Gay public shower cruising

It is also nerve-wracking. Are TikTok videos encouraging this kind of behavior, or is it making cruising too easy, too visible? Gatekeeping

The conversation has been amplified by a more recent phenomenon: the “peak gay sluttiness” era. But in 2023, it seems the once secret world of public cruising might be facing its most significant challenge: the rise of TikTok influencers, a crackdown from law enforcement, and the broader implications of the digital age.

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The Digital Takeover of Cruising

As cruising apps become more mainstream, it’s a fair question to ask: is public cruising dead?

These spots often attract men looking for privacy and spontaneity, especially after dark or during quiet hours.

🚻 Public Toilets (aka Cottaging)

Cottaging is the slang term for cruising in public toilets. It’s about bringing color and life again to these shadowy meeting places. Against that stereotype I chose to show, in my photos, smiling faces and blooming, horny guys in an exciting setting.

While exact spots vary by location, there are certain types of places where cruising has naturally become part of the culture. Keep it casual but calculated.” His step-by-step guide is both cheeky and practical: “Flip the brim when you’re ready,” he advises, adding that front-facing is innocent, but a backwards cap signals something far more exciting.

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♬ original sound – Chase Brody

 

There’s a kind of fun in these videos, but also a deeper reflection on how technology has turned cruising from a discreet, underground activity into something that can be shared with thousands, if not millions.

Public toilets around the world all tell the same story. In every city or village, public urinals served as an LGBTQ lighthouse, as a magnet.

Public toilets have often been associated with murky perverts prowling around. “Cruising is only viable if the people that don’t want to see it never see it,” he emphasizes.

The Dangers of Visibility

But this shift to the digital realm brings new questions.

Not quite, but it’s undeniably changing. (Full disclosure: I’m a Schwules* employee in the curation and exhibition department.) And while many modern queers would rather forget this chapter of their people’s sordid past, public restrooms are undeniably places where community and connection were kindled among us against unlikely odds.

These spaces are often frequented by men who enjoy voyeurism or group play in a controlled indoor setting.

🚶‍♂️ Footpaths, Trails & Canals

In some areas, long walking trails or canals become informal cruising areas, especially near towns and cities. The motivation for this exhibition goes beyond mere nostalgia.

Martin has spent years collecting tens of thousands of historic objects and photos and conducting dozens of interviews about restrooms to try to capture the essence of that freedom.

In a time where labels are pushed to their limits, and social media celebrates both the freedom and the dangers of hookup culture, the question arises—should these practices still be gate-kept? Fenster Zum Klo: Public Toilets, Private Affairsruns at Berlin’s LGBTQ Schwules* Museum through February 5th, 2018.

Kevin Clarke lives in Berlin and works for the Schwules Museum.

And their point of view surprised me. These so-called squalid, gloomy and stinking places were incredible places of social mixing: gays and straights of all social strata, men of all ages, cultural and religious backgrounds came together there. Work boots or dirty sneakers.