I
Avg.
Fine
Avg. Days
Loitering (28)
9
3
8
$107.
0
Importuning (21)
6
9
19
2
19
$210.
3
15
1
15
$229.
3
2
3
$233.
3
$100.
0
Public
Indecency (17)
7
6
4
Imposition (5)
1
3
1
Drug Abuse (1)
1
3
1
1
Key:
G
NG
NC
Dis
=
=
=
=
guilty
not guilty
no contest
dismissed
F
W
I
F+I
=
=
=
=
fine
waived
incarceration
fine and incarceration
17
20
The following chapter will consider some of these
findings in the context of the interactionist model and will
provide the reader with a number of interpretations of the
data.
CHAPTER V
INTERPRETATION
Interpretation of the research findings will be
organized around the three areas of analysis delineated in
the preceding chapter.
First, an examination of the inter­
actional patterns of the tearoom ritual will be undertaken
and an attempt will be made to explain the social signifi­
cance of the ritual.
Secondly, the social characteristics
of the tearoom patrons will be examined with an eye toward
understanding what the profile suggests about the nature of
this deviant collectivity.
Third, the actions and percep­
tions of the law enforcers will be discussed in the context
of the entire interactional drama which constitutes the
tearoom phenomenon.
Finally, the research findings have a number of implica­
tions for social policy as well as for future investigations
into the world of discreditable sexual behavior.
These and
other relevant observations will be presented in the
concluding section of this chapter.
The Tearoom Ritual
The pattern of interaction constituting the tearoom
ritual provides an excellent vehicle for a discussion of
negotiated order.
Anselm Strauss and his colleagues have
described the process of negotiated order as follows:
Order is something at which members of any
society, any organization, must work. For
the shared agreements, the binding contract —
which constitute the grounds for an expectable,
nonsurprising, taken-for-granted, even ruled
orderliness — are not binding and shared for
all time. Contracts, understandings, agree­
ments, rules — all have appended to them a
temporal clause. That clause may or may not
be explicitly discussed by the contracting
parties, and the terminal date of agreement
may or may not be specific; but none can be
binding forever — even if the parties
believe it so, unforeseen consequences of
acting on the agreements would force eventual
confrontation. Review is called for, whether
the outcome of review be rejection or
revision, or what not. in short, the bases
of concerted action (social order) must be
reconstituted continually, or as remarked
above, "worked out." (1963:48)
As indicated by this excerpt, social life is fluid and
dependent upon the meanings imputed by individuals in their
attempts to define concrete situations.
The tearoom
presents a number of difficulties for the successful estab­
lishment of any type of stable and well understood social
150
order.
First, the situation is complicated by the fact that
the facility is a physical structure within which two very
different social worlds operate. Employing Coffman's ter­
minology, the tearoom is a physical space which supports two
separate social occasions.
On the one hand, there is the
social occasion born as a consequence of men coming into
each other's presence in the restroom to simply relieve
themselves.
On the other hand, there is the social occasion
brought about by the presence of at least two men interested
in negotiating a sexual transaction.
Inasmuch as the regu­
lations of conduct characteristic of situations and their
gatherings are largely determined by the nature of the
social occasion in which they occur, it follows that a
certain degree of ambiguity will exist over situational
norms as well as, of course, the definition of the situa­
tion, especially in an active tearoom.
After all, what we
have here is a physically confined space in which two sets
of competing norms operate from time to time.
In order to reduce the possibility of social disruption
in this environment due to competing norm structures, it
seems reasonable to speculate that something will be done to
minimize the apparent discrepancies in the patterns of
conduct governed by these different sets of norms.
It
furthermore seems reasonable to assume that if one of these
sets of norms governs a social occasion that is capable of
discrediting those individuals involved in it due to its
illegal or illicit nature, then the members of this
particular social occasion will have to conduct themselves
in a manner very similar to those involved in the competing
social occasion in order to avoid detection.
Goffman (1963b) informs that because the possibility of
a particular place being used as a setting for more than one
social occasion is widely recognized and restricted, there
is a tendency to define such a place as the locale for some
primary or overriding social occasion to which all other
occasions may be considered secondary or subordinate.
Potentially competing definitions of the situation conse­
quently converge on some kind of public decorum.
Applying
this notion to the tearoom setting, it would appear that
social conduct here would converge around the more conven­
tional use of the facility.
As already noted, one must keep in mind that the social
occasion brought about by the presence of two or more
patrons exists for the express purpose of supporting what is
considered by the larger society as deviant sexual transac­
tions.
Hence, members involved in this social activity are,
by definition, discreditable persons.
Inasmuch as the dis­
creditable are often times inclined to try to hide their
deviant-defining traits by operating in a world of secrecy,
the use of stigma management techniques which seek to
"normalize" outward appearances is to be expected.
Thus,
one would expect the patrons to exhibit behaviors which, on
the surface, appear relatively indistinguishable from those
behaviors exhibited by nonpatrons.
If the tearoom does indeed represent a location wherein
two sets of norms operate to produce similarly structured
patterns of interaction, at what point and through what
mechanism do these patterns diverge to accomplish their
different objectives?
Perhaps a better way of phrasing this
question is to ask when and how the departure in inter­
actional patterns is detected and understood by the two
different parties in the setting (i.e., the patron and the
nonpatron). Phrasing the question in this manner focuses
attention on the factors which can influence how people
define situations in everyday life.
For the patron, information concerning another
individual's willingness to enter into a sexual encounter is
first conveyed during the positioning stage which normally
occurs relatively soon after the individual enters the tea­
room.
This information is in the form of embodied,
expressive messages which are communicated by means of
activity such as eye contact, body positioning, visual
scanning, and so forth.
Since, as Goffman (1963b) remarks,
copresence renders all members of a gathering uniquely
accessible to one another, the opportunity to observe these
153
gestures and messages is more or less afforded to all of the
men in the tearoom, patron or nonpatron.
The social signi­
ficance of these messages, however, will more than likely
escape the nonpatron since it is assumed that he has neither
any interest in nor prior knowledge of this location as a
setting for homosexual conduct.
Thus, the nonpatron will
fail to detect the more subtle aspects of the public
behavior exhibited here and, consequently, will not detect a
significant departure from conventional restroom behavior
during the positioning phase of the interaction.
As discussed in Chapter IV, the interaction constituting
the tearoom ritual is sequential and value-added.^"^
Conse­
quently, each phase of interaction is dependent upon the
successful completion of the preceding one.
If the non­
patron fails to recognize the significance of a patron's
actions during the positioning phase and fails to make eye
contact with him, then the interaction will cease and no
serious attempts will be made to maintain it by either
party.
Therefore, it can be assumed that departures in
patterns will only be detected by individuals knowledgable
of patron-specific norms.
In other words, unless a mistake
is made by the patron in his interpretation of another's
response, no further departures in conduct will be made by
him.
Borrowing again from Goffman, the cruising patron will
more than likely engage in face-work by assuming or resuming
154
the more conventional behaviors expected in a public
restroom (e.g., diverting others' glances, creating the
"interactional shield" described in the previous chapter, or
leaving the facility all together).
In consideration of the above discussion, it seems that
the patron's chances of socially or sexually offending a
nonpatron are, for all practical purposes, minimal or even
possibly nonexistent in this setting.
Certainly, when
compared to the more traditional homosexual meeting places,
such as gay bars and bath houses, —
meeting places —
or even heterosexual
the tearoom environment seems relatively
sedate in sexual overtones.
Extreme caution in communi­
cating sexual intent is more than just a norm for these
patrons; it is what stands between them and those capable of
destroying their social identities.
Thus, public propri­
eties can be expected to be observed by all who enter the
tearoom.
The social Character of the Tearoom collectivity
As detailed in Chapter IV, the social profile of those
who seek impersonal sex in the tearoom environment indicates
that these men are far from any image of "a dirty old man in
a trench coat."
Having much in common with the average
citizen, they meet, even possibly surpass, the average
standard with respect to personal cleanliness, physical
155
attractiveness, and/or social status.
Exactly what does
this suggest in terras of the social character of the group
as a whole?
One conclusion that could possibly be drawn from the
data is that the tearoom variety of homosexual activity
seems to be most attractive to those in the middle class.
The obvious exception to this would be the large percentage
of unemployed patrons (19 percent) evident in the data.
However, one cannot always make accurate inferences about a
person's social status by consideration of the person's
employment status alone.
Simply being "unemployed" does not
reveal information about the circumstances of this position
(was it voluntary or involuntary?).
Furthermore, some of
the unemployed patrons may have been college students pre­
paring for employment in the middle and upper white-collar
range.
Finally, one cannot dismiss the possibility that
many of the patrons lied about their employment status when
interviewed by the arresting officers in an attempt to
shield an important sphere of their life from the effects of
the stigmatizing arrest.
In short, there exists no
compelling reason for not assuming that tearoom activity is
a distinctly middle class activity.
On the other hand, the
researcher has no data on patrons in tearooms in lower
class, urban neighborhoods.
As in most other activities.
156
social class may well be a variable but not in roadside
restrooms along major highways.
Some of the reasons for this middle class involvement
have been previously discussed, including the availability
of a ready-made excuse for one's presence in the tearoom.
Additional reasons may range from thrill-seeking tendencies
on the part of the advantaged or leisure class to an actual
disproportionately strong interest in homosexuality in the
middle class (an unlikely prospect). Speculation on which
of these arguments is most convincing, however, is outside
of the scope of this study.
Although not directly drawn from the analysis of
demographic information available on the arrested patrons,
another personal characteristic of these men deserves men­
tion.
Specifically, it concerns their seemingly uncanny
ability to redefine the situation in a manner which allows
them to rationalize their tearoom involvement and maintain
self images of heterosexuality. Concurrent with Humphreys'
findings, there is reason to believe that a significant
portion of the men arrested in the tearoom had lifestyles
which could be classified as predominantly heterosexual.
Recall for a moment that one-third of all patrons either
were married at the time of their arrests or had been
married at some previous time in their lives.
This suggests
157
that heterosexuality was indeed a component in these men's
self concepts.
How does one go about establishing or maintaining a
heterosexual self concept in the face of involvement in a
homosexual collectivity?
A clue to an answer to this
question is provided by a comment made by a trucker who was
arrested in the tearoom and subsequently interviewed by the
researcher.
When asked how long he had been engaging in
homosexual conduct, this gentleman became visibly agitated
by the question and snapped that he had never been involved
in any homosexual encounters.
When asked if that was not
him depicted on the video tape receiving oral gratification
from another man, this individual assured the researcher
that it was.
When further questioned about the homosexual
nature of such physical contact, this man responded with a
comment along the lines of, "Look, why should I waste 30
minutes and 25 bucks at a truckstop on a prostitute when I
can get the same thing in there (the tearoom) for free and
be back on the road in 5 minutes."
Apparently, this gentle­
man was capable of redefining the situation in such a manner
as to allow him to view himself more as a rational consumer
than a participant in a homosexual exchange.
It is likely
to be through the use of such rationalizations and justifi­
cations that these men are able to keep their sexual self
concepts intact.
Police and Court Officials* Roles in the
Tearoom Phenomenon
The final section of this chapter deals with the roles
played by the police and some of the legal systems decision­
makers in the tearoom phenomenon.
As stated earlier, the
interactionist perspective assumes that rules and violations
are reciprocal terms.
In other words, without laws there
would be no criminals.
Thus, an examination of the roles
and actions of rule-makers and enforcers is a necessary
component in this study.
With respect to the role of police officials, it appears
that their perceptions of illegal behavior in the tearoom
were conditioned by a number of different factors.
First,
their proximity to the patrons (in both physical and social
terms) seemed to have had a significant effect on the number
of arrests made in this environment.
For example, when the
police were employing clandestine observation as their
strategy, fewer arrests were made than when they were acting
as decoys.
As previously mentioned, this may be a function
of their ability to observe more subtle behaviors when
actually in the tearoom with the patrons.
However, an
equally compelling explanation may be that when these police
officers found themselves face-to-face with the patrons and
159
not protected from them by the presence of a concrete wall,
they actually perceived them as greater threats.
This,
coupled with the fact that these decoys found themselves to
be playing the role of the patron's object of physical
desire could have aroused strong feelings of vulnerability
in these officers.
As mentioned earlier, these officers
admitted to feeling uncomfortable around the patrons,
especially during the first few weeks of the decoy period.
It only seems reasonable to conclude that these officers
were probably anxious to terminate their interactions with
the patrons as soon as they could in order to restore their
feelings of security and self confidence.
One measure that
was available to these officers for terminating the inter­
actions was to make an arrest.
This had the effect of
removing the source of the decoy's anxiety from his sur­
roundings.
Thus, it may have been that the number of
arrests increased during this period because of the
officer's desire to terminate his interaction with the
patrons.
Another explanation may be that, as has long been
observed in the field of sociology, people tend to behave in
ways that they have been trained to behave.
Since police
officials are charged with the responsibility of making
arrests and since, furthermore, they spend most of their
working days doing things other than making arrests, they
may have a tendency to "create" situations in which they can
fulfill their perceived roles,
in this case, the officers
may have had an underlying motivation to exercise their
arrest authority in the tearoom by perceiving most, if not
all, actions made by others in the environment as suspici­
ous or sexually-motivated.
By doing so, they have created
situations in which the making of arrests is a more likely
outcome.
With respect to this idea of "creating" situations in
which crimes are likely to occur, the very act of assuming
the decoy role places the officer in a position to orches­
trate, so to speak, a criminal interaction.
Whether or not
a crime will be committed is dependent, to a large extent,
on how the officer plays his role and how he perceives the
roles of others.
As exemplified by the one police officer's
decision to not arrest the Catholic priest, this ability to
create a criminal situation extends beyond the mere actions
taken by the individuals in their roles,
it also involves
how the officer chooses to define the situation and how that
definition may change in light of socially significant in­
formation gathered by him throughout the course of the
interaction.
Another consideration relevant to this discussion
involves the types of sexual offenses which occur in the
tearoom when an officer is present.
It was learned through
police interviews that all of the charges for importuning
and sexual imposition were made by a police decoy; none were
made during the observation or patrol and harassment stages
of the enforcement period.
This was due to the fact that,
according to the statutes defining these offenses, a sexual
interaction in which these crimes occur cannot, by defini­
tion, be considered a consensual one.
As mentioned earlier,
when the officers observed a consensual act of fellatio
occurring in the tearoom, they could only arrest on charges
of public indecency.
However, since the decoy could legi­
timately claim that he did find the perpetrators advances to
be offensive to him, then the more serious charge of impor­
tuning or sexual imposition could be made.
So, it appears
that the officers' presence in the tearoom not only influ­
enced the number of arrests made, but also the seriousness
of the charges associated with the arrests.
It appears that the role of the law enforcer is at least
as important as that of the law violator in this type of
interaction.
The police officer's presence in the facility,
his perceptions of his role and responsibility, and his
knowledge of the perpetrator's social status all seem to
determine whether or not he will perceive if a crime has,
indeed, occurred.
Thus, the existence of crime per se seems
to extend far beyond the mere acts constituting violations
of the law.
It is more appropriately viewed as the outcome
of negotiated definitions of concrete situations.
concluding Remarks; Implications for
Social Policy and Future Research
As discussed earlier in the preface to this
dissertation, one cannot present research on impersonal,
homosexual encounters without addressing the issue of AIDS.
Unlike Humphreys in his study of the subject, today's
student of the tearoom phenomenon is compelled to draw
certain conclusions or posit some suggestions for
consideration in social policy formulation.
In addition, it
has traditionally been incumbent upon the Ph.D. candidate to
identify the implications his or her dissertation has for
future research in the field.
Therefore, the concluding
part of this paper deals with these two important
considerations.
With respect to the question of AIDS, it is obvious that
tearoom activity can no longer be viewed as simply a moral
issue; it must also be considered a public health concern.
While placing the tearoom phenomenon within a public health
framework complicates it by adding a new dimension to the
matter, it also simplifies it in terms of clarifying
certain uncontestable positions for social policy
163
formulation.
For example, while ambiguities may still
surround the question of the constitutionality of observing
and video-taping private citizens' behavior in public
restrooms, this issue tends to pale in comparison with the
more urgent concern for protecting the public from an
infectious, lethal disease.
In short, the public health
issue seems to supplant the moral one with regards to the
tearoom phenomenon in the 1980s.
By placing the "problem" of tearoom activity within a
public health perspective, it becomes evident that some form
of social control should be operative in the matter.
Whether or not that social control should be within the
occupational domain of law enforcement or some other branch
of government is something which must be considered.
The
problem with placing it within the jurisdiction of law
enforcement is that the behavior is, consequently, labeled
first and foremost as "criminal."
The moral connotations
attached to such a label are inescapable —
if one commits a
criminal act, then one is commonly considered to have
violated some moral code of society.
Although this
dissertation refutes any idea of an "absolute morality," it
nevertheless recognizes that notions of such a code of
conduct are elements in the common culture.
Thus, the use
of the law enforcement branch as the sole institution of
social control seems inappropriate in response to a behavior
which is, perhaps, best viewed from a medical perspective.
When one considers the importance of accumulating reliable
data on the prevalence and dispersal pattern of this
disease, the argument against attaching connotations of
immorality to the issue becomes all the more compelling.
How can we expect individuals to report their health
problems to public officials if the act of doing so leads to
their stigmatization?
In light of our society's response to
the AIDS epidemic thus far, which has been largely
unsympathetic and, at times, even violent, it seems
ludicrous to expect the situation to become manageable
without making certain public policy changes.
One recommendation for social policy, therefore, would
be to move all issues dealing with homosexual activity into
the jurisdiction of public health officials.
This does not
imply that law enforcement officials should not be involved
in monitoring and apprehending violators of sexual codes of
conduct.
To the contrary, the law enforcement branch could
be quite useful with respect to identifying one of the
target populations for the AIDS virus.
By monitoring public
restrooms and apprehending individuals engaging in
impersonal, homosexual activity in such places, law
enforcement officials could provide an invaluable
165
educational service to this particular target population.
Instead of arresting these men and charging them with
various sexual offenses, police officials could require that
first-time violators participate in some AIDS awareness
workshop that had been designed and administered by city
health officials.
In this manner, public disclosure would
be far less likely than in the case of arrest, where
information relevant to arrestees and their charges are
matters of public record and, often times, published in the
local newspapers.
Moreover, this approach to the problem is
more likely to effect changes in behavior by providing
first-time offenders with information which can be used to
create and select alternatives to tearoom activity.
If the
educational program is designed in a sensitive, informative,
and realistic manner, these men will be exposed to informa­
tion which should promote some increased level of awareness
concerning the health consequences of their behavior.
As
indicated by the closing of the bathhouses in San Francisco
and other centers of homosexual activity, public health
education on the issue of AIDS does effect changes in
lifestyles for the gay population —
changes which, for the
most part, were brought about through personal choice, not
public coercion.
Thus, as has long been observed in the
field of criminology, simply punishing certain forms of
166
behavior does very little to deter individuals from engaging
in these behaviors.
Alternatives to such behaviors must be
identified and constructive alternatives are best identified
and refined through a process of education.
The educational workshop should, therefore, include not
only medical information relevant to the AIDS epidemic, but
also opportunities for the participants to discuss lifestyle
changes and what these changes will mean for them
personally.
Probably the best vehicle for such discussions
would be small groups wherein participants are encouraged to
voice their concerns, fears, and resentment regarding the
changes which will have to be made in their lives if they
are to conduct themselves in socially and sexually
responsible ways.
Resistance to change is an element of
human nature and, therefore, should be an expected audience
reaction to the workshop.
This resistance, whether overt or
covert, must be dealt with as, perhaps, the most important
feature of the workshop.
In addition to the above policy consideration, this
study holds certain implications for future research on the
subject in impersonal, homosexual encounters.
First, as
indicated in the methodology chapter, gaining entry into the
social sphere of the tearoom is going to pose problems for
any future researcher —
regardless of whether the
researcher is male or female or using covert or overt field
techniques.
While working with law enforcement officials
minimizes or eliminates certain threats to the ethical codes
which guide social science research, this strategy does not
topple all of the obstacles to the study of the subject.
As
discussed earlier, working with police officials created its
own set of problems which were exacerbated by the fact that
the researcher was a female.
Suspicion on the part of
police respondents concerning the researcher’s "real"
objective, nervous joking and clowning during interviews,
and the general reluctance of releasing the video tapes were
just a few of the problems encountered in the field
experience.
These problems are to be expected when
conducting sex-related research.
This research also has an implication for the direction
that future research might take on the subject of
impersonal, homosexual encounters.
Specifically, the AIDS
issue needs to be made a more central element in future
tearoom research.
Has the AIDS threat caused a decrease in
the amount of tearoom activity?
How has the tearoom
population changed its behavior as the result of the AIDS
threat?
Although the present researcher was able to elicit
opinions from her so-called "consultants" (the patrons who
were personal acquaintances of hers and had never been
arrested), these are merely the opinions of a couple of
individuals —
hardly sufficient for advancing a statement
concerning the effect of the AIDS problem of tearoom
activity.
However, the opinions of both of these men
indicated that the AIDS issue has done little to deter
individuals from engaging in tearoom encounters.
Assuming
their opinions are accurate reflections of the situation,
one may want to study exactly why these men are continuing
to engage in behavior that is certain to kill some of them.
An answer to this question would prove to be a valuable
contribution to the literature in both sociology as well as
psychology.
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APPENDIX A
STANDARD ANALYTICAL FORMAT
Date of encounter:
Date of observation:
Time begun ____
Time begun ______
Time ended ____
Time ended ______
Number of people in facility:
X = initiator of interaction
Y = recipient of X's attention
Y ' = alternate recipient of X's attention
(Y" , Y " ', etc.)
A-J = other participants
P = police officer
Primary Participants:
X - physical description
Y - physical description
MAP OUT THE SEQUENCE OF ACTIVITY
OCCURRING DURING THE INTERACTION
F = fellatio performed
C = contract negotiated
Describe activities relevant to
the following stages of
interaction
1.
Positioning:
Urinal
Stall
Other
Eye contact —
Eye contact —
2.
Signaling:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
3.
established
maintained (approximate duration)
Initiator — method used
Initiator — location
Recipient — reaction
Recipient — location
Discernible erection(s) — both participants
Physical contact attempted — initiator recipient
Contracting:
A. Initiator — method
B. Recipient — rejection or acceptance
C. Other agreements reached
D. Evidence of lack of mutual interest
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
5.
Sexual exchange — type and position of
participants
Orgasm reached — which participant(s)
Parts of body making contact
Duration of exchange
Culmination of exchange — reaction of
participant(s)
Use of drugs during exchange
Intrusions
Other relevant observations
APPENDIX B
ANALYTICAL NOTES AND NUMERICAL SUMMARIES
The following numerical summaries, graphical displays,
and detailed distributions of some of the data analyzed in
this study are provided in an effort to clarify any
ambiguities concerning the results of the quantitative
portion of the general analysis.
In addition to these
displays of the data, information on the manner in which
certain variables were constructed for inclusion in the
analysis is provided.
Variables and classification schemes are discussed and
detailed according to the manner in which they appear in the
text of this report.
1.
Age of Patron
Size of sample (N)
Lower extreme (XI) = 18
Mean (X) =35.2
Upper extreme (X ) = 61
Median (Md) = 34
6
1
( 1)
5
0448
( 4)
4
000002224566
(12)
55-64 yrs = 2
3
002333346678
(12)
45-54 yrs = 7
2
001224456779
(12)
35-44 yrs = 13
1
89
( 2)
25-34 yrs = 12
( 0)
15-24 yrs = 9
0
Collapsed Categories
stems : tens
leaves; units
Race O f Patron
Races represented in sample;
Frequency distribution:
White; Black
White = 4 2
Statuses represented in sample:
Single
Married
Divorced
Distribution of Marital Status
Marital Status X Aore
Status
Ag. Age
Single
32.9 yrs
Married
42.1 yrs
Divorced
32.5 yrs
25.6%
9.3%
K = 11
N = 4
4.
Occupational Class of Patron
A modified version of the classification scheme
utilized in the Kinsey study (1948) was employed to
create the occupational classes used in this study.
This modified scheme is an 8-way breakdown based upon
the classes developed by Chapin (1933) and Warner
(Warner and Lunt, 1941, 1942), and modified by others.
This scheme attempts to designate the social status of
an individual by measuring the prestige of the work in
which s/he is engaged. Persons within each occupa­
tional class not only work together, but carry out many
of their social activities with persons of other
occupational classes. The scheme does not depend on
the individual's income level per se.
The classes comprising the scheme are described
below. Examples of occupational types appropriate to
each class are also provided.
DESCRIPTION
UNEMPLOYED/DEPENDENT — A person who
is unemployed and/or dependent on the
State or another person for support
DAY LABOR — Persons employed by the
hour for labor which does not require
special training: e.g., construction
labor, domestic help, factory labor,
maids, trash collectors, etc.
SEMI-SKILLED LABOR — Persons employed
by the hour or on other temporary
bases for tasks involving some minimum
of training: e.g., semi-skilled labor
in factories or on construction jobs,
bartenders, cooks, filling station
attendants, firemen, policemen, sol­
diers, truck drivers, taxi drivers, etc.
4.
Occupational Class of Patron
(Continued)
SKILLED LABOR — Persons involved in
manual activities which require training
and experience. Employed either by the
hour or, more often, for piece-work or
on a salary: e.g., skilled workmen as
defined by labor unions, professional
athletes, electri cians, foremen in
factories, linemen, masons, mechanics,
plumbers, etc.
LOWER WHITE-COLLAR GROUP — Persons
involved in work which is not primarily
manual but which more particularly
depends upon their educational back
ground and mental capacity: e.g.,
clergymen (in smaller churches), bank
clerks, bookkeepers, clerks in offices,
clerks in better stores, postal agents,
secretaries, small business operators,
allied medical technicians, insurance
agents, teachers in grade school, some
salesmen, etc.
UPPER WHITE-COLLAR GROUP — Including
persons of some importance in the
business group, bank officials, C.P.A.s,
most clergymen, better store owners,
artists and musicians, teachers in high
schools, school principals, management in
construction/businesses, some lawyers,
some dentists, most salesmen, etc.
PROFESSIONAL GROUP — Persons holding
positions that depend upon professional
training which is usually beyond college
level: e.g., college professors, trained
lawyers (specialized), physicians, spe­
cialized dentists, engineers, some
actors, artist, musicians, and writers,
some clergymen, etc.
BUSINESS EXECUTIVE GROUP — Primarily
executive officers in larger businesses,
and persons holding high social rank
because of financial status or
hereditary familial position.
DISTRIBUTION OF OCCUPATIONAL CLASS
Inasmuch as information was lacking for a number of
individuals with respect to occupational data, a total
of six cases had to be omitted from the analysis.
Thus, the sample size for the variable totalled 37.
Two distributions are provided below: (1) one
which treats cases falling into the "0", or "unem­
ployed" class as missing data; and (2) one which
includes these cases. The cases representing "unem­
ployed" individuals were omitted for part of the
analysis in order to arrive at some overall picture of
the general occupational status of those individuals
having jobs. It was felt that the rather large number
of unemployed individuals was artificially deflating
the distribution. By the same token, completely
ignoring these cases will artificially inflate the
distribution of data along this variable. Hence, both
distributions are depicted in order to allow the reader
to judge for her/himself.
Class
ouencv
0
7
0
3
5
7
Class
8.1
13.5
18.9
24.3
13.5
2.7
2
3
4
ouencv
%— Cases
10.0
16.7
23.3
30.0
16.7
unemployed Included
(N = 37)
Unemployed Omitted
(N = 30)
HISTOGRAM
(Unemployed Included)
HISTOGRAM
(Unemployed Omitted)
Occupational Class
1
2 3
4 5 6 7
Occupational Class
5.
Place of Residence
Three cases were omitted from the analysis of this
due to the fact that they represented individuals who
lived out-of-state and were just travelling through.
After adjusting for these outliers, the following
results were found.
Distribution of Distance Between Tearoom
and Patron's Residence
Distance
Preouencv
0- 9 miles
4
10-19 miles
6
15.0
20-29 miles
21
52.5
30-39 miles
5
12.5
40-99 miles
4
10.0
APPENDIX C
DEFINITION OP CRIMINAL CHARGES
Drug Abuse
Section 2925.11
(A) No person shall knowingly obtain, possess or use a
controlled substance.
(B) This section does not apply to:
(1) Manufacturers, practictioners, pharmicists,
owners of pharmacies, and other persons whose
conduct was in accordance with Chapters 3719.,
4715., 4729., 4731., 4741., of the Revised
Code;
(2) Any person who obtained the controlled
substance pursuant to a prescription issued by
a practitioner, where the drug is in the
original container in which it was dispensed to
such a person;
(3) Any person who obtained the controlled
substance in accordance with the written order
of a member of the patient review board of the
controlled substance therapeutic research
program established by sections 3719.85 to
3719.87 of the Revised Code, if the controlled
substance was possessed or used in accordance
with the written order and if the controlled
substance is in the original container in which
it was dispensed to the person, unless the
written order specifies that the controlled
substance need not be kept in the original
container.
(C) Whoever violates this section is guilty of drug
(1)
If the drug involved is a compound, mixture,
preparation, or substance included in schedule
I or II, with the exception of marihuana, drug
abuse is a felony of the fourth degree, and if
the offender has previously been convicted of a
drug abuse offense, drug abuse is a felony of
the third degree.
(2) If the drug involved is a compound, mixture,
preparation, or substance included in schedule
III, IV, or V, drug abuse is a misdemeanor of
the third degree, and if the offender has
previously been convicted of a drug abuse
offense, drug abuse is a misdemeanor of the
second degree.
(3) If the drug involved is marihuana, drug abuse
is a misdemeanor of the fourth degree, unless
the amount of marihuana involved is less than
one hundred grams, the amount of marihuana
resin, or extraction or preparation of such
resin, is less than five grams, and the amount
of such resin in a liquid concentrate, liquid
extract, or liquid distillate form, is less
than one gram, in which case drug abuse is a
minor misdemeanor.
(D) Arrest or conviction for a minor misdemeanor
violation of this section does not constitute a
criminal record and need not be reported by the
person so arrested or convicted in response to any
inquiries about the person's criminal record,
including any inquiries in any application for
employment, license, or other right or privilege or
made in connection with the person's appearance as a
witness.
Public indecency
Section 2907.09
(A) No person shall recklessly do any of the following,
under circumstances in which his or her conduct is
likely to be viewed by and affront others, not
members of his or her household:
(1) Expose his or her private parts, orengage in
masturbation;
(2) Engage in sexual conduct;
(3) Engage in conduct which to anordinaryobserver
would appear to be sexual conduct or
masturbation.
(B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of public
indecency, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree.
Importuning
Section 2907.07
(A) No person shall solicit a person under thirteen
years of age to engage in sexual activity with the
offender, whether or not the offender knows the age
of such person.
(B) No person
shall solicit
a personof the same sex
engage in sexual activity with the offender, when
the offender knows such solicitation is offensive to
the other person, or is reckless in that regard.
(C) No person
shall solicit
another,not the spouse
the offender, to engage in sexual conduct with the
offender, when the offender is eighteen years of age
or older and four or more years older than the other
person, and the other person is over twelve hut not
over fifteen years of age, whether or not the
offender knows the age of the other person.
(D) Whoever violates this section is guilty of
importuning. Violation of division (A) or (B) of
this section is a misdemeanor of the first degree.
Violation of division (C) of this section is a
misdemeanor of the fourth degree.
Sexual Imposition
(A)
No person shall have sexual conduct with another,
not the spouse of the offender; cause another, not
the spouse of the offender, to have sexual conduct
with the offender; or cause two or more other
persons to have sexual contact when any of the
following apply;
(1) The offender knows that the sexual contact is
offensive to the other person, or one of the
other persons, or is reckless in that regard.
(2) The offender knows that the other person's, or
one of the other persons', ability to appraise
the nature of or control the offender's or
touching person's conduct is substantially
impaired.
(3) The offender knows that the other person or one
of the other persons, submits because of being
unaware of the sexual contact.
(4)
The other person, or one of the other persons,
is over twelve but not over fifteen years of
age, whether or not the offender knows the age
of such person, and the offender is at least
eighteen years of age and four or more years
older than such other person.
(B) No person shall be convicted of a violation of this
section solely upon the victim's testimony
unsupported by other evidence.
(C) Whoever violates this section is guilty of sexual
imposition, a misdemeanor of the third degree.
FOOTNOTES
1. Data relevant to all of the social characteristic
variables included in the analysis were not available
for all 61 cases in the sample. For most of the
analysis on the social characteristics of the patrons,
only 43 men were included in the sample. The exception
to this is the variable, "occupational status" for which
data were available for only 37 men.
2. Police officers did not video-tape all of the arrests
made in this tearoom for a number of reasons. First,
they found the equipment somewhat cumbersome to handle
and, therefore, were reluctant to carry it along to the
site. Furthermore, they felt that they were wasting too
much time and expending too much effort in taping all of
the activity occurring in the tearoom. As mentioned in
the ÿext, much of the video-taped material was "dead
ail, meaning that it simply depicted men relieving
themselves in the facility. Finally, some police
respondents indicated that many times their stops at the
roadside rest were unscheduled, i.e., they occurred on
the way to or from some other police activity.
Consequently, these officers were without video
equipment when they patrolled the tearoom during these
unanticipated visits.
3. Interviews with both of these patrons took place within
the confines of a private office outside of the presence
of any police officer or law enforcement employee.
Efforts were made by the researcher to assure the
patrons of the confidentiality of their response.
4. "Physical attractiveness" was subjectively assessed by
the researcher herself, and at times in conjunction with
police respondents, and was based upon considerations
such as cleanliness, physique, facial features, attire
and, to a lesser degree, age.
5. According to Humphreys (1970:47), "trade" refers to men
who participate in tearoom encounters as genital
partners, but do not yet consider themselves homosexual.
6. The term "masturbation" is used throughout this
dissertation to refer to self-stimulation or the
fondling of one's own genitals. Reaching an orgasm is
not necessarily the outcome of such activity.
7. Taken from a letter in "Open forum; Sex in public
places," edited by L. Carlson in Vector, Vol. 3, No. 6,
(May, 1967), p. 15.
8. Excerpt from an interview with one of the individuals
who frequents tearooms regularly but has never been
arrested.
9. Due to problems of inadequate (i.e., missing) data on
the occupational status of certain individuals in the
original sample of 43 patrons, a total of 6 cases had to
be dropped from the analysis of this particular social
characteristic. Thus, the sample size for this variable
was 37 cases.
10. Of the 37 cases included in this analysis, only 30 were
employed at the time of their arrests. Thus, the sample
size of employed patrons was 30.
11. When outliers (from Tennessee, Arizona, and New York)
are added, the median distance travelled to the tearoom
was approximately 19 miles.
12. Police decoys were also used during one evening in
February of 1984 when the researcher accompanied the
officers to the tearoom to observe enforcement
techniques.
13. Although there were a total of 72 charges, these were
all levelled against the 61 men comprising the universe
of tearoom patrons arrested at this particular facility
between February, 1983 and April, 1984. Eleven of these
men were charged with two offenses. Ten were charged
with loitering in addition to another offense and one
was charged with drug abuse in addition to another
offense.
14. "Value-added" is used here as Neil Smelser has employed
it to refer to a way of ordering stages of interaction
from the more general to the specific. Accordingly,
each stage is seen as "logically prior to the next."
(See Smelser, N., "Theoretical issues of scope and
problems," The Sociological Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 2,
1964, pp. 116-122.)