Tearoom Trade

From the time of its first publication, ''Tearoom Trade'' engendered controversy. It was also accorded an unusual amount of praise for a first book on a marginal, intentionally self-effacing popul ...

From the time of its first publication, ''Tearoom Trade'' engendered controversy. It was also accorded an unusual amount of praise for a first book on a marginal, intentionally self-effacing population by a previously unknown sociologist. The book was quickly recognized as an important, imaginative, and useful contribution to our understanding of "deviant" sexual activity. Describing impersonal, anonymous sexual encounters in public restrooms—"tearooms" in the argot—the book explored the behavior of men whose closet homosexuality was kept from their families and neighbors. By posing as an init