Club Portland, a now defunct gay bathhouse in Portland, OregonDeutsche Eiche ('German Oak') in Munich
A gay bathhouse, also known as a gay sauna or a gay steambath, is a public bath targeted towards gay and bisexual men. In gay slang, a bathhouse may be called just "the baths", "the sauna", or "the tubs". Historically, they have been used for sexual activity.[1][2]
Bathhouses offering similar services for women are rare, but some men's bathhouses occasionally have a "lesbian" or "women only" night. Some, such as Hawks PDX, offer so-called "bisexual" nights, where anyone is welcome regardless of gender.
Bathhouses vary considerably in size and amenities—from small establishments with 10 or 20 rooms and a handful of lockers to multi-story saunas with a variety of room styles or sizes and several steam baths, hot tubs, and sometimes swimming pools. Most have a steam room (or wet sauna), dry sauna, showers, lockers, and small private rooms.
In many countries, bathhouses are "membership only" (for legal reasons); though membership is generally open to any adult who seeks it, usually after paying a small fee. Unlike brothels, customers pay only for the use of the facilities. Sexual activity, if it occurs, is not provided by staff of the establishment, but is between customers with no money exchanged. Many gay bathhouses, for legal reasons, explicitly prohibit and/or discourage prostitution and ban known prostitutes.[3]
^Prior, Jason (2007). "Baths, Public: III. West, Middle Ages–Present". In Malti‑Douglas, Fedwa; Choksy, Jamsheed K.; Roof, Judith; Sautman, Francesca Canadé; Jones, Sumie; Zhou, Liana (eds.). Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender. Vol. 1: A–C. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Thomson Gale. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-02-865961-9. LCCN 2007020796. OCLC 894526708.
^Colker, David (1994-03-10). "Within the Walls of Gay Bathhouse Lies a World of Their Own". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on 2014-12-22.
^Regina Brett (July 21, 2006). "Let's emphasize 'safe' part of safe sex". Plain Dealer (Cleveland). The Flex club opens in August. It's legal. No money is exchanged for sex. It's adults only. My copy of the U.S. Constitution still guarantees a right to privacy and freedom of assembly.
A gaybathhouse, also known as a gay sauna or a gay steambath, is a public bath targeted towards gay and bisexual men. In gay slang, a bathhouse may be...
Gaybathhouses in the United Kingdom are referred to as "gay saunas", as opposed to gaybathhouses, the term more commonly used in North America. There...
The Continental Baths was a gaybathhouse in the basement of The Ansonia Hotel in New York City, which was operated from 1968-1976 by Steve Ostrow. It...
are notable for featuring, or including scenes of, Gaybathhouses or gay themes set in bathhouses. Films link to an associated Wikipedia page or, if unavailable...
Bathhouse may refer to: Public baths, public facilities for bathing Gaybathhouse, private clubs for gay men The Bathhouse, a 1929 play by Vladimir Mayakovsky...
LGBT is an initialism that stands for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender". It may refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual, non-heteroromantic, or...
The Everard Baths or Everard Spa Turkish Bathhouse was a gaybathhouse at 28 West 28th Street in New York City that operated from 1888 to 1986. The venue...
prominence in 1970 when she began singing in the Continental Baths, a local gaybathhouse where she managed to build up a core following. Since 1970, Midler has...
Operation Soap was a raid by the Metropolitan Toronto Police against four gaybathhouses in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which took place on February 5, 1981. Nearly...
science. A gaybathhouse is a place where men who have sex with men meet for sex. In the 1980s at the advent of HIV/AIDS many men who used bathhouses for sex...
and Harrison (another BDSM gaybathhouse), Tailor of San Francisco, Mister S Leath. 1980 – The Plunge — a gay BDSM bathhouse with swimming pool]] on the...
a public lavatory GaybathhouseGay beat Gay cruising in England and Wales Polari Troll (gay slang) Murphy, Timothy F. (1994). Gay Ethics: Controversies...
Hawks PDX is a gaybathhouse located in Portland, Oregon's Hazelwood neighborhood, in the United States. Previously, the business operated in southeast...
events Dance of the Forty-One (1901), Mexico Ariston Bathhouse raid (1903), the first anti-gay police raid in New York City Compton's Cafeteria riot...
performed her cabaret shows at gaybathhouses like the Continental Baths in New York which led to her becoming a gay icon with a loyal LGBT following...
of gaybathhouses in the United States and Canada with particular prominence from the 1960s through the 1990s. At its peak it included 42 bathhouses: Akron...
Gymnasium – ancient Greece Steam shower Sweat lodge – Native American Gaybathhouse Water park Keay, John (2001). India: A History. Grove Press. pp. 13–14...
permitted fisting, namely gaybathhouses and sex clubs, permanently closed. While the closures were supported by some in the gay community (such as Randy...
(public submissions closed 7 November 2018). LGBT portal Cottaging GaybathhouseGay cruising in the United Kingdom Iveson, Kurt (2007), Publics and the...
September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Seeing-Stars.com. "Hugh Hefner, Gay Rights Pioneer" Archived May 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, advocate.com...
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