COTTAGING

'Cottaging' is a gay slang term referring to anonymous male/male sex in a public lavatory (a 'cottage'), 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 more often called ''tea rooms''; in Australia, such venues are called beats.
In 1970, an American graduate student at Washington University, Laud Humphreys published a famous and highly controversial PhD dissertation on the "tearoom" phenomenon, attempting to categorize the diverse social backgrounds and personal motives of the men who seek out homosexual contact in public venues.
Cottaging is more common among gay and bisexual men than among lesbians or heterosexuals, but the term can apply to the actions of people of both sexes, and all sexual orientations. However, equivalent activity by heterosexuals is more usually referred to as ''dogging''.
The term cottaging is rarely used outside gay communities, and usage and awareness of the term may be in decline, as attitudes to homosexuality become more tolerant and fewer individuals find themselves limited to such covert and illicit ways of meeting others.

Contents

Legal status

References

See also

Legal status

Sexual acts in public lavatories are outlawed by many jurisdictions. (Indeed, 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 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 toilet for soliciting sex. Craig later pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and announced his intent to resign from office. ^[1].

References

1. ''Craig's Lust''. Slate, August 28, 2007

See also

★ Dogging (sexual slang)

★ Glory hole (sexual)