Gay Baths and the Social Organization of Impersonal Sex

The conditions described by males as ideal for impersonal sex include protection; ample, accessible opportunities; a known, shared, and organized reality; bounding of the experience; congeniality; and a comfortable physical setting. This paper examines gay baths in rela-tion to these conditions. It also develops—from the male participants perspective—a general model of the successful territorial and inter-actional organization of impersonal sex. Finally, the findings are related to the conceptualization of social organization, the market mentality, and the study of deviance. Rarely do social scientists write about the social organization of sexual activity. Theories of sexual conduct usually deal with motives or attitudes and ordinarily ignore the social conditions that facilitate the translation of such predispositions into behavior (Mileski and Black, 1972:1). A social organization analysis would take the predisposition as given and focus instead on these supra-individual con-ditions.1 Such an analysis should increase our understanding of both human sexuality and the nature of social organization in general. Examining the social organization of homosexuality, Mileski and Black (1972: 4) note that ... at the level of the community... the mechanisms of social organization are organized territories, and at the level of the face-to-face en-counter... the mechanisms are rules regulating the coming into being of sexual situations. It is within this framework that we examine gay baths. First, we report the modal complaints voiced by male participants in impersonal sex— whether heterosexual or homosexual—and what they view as the ideal social con-ditions for alleviating these complaints.2 These conditions and concerns relate to the social organization of territories and face-to-face encounters. Second, we take a detailed look at how gay baths succeed or fail in meeting such ideal condi-tions. Third, in concluding, we discuss the implications of our findings for a