'CRUISING' THE BODY POLITIC
____________________________________________________________________________
Dann Hoxsey
York University
Abstract
The term ‘cruising’ refers to the act of men seeking other men in public places for sex –
often in public.
Laud Humphrey's demonstrated that because cruising is underground and taboo, Cruisers
tended to learn about cruising through a connection to networks of other Cruisers. However, in
the absence of such networks, I argue that The Body Politic (TBP), a widely distributed Canadian
gay journal, acted as a sex-radical journal that provided men with a wealth of information on
where to cruise, when to cruise, and even how to cruise for sex.
More specifically, a review of the first six years (twenty-nine issues) rrevealed two
primary discourses on cruising. The first was captured in articles about arrests. In a rudimentary
sense, these accounts imparted information to cruisers in two ways. They provided overt
information on cruising through statistics on arrests, explanations of the different criminal
charges, and what to expect if one was arrested. And, by reading between the lines, accounts of
arrests covertly told the curious which sites were active and how to determine the possible threat
of arrest.
The second discourse discussed cruising as a morally unproblematic -and thus sexually
radical- form of sexual activity. These accounts more explicitly referred to the pleasures of
cruising and framed cruising as an integral part of a gay male’s experience. Such accounts can
be seen as radical for two reasons. First, these articles present an unabashed discussion about the
pleasures of cruising thus, challenging public notions of cruisers as immoral, desperate, or
predators. Second, by talking about cruising experiences or by giving tips or advice, these
articles demonstrated that there was a cultural context important to understanding cruising. In
this way, I argue that, to some extent, The Body Politic was able to make up for a lack in an
individual’s access to a network of cruisers as it served as a de facto “guide to cruising.”
Key Words: Public Sex, Cruising, Body Politic, Sexual Policing,
_________________
Introduction
In 1970 Laud Humphreys published a book on cruising, Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex
in Public Places, in which the activities of those “in the shadows” were dragged into the public
light. Humphreys’ book exposed an American sexual subculture of Cruisers; that is, men who
sought out other men in public parks and washrooms (i.e. tearooms) for sexual encounters. This
was particularly revelatory as a fundamental aspect of cruising was that it was hidden from the
general public and considered taboo to speak about.i
Humphreys' research found that a subset of Cruisers demonstrated close ties to the gay
community and thus, to a network of cruising informants. Drawing on such networks,
“participants learned the strategies of the tearooms through friends already experienced in this
branch of the sexual market.”ii These relationships allowed participants to share information
about cruising sites and how to negotiate sexual engagements once they had entered them. That
being said, Humphreys found that a much larger proportion of Cruisers were isolated from such
1
networks and any subsequent exchange of information. Furthermore, Humphreys’ account was
rather tenuous for how those who were removed from cruising networks learned about tearoom
activities. This has led me to consider alternate ways that the uninitiated might learn about such
an elusive culture.
In this paper I argue that one's relationship to a network of Cruisers was not the only way
that knowledge about the culture of cruising (or the 'tearoom') was transmitted. Instead, I suggest
that The Body Politic (TBP), a Canadian-based gay journal, acted as a sex-radical journal that
provided a wealth of information on where to cruise, when to cruise, and even how to cruise for
sex.
A Study of Cruising in The Body Politic
The Body Politic (TBP) began as a self-identified gay liberation journal.iii On page two
of the very first issue the TBP collective outlined its three-fold mission, “a) to inform the gay
community about NEWS events involving the gay liberation movement. b) to provide a forum
for individuals to express their views on sexual politics. c) to publish prose, poetry, book and
film reviews, and graphics relevant to gay liberation.”iv
TBP was published as a bi-monthly paper from its inaugural issue in November 1971
until August 1976 after which, the journal switched to a monthly release. Rick Bébout, a long
time collective member, noted that the first twenty-one issues required an average of twenty-five
volunteers, and that, “By the end of 1976 nearly 60 people were working on each issue” with
only a few paid positions.v As the journal grew in size, so did their distribution. Issue #7
reported a total circulation of 4,150.vi The distribution peaked in the early 1980s at 9,000 copies
before a rapid decline in readership and its close in 1987.vii
This research project looked at representations of cruising in the first twenty-nine issues
of The Body Politic (spanning from 1971 up to and including 1976).viii Each issue was read from
cover to cover in search of any discussions of cruising or public sex, resulting in 128 articles of
varying lengths and depths.ix
A review of these twenty-nine issues revealed two primary discourses on cruising. The
first was captured in articles about “arrests.” In a rudimentary sense, arrest accounts imparted
information to cruisers in two ways. They provided overt information on cruising through
statistics on arrests, discussions on the criminal charges, and what to expect if one was arrested.
And, by reading between the lines, accounts of arrests covertly told the curious which sites were
active and how to determine the threat of arrest. The second discourse discussed cruising as a
morally unproblematic -and thus sexually radical- form of sexual activity. These accounts more
explicitly referred to the pleasures of cruising and framed cruising as an integral part of a gay
male’s experience. In this way, I argue that The Body Politic was able to make up for a lack in
an individual’s access to a network of cruisers as it served as a de facto “guide to cruising.”
Accounts of Arrests: as Overt Information
As noted earlier, the most immediate way that cruising was talked about in The Body
Politic was in articles about arrests. In this case, references to arrests were fairly direct, noting
that people had been arrested for having sex in public places. For example, George Hislop
provided a breakdown of sexually-related arrests in Toronto for January 1972, “Bloor Subway
[washrooms] 14 cases= 28 people; Parkside Tavern 5 cases= 10 people, all Gross Indecency; 2
cases of Indecent Assault Male were reported. One case involved a 20 yr. old male with a
juvenile and the other a 28 yr. old male, accused of making a pass at a 20 yr. old male”.x
2
One of the most striking aspects of these accounts is the extent to which the articles
overtly provided details about various aspects of cruising. In this sense, the main focus of the
article was a deliberate (i.e. overt) transmission of information meant to educate the reader about
(some aspect of) cruising. For example, in the article “A Court-in' We Will Go”, George Hislop
explained that, “Gross Indecency is an indictable offense (a serious charge)." xi We also learn in
issue #1 that the terms 'gross indecency' and 'indecent exposure' are poorly defined (as is the
distinction between the two) and that the police take advantage of this vagueness and apply
double charges. As Hislop warned, the purpose of double charging Cruisers was meant to
encourage them to take the lesser charge and avoid Upper Court.xii In a very thorough account of
the judicial system, he explained that police double-charged as it was easier for the police to get
a conviction in the lower courts,
Indictable Offenses (Gross Indecency, Indecent Assault Male, and Counseling to commit
Gross Indecency) all carry the right for trial in a higher court. That is, you have a choice
to either proceed at the lower level (Provincial Court) before a Provincial Judge alone or
you can elect for trial in a higher court (County Court) before a Judge alone or with a
Judge and Jury. We recommend the latter course if possible. You get a much better
hearing in High Court and Juries are not usually sympathetic towards police
entrapment.xiii
The interesting thing about these overt accounts of arrests was that they provided the Cruiser
with some concrete information on how to understand the distinction between the charges and
how to (successfully?) manage an arrest.
Perhaps the most overt form of information is contained in a series of maps that first
appeared in issue #7, listing “Toronto’s Gay Spots.” Similar maps were published for
Vancouver and Montreal, followed by an updated map for Toronto in issue #14.xiv Each map
contained a list 25 to 30 “Gay Spots”. The first map, “Toronto’s Gay Spots” simply listed a
variety of gay organizations and cruising spots by numbers (which correspond to a spot on the
map). These included bars, “5. Momma Coopers, above the Parkside, good dancing spot,
women welcome;” homophile organizations, “19. CHAT offices - 406 Jarvis, 24 hour phone
service - 964-0653;” and some cruising areas, “1. Queen's Park -warm evenings esp. Fri. and
Sat.”xv Toronto’s updated map contained the most comprehensive information about cruising
sites and detailed directions on how to find them, “9. Woodbine Beach -- in the east end. Take
the Queen St. car to Woodbine, and walk south to the beach.” This list also identified
Philosopher’s Walk and High Park with an asterisk, warning readers to, “* Watch for police in
these areas.”xvi
While it is unlikely that The Body Politic was an individual’s only source for cruising
information, it is also important to recognize that TBP was prescriptive in that it educated its
readers on both the legality of cruising and instructed them on some of the rules for cruising. In
this sense, the 128 references to cruising demonstrate that, for those interested, TBP was a
considerable source of information.
Accounts of Arrests: as Covert Information
While overt discussions of cruising are meant to provide specific information to cruisers,
such accounts of cruising are less common than one might wish. xvii Based on Humphrey's
understanding that not all cruisers had equal access to networks of cruising informants particularly men in rural communities- I suspect that the less integrated readers would most
likely have poured over past issues and dissected them for every tidbit of information they could
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find. This has led me to see another way to read the articles: for their covert details. In this sense,
covert information (about cruising) has to be gleaned from the main argument (or focus) of the
article in a way that 'liberates' details about cruising that are embedded in the discussions of
arrests.
A letter to the editor in issue #12 nicely demonstrates my point about the importance of
TBP to the disconnected cruiser. A young man (George) wrote to TBP and explained that he had
purchased an issue "quite by accident." Reading about some cruisers who had been arrested, he
then expressed his ignorance of, and interest in, cruising and asked for any back issues that might
be particularly informative,
I lack experience, and am fairly ignorant about the love techniques, beliefs and facts
about the better half, so I have enclosed a dollar in the hope you could send me an
appropriate edition of your paper you feel will suit me, plus any information on gay spots,
plus advice you can give me.xviii
One can assume that part of what George was looking for was a sort of 'How To' manual
for cruising; perhaps something like the following account, taken from an article detailing a court
case. Towndrow noted that when visiting a washroom saw a guy in the next stall -through a
'glory' hole, “A quick glimpse of his face revealed a fairly handsome, mid-twenties, husky truckdriver type. By now I was aroused. He was undoubtedly aware of this. He began to beckon to me
- a gesture that was clearly an invitation.”xix As he stood to show his penis through the hole he
immediately heard pounding on his stall door and a man yelled, “Open up. You’re under arrest.”
It turned out the man in the stall beside him was a plain-clothes officer who had signaled his
partner to let him know that Towndrow was cruising.
The interesting thing about this article is that though Towndrow was literally caught with
his pants down, his account walks the reader through the details of cruising (i.e. checking out the
stalls, looking through the cracks, receiving a 'signal', and using the holes in the partitions). This
is what the proverbial ‘Georges’ wanted to know more about.
With the idea that articles could be covertly informative, the most interesting thing about
listing arrests in TBP is that these accounts inadvertently identified cruising spots and provided
some indication as to how popular a particular spot was. For example, in issue #1 the article
“Toronto Civilian Park Patrol,” starts with the sentence, “Philosopher's Walk is a pleasant car
free pedestrian way between Queen's park and Moor St.”xx While Hube’s intent was to warn
readers about the recent police entrapments, he inadvertently announced to the public, "You can
get laid at Philosopher’s Walk!" Similarly, Hannon’s column, “War on Sin Produces Gay
Casualties” tells the reader that there had been an increase in arrests on Hanlan’s point, “A
[Toronto] gay beach for at least 20 years… At least 62 people have been arrested there recently
for being nude in a public place,”xxi or that police, hiding in 'dummy' vents at the Bloor-Yonge
subway washrooms "[resulted in three] charges of gross indecency alone and 20 of the
combination gross indecency and indecent act."xxii This information is particularly useful if the
reader has a handy-dandy “Gay Spots” map. With map in hand, readers like George now know
where Hanlan’s Point is and what happens there; they also know why there might be holes in the
stall partitions; to look out for suspicious vents in a bathroom; and that, the bathroom at the
Bloor-Yonge subway station is a particularly active cruising spot.xxiii
Accounts of Cruising as a Pleasurable Part of Gay Culture
While all of the accounts of cruising in TBP can be said to impart some form of
4
information (whether overt or covert), the tone in some articles took a decidedly radical or sexpositive approach in discussing cruising. Namely, these accounts framed the discussion of
cruising as a pleasurable part of the gay male experience. For example, in an unabashed account
of the joys of cruising, the article “What do you say to a guy after you’ve blown him in the park?”
is exemplary in demonstrating the link between pleasure and gay culture
I love having sex in the park. I love the dark. I love the hint of city lights and the
streetcars moving on the hill like grey tin fish. I love the quiet, the shrill, invisible birds,
the damp grass, the thunder of a high wind in the trees. I love getting a hard-on as soon
as someone gets within 10 feet of me. I love the sudden hand and the sound of zippers.
The statuesque men who peer at us like shrubbery. The quick, dissolving cum.xxiv
This link between cruising, pleasure, and gay culture is further reinforced as the author
described his encounter with a young man (George). George seemed to be nervous and appeared
to lack experience with cruising. After George passed back and forth a few times the author
mumbled "Nice night," as a way to initiate contact,
He was back in less than a minute. Sat back down, closer to me this time, stared straight
ahead and began that slow, casual kneading of the crotch which is so delicious, which
gets its charm from the fact that it could be merely the assuaging of a persistent itch. I
watch longer than I would generally. I know that signal, I know it means an itch it will
take another hand to assuage, my hand… I stifle a sudden urge to giggle - it's easy. I'm
very excited. I bend down and begin to suck his cock - it's a lovely cock, and a lovely
young body and I'm thrilled.”xxv
However, the purpose of this article was not to recount a sexual experience. Instead, the author
used this encounter to consider his own experience of cruising as a younger, nervous gay man.
He concluded by noting that seasoned cruisers had a sort of responsibility towards helping the
uninitiated negotiate their sexual desires. Worried about the social isolation of young "in the
closet" gay men, the author stated, "My job will be to see that he leaves the park that night
feeling he's made contact with another gay person, not just another mouth or cock… At some
deep level he has to realize that there must be another way of relating to people than the only
way he's found so far –with his cock, in the park."xxvi
One of the most unapologetic arguments linking the importance of cruising to the gay
male experience was by Gerald Hannon, in his article “Of Men and Little Boys.” xxvii
Challenging the “concern for the plight of children seduced and abused by a large and
pathological segment of the homosexual population," he explained how age restrictions meant
that gay youth did not have access to “traditional” social venues (i.e bars, clubs, or bath-houses)
to meet other gay men.xxviii As such, a lack of access meant that many gay youth -and in the
closet men- were more likely to experience gay culture by cruising public places. In a follow up
article (responding to some of the backlash that “Of Men and Little Boys” had received), Hannon
noted that a number of people had contacted him to speak of the importance of cruising when
they were youth, “Ever since the brouhaha in the Toronto papers, men have been coming to me
and saying that yes, they were out there on the streets and in the parks at the age of eleven or
twelve, and they were quite consciously looking for what, in our culture, 'dirty old men’ have
been the traditional purveyors of.”xxix
Both “What do you say to a guy…” and “Of Men and Little Boys” point to a fairly
radical pro-sex reading in TBP. Rather than deny –or denounce- the pleasures of cruising, the
articles approved for publication by the TBP collective demonstrate an understanding of cruising
as something pleasurable or enticing, but also as a social experience that needed to be defended,
5
often challenging the legal and social boundaries by arguing that the law and society needed to
adjust to accommodate a wider legal/moral understanding of sex, one that incorporated cruising
into a cultural understanding of what was considered socially acceptable in the gay
community.xxx
In short pleasurable accounts of cruising in TBP recognized that the amount of one's
sexual partners did not necessarily mean the same thing in the gay community as it did in the
straight community, as, “The so-called 'promiscuity' of gay men is not the acting out of insatiable
lust, but rather a style of behaviour appropriate for developing friendship and relationships
within the gay subculture.” xxxi Here the argument for cruising informs the reader of the
cultural/pleasurable components of cruising, a larger draw to cruising (for the gay man) than the
limitations experienced by youth.
Conclusion
In this paper I have argued that it is possible to read articles on cruising (in TBP) in two
primary ways. In one way the reader could read about the tentative warnings about arrests,
techniques of entrapment, and the structure of the legal system. These articles presented
information in an overt way, telling the reader how entrapment worked, how to avoid being
arrested, and if relevant, how to negotiate the legal system. At the same time, many of the
articles in TBP demonstrated how reading between the lines could reveal covert information to
those interested in learning more about cruising. In this way, they inadvertently told the reader
where to find other cruisers or how to negotiate a hook-up. Finally, some articles brought
titillating information about cruising right to the forefront, making it the focus of the article.
When this happened, such accounts could be understood as radical for two reasons. First, these
articles championed a discussion about the pleasurable aspects of cruising, thus challenging any
preconceived notions of cruising as shameful, or Cruisers as desperate predators. Second, by
talking about cruising experiences (or by giving tips or advice), these articles demonstrated that
there was a cultural context that needed to be taken into consideration when discussing cruising.
In this way, TBP employed a variety of strategies used to inform or educate its readers on the
subject of cruising.
i
Humphreys Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places 1970 (New York: Aldine, 1975 [1970]). While
Humphreys’ work refers to tearooms (where tearooms are specifically public washrooms in which sexual activities
occurred), other references tend to refer to such locales simply as washrooms. Furthermore, the act of seeking men
in public for sex is generally referred to as ‘cruising,’ a concept also found in Humphreys’ book, and corroborated
by participants in my own research. Henceforth, I will follow the tenets of the literature and refer to the specific site
of the activity by its noun (i.e. public washrooms, parks, alleys), and the act of searching out sexual partners in such
places as cruising.
ii
Ibid. 123.
iii
Despite the tabloid style layout TBP identified itself as a journal, as Michael Riodron clarified in issue #29, “The
BP didn't start as a newspaper, but as a journal — it still calls itself that officially, though everyone seems to call it
‘the paper’.” Michael Riordon, “Five Years of The Body Politic: Why?” The Body Politic (TBP) 29 (1976): 29.
Consequently, citations for TBP articles are formatted in the journal style for the Chicago Manual of Style (16th
edition). Additionally, the collective nature of the journal meant that authorship was not always attributed to an
article, nor was an article necessarily assigned a title. The citation will include the author’s name and/or article title
where one is attributed. Finally, subsequent citations will refer to The Body Politic as “TBP.”
iv
TBP 1 (1971):2.; The collective saw gay liberation as a more radical approach to dealing with structural
oppression, “The power of Gay Liberation will succeed when we stop apologizing for our sexuality. To end this
shit-head type of thinking we need positive action. People will do things when moved by forceful confrontation, but
not when we plead for acceptance. The very fact that we, as a minority, feel obliged to act nice, be accommodating
6
and not aggravate the straights who dominate this society, is the basis of our oppression.” The article ends with, “At
the moment, Gay Power remains a slogan scribbled on lavatory walls. Take it off these walls and give it meaning.”
Bart Moncq “The Power of,” TBP 1.(1971):8. The use of ‘gay liberation’ is important to note as letters to the editor
regularly criticized TBP for not adequately addressing lesbian concerns or including lesbian viewpoints in the paper.
v
Rick Bébout, “Beyond: From 1974,” accessed April 20, 2014, http://www.rbebout.com/oldbeep/beyond.htm.
According to Riordon’s article on TBP’s fifth anniversary, by 1976 Merv Walker was TBP’s sole paid employee, “If
you can call $300 a month paid.” Riordon, “Five Years of The Body Politic,” 28.
vi
“Growing,” TBP 7 (1973): 3.
vii
Pink Triangle Press, “The Collective Years: The Body Politic,” (2014), Accessed April 22, 2014,
http://pinktrianglepress.com/collective-years. The Pink triangle Press website reported that “By the early '80s only a
third of its 9,000 copies were sold in Toronto. Another third went to other parts of the country and the rest went to a
readership found all over the world.” In 1985 Pink Triangle Press launched Xtra, which eventually took over TBP’s
role as Canada’s main gay news journal.
viii
Part of the reason that I chose this period to study was that Humphreys’ book was published in 1970 based on his
interviews from the mid 1960s (Humphreys, Tearoom Trade). However, the only reference to Humphreys’ work is
a review of his other book “Out of the Closet” and no mention of Tearoom Trade. Presumably, not a lot had changed
in the period between his interviews and TBP’s articles, and yet, the decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada
(in 1969) marked a change in the ability to talk publicly about homosexuality. I suspect that this may have had
some impact on the prevalence of cruising discussions in TBP.
ix
It is interesting to note that by 1976, references to cruising tended to be more explicit. However, a look at the
titles of the articles for the remaining eleven years revealed a dramatic decline in articles that directly referred to
cruising. This shift of focus coincided with a rise in public discussions about bath-house raids and challenges to
bawdy house laws. As my central focus was on discussions of public sex, this total does not include articles that
referred to arrests in non-public places (i.e. bathhouses or bars, of which there were many).
x
George Hislop, “Don’t Grope Strangers,” TBP 4 (1972): 19.
xi
George Hislop, “A Court-in’ We Will Go,” TBP 5 (1972): 7.
xii
Ibid.
xiii
Ibid. Hislop’s point is that the police bully Cruisers into guilty pleas on the grounds that one offence is less
serious than another. However, he warns that pleading guilty to a lesser charge will still result in a criminal record
and that challenging the charge in a higher court is more likely to go in the Cruiser’s favour -and result in no
criminal record.
xiv
John Scythes, “Toronto’s Gay Spots,” TBP 7 (1973): 6; Robert Cook and John Scythes “Vancouver’s Gay Spots,”
TBP 8 (1973): 6; Gay Line, “Montreal Gay Spots,” TBP 9 (1973): 8; and, the updated map for Toronto, “Gay
Toronto,” TBP 14 (1974): 19.
xv
Scythes, “Toronto’s Gay Spots,” 6.
xvi
The second Toronto map was updated with two new cruising areas added and two taken off. “Gay Toronto,”19.
Similarly, Vancouver’s category for “Parks, Beaches and Public Places” contained the caveat, “Police harassment of
gays in public places is on the upswing in Vancouver. Take heed” and followed this point up with a reference in the
list, “21. Kitsilano Beach: Watch out for unmarked police cars at night.” Cook and Scythes “Vancouver’s Gay Spots,”
6
xvii
See, Allen Young, “Gays in Cuba,” TBP 19 (1975): 11, for an obvious example of overt information.
xviii
Herb Spiers, “On His Way: Letters From a Small Town Youth,” TBP 12 (1974): 16.
xix
John Towndrow, “Entrapped: How One Gay Teacher Discovered the Frightening Powers of the Police and the
Courts” TBP 25 (1976): 9-10.
xx
Rombus Hube, “Toronto Civilian Park Patrol,” TBP 1 (1971): 9.
xxi
Gerald Hannon, “War on Sin Produces Gay Casualties,” TBP 20 (1975): 8.
xxii
“Toronto's 73 Arrest Statistics,” TBP 11 (1974): 6.
xxiii
On the other hand, the reader must be on his guard against inferences based on non-relevant information. For
example, one article tells of a Superior Court Judge who rejected evidence gathered through “reprehensible conduct”
by two Los Angeles vice cops. The case involved a man arrested for having sex in a toilet stall at a department store
in downtown L.A., “The toilet compartment doors had been removed earlier, and the two cops concealed themselves
behind a ventilating grill with a view of the stalls. In court, however, their observations were called unlawful search
and seizure and invasion of privacy, and could not be used as evidence.” “News of the Gay,” TBP 2 (1972): 12.; As
we know from another article in TBP, in Canada “[The cubicle] is not a private place in law, and therefore any
7
sexual activity in a cubicle is illegal,” regardless of whether or not there are doors. Hislop, “Don’t Grope Strangers,”
18.
xxiv
“What Do You Say to a Guy After You’ve Blown Him in the Park?” TBP 27 (1976): 13.
xxv
Ibid.
xxvi
Ibid.
xxvii
Gerald Hannon, “Of Men… And Little Boys,” TBP 5 (1972): 3.
xxviii
Ibid. Hannon argued that it was the threat of the parent’s loss of control (and ownership) over a child’s
sexuality that fostered such myths and that, as public cruising sites were outside of the home, they were less
susceptible to parental surveillance.
xxix
Gerald Hannon, “Children and Sex,” TBP 6 (1972): 3.
xxx
Brian Waite and Cheri DeNovo, “We Demand,” TBP 1 (1971): 4.
xxxi
Greg Lehne, “Gay Male Fantasies,” TBP 15 (1974): 12. It is important to note that Lehne’s analysis is based on
50 responses. Rather than taking these results as conclusive, I use them as an indication that there are various
opinions and stances on the topic.
8