The downtown y here used to be notoriously cruisy...so I am told. I go there ocassionally, and have seen people looking and things, but nothing overt. They remodelled the changerooms, and the sauna now faces the drying room, and it as a huge wal to wall window, so people can see in and outof the sauna.... and it is very very bright in the whole lockeroom area.

No signs up though, in either place that I have seen.

I agree 100% Bring on the flamers... You ever notice the type of guys that proclaim sex in public is their "right". Never anybody I'd want to have sex with!

RSKsonic

I frequently attend the 24 hour fitness in downtown seattle across from the timberline. It is fairly cruisy. But I have never seen any "activities" going on. Then again i dont go there for that and tend to not pay attention to anyone but my workout. Same with the 24 hour in Bellevue. A buddy has told me the Ballys in bellevue on the weekends is very very bad. But again when i attended that ballys was looking to hook up or even meet people.

I go to the gym to workout. I pay money to workout. If i want to muscle Marys or straight guys having sex i will watch porn.

From reading the post there are alot of Public sex is great blah blah its our right as gay men blah blah and there are those who feel that it is not a right. whatever. You may feel its your right But do you realize that there are people who are paying to use the facilities for what they were intended? Since its your right are you having public sex at work or in front of your parents or family members?

whatever I a not going to critcize anyone. To each his own.

MY PERSONAL OPINION is that you are paying a membership at a gym to get fit, lift weights use the treadmill etc etc. If you want to pay for a place to have sex go to a bathhouse.

Way back in the early '80s, the Y in Eau Claire, WI, had a premium locker room (extra fee for extra facilities, like jacuzzi and sauna, and for being able to leave gear in small lockers rather than pack it all). A lot of looks were exchanged in the steam room (although only a few guys were worth the look, and I didn't consider myself one of them), and the jacuzzi was blatantly cruisy.

One time a guy I'd never met (but found attractive) initiated "footsy" in the jacuzzi until we both came (I know, eww, but this was before anybody knew about HIV), chatted me up after we showered, and then followed me home in his car (I was walking). I let him in briefly but then chickened out (this was almost 20 years before I came out). Never saw the guy again. Weird, huh? eek!

Just a little further discussion on this issue. For the past two years, my dog was no longer to stay outside, so I would exercise at the gym and go back home to let him and get dressed for work. Now that he's gone, I started getting dressed at gym again beginning this week.

This morning, a guy (a hard core, plantiff's attorney democrat) was talking in general to everyone in the locker room and said, "Did you guys hear what happened in here sunday? The caught two gay guys going at it in the sauna. Can you believe it, on a Sunday, with all of the kids around, and these gay guys are having sex in the sauna." Then, another guy that I've never seen before said, "Well, they're just furthering the lifestyle."

Then, I said, "They probably were just two closeted married guys from Mountain Brook that don't get any at home because of the frigid bitches they married."

After a little silence from them, my friend said, "Well, if I were in the locker room with a bunch a goodlooking naked women I'd want to do something with them as well."

Guys, I've been going to this gym for 15 years and now I felt like an outsider at my own gym because of what two guys were doing in the locker room. For some men, this is the ONLY exposure they have to gay men.

I know it can be tempting when you see someone that is just beyond goodlooking. But, hell, people won't put a damn twinkie in their mouths because of what it would do to their physique. Surely, if people can have this kind of restraint over their bodies and dieting, they can have enough restraint to not have sex at the gym.

Restraint key word in the last post. Why do straight men get so uptight and worried about being in the same locker room with a gay man? Why do professional athletes or college level etc have a problem with Gay teammates?

Because when you are naked in a public locker room in front of other men you are completly vulnerable. But more to the point i am trying to make is that because some Gay men or Closeted married men cannot show restraint and have sex int he gym that people get offended. Get the wrong impression think things like gay men are not able to show restriant when around other men naked in the lockerroom.

I think a point is being missed here.

one, is that some people like public sex. The act of getting away with something that is taboo or forbidden or just downright against the rules. they like having other people watch them have sex. Doesnt make it rite and doesnt make it wrong i guess,

But for Christ sake take it outside the gym. Go home to your own bed or to a bathhouse if you want public sex. There are alot of people who pay thier gym memberships to work out if they want to pay to watch people have sex they will rent porn.

Good point. It's a question of consent: pushing something in the faces of people who haven't asked for it, as opposed to responding to someone who has. One of the reasons I think there should be places where consenting adults can go to, uh, consent is so people who don't want to see it don't have to.

From another thread:
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Posted by MPetrelis on June 16, 2005, 06:13 AM:

Today's NYT has a story about the centuries old issue, I won't call it a problem, of men fondling, groping and sometimes having sex in locker room or sauna at the gym.

Am I the only the one who thinks this is not such a big deal and that it's certainly not worth a story in the Grey Lady?

Here's the link to the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/16/fashion/.../16Fitness.html

- edit -

I just noticed upon reading this silly article that it appeared in the Times' Fashion section. What does male-on-male sex at a gym have to do with fashion?

Someone, enlighten me on this story's placement, please!

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Posted by MiamiSpartan on June 16, 2005, 06:15 AM:

There are so many other more private places to do that kind of thing. Personally I don't want to have to witness other people doing it, gay or strait. When I go to the gym, it's to work out, not to exchange fluids.....

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Posted by puckman1 on June 16, 2005, 06:17 AM:

I vaguely recall a thread we had about this some months back. I recall different stories about different members of different gyms. Where I go here at my local "Y" its well known that the "hot" place is the sauna. I have never witnessed anything going on yet, but have heard plenty of stories.

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Posted by MPetrelis on June 16, 2005, 06:19 AM:

oh, c'mon, puckman1. surely someone must have seen your mayor there!

by the way, i couldn't find that older thread, but if the moderators can, maybe they can close this one and fold it into the other one.

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Posted by puckman1 on June 16, 2005, 06:27 AM:

M, I guess he preferred the tearooms in Olympia, from what I hear!

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Posted by Munson Man on June 16, 2005, 07:20 AM:

Several points here:

1. Our own Cyd, and Outsports.com, are quoted and mentioned in the Times article today.

2. The picture is of David Barton Gym (aka Dolly Parton Gym) in Chelsea, where Cyd and I both work out, and which has a very gay design sensibility (and clientele).

3. This story has some local resonance here in NY, because people like Cyd who have opined in local gay papers that the behavior is inappropriate have been lambasted by some in the community.

4. It's been a popular topic of discussion in NY because of 3. above, and because the NY Post has written pruriently about the lawsuit against DBG and intimated that the gym is essentially a gay sex club (mind you, I've never seen a thing going on).

5. It's not in the Fashion section, it's in what's called the Style section, where they generally write about lifestyles, social mores, exercise and fitness, etc.

Here's Cyd's quote from the article:

' Not all gymgoers are blasé when they stumble upon locker-room canoodling. "They're infringing on my right to work out at the gym without having to deal with that nonsense," said Cyd Zeigler Jr., a member of David Barton Gym and a co-founder of Outsports.com, an online magazine for gay sports fans and athletes. "I don't get the full benefit of my membership." '

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Posted by MPetrelis on June 16, 2005, 07:37 AM:

You've never seen a thing going on? I thought I heard rumors about Miss Parton shaking her boobs in the showers! Of course, with her boobs she probably has trouble getting the shower water to wash her belly.

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Posted by canmark on June 16, 2005, 07:46 AM:

I think the problem of cruising in gyms is no different than cruising in public restrooms.

The design and layout of the facilities can encourage or discourage such activities.

Proper lighting and glass doors/windows on steamrooms and saunas, lack of partitians or private shower stalls, lack of private corners in the locker area, all of these things will discourage activity. People don't engage in sex in public. But if they think they have even a narrow bit of privacy, mischief may occur.

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Posted by Allen on June 16, 2005, 07:50 AM:

I argee w/ Cyd 100%. This shit was happening at the previous gyms I went to - Ballys in Saint Louis Park, MN and BodyQuest (aka BootyQuest) now The Firm, in Minneapolis, MN. I am there to lift weights. I do not want to see guys going at it at the gym. I'd rather see that at Steamworks.

I now go to a predominantly straight gym. All they have are weights and a few cardio equipment. No steam room, sauna, pool ... and it's perfect for me.

If these guys wanna go at it, go home or a sex club. Just don't do it where other people (men, women, children) can see you.

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Posted by tnmanfan on June 16, 2005, 08:16 AM:

If you don't allow gay men to have sex in the gym, where will all of the married southern baptist men go to have sex? If I had a dime for every time I was approached at the Y by a married southern baptist....I finally dropped my membership and I now go to a gym with no sauna or steam room.

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Posted by gmginsfo on June 16, 2005, 08:32 AM:

You go, Cyd! I'm not about to plunk down any coin for, or waste any time or bits accessing, the NYT, but I'll take MM's word for it and encourage you and all other like-minded gay men to continue to speak up on this subject. This stuff goes on in exclusive private clubs, too, as portrayed in "The Swimming Pool Library," where it's equally out of place. Whatever happened to drinks in the bar, followed by - God forbid! - an actual dinner date?

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Posted by MiamiSpartan on June 16, 2005, 10:45 AM:

I've heard that the local Bally's, in the middle of the suburbs here, has a real problem with peeps breaking the light bulbs in the wet area to diminish the lighting....
Come to think of it, most Bally's I've ever gone to were very cruisy....

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Posted by Allen on June 16, 2005, 10:52 AM:

At the Ballys I worked at, they installed mirrors EVERYWHERE so it would deter the public sex.

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Posted by SCTrojan on June 16, 2005, 04:37 PM:

Glad to hear that there is public outcry about this issue. I, too, have been going to Bally's in Studio City which at 1st was notorious for the sex. Then they installed mirrors & cameras in certain areas. Plus, many of the members (gay or straight) started complaining. And believe me, the managers (gay or straight) were not shy about confronting them during their act. Now it's rare to hear those type of stories. Today, for the most part, I think the protocol there is if sex is what you're looking for then exchange numbers & take it home, which to me is fine. When I go to the gym I go to work out, period. One last comment, now I don't mind when somebody looks at me & gives a friendly/flirtatious smile. However, what I absolutely ABHOR is when I get those long staring gawks. One it creeps me out! Two, it turns me off! Therefore, I refuse to shower there. I go home & shower--too many gawking creeps.

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Posted by Cannondaleguy on June 16, 2005, 05:14 PM:

My brother is a personal trainer here in Chicago and works at a popular gym with a few locations called XSport Fitness. This is a subject that the managers know about and actually police as best they can. I agree that the gym isn't a place to engage in sexual behavior...but granted it is a fantasy for many men...and boys will be boys.

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Posted by Adam on June 16, 2005, 05:29 PM:

SCTrojan, the Ballys in Studio City sounds like paradise compared to the one in Hollywood. When I used to go to a gym regularly, it was in the Culver City area & there was a real mixed crowd with none of the sexual activity that was described in the NYTimes article--at least none that I was aware of. Maybe because the gym was in a family area and most of the users were from that particular area.

~Adam

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Posted by Erik G on June 16, 2005, 6:07 PM:

Gasp ! Those rats are going at it in the shower portion of the maze again ! Oh rotten Gotham !!

So there you are in the gym shower with something other than you own excrement passing through your anal sphincter. Just exactly when do you realize how disfunctional you have become? This really is the symptom of a bigger psychological problem for the shower-sexuals. I think they need help.

I haven't been to the gym in years. When I have no other choice for fitness, I do not want to live this life anymore Maybe seeing two or more men loving each other, in a shallow sense, might make it bearable.

The Y in Spokane was cruisy, but no signs prohibiting 'inappropriate activity.? Maybe the mayor took them down..

Originally posted by Adam:

"...the Ballys in Studio City sounds like paradise compared to the one in Hollywood..."

Yeah I've heard. Many of my workout buddies have told me stories. Some of them go between the 2 gyms because they're in the entertainment industry. So depending on their calendar & where they are at a particular time of the day, they'll go to the one that's more convenient. I've never been though. Cheers.

I guess some of the janitors are suing the Equinox gyms since they have to clean up the mess in the locker rooms.

The NY Blade wrote an editorial about it.

I'm glad one of the major gay papers wrote in support of the janitors. I went to a gym for the first time this summer when I lived in D.C. and to be quite honest, it was very uncomfortable. I got cruised whenever I was in the locker room and couldn't even go into the sauna or steam room because it was a foregone conclusion what was going on in there already.

I went to the predominantly gay gym, The Firm, I saw a lot of screwing around in the steam room and the sauna. Okay ... I'm all about hooking up w/ some hottie. No qualms here, but do it after the work out or get his number. Don't do it at the gym!

Since there is new ownership at the Firm after I left, there's been a lot of cracking down on the stupidity in the sauna and the steam room is permanently shut down. I've gotten a few things in the mail to come back, however, I'm happy w/ my gym.

I'm all for living it up and I understand some people like public sex but for goodness sake. When I was at University of Maryland there were "things" going on at both of our campus gyms. One was where all the frat boys hooked up cuz it was right by Fraternity Row and the other was where everyone else did their thing. I don't shower in public facilities anyway but knowing that mess was going on surely wasn't gonna make me consider it. I do my thing at the gym, cool down, change, get in my car, and shower at home.

Sex at the gym sounds hot, and the idea has fueled several of my raunchier fantasies. But that's all they are — fantasies.

In real life, I think it's just wrong to have sex at the gym or any other public place. It's rude to the other patrons, and it could get you thrown out of the club and maybe even arrested. A high price to pay for pleasure, in my book.

That said, I'll admit I've had sex in public before - but that was many years ago when I was in college, when I first came out of the closet and my libido overwhelmed my common sense. I'd like to think I'm a little wiser now.

I've always wondered whether a gym that one is paying membership to can be considered a public place in the eyes of the law. I mean, a gym is not open to just anyone who wanders in off the street.

While you don't pay a membership, you do pay to go to a movie or Broadway show. You pay a membership to shop at places like Costco or Sam's Club or maybe you belong to a country club. It wouldn't be appropriate to have sex at those places. These guys just assume that everyone at the gym is gay and that all gay guys are looking for blow jobs in the steam room. Many of them see it as their right to have sex at the gym. I used to go to the New York Sports Club in the heart of Chelsea and I know not all the guys there were gay and most of the gay guys wanted to use the steam room or sauna for their intended purposes.

My response to the guys who mess around at the gym is "I don't want to step in your spunk, punk"!

If you have it in your city, just go to the bath house. That's what it is there for and not your local gym.

Thank you for that! I agree with you entirely. While it's OK to cruise the gym, having sex there is entirely disgusting. You wouldn't have sex at Costco (where you must pay a membership fee as well), but I'm sure it's quite alright to cruise for the next significant other there. The same applies to the gym, even if they're scantily clad there.

I've glanced over this thread and would like to throw in my two cents.

I know that some people fantasize about having sex in a locker room, the thought of it is erotic and arousing for some. But come on guys, think before you act.

Realize that most people go to the gym to WORK OUT...so respect those people's wishes. As it's been said before, it just gives some people more reason to have a dislike for gays and gay rights as it furthers some of the stereotypes.

Bottom line, if you find a guy that you wanna hook up with, tell him to come to your place and do it.

Amen!

Some gyms now have co-ed steam and sauna where you have to wear swim trunks. At a gym in NY these dudes were complimenting my chest hair to see if I was down and I was like "Yeah, my girlfriend likes it a lot." And they got quiet and no one hooked up I presume until I left. But I feel like many of the guys hooking up never go to gay clubs or sex places because they are straight identified. And if someone is sucking a cock and I don't like it, I just politely ask them to stop and tell them I am uncomfortable. We forget that a lot of men in these situations are skittish as it is and unwilling to be exposed. If you cope an attitude or even sigh hard they'll run out like a bat from hell. I think the whole "guys who hook up are ugly" line is a bunch of crap.

So if the guy looks like Brad Pitt ethics go out the window? Most guys who have to put down other guys aren't that good looking because they don't value themselves enough to be beautiful on the inside where it counts.

This seems to be a classic example of “The Law Of Unintended Consequences” as a result of the San Francisco Department Of Public Health (and those in other cities) shutting down the bathhouses purportedly to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS in the early ‘80’s. However after these closures, some men reacted by going cruising and even having sex in out of the way places - sometimes in virtual public.

Until around 2000, the only bathhouses remaining in the Bay Area were in Berkeley and San Jose. However, since 2003, several sex clubs have opened in the city and many hoped that men would use them a legitimate venue for cruising and having recreational sex. Unfortunately, many who live in the Castro area have observed that men are still cruising in bars, then going into the restrooms or alleys to have sex, or hanging out in other inappropriate places such as gym showers or locker rooms.

Activists in the Gay Community here are quite concerned about this conduct and they are trying to improve its public image by urging others not to cruise or have sex in inappropriate places. Some are also urging the SFDPH to allow “full service” bathhouses to open in specially designated areas of the city so that cruising and recreational sex can be strictly confined to these establishments. However, there is a lot of inertia on the part of the SFDPH to allow bathhouses to open in the city and there is also indifference with some Gay men to try to control their urges and the problem goes on unabated.

In my several years of personally association with many people in the Gay Community, I have found there’s a lot more to them than just their sexual orientation/practices and they represent a quite talented and productive part and of society. Nevertheless, there is the perception among the general public that their only object in life is the animalistic pursuit of sex. However, many are hoping that those in both government and individual persons will make a concerted effort to clean up this problem.

California Dolphin

I occasionally use the pool at the downtown Y in seattle, if I have time I like to sit in the sauna for about a half hour afterwords, I have walked in and witnessed some hand jobs going on, but for the most part the guys have been pretty discreet and cautious about arousal in front of those who aren't into it,,,my fault is that I have involuntarily displayed some wood when standing at my locker in my briefs or jock and someone is staring at me.

Its Valentines day..... I'll take my lovin where I can find it... BAH HUMBUG

When is public sex appropriate and for whom? I've encountered plenty of breeders who've had sex in bathrooms at the bowling alley with kids around, on airplanes with families and kids around, in public parks where there are families and kids around, and most recently in the bathroom at a coffee shop that I hang out and write in...where there were families and kids running around. I've been annoyed by teenagers getting hand jobs while on dates in the movie theater. And I don't have enough digits to count the number of male and female straight friends who've gotten or given somebody head in a bar, diner, pub, or restaurant. Maybe it's just me but most of the people who I know that have sex outside of their home are heterosexual. Then again since they count as 90% of the population that difference makes sense.

And since I'm ranting I forgot to mention all of the straight people who have sex all of the time on public beaches from Cancun to the Dominican Republic.

Happy Valentine's Day!

and some of us haven't had sex anywhere,even in the places that are allowed,for a very long time!

Well, clearly you need to get to the gym more often!

Someone would probably punch the hell out of me if I tried anything at my gym! There is some VERY NICE eye candy walking around that locker room,however.

Yeah, there is some nice eye candy. I remember going to the gym a week ago, and I was drying my face with a paper towel. I looked in the mirror, and this guy was showering with the curtain open. Flawless body in every way. I blushed, and quickly left. I would never try anything in the locker room because of getting caught by a person or on film. Plus, I go to run. I can only imagine how much duck butter I have in my underwear.

duck butter:

from the Urban Dictionary, my new discovery:

1.duck butterThe combination of sweat from the ballsac and anus that creates a buttery film on the grundle and butthole. occuring usually from an unwashed scrotum creating a smelly odor that worsens in thickness and odor by the minute. Also known as DB or Deeb.

Bobby rubbed his deeb all over his roommates pillows.
I have some killa DB today!

2.duck butterA creamy substance brewed in the spot between a females vagina and a****** produced by vaginal secretions and ass sweat mixing together.

While engaged in dancing, Alison had some serious duck butter brewing.

3.duck butterThe curded medley of perspiration, dead skin, nether hair and miscellaneous
material gathered between the tigh and the scrotum as a result of a hard days
work.

The mail man is a great producer of duck butter, after a hard days work in the hot sun.

4.duck butterNasty ball sweat that collects between the legs of a man.

Chris's balls where stuck to his leg because of all the duck butter collecting in there.

5.duck butterThe most common secretion of the grundular or taint region. This secretion is a mix of sweat, dryed skin and ass smell.

He drapped his balls on her neck, slathering her in duck butter.

6.Duck Butternoun- the sweat that collects under a guy's ballsack that gives off a rank smell, much like yeast.

Man, this duck butter is making my balls stick to my leg!

7.duck butter1. the film of sweat and funk that collects on the strip of skin between the scrotum and the anus of a male. Usually acquired after going to the gym and then not taking a shower until the text day. Very slimey and smelly

2. often the source of smelly balls syndrome

3. sometimes referred to as shmegma, but is often a more advanced case of shmegma

My underwear had to be thrown out because the duck butter was too much for my girlfriend to handle

I was gonna slap you some duck butter on that high-five, but decided that I did not want you to vomit on the new carpet

Wow...who knew I was so sheltered.

Oh Tom,Tom...Tom!

Perhaps this video will help people clear up what is appropriate for the locker room situation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I82-jzpL3EM



Best,

Drew

Thank you for the video. That was great!

I suppose I have a different view than most. I've lived overseas, traveled around the world, made love in French, Spanish, Italian, and English of coarse. I have had sex on every continent (with a local) except Antarctica (penguins are cute but I stick to my own species). Whenever I return home I am struck by how uptight Americans are about sex.

I don’t have sex at the gym because I don’t want to get caught and I don’t want to offend those that don’t want to see it. That being said even at my ripe old age of 48, guys still beat off for me unsolicited. I simply tell them that I work with a lot of people that go to the gym and I would be mortified if any one of them walked in. That is usually enough. I have also watch guys get hard-ons showering next to me. That is downright amusing and can be flattering. On a few such occasions I struck up a conversation only to find out all were married with kids except one who was partnered.

The gym has been one of the best milieus for me to meet someone for a date. I prefer to see a little hint that the guy may have a sexual attraction and not just a plutonic one. Without that hint I usually discover I am picking up a guy who is hopelessly heterosexual. Where I live now I have only picked up straight guys, including one just last weekend.

Meanwhile you check out any M4M website or go to Gay.com or some such place and all you find are desperate repressed soles. As one Aussie said, thank god we got the criminals and the Americans the puritans. Man I miss that hunk I spent my last night with in Sydney last Summer. He is so damn handsome, intelligent and what a great body. Their accents always get me going. Oh and I should add, we met showering side by side in all our naked glory.