It goes without saying that not all gay men approve of cruising – in gym locker rooms, or elsewhere. It can be quite exciting to begin with, 'cause of the anticipation – are they looking at you or aren't they? But then sometimes you'll get interrupted by someone else joining you in the sauna and have to stop what you're doing because you're not alone anymore."
Then it gets a bit more open and brazen, and usually you go to a shower cubicle together at that point. "And then at some point someone starts stroking their leg and maybe stroking underneath their towels. How does the cruising actually work? "It mainly starts with looks getting exchanged in the sauna," says Dan. But then I moved to a more expensive, 'elite' gym in central London, and in my first session there I got cruised." I felt shit – like I wasn't worth enough for him to help me come, or whatever."ĭan, another young gay guy who's fooled around in his gym locker room, says he thinks it's "probably more common than people think", but adds: "I went to various gyms for years and never really noticed anything. We did, and started jerking off together, and he basically came super-fast on me and then left. "When I came out the sauna he was in the end cubicle, sort of half out the shower, and made motions for me to join him. "One time I was in the sauna and this hot muscular guy kept looking at me and moving his towel up so I could see more of him," he recalls. "There's something hot about being in a public place," he admits, "but mostly I get paranoid about someone walking in rather than turned on by it." He also says guys who cruise in gyms "can be really up themselves" and admits he sometimes feels "paranoid" about getting rejected.
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Dating apps are almost always full of very flattering pics that don't match reality."Ĭarl says that, for him, the risk of being caught is more off-putting than exciting. "I guess there's also the convenience: rather than browse Grindr, there's someone attractive nearby, and you know what they actually look like. "Guys at the gym tend to be attractive and have nice bodies because they take care of themselves," he says.
Photo: Cultura Creative / Alamy Stock Photoīut why does cruising in gym locker rooms remain popular at a time when hook-up apps have made it easier than ever for gay men to arrange an anonymous "NSA" (no strings attached) sexual encounter?Ĭarl, a gay guy from London who's had "gym fun" in his health club's showers, says that sheer practicality is a factor. Ratings of gyms for their cruising potential via. lists 17 gyms in London which have a reputation for being cruisey, 22 in Manchester, 13 in Cardiff, 14 in Birmingham and dozens more all over the UK. Virgin Active's Barbican branch is not a one-off.
, a website that lists places where "men meet other men for sex, cruising, hook-ups, dating, fun and friendship", gives Virgin Active's Barbican location a four-star rating and offers this handy description: "Massive gym, with loads of facilities, and after you've done all your hard work you get some pleasure in the steam rooms etc." Harry, a regular there, says it's well known as a gay men's cruising spot, but adds that hook-ups actually "used to be much more common than they are now". Virgin Active's response to "inappropriate behaviour" in the Barbican branch's male locker room wasn't just misguided. But even back in 2008, police guidelines essentially advised officers to turn a blind eye unless someone actually complained. Under the Public Order Act 1986, anyone who has sex in public can theoretically be charged if the police have enough evidence to convince a court that the activity was witnessed by a third party, or highly likely to have been witnessed by a third party.