SOCI 213 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Laud Humphreys, Voyeurism
Document Summary
Perhaps the most famous study on male homosexual culture. Done in 1975, but much of it is still relevant to our understanding on homosexuality. Tearoom trade: men in bathroom will sometimes please each other. In this situation there is a certain anonymity. Almost half of the people participating in these sex trades did not think of themselves as homosexual at all (not even as bisexual) This highlights the discrepancy between different dimensions that we talked about in a previous lecture. It is hard for people to accept the continuum of sexuality: we tend to believe that if you have done it, you are gay on some level. Humphreys started off as a priest and later got married to a woman for 20 years. Embodies the distinction between what you do, what you want to do, and your self- identity. It is unclear whether he was just an observer in his studies or if he participated.
