Tearoom Trade

Tearoom Trade is a title of a controversial 1970 Ph.D. dissertation and book "Tearoom trade: a study of homosexual encounters in public places" by Laud Humphreys. The study is an analysis of homosexual acts taking place in public toilets. Humphreys asserted that the men participating in such activity came from diverse social backgrounds, had differing personal motives for seeking homosexual contact in such venues, and variously self-perceived as "straight," "bisexual," or "gay." His study called into question some of the stereotypes associated with the anonymous male-male sexual encounters in public places, demonstrating that many of the participants lived otherwise conventional lives as family men and respected members of their communities, and that their activities posed no danger of harassment to straight males. Because the researcher misrepresented his identity and intent and because the privacy of the subjects was infringed during the study, "Tearoom Trade" has caused a major debate on privacy for research participants and is now often used as an example of highly controversial social research.