Tearoom Trade - Study

Study

The book is an ethnographic study of anonymous male-male sexual encounters in public toilets (a practice that was known as "tea-rooming" in U.S. gay slang and "cottaging" in British English).

Humphreys was able to observe and describe various social cues (body language, hand language, etc.) developed and used by participants in those places. The encounters usually involved three people: the two engaged in the sexual activity, and a look-out, called "watchqueen" in slang. By offering his services as the "watchqueen," Humphreys was able to observe the activities of other participants.

38% of Humphreys' subjects were neither bisexual nor homosexual; 24% were clearly bisexual; 24% were single and were covert homosexuals, and only 14% corresponded to the popular stereotype of homosexuality - clear members of the gay community interested in primarily homosexual relationships. Because Humphreys was able to confirm that 54% of his subjects were outwardly heterosexual men with unsuspecting wives at home, an important thesis of "Tearoom Trade" is the incongruity between the private self and the social self for many of the men engaging in this form of homosexual activity. Specifically, they put on a "breastplate of righteousness" (social and political conservatism) in an effort to conceal their deviation from social norms.

Humphreys also concluded that such encounters were harmless, and posed no danger of harassment to straight men. His research has convinced many police departments that such encounters resulted in victimless crime; hence they were able to focus on other problems.