The only gay in the village: Sexuality and the net

Abstract

Just as the creation of the information society has allowed for the expansion in e-commerce and online communication, so too has it allowed for the expansion of online sites and communities that support minority sexual practices and activities. One such activity is the cottaging phenomenon, which involves men seeking sexual satisfaction in public lavatories with other men. Like many other groups, participants in this online community have embraced the emerging technology, utilising message boards and online discussion to offer advice, spread awareness of locations, arrange sexual meetings in the physical world and share cautions and warnings. Such sites can be and are additionally used for law enforcement purposes both as a surveillance tool and as a means of preventing the criminal practice of cottaging taking place. This article will seek to consider these technological and sociological developments alongside the emerging law in this area together with an exploration of how these technological developments have changed the operation of this phenomenon in the physical world.

Acknowledgements

This article is based on the paper ‘Private Acts in Public Places: Sexuality and the Net’ delivered at the Annual Conference of the Socio-Legal Studies Association at the University of Liverpool, March 2005. The author would like to thank all those who contributed to the lively and useful discussions that helped to further develop this article.

Notes

1 ‘Doggers Collared by ASBOS’, Daily Star, 18 September 2005; ‘Wildfowl Sex Shock’, The Sunderland Echo, 13 September 2005, ‘People Investigation: Park & Writhe, Car Pervs’ Naked Lust Infests the Haunts of Innocent Children’, The People, 11 September 2005; ‘Lying Doggo, Steve?’, The Sun, 26 August 2005, ‘Dump the Dirty Old Van, TV Bosses Order Steve’, Daily Star, 24 August 2005, ‘Dogger on the Prowl’, The News of the World, 14 August 2005, ‘Sexual Health—The Sex Doctor: Boss Watched Me Having Group Sex’, Sunday Mirror, 31 July 2005, ‘Away From Prying Eyes, Beauty Spot at Centre of Sex Claims’, Lancaster Guardian, 21 July 2005, ‘High Season for the Low Life’, The Sunday Times, 12 June 2005, ‘Car Park Call is Thrown Out’, The Journal, 26 May 2005, ‘Some Lake it Hot: Windermere's Top Spot to Get Frisky Al Fresco’, Daily Star, 8 May 2005, ‘Sex and Speed Dog Site of Beauty Spot’, Lancashire Evening Post, 14 February 2005, ‘Logging on to Dogging’, The Sun, 22 January 2005.

2 ‘Blitz on Gay Sex’, Daily Star, 22 May 2005; ‘Police Monitor Toilet Blocks’, Morecambe Visitor, 23 February 2005; ‘Police Close Off Gay Laybys After Attacks’, Coventry Evening Telegraph, 22 February 2005; ‘Plug Pulled on Gay Sex and Drugs Loos’, The Sentinel, 28 October 2004; ‘Police Crackdown on Local Internet Perverts’, Blackpool Gazette, 5 October 2004; ‘Toilets Become a Cottaging Worry’, Morecambe Visitor, 15 September 2004; ‘Gay Sex Claims at Prom Toilets’, Morecambe Visitor, 25 August 2004; ‘Picnic Site Used by Gay Men May be Rebuilt’, Western Mail, 9 July 2004.