History Lson: Why snas rema important to gay culture | SBS Voic

Contents:

• UNCLOAKG DIRE: EXPERIENCG THE GAY SNA
• HISTORY LSON: WHY SNAS REMA IMPORTANT TO GAY CULTURE
• THE FUTURE OF BRA’S GAY SNAS
• GAY SNA EXPERIENC
• INTY, CONNECTEDNS, AND SEXUAL HEALTH THE GAY SNA
• WHAT I LEARNED OM TTG MEN FOR HIV AT GAY BATHHO
• MOSW GAY SNAS

UNCLOAKG DIRE: EXPERIENCG THE GAY SNA

The other day, I performed one of the self-experiments while aimlsly roamg the streets of London: searchg for a new experiential plate to tt the lims of my ‘self, ’ I impulsively walked to a gay sna. For those not the know, a gay sna is as an unrground plex of showers, snas, steam rooms and sex booths where gay men go to relax and have totally anonymo sex of all sorts.

) But if you are one of the gay/bi men out there, like many of , who don't get that same sh om Grdr that you do om furtive eye glanc the sna -- which turn to so much more -- then this article is for you: the 5 do's and 5 don'ts of gay cisg.

A relic of an era past, gay bathho and snas are seen as some to be on their way, vis one any of our big ci, and you will fd that bathho and snas are still monly equented, ntug to have huge importance for many gay men. In 1492, thori engaged a purge agast the “vice of sodomy”, nvictg 44 men for homosexual relatns, who they picked up taverns, baths and si (sheds and ho ed for illic sex).

HISTORY LSON: WHY SNAS REMA IMPORTANT TO GAY CULTURE

While smattergs of siar rerdgs exist the followg centuri, wasn't until the late 19th Century that snas beme a standard place for gay sex to late 19th and early 20th centuri when queer people began to gather more regularly public spac, and turn, me to be fed unr the banner of ‘homosexual’. As this occurred, signifint reprsn of gay men and homosexual acts beme predomant across the wtern world as men ught havg gay sex beme subjected to huiatn, imprisonment, and vlence. In a webpage that tails the history of gay snas, “numero urt rerds om the turn of the century nta s of men who were arrted after neighbours, landlords, policemen and YMCA janors looked through keyhol, or broke down doors to disver men havg sex wh each other.

Inially many snas operators reacted strongly agast this, wh some llg the police on gay men, or hirg private guards to protect their facili., ’s reported that New York police nducted a raid agast a sna the Ariston Hotel, arrtg 26 men, wh twelve eventually beg brought to trial on sodomy owners, however, turned a bld eye to the activi,. In the spac men had a safe venue to have sex— one that me wh signifintly ls risk of beg ught that other gay muni beme more visible the post-war era, the 1950s saw dited gay snas beg to open.

In the UK, proment gay activist Jam Wharton ma a splash a few years ago, llg for snas to be closed and “thorns our si that mark our muny as different for the wrong reasons”. “Gay snas n of the possibily of sex, but whether people actually have sex when they get here is a pletely different thg, ” says Stephen Gunn of Mantire Spa Plymouth.

THE FUTURE OF BRA’S GAY SNAS

Nick Batt, owner of Pk Broadway Southampton, says a lol rad statn was terted hearg about his stggle to survive the panmic as a small bs owner until he said he ran a gay sna. ​“Maybe their partner’s passed away and they want some pany, but they don’t feel like they belong the [gay] bars bee you’re visible those plac if you’re over 40. Tom, a 23-year-old gay man om Edburgh, says that pre-Covid he popped to gay snas once every uple of months bee felt ​“slightly kky and different and excg”.

Jack, a 25-year-old gay man om Plymouth, says he would normally vis his lol sna once a week simply to ​“chill out and have fun” while ​“meetg new and different people”.

IntroductnGay snas (also referred to as gay bathho and steamho) are a mercial space which gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex wh men (MSM)Footnote 1 n meet for sexual enunters. There are rerds of gay men g snas for sex the fifteenth century but was the send half of the twentieth century that gay snas beme more wispread London, New York, and other major ci (Bébé, 1996) sexual health of sna ers has been a signifint foc of both rearchers and mentators (e. Yet, gay snas have now bee an important ntext for raisg awarens of safer sex and of enhancg HIV preventn has been limed rearch to the inti, experienc, and perceptns of gay sna ers (e.

GAY SNA EXPERIENC

Moreover, there has been no rearch to gay snas specifilly small- and medium-sized ci the UK, which oms signifint populatns of gay men at risk of HIV and other STIs. In orr to addrs this lacuna rearch, this article foc on the meangs and experienc that gay men livg the English cy of Leicter attribute to the gay sna, the role of the sna their sense of inty, and how they nste their sexual behavr this Health Among Gay MenOf the 89, 400 people livg wh HIV the England 2016, 51% were gay men (PHE, 2018a), and, of the 4370 new HIV diagnos 2017, 53% (n = 2330) were among gay men (Nash et al., 2018). This epimlogil profile among gay men n be attributed to the high equency of sex, multiple sexual partners, and high prevalence of ndomls sex this populatn (Jaspal, 2019) Risk and Preventn the Gay SnaIn their survey study of 134 gay sna ers South Wt England, Horwood et al.

(2016) found high rat of HIV risk behavr – participants reported higher numbers of sual sexual partners and higher equency of unprotected anal sex than muny sampl of gay men reced non-sna settgs.

(2005) noted that gay sna attendance was a signifint risk factor for hepatis A fectn, and that the vast majory of those fected had had sex a gay of the sexual health iativ gay snas clu the dissematn of sexual health knowledge, the provisn of STI screeng and HIV ttg, and awarens-raisg regardg PrEP and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). In several studi, rearchers have found high acceptabily and effectivens of HIV self-ttg gay snas although they do acknowledge the need to ascerta the bt way of implementg this service wh the sna (Huebner, Bson, Pollack, & Woods, 2012; Woods, Lippman, Agnew, Carroll, & Bson, 2016). Ccially, HIV preventn gay snas n target subgroups of gay men who might not ordarily engage wh sexual health servic and who might therefore be missed through nventnal HIV preventn rout (Debattista, 2015), effective terventns should be rmed by social psychologil rearch that ptur the views, perceptns, and behavrs of the target populatn the target ntext, that is, the diverse inti of the people whom we wish to target (Fish, Papaloas, Jaspal, & Williamson, 2016).

INTY, CONNECTEDNS, AND SEXUAL HEALTH THE GAY SNA

When the prcipl are challenged, the dividual experienc threats to inty, which is aversive for psychologil has been some rearch that sheds light on the impact of the gay sna on the inti of ers.

WHAT I LEARNED OM TTG MEN FOR HIV AT GAY BATHHO

Drawg on semi-stctured terviews and archival data, Prr (2009) has argued that the gay sna played an important role the nstctn of a gay culture and inty Sydney, Atralia, partly bee enabled gay men to explore, velop, and exprs their sexual inti the face of the homophobic stigma they faced.

The gay sna uld promote ntuy and self-teem on the basis of one’s sexual inty the face of external threats to this inty the form of social their terview study of gay sna ers Sydney, Atralia, Prr and Cack (2010, p. 93–94) found that the gay sna functned as a “relig-spirual space removed om the fluence of a domant relig stutn, ” which enabled s ers to engage pleasurable, self-thentitg acts away om the stigma of heteronormative Atralian society.

MOSW GAY SNAS

This hts at the notn that the gay sna may promote feelgs of thenticy inty, that is, “the sense that one’s life, both public and private, reflects one’s real self” (Gee, 1998, p. 134) their study of 23 ers of a gay sna Toronto, Hbrich, Myers, Calzavara, Ryr, and Medved (2004) found that ers emphasized the ease of accs to sex the sna ( ntrast to gay bars, for stance), that they valued the anonymy of sexual enunters and, importantly, that they felt safe there. Acrdgly, the prent study draws on tes of inty procs theory to explore the meangs and experienc that gay men livg Leicter attribute to the gay sna, the role of the sna their sense of inty, and how they nste their sexual behavr this ntext.

They all believed themselv to be HIV-negative at the time of the terviews were guid by a semi-stctured terview schle that foced on the followg areas: self-scriptn, self-tegorizatn, motivatns for g the gay sna, sexual behavrs and experienc the gay sna, sexual inty, and sexual health perceptns. Thematic analysis facilat -pth exploratn of how each dividual experienc the gay sna, the meangs they attribute to , and how they nste their sexual behavr that ntext. The clu (1) inty thenticy the gay sna; (2) social nnectedns among sna ers; (3) sexual risk and sexual health the sna; and (4) protectg the inty functns of the gay Soc-Spatial Characteristics of the SnasEach gay sna has s own soc-spatial stcture, characteristics, and cultural “norms” which turn fluence and gui the behavr of s ers, staff members, and sexual health service provirs, such as Natnal Health Service (NHS) nurs, muny workers, wh the premis.