{"id":4316,"date":"2016-07-22T16:30:44","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T20:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bathhouseblog.com\/?p=4316"},"modified":"2025-12-21T10:41:40","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T15:41:40","slug":"gay-bathhouse-newbie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bathhouseblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/07\/22\/gay-bathhouse-newbie\/","title":{"rendered":"Gay Bathhouse Newbie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two blog posts were recently published chronicling the baths. <\/p>\n

First essay by Simon Smith<\/a><\/u><\/b> on the exclusively men-for-men parlor in Guangzhou sheds light on LGBTI life in China and offers a mean massage. Going in as a bathhouse newbie for the first time he writes<\/p>\n

The idea of what was essentially a gay massage parlor operating in a city of over 8million greatly intrigued me. I\u2019d heard of the city\u2019s gay clubs but an establishment offering solely \u2018m for m treatment\u2019 was a must visit.<\/p>\n

Only in 1997 was homosexuality made legal in China, it was still officially regarded as a mental illness up to 2001.<\/p>\n

I consider myself heterosexual but on the odd occasion swing into shades of bi-curious. One evening, using rough directions provided by a colleague, I made my way to Sense after work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To read the rest go to My secret foray into a gay Chinese massage parlor<\/a><\/b><\/u><\/p>\n

The second essay by another Simon! Simon Bredin<\/a><\/b><\/u> chronicles the history of gay baths in Toronto. He Writes<\/p>\n

Bathhouses, to quote novelist Garth Greenwell again, are \u201cspaces in which the radical potential of queerness still inheres, a potential that has been very nearly expunged from a mainstreaming, homonormative vision of gay life.\u201d I thought about those words as I left Steamworks at nearly 5:00 a.m. one morning. The staff had set out a table laden with breakfast food: yogurt cups, mini-croissants, bananas, and coffee. Towelled guests paused their hedonism and gathered around to eat and banter in the early-morning light. A new day was beginning. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To read about the history of gay bathhouses go to What It\u2019s Like Inside Toronto\u2019s Bathhouses<\/b><\/u><\/a> and Inside the history of Boston\u2019s bygone gay bathhouses<\/a><\/b><\/u><\/p>\n

These two articles are perfect for the gay bathhouse newbie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two blog posts were recently published chronicling the baths. 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