Tearoom Trade: A Study of Homosexual Encounters in Public Places by Laud Humphreys
Sorry, this title is currently out of stock. If you would like a copy please contact mail@donlonbooks.com
Publisher: Duckworth
Year: 1974
Format: Softcover
Edition: Second
Condition: New
From the time of its first publication, Tearoom Trade engendered controversy. It was also accorded an unusual amount of praise for a first book on a marginal, intentionally self-effacing population by a previously unknown sociologist. The book was quickly recognized as an important, imaginative, and useful contribution to our understanding of "deviant" sexual activity. Describing impersonal, anonymous sexual encounters in public restrooms - "tearooms" in the argot - the book explored the behaviour of men whose closet homosexuality was kept from their families and neighbours.
By posing as an initiate, the author was able to engage in systematic observation of homosexual acts in public settings, and later to develop a more complete picture of those involved by interviewing them in their homes, again without revealing their unwitting participation in his study.
Includes a preface by Lee Rainwater and a foreword by D. J. West.
