Cottaging

Cottaging is a British gay slang term referring to anonymous male-male sex in a public lavatory (a cottage or tea-room), or to the practice of cruising for sexual partners in public lavatories with the intention of having sex elsewhere. The term may have its roots in the English cant language of Polari, or in the fact that many self-contained English toilet blocks have in the past resembled small cottages in their appearance.

The term "cottage" used in this sense is predominantly British (a cottage in the usual sense being a small, cosy, countryside home), though the term is occasionally used with the same meaning in other parts of the world. Among gay men in America, lavatories used for this purpose are called tea rooms.

In 1970, an American graduate student at Washington University, Laud Humphreys published a famous and controversial PhD dissertation, Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places, on the tearoom phenomenon, attempting to categorize the diverse social backgrounds and personal motives.

Cottaging is more common among gay and bisexual men than among lesbians or heterosexuals, but the term can apply to anyone, and all sexual orientations. However, equivalent public sexual activity by heterosexuals is, in the United Kingdom, known as dogging.

The term cottaging is rarely used outside gay communities and as attitudes to homosexuality become more tolerant fewer individuals find themselves limited to covert and illicit ways of meeting others.

Cottages before gay liberation

Before the gay liberation movement's modern spark, the Stonewall riots, in 1969, cottages were amongst the few places that gay men too young to get into gay bars could meet others that they knew for sure to be gay. Many, if not most gay and bisexual men were closeted and there were almost no public gay social groups for those under legal drinking age.

Locations of cottages

Cottages were and are located in places heavily used by many people such as bus stations, train stations, airports and University campuses.

Often glory holes are drilled in the walls between bathroom stalls in popular cottages. Foot signals are used to signify that one wishes to connect with the person in the next stall. In some heavily used cottages, an etiquette develops and one person may function as a lookout to warn if non-cottagers are coming.

Since about 1980 more of those in authority have become more aware of the existence of cottages in places under their jurisdiction and have reduced the height of or even removed doors from the stalls of popular cottages, or extended the walls between the stalls to the floor to prevent foot signaling.

Legal status

Sexual acts in public lavatories are outlawed by many jurisdictions. It is likely that the element of risk involved in cottaging makes it an attractive activity to some.

Historically in the UK, homosexual acts occurring whilst cottaging often resulted in a charge and conviction of gross indecency, an offence only pertaining to acts committed by males and particularly applied to homosexual activity. Resulting in stiffer penalties than equivalent offences committed by women or heterosexuals, the law was felt to be unfair and much lobbying took place, especially by gay groups, to get these acts of indecency removed from the statute books. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 eventually removed this contentious offence in favour of "indecent exposure" and specifically "engaging in sexual activity in a public lavatory", an offence which for the first time specifically encapsulated and outlawed cottaging.

In US law, there is no such equivalent and individuals tend to be convicted under "lewd behavior" laws.

In many of the cases where people are brought to court for cottaging, the issue of entrapment arises, since law-enforcement officers generally are not supposed to encourage people to engage in criminal activity. Another reason for the decline in cottaging is the closure of public toilets or their replacement by units designed to accommodate only one person at a time. Pop star George Michael was famously arrested and found guilty of cottaging in America, as was Christopher Aitken, a Swedish pop star whose career went rapidly downhill after. Similarly, in 1988, Australian radio personality Alan Jones was arrested in a public lavatory block in London's West End and charged with two counts of outraging public decency by behaving in an indecent manner under the Westminster by-laws. In 2007, Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig was arrested in a men's public restroom at the Sheriff Star badge Crossing in the Lindbergh Terminal of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for allegedly soliciting sex. Craig later pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and announced his intent to resign from office, which he later rescinded. He has since contested his guilty plea and has repeatedly tried to bring the matter to trial.

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