page_title: Gay bathhouse
section_title: Bathhouses today
hierarchical_section_title: Gay bathhouse / Bathhouses today
caption_attribution_description: English: Used on the en:Gay bathhouse as an example of what the outside of a typical fairly anonymous bathhouse really looks like. Uploaded on July 30, 2006 by O l i v i e r Gay bathhouse Babylonia in Prague, Czech republic. Rationale No rationale is required, see license section.
context_page_description: A gay bathhouse, also known as a gay sauna or a gay steambath, is a commercial space for men to have sex with other men. In gay slang, a bathhouse may be called just "the baths", "the sauna" or "the tubs". In general, a gay bath is used for having sexual activity rather than only bathing.
  Not all men who visit a gay bathhouse are considered gay. Bathhouses offering similar services for women are rare, but some men's bathhouses occasionally have a "lesbian" or "women only" night. Some houses, like Hawks PDX offer 'bisexual' nights, where anyone of either sex is welcome.
  Bathhouses vary considerably in size and amenities – from small establishments with 10 or 20 rooms and a handful of lockers to multi-story saunas with a variety of room styles or sizes and several steam baths, hot tubs, and sometimes swimming pools. Most have a steam room, dry sauna, showers, lockers, and small private rooms.
  In some countries, bathhouses are "membership only"; though membership is generally open to any adult who seeks it, usually after paying a small fee. Unlike brothels, customers pay only for the use of the facilities.
context_section_description: Gay bathhouses today continue to fill a similar function as they did historically. The community aspect has lessened in some territories, particularly those where gay men increasingly tend to come out.
  Some men still use bathhouses as a convenient, safe place to meet other men for sex. In areas where homosexuality is more accepted, safety may no longer be a primary attraction.
  Many bathhouses are open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. There is typically a single customer entrance and exit. After paying at the main entrance, the customer is buzzed through the main door. This system allows establishments to screen potential troublemakers; many bathhouses refuse entry to those who are visibly intoxicated, as well as known prostitutes. In some areas, particularly where homosexuality is illegal, considered immoral, or viewed with hostility, this is a necessary safety precaution.
  Sexual encounters at bathhouses are frequently, but not always, anonymous. Some feel that the anonymity adds to the erotic excitement: that is what, for these patrons, one goes to the bathhouse for. Bathhouse encounters sometimes lead to relationships, but usually do not. Bathhouses are still used by men who have sex with men and do not identify as gay or bisexual, including those that are closeted or in heterosexual relationships.
  In many bathhouses the customer has a choice between renting a room or a locker, often for fixed periods of up to 12 hours. A room typically consists of a locker and a single bed (though doubles are sometimes available) with a thin vinyl mat supported on a simple wooden box or frame, an arrangement that facilitates easy cleaning between patrons. In many bathhouses (particularly those outside the United States), some or all of the rooms are freely available to all patrons.
  Some bathhouses have areas designed to facilitate impersonal sex. These areas – rooms or hallways – are illuminated only by a (dim) red exit sign. It is possible to have sex, but not to see with whom. Other bathhouses, such as the Continental Baths in New York or the Club Baths in Washington, D.C., have two or more bunkbeds in close proximity, in a public area. This provides a place to have sex for those who could afford only a locker, and facilitated exhibitionism and voyeurism for those so inclined. Baths often have a (porn) TV room or snack bar where patrons can recuperate between orgasms.
  Some men use the baths as a cheaper alternative to hotels, despite the limitations of being potentially crowded public venues with only rudimentary rooms and limited or non-existent pass out privileges.
  These guys will actually call me at home or send me e-mails and we will make a date and we will meet at the baths purely because the sling is there and it's easier and we go for a beer afterwards. I use the bathhouse more as an ancient Greek, Roman social centre and also a fucking centre and a fisting centre as well, and there's a lounge where I can sit and relax with a coffee and a cigarette.
  — "Peter", Haubrich et al. (2004)
  Bathhouses are not always identifiable as such from the outside. Some bathhouses are clearly marked and well lit, others have no marking other than a street address on the door. Bathhouses sometimes display the rainbow flag, which is commonly flown by businesses to identify themselves as gay-run or gay-friendly. Bathhouses commonly advertise widely in the gay press and sometimes advertise in mainstream newspapers and other media. In 2003 Australia began airing possibly the world's first television advertisements for a gay bathhouse when advertisements on commercial television in Melbourne promoted Wet on Wellington, a sauna in Wellington Street, Collingwood.
  In many countries, being identified in such a sauna was still viewed by the press as scandalous. In Ireland in November 1994, the Incognito sauna made mainstream press as the gay sauna where a priest had died of a heart attack and two other priests were on hand to help out. Scott Capurro is known for his deliberately provocative comedy material and often refers to gay sexual culture
caption: Entrance to Babylonia sauna in Prague, 2006
exif: {}