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Book Cover
E-book
Author Humphreys, Laud. author

Title Tearoom trade : impersonal sex in public places / Laud Humphreys
Edition Enlarged edition. / with a retrospect on ethical issues
Published New York : Aldine Pub. Co., 1975

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xviii, 238 pages)
Series Observations
Observations (Chicago, Ill.)
Contents Public settings for "private" encounters -- Methods: the sociologist as voyeur -- Rules and roles -- Patterns of collective action -- Risks of the game -- The people next door -- The breastplate of righteousness -- Kicks, commitment, and social control -- Postscript: a question of ethics -- Retrospect: ethical issues in social research -- Sociological snoopers and journalistic moralizers / Nicholas von Hoffman, Irving Louis Horowitz, Lee Rainwater -- Tearoom trade: means and ends in social research / Donald P. Warwick -- Impersonal sex / Myron Glazer -- Retrospect: ethical issues in social research / Laud Humphreys
Summary "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 behavior of men whose closet homosexuality was kept from their families and neighbors. 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. This enlarged edition of 'Tearoom Trade' includes the original text, together with a retrospect, written by Nicholas von Hoffman, Irving Louis Horowitz, Lee Rainwater, Donald P. Warwick, and Myron Glazer. The material added includes a perspective on the social scientist at work and the ethical problems to which that work may give rise, along with debate by the book's initial critics and proponents. Humphreys added a postscript and his views on the opinion expressed in the retrospect."--Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references
Notes Originally published 1970
Description based upon online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed Feb 6th, 2023)
Subject Public sex -- United States
Men -- Sexual behavior -- United States
Male homosexuality -- United States
Public toilets -- United States
Homosexuality.
Homosexuality -- United States
Homosexuality
homosexuality.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- General.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Regional Studies.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Sociology -- General.
Male homosexuality
Men -- Sexual behavior
Public sex
Public toilets
Homosexuels -- États-Unis.
Homosexualité masculine -- Sociologie -- États-Unis.
Vie sexuelle -- Enquêtes.
Toilettes publiques -- Sociologie -- États-Unis.
United States
Genre/Form Case studies
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780202369426
0202369420
9781351486859
1351486853
9781315130682
1315130688
9781351486842
1351486845