<p> From the time of its first publication, &quot;Tearoom Trade &quot;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 &quot;deviant&quot; sexual activity. Describing impersonal, anonymous sexual encounters in public restrooms--&quot;tearooms&quot; in the argot--the book explored the behavior of men whose closet homosexuality was kept from their families and neighbors. <p> By posing as an initiate, the author was able to engage in systematic observation of homosexual acts in public settings, and later to develop a more complete picture of those involved by interviewing them in their homes, again without revealing their unwitting participation in his study. <p> This enlarged edition of &quot;Tearoom Trade &quot;includes the original text, together with a retrospect, written by Nicholas von Hoffman, Irving Louis Horowitz, Lee Rainwater, Donald P. Warwick, and Myron Glazer. The material added includes a perspective on the social scientist at work and the ethical problems to which that work may give rise, along with debate by the book's initial critics and proponents. Humphreys added a postscript and his views on the opinion expressed in the retrospect.</p></p></p>

Details

• Author: Laud Humphreys
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers
• Published: 1975
• Edition: 2
• Pages: 238
• Format: Paperback
• Language: en

ISBN: 9780202302836