Glory hole (sexual slang)

A glory hole (also spelled gloryhole and glory-hole)cite web
last=O'Hara
first=Scott
authorlink=Scott O'Hara
coauthors=
title=Rarely Pure and Never Simple: Selected Essays of Scott O'Hara
publisher=Haworth Press; ISBN 0789005735
date=1999, page 24;
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=QKlE8exUdeMC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31] is a hole in a wall, or other partition, often between public lavatory stalls or video booths for people to engage in sexual activity or observe the person in the next cubicle while one or both parties masturbate.cite web
last=Murphy
first=Timothy F.
authorlink=
coauthors=
title=Gay Ethics: Controversies in Outing, Civil Rights, and Sexual Science
publisher=Haworth Press
date=1994
pages=237
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=__1rQUMMWnkC&dq=gloryhole
accessdate=2007-12-31] The partition maintains anonymity. [ [http://www.sex-lexis.com/Sex-Dictionary/glory%20hole Sexual Dictionary] "Glory Hole"] [http://www.aaronsgayinfo.com/AlphaMenu/Gterms.html Aaron's Dictionary of Gay Terms] ] [http://www.cruisingforsex.com/features/gholeFAQ.html The Gloryhole FAQ] by Lilfuzzyg (1999) *Caution, explicit images] [ [http://andrejkoymasky.com/lou/dic/g.html Glossary of Gay Slang Terms] "Glory Hole"] Body parts including fingers and one's tongue can touch the other person if the hole is large enough and intercourse with anonymity intact is possible. Erotic literature and pornographic films have been devoted to the sexual uses of gloryholes.cite web
last=Burger
first=John Robert
authorlink=
coauthors=
title=One-Handed Histories: The Eroto-Politics of Gay Male Video
publisher=Haworth Press
isbn=1560248602 |pages=
date=1995
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=Dt47wpS98JQC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31] cite web
title="Glory hole" site:nifty.org
publisher=Nifty.org Erotic Online Archives
date=2007
url =http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=+%22glory+hole%22+site%3Anifty.org&btnG=Search
accessdate=2007-12-31]

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Origin

The origin of the term is unknown. It may have come from the mining industry, where the opening to a mineshaft containing the "mother lode" would be considered to be the "glory hole".cite web
last=Jenkins
first=Olaf Pitt
title=Geologic Guidebook Along Highway 49, Sierran Gold Belt: The Mother Lode Country
publisher=Division of Mines
date=1948
isbn= |pages=7, 13, 19
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=eT0gAAAAIAAJ&q=gloryhole&dq=gloryhole&lr=&pgis=1
accessdate=2007-12-31] It may be in reference to the always open mouth or "glory hole" of a kiln used in glass blowing.cite web
last=Cummings
first=Keith
title=A History of Glassforming
publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press
date=2002
isbn=0812236475 |pages=
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=nm387Ui_DEAC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31] It could be a reference to glory holes in civil engineering, where water from a reservoir is quickly "sucked" through a glory hole and out of a dam. It could also have its roots in one of several meanings from seamen and shipbuilding.cite web
last=Eddington
first=Walter J.
title=Glossary of Shipbuilding and Outfitting Terms
publisher=Cornell Maritime Press
date=1943
isbn= |pages=127
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=NFUEAAAAMAAJ&q=gloryhole&dq=gloryhole&lr=&pgis=1
accessdate=2007-12-31]

There are many theories regarding the origins of the earliest glory hole. One common idea is that it originated in ancient days as a spy or peep hole, and grew larger as men sought more contact, but only enough contact as to perform sex acts upon the genitals of another man. The theory of use was that, although heterosexual men would seek the relief to be found on the other side of a glory hole, they did not wish to lose their anonymity, or to engage in any other physical contact with another man. [http://www.aaronsgayinfo.com/AlphaMenu/Gterms.html Aaron's Dictionary of Gay Terms] ]

From the mid-to-late 20th century glory holes could be found in many public men's room in the United States including adult bookstores,cite web
last=Woods
first=William J.
coauthors=Diane Binson
title=Gay Bathhouses and Public Health Policy
publisher=Haworth Press
date=2003
isbn=1560232730 |pages=
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=t2MsjlZT1LcC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31] gay bars,cite web
last=O'Hara
first=Scott
authorlink=Scott O'Hara
title=Rarely Pure and Never Simple: Selected Essays of Scott O'Hara
publisher=Haworth Press
date=1999
isbn=0789005735 |pages=195
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=QKlE8exUdeMC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31] department stores,cite web
last=O'Hara
first=Scott
title=Rarely Pure and Never Simple: Selected Essays of Scott O'Hara
publisher=Haworth Press
date=1999
isbn=0789005735 |pages=165
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=QKlE8exUdeMC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31] jailhouses, bus and train stations, office buildings, military bases,cite web
last=Sarkodie-Mensah
first=Kwasi
title=Helping the Difficult Library Patron: New Approaches to Examining and Resolving a Long-Standing and Ongoing Problem
publisher=Haworth Press
date=2002
isbn=0789017318 |pages=92
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=RHDPt_J1VUsC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31] and other public buildings like libraries, departments stores, park rest stops and gay beats.cite book
title=Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=IVFpA1d_XZUC&pg=PA1&dq=isbn:0202302822&sig=jFx_i6SHEmqHL6Y3Fq4zN8Z95xs#PPA2,M1
last=Humphreys
first=Laud
publisher=Aldine de Gruyter
year=1975
isbn=0-202-30282-2] Glory holes were once extremely common in public men's toilets.cite web
last=Randolph
first=Vance
authorlink=
coauthors=
title=Unprintable Ozark Folksongs and Folklore
publisher=University of Arkansas Press
date=1992
isbn=1557282315 |pages=537
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=RHDPt_J1VUsC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31] Whereas women's bathrooms would be targeted for "peep" holes for spying, glory holes were much larger and therefore more obvious.cite web
last=Valdés
first=Zoé
authorlink=
coauthors=Translated by Andrew Hurley
title=Dear First Love: A Novel
publisher=HarperCollins; 0060959096
date=2002
isbn= |pages=163-169
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=4essXYDpLpsC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31] When an institution (school, governmental or business) would replace bathroom stalls they often would upgrade to stainless steel to discourage creating holes as well as other forms of vandalism as wood walls were an easy target for such activities. Sometimes men who enjoy the erotic aspects of the activity will even create one for private use in their homes.cite web
last=O'Hara
first=Scott
authorlink=Scott O'Hara
coauthors=
title=Autopornography: A Memoir of Life in the Lust Lane
publisher=Haworth Press
isbn=0789001446 |pages=
date=1997
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=-H-ZS4J5oiAC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31]

Method of use

To use a glory hole a man puts his penis through the hole to in most cases receive oral sex, and to a lesser extent anal intercourse, a handjob,cite web
last=Adams
first=Nicholas
authorlink=
coauthors=
title=My Black Book
publisher=iUniverse
date=2004
isbn=0595307817 |pages=124-130
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=X1PpClNovDAC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31] or vaginal intercourse. Glory holes are today most commonly found in established adult video/bookstore arcades, sex clubs, gay bathhouses, and adult theaters.cite web
last=O'Hara
first=Scott
authorlink=Scott O'Hara
coauthors=
title=Rarely Pure and Never Simple: Selected Essays of Scott O'Hara
publisher=Haworth Press
date=1999
isbn=0789005735 |pages=45-49
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=QKlE8exUdeMC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31]

If a glory hole is to be found between two booths in a video booth at an adult bookstore, [http://www.cruisingforsex.com/features/gholeFAQ.html The Gloryhole FAQ] by Lilfuzzyg (1999) *Caution, explicit images] the person who wishes to perform oral sex will normally be seated in his booth. Although not a hard and fast rule, that seated (and sometimes kneeling) position commonly signals to others that he is there in order to perform oral sex - which allows those who wish to receive oral sex to take the adjoining booth. That second person, who wishes to have oral sex performed on him will take the adjoining booth and normally remain standing.cite web
last=Adams
first=Nicholas
authorlink=
coauthors=
title=My Black Book
publisher=iUniverse
date=2004
isbn=0595307817 |pages=116-117
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=X1PpClNovDAC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31]

Motivations

Numerous motivations can be ascribed to the use and eroticism of glory holes. For some, it can be seen as a way to have intimacy without a prolonged relationship or to ensure sexual compatibility before further advancing a relationship.cite web
last=Adams
first=Nicholas
authorlink=
coauthors=
title=My Black Book
publisher=iUniverse
date=2004
isbn=0595307817 |pages=124-130
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=X1PpClNovDAC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31] Utilizing a gloryhole is also an easy way to mitigate any perceived physical shortcomings like being overweight or somehow less physically attractivecite web
last=Adams
first=Nicholas
authorlink=
coauthors=
title=My Black Book
publisher=iUniverse
date=2004
isbn=0595307817 |pages=116-117
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=X1PpClNovDAC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31] or even being considered too old.cite web
last=O'Hara
first=Scott
authorlink=
coauthors=
title=Rarely Pure and Never Simple: Selected Essays of Scott O'Hara
publisher=Haworth Press
date=1999
location= |isbn=0789005735 |pages=165
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=QKlE8exUdeMC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31]

In light of the ongoing AIDS pandemic, many gay men have re-evaluated their sexual and erotic desires. Glory holes allow for a physical barrier which may be an extension of psychological ones where internalized homophobia as a result of society's negative reaction to LGBT people and gay sexual practices can be resolved, even if only temporarily.cite web
last=Dean
first=Tim
authorlink=
coauthors=
title=Beyond Sexuality
publisher=University of Chicago Press
date=2000
isbn=0226139344 |pages=
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=68hI6_16VGEC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31] For some gay men a glory hole can be used to depersonalize their partner altogether as simply an object sticking through the hole. These motivations could be ascribed as male motivations and not just as gay and bisexual men's motives.cite web
last=Grant
first=Linda
authorlink=
coauthors=
title=Sexing the Millennium: Women and the Sexual Revolution
publisher=Grove Press
date=1994
isbn=0802133495 |pages=
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=6AhsobrKTPIC&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31]

Legal and health concerns

Public sex is illegal in many parts of the world and entrapment cases occur.cite web
last=Califia-Rice
first=Patrick
authorlink=Patrick Califia-Rice
title=Public Sex: The Culture of Radical Sex
publisher=Cleis Press Inc
date=2000
isbn=ISBN 1573440965
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=ospG7vrCIJcC&dq=public+sex+illegal&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0
accessdate=2008-06-30] cite web
last=Jaffe
first=Harold
authorlink=
coauthors=
title=Terror-Dot-Gov
publisher=Raw Dog Screaming Press
date=2005,
isbn=1933293098 |pages=28
url =http://books.google.com/books?id=gS1V4rEzDC4C&dq=gloryhole&lr=
accessdate=2007-12-31] Otton, Garry. [http://www.scottishmediamonitor.com/features2.cfm?ID=3 " Cruising: A Private Inconvenience by Garry Otton, ScotsGay Magazine, January 1995"] Retrieved on 2007-06-06.] Potential surveillance and public humiliation (if a participant's name appears in a local newspaper or in legal documents) as well as gay bashing, mugging or bodily injury are further risks.Otton, Garry. [http://www.scottishmediamonitor.com/features2.cfm?ID=3 " Cruising: A Private Inconvenience by Garry Otton, ScotsGay Magazine, January 1995"] Retrieved on 2007-06-06.] Due to the fear of arrest or assault, or for reasons of etiquette, it is rare for a male to insert his penis in a glory hole without invitation from the person on the other side of the partition fact|date=October 2007. A common signal by a willing participant is to insert one or more fingers in the hole, often accompanied by a beckoning motion and an audible invitation such as a purr or whistle.

In addition to safety risks from being attacked, there is also the risk of sexually transmitted diseases. This can be reduced through the use of condoms when needed.

Usages in popular culture

Popular culture references within both the gay and LGBT communities as well as the mainstream culture have become more common. The 1982 teen comedy film "Porky's", about the escapades of teenagers at the fictional Angel Beach high school in Florida in 1954, featured a glory hole scene in a shower room where the boys were able to view teen girls in the shower. In John Waters's fictional 1994 dark comedy film "Serial Mom", starring Kathleen Turner as the title character, a glory hole is used as a plot device when an eyewitness sees her through the hole hiding in the neighboring stall prior to a murder at the nearby urinals. An earlier film by Waters, "Desperate Living" (1977), contained a scene in a "women's" lavatory depicting a chest-high double glory hole—for breasts. [There is at least one example of the use of a second hole being for the hand of the man to guide the head of the fellatrix.cite web|title="Glory Hole"|url="http://www.gloryhole.com/gh_mega_trailer.wmv"|accessdate=2008-07-14] The opening stunt in Jackass 2 features a man inserting his penis into a glory hole that opens up into the cage of a hungry snake, which proceeded to violently bite his penis. In the 2002 chickflick "The Sweetest Thing", Cameron Diaz gets injured in the eye when she unknowingly peers through a gloryhole in men's restroom. In the 2000 comedy "Scary Movie", which spoofs popular horror films, Shawn Wayans' character Ray - who shows signs of being gay throughout the movie - goes to the bathroom in a theater. Upon seeing a glory hole and hearing sexual noises, he proceeds to listen with his ear pressed to the hole and is suddenly impaled through his head by a penis.

See also

* Cottaging - term referring to anonymous male-male sex in a public lavatory
* Dogging (sexual slang)
* Gay bathhouse
* Gay beat
* Gay cruising in the United Kingdom
* Troll (gay slang)
* Polari

References

Further reading

* [http://www.lambdalegal.org/take-action/tool-kits/little-black-book/little-black-book.html "The Little Black Book: This one can keep you out of trouble,"] "Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund". ( [http://data.lambdalegal.org/pdf/262.pdf PDF version] )
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20050329182026/http://www.lambdalegal.org/binary-data/LAMBDA_PDF/pdf/262.pdf An article that gives legal advice on] cruising for sex.
*
*
* (Includes several glory hole encounters by Navy members)
*
* (quote from the abstract)

External links

* [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/21/nyregion/21cruise.html?ei=5090&en=d0a1e361a9d00e1f&ex=1284955200&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=print A Sex Stop on the Way Home by Corey Kilgannon, New York Times, September 21, 2005]
* [http://www.lambdalegal.org/take-action/tool-kits/little-black-book/little-black-book.html The Little Black Book: This one can keep you out of trouble,] "Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund"; [http://web.archive.org/web/20060306230022/http://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/publications.html?record=119 archived copy] , [http://data.lambdalegal.org/pdf/262.pdf pdf format] , [http://web.archive.org/web/20050329182026/http://www.lambdalegal.org/binary-data/LAMBDA_PDF/pdf/262.pdf archived here] . An article regarding legal issues of sex in public restrooms.

=

* Images of a row of glory hole booths commonly found in many adult video/bookstore arcades (each booth would be connected to its adjoining booths by a glory hole):
** [http://www.rotten.com/library/sex/homosexuality/gloryholes/arcade.jpga row of booths]
** [http://www.freegloryhole.net/femalegloryholes/images/arcade2.jpga row of booths]
*Images of men's restroom glory holes:
** [http://cache.wonkette.com/politics/hole02232006.jpgglory hole in toilet stall]
** [http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~cockburd/glhl.jpgglory hole in toilet stall]
** [http://static.flickr.com/78/155966507_9a094dd9a3_m.jpgglory hole in toilet stall]