‘Why can’t they meet in bars and clubs like normal people?’: the protective state and bioregulating gay public sex spaces

ABSTRACT

State regulation of gay public sex spaces (PSS) has prompted geographers to assess the influence that localised legalities exert in specific micro-spaces of interaction, and to expand this research into cities not considered to be archetypically ‘gay friendly’. Through the lens of Foucault’s governmentality, it is important to consider state-directed bioregulatory influences upon toilets and parks as PSS. Such bioregulation, with its aim of producing a ‘healthy’ sexual population, seeks to expose public sex as ‘dangerous’, encouraging a policing of PSS and the men who use them. Part of this bioregulation also enlists men using PSS as responsible for peer surveillance to ensure anonymity and privacy in PSS. This auto-surveillance develops a ‘common code of conduct’ leading these men to develop their own modes of ‘normativity’ within these hetero-challenging spaces. By consulting with men who use PSS, I unearth oral histories of how changing laws, policy and ‘mainstream’ attitudes towards PSS in Glasgow, Scotland, have impacted upon cruising and cottaging. This paper will provide a place-specific reading of gay urban sexscapes, exploring how state bioregulation encourages the creation of new gay practices, identities and geographies.

RÉSUMÉ

La régularisation par l’Etat des espaces sexuels publics gays a donné l’idée aux géographes d’évaluer l’influence que les légalités localisées exercent dans des micro-espaces d’interaction spécifique et d’élargir cette recherche aux villes qui ne sont pas considérées comme villes typiquement ouvertes aux gays. Examinées sous l’optique de la gouvernementalité de Foucault, il est important de considérer les influences biorégulatoires dirigées par l’Etat sur les toilettes et les parcs en tant qu’espaces sexuels publics. Une telle bio régularisation, dont le but est de produire une population sexuelle « saine », cherche à exposer le sexe en public comme « dangereux » et encourage un contrôle des espaces sexuels publics et des hommes qui les utilisent. Une partie de cette bio régularisation fait aussi appel à des hommes utilisateurs de ces espaces sexuels publics pour les charger de la surveillance de leurs pairs afin d’assurer l’anonymat et l’intimité dans les espaces sexuels publics. Cette auto-surveillance crée un « code de conduite commun» qui mène ces hommes à concevoir leurs propres modes de « normativité » au sein de ces espaces qui remettent l’hétérosexualité en cause. En consultant des hommes qui utilisent les espaces sexuels publics, je découvre des récits oraux sur la façon dont le changement des lois, de la politique et des attitudes « conventionnelles » envers les espaces sexuels publics à Glasgow en Ecosse ont influencé la drague dans les espaces et toilettes publics. Cet article fournit une lecture spécifique sur le lieu des paysages sexuels urbains gays et explore la façon dont la bio régularisation de l’Etat encourage la création de nouvelles pratiques, identités et géographies gays.

RESUMEN

La regulación estatal de los espacios sexuales públicos homosexuales ha llevado a los geógrafos a evaluar la influencia que ejercen las legalidades localizadas en micro-espacios específicos de interacción y a ampliar esta investigación dentro de ciudades que no se consideran arquetípicamente ‘a favor del colectivo gay’. A través de la lente de la gubernamentalidad de Foucault, es importante considerar las influencias bio-reguladoras dirigidas por el estado sobre los baños y parques como espacios sexuales públicos homosexuales. Tal bio-regulación, con el objetivo de producir una población sexual ‘sana’, busca exponer al sexo público como ‘peligroso’, fomentando la vigilancia de los espacios sexuales públicos homosexuales y de los hombres que los utilizan. Parte de esta bio-regulación también recluta a hombres que usan los espacios sexuales públicos homosexuales como responsables de la vigilancia entre pares para asegurar el anonimato y la privacidad en dichos espacios. Esta auto-vigilancia desarrolla un ‘código de conducta común’ que lleva a estos hombres a desarrollar sus propios modos de ‘normatividad’ dentro de estos espacios que desafían la heterogeneidad. Al consultar con los hombres que utilizan espacios sexuales públicos homosexuales, se sacan a la luz historias orales de cómo las leyes cambiantes, la política y las actitudes ‘convencionales’ hacia los espacios sexuales públicos homosexuales en Glasgow, Escocia, han afectado al sexo gay en los aseos públicos. Este artículo proporcionará una lectura específica de lugar de los espacios sexuales urbanos gay, explorando cómo la bio-regulación estatal estimula la creación de nuevas prácticas, identidades y geografías gais.

KEYWORDS:

• Protective state
• governmentality
• gay
• public sex
• regulation
• bioregulation

Mots clés:

• Etat protecteur
• gouvernementalité
• gay
• sexe en public
• régularisation
• biorégularisation

Palabras clave:

• estado protector
• gubernamentalidad
• gay
• sexo público
• regulación
• bio-regulación

Acknowledgements

Sincere thanks to Professor Chris Philo and Dr. Heather McLean for their thorough and very helpful feedback and suggestions. Thanks, also, to Dr. Gavin Brown for his encouraging editorial steer, and to the three anonymous referees whose careful reading and thorough commentary were extremely helpful. Great thanks should also be given to my interviewees whose reflective insight and willingness to speak openly about their stories was fascinating.

Notes

1. I will use the word ‘gay’ throughout the paper. While ‘gay’ may be used by/about lesbians, and perhaps as a questionable substitute for LGBTQ + identities, here I will restrict ‘gay’ to a focus upon male-orientated space. Furthermore, I use ‘gay’ as a label, not unproblematically, of sexuality, rather than sexual orientation, thereby also covering men who have sex with men (MSM), bisexual men, men who identify as heterosexual and other queer identities.

2. PSS can also be heterosexually orientated spaces. Practices such as ‘dogging’, which centre on ‘public sex, voyeurism and exhibitionism, ‘swinging’ group sex and partner swapping’ also instil ‘moral panic’ (Bell, 2006, pp. 388, 389). Panic is not only produced by the bodies or the sexual orientation of those partaking in public sex, but rather by the public-ness of the practice. Homo-PSS nonetheless attract greater scrutiny, not only because they challenge the assumed ‘proper’ use of hetero-city space, but also because it is seen as more central to ‘gay’ culture and history precisely due to intense regulation of homosex in – and effective ostracism of it from – more conventional spaces.

3. The ‘cottage’ or ‘tea room’ in the USA is the gay-slang term given to a public toilet which is used as a location where men engage in (usually) anonymous sex.

4. I use ‘Stonewallian’ to refer to the importance given to the Stonewall Riots which took place in New York in 1969, and which are widely heralded as the trigger of the LGBT civil rights movements in the USA (The Leadership Conference, 2009).

5. While homosexuality in England and Wales became decriminalised in 1967 with the Sexual Offenses Act (1967) (www.legislation.gov.uk), decriminalisation in Scotland did not take place until 1980 with the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act (1980) (www.legislation.gov.uk).

6. The common use of ‘unsafe sex’ is uncritically attributed to sex without the use of a condom. The condom as a technology for controlling sexual encounter and being promoted as a way to protect the sexual body from venereal disease is one method adopted by the state to ensure the healthy population is to exercise mastery over life protection itself (Foucault, 1998, pp. 145, 146). This promotion of condoms as a way for gay men to have ‘safe’ sex became especially pertinent during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s (Sonenstein, Pleck, & Ku, 1989). Hence, my coining of the term ‘protective state’ in this regard.

7. Participants are identified using a pseudonym which was chosen by them in order fully to ensure their anonymity. Ages are given to highlight those who experience clearly straddle decriminalisation.

8. ‘The Palace of Lights’ was the name given by gay men to public toilets found on St. Vincent Street, Glasgow. Affectionately so named because of the lighting which ‘shone through the translucent pavement tiles’ (Ross, 2011), it was a popular cottaging spot for men from the 1950s until its closure and refurbishment in the mid-1990s.