Public glory holes started to fade in popularity as the decriminalization of homosexuality was introduced in many countries, and concerns over HIV/AIDS changed gay culture. It would also later appear in the 1977 book The Joy of Gay Sex. Sometimes used also for a mere peep-hole." Īnother reference to glory holes appeared in Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places, a controversial book published by sociologist Laud Humphreys in 1970, in which he suggests the "tearoom," or bathroom stall, as a prime space for men to congregate for sexual fulfilment. Such incidents were recorded in California and Ohio in the 1950s and 1960s, with archival police footage of "tearooms" appearing on pornography websites, such as Pornhub.Īccording to the Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang, the first time glory hole appears in print was in 1949, when an anonymously published glossary called Swasarnt Nerf's Gay Girl's Guide refers to a "Phallic size hole in partition between toilet booths. Guillam's innocence, threatened to turn him into the police, and reveal him to his wife, if he did not pay a sum of money.ĭuring the mid-1900s, police often used bathroom glory holes as an entrapment method for gay men, often recording the incidents as evidence to prosecute. Guillam, surprised by the action, fled the washroom, only to be followed by the male who cried out that he would have had sex with him.
Guillam) has visited a washroom stall to relieve himself, when another male put his penis through a hole in the wall ("a Boy in the adjoyning Vault put his Privy-member through a Hole"). Often the authorities would wait outside the Lincoln's Inn bog house in London as one place to catch people. At the time, gay sex in public places could lead to arrests by members of the Society for the Reformation of Manners. The first documented instance of a glory hole was in a 1707 court case known as the "Tryals of Thomas Vaughan and Thomas Davis" in London, England, which involved the extortion of a man known in the documents only as Mr Guillam. History Ī Man Exposing Himself Through a Hole in the Fence, 1721, by tr:Nev'îzâde Atâyî
For some gay men, a glory hole serves to depersonalize their partner altogether as a disembodied object of sexual desire, either sticking through or on the other side of the hole. It is suggested by queer theorist Tim Dean that glory holes allow for a physical barrier, which may be an extension of psychological barriers, in which there is internalized homophobia (a result of many societies' reluctance towards discussing LGBT practices and people). In light of the ongoing HIV pandemic, many gay men re-evaluated their sexual and erotic desires and practices. The glory hole is seen as an erotic oasis in gay subcultures around the world people's motives, experiences and attributions of value in its use are varied. Almost total anonymity is maintained, as no other attributes are taken into consideration. As a wall separates the two participants, they have no contact except for a mouth, a penis, and perhaps a hand. Numerous motivations can be ascribed to the use and eroticism of glory holes. Glory holes are sometimes the topic of erotic literature, and pornographic films have been devoted to the uses of glory holes. In more recent years, public glory holes have faded in popularity in many countries, though some gay websites offer directories of the remaining glory holes. However, they are not exclusively favoured by gay people, and have become more commonly acknowledged as a fetish for straight and bisexual couples. The partition maintains anonymity and a sense of reassurance that the people involved would not be identified and possibly arrested. Glory holes are especially associated with gay male culture, and anal or oral sex, and come from a history of persecution. A glory hole (also spelled gloryhole and glory-hole) is a hole in a wall or partition, often between public lavatory cubicles or adult video arcade booths and lounges, for people to engage in sexual activity or observe the person in the next cubicle while one or both parties masturbate, tea-bag or fellate.