Laud Humphreys was studying to be an Episcopal priest in the mid-1950s when he learned, shortly after his father's death, that his father, Oklahoma State Representative
Ira D. Humphreys, took trips to New Orleans to have sex with other men. After being dismissed as an Episcopal priest in the 1960s, Laud Humphreys then enrolled as a sociology grad student where he completed a dissertation about men who had sex with other men in
public bathrooms in St. Louis, which Humphreys researched by agreeing to serve as a
"watch queen", looking out for the police. After writing down the license plate numbers of the men having sex, Humphreys traced the men's addresses and contacted them in disguise, claiming to be collecting data for a public health survey. The research, which was condemned as
unethical for its use of
covert methods, was published in 1970 as
Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places.
[more inside]
posted by jonp72
on Sep 8, 2007 -
58 comments
Hey, Asswipe! Sadly, there's a dearth of literature on toilet hygiene. Here in Portugal, being a clean-living people, after wasting a forest of bunched-up paper, we thoroughly wash our arses/asses in a
bidet after - pardon my French -
taking a dump. Men, it must be said, carefully wipe their dicks with toilet paper after a pee and flush twice. Women, though deprived of dicks in the tradition of old Freudian "penis envy", do the same. I wonder whether this is a universal tradition. Pray tell. Ugh!
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Aug 23, 2003 -
84 comments
The
iToilet. Oh, it's not like you weren't expecting it. I'm surprised it took this long, actually.
posted by Su
on Apr 20, 2002 -
15 comments
Restroom Ratings is a site where you can scope out the possible nastiness of a bathroom before you need to go use it. Most of the rated bathrooms seem to be centered around the Minneapolis, MN area. You can even
send a restroom e-card to your friends (or enemies).
posted by manero
on Dec 24, 2001 -
11 comments
Double Entendre and the Design of Public Lavatories. From a recent Wall St. Journal article on the architecture of bathrooms...
"Bathrooms are for more than just relieving the kidneys," says Ian Schrager, owner of 16 boutique hotels in New York, Los Angeles, London and elsewhere. "It's about someone coming out with a smile on their face and wanting to tell their friends about it because it's fun."
As one of the promoters behind Studio 54, I imagine Mr. Scharger is no doubt aware of the double meaning of the above quote. The article is interesting, but of course you need a subscription to read it, as such, I have taken the liberty of posting the article myself without the WSJ's permission.
posted by lockecito
on Jul 24, 2000 -
5 comments
ABC : Get ready for ``Must Pee TV.''
So, imagine, there you are, at the urinal, trying to make peace, when Norm's sexist melon is right in your face, saying "Oh my God, look at the size of that thing!"; "Hey watch your shoes!"; "You're a mover and shaker, and so am I."; "visual tag lines" like: "Another fine use of the color yellow."
"The campaign is designed to raise awareness that the series has been moved to ABC's Friday schedule. The audience will understand when we're done that (Friday) is an adult night of comedy."
posted by tiaka
on Jul 17, 2000 -
9 comments
Going to Disney Land any time soon? You may want to see which
Restrooms are the best, and which ones aren't. Which ones are open, and which ones are closed. Of course, you could always just go there and take your chances.
posted by da5id
on Apr 19, 2000 -
0 comments
