Glory hole

Motivations

Numerous motivations can be ascribed to the use and eroticism of glory holes. As a wall separates the two participants, they have no contact except for a penis and a mouth, hand, anus, or vagina. Almost total anonymity is maintained, as no other attributes are taken into consideration. The glory hole is seen as an erotic oasis in gay subcultures around the world; people's motives, experiences and attributions of value in its use are varied.

In light of the ongoing HIV pandemic, many gay men reevaluated their sexual and erotic desires and practices. Queer theorist Tim Dean has suggested that glory holes allow for a physical barrier, which may be an extension of psychological barriers, in which there is internalized homophobia (a result of many societies' reluctance to discuss LGBT practices and people). For some gay men, a glory hole depersonalizes their partner altogether as a disembodied object of sexual desire.

History

The first documented instance of a glory hole was in a 1707 court case known as the "Tryals of Thomas Vaughan and Thomas Davis" in London, which involved the extortion of a man known in the documents only as Mr Guillam. At the time, gay sexual activity in public places could lead to arrests by members of the Society for the Reformation of Manners. Often the authorities would wait outside the Lincoln's Inn bog house in London for example to catch people.

The courts heard that a man (Mr Guillam) had visited a toilet stall to relieve himself, when another male put his penis through a hole in the wall ("a Boy in the adjoyning Vault put his Privy-member through a Hole"). Mr Guillam, surprised by the action, fled the lavatory, only to be followed by the male who cried out that he would have had sex with him. Mr Guillam was then confronted by Mr Vaughan who, knowing Mr Guillam's innocence, threatened to turn him in to the police and reveal him to his wife if he did not pay him a sum of money.

According to the Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang, "glory hole" first appeared in print in 1949, when an anonymously published glossary, Swasarnt Nerf's Gay Girl's Guide, defined it as "[a] phallic size hole in partition between toilet booths. Sometimes used also for a mere peep-hole."

Another reference to glory holes appeared in Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places, a controversial book published by sociologist Laud Humphreys in 1970, where he suggests the "tearoom", or bathroom stall, as a prime space for men to congregate for sexual fulfilment. It also appeared later in the 1977 book The Joy of Gay Sex.

Public glory holes started to fade in popularity as the decriminalization of homosexuality was introduced in many countries and concerns over HIV/AIDS changed gay culture. A 2001 study in the Journal of Homosexuality found that public glory holes remained popular among many gay men "simply because they find [them] exciting and/or convenient."

Despite the fading prominence of glory holes in public, some gay bath houses and sex clubs maintain the presence of glory holes in their establishments and some people have installed glory-hole walls in their own homes. Sexual activity in public toilets remains a fetish for a subset of gay men in particular, who engage in similarly anonymous acts below a toilet cubicle separator rather than through a hole in the wall.

In 2018, the Western Australian Museum added a "historic glory hole" to its collection. It had been situated in the toilet stall of the Albany Highway-side of the Gosnells train station, but was removed and saved in 1997 before the toilet was demolished.

The Leather Archives & Museum was loaned a glory hole from Man's Country in Chicago in June 2019.

A 2020 BuzzFeed article collected anecdotes from gay, straight and bisexual readers recounting their experiences with glory holes at swinger parties.

Legal and health concerns

Public sex of any kind is illegal in many parts of the world and police undercover operations continue to be used to enforce such laws. Adverse personal consequences to participants in glory hole activity have included police surveillance and public humiliation in the press, often with marital and employment consequences and imprisonment following a criminal conviction. Gay bashing, mugging and bodily injury are further potential risks. For reasons of personal safety, as well as etiquette, men typically wait for a signal from the receptive partner before inserting their genitals through a glory hole.

In popular culture

Glory holes are a recurring theme in pornography. Straight porn often features scenarios involving them; in some instances, it involves kink mistresses, who see it as a form of women's sexual agency and mastery.

The early 20th-century pornographic cartoon Eveready Harton in Buried Treasure depicts the use of an improvised glory hole for zoophilic purposes.

Jackass Number Two features a stunt where cast member Chris Pontius dresses his penis in a mouse costume and inserts it into a glory hole that feeds into a snake's cage.

In The Illuminatus! Trilogy a glory hole, in the form of a giant golden apple with an opening in it, is used as part of the Discordian initiation ritual, causing the main character to wonder who or what is on the other side.

American glam metal band Steel Panther's album All You Can Eat features a song entitled "Gloryhole", about the narrator's frequent visits to a local gloryhole.

In the "Mac and Charlie Die (Part 1)" episode of the sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the gang discovers a glory hole has been added to the men's bathroom in their bar.

In 2024, comedy duo Rhett and Link gamified the glory hole for their annual Good Mythical Evening livestream. The game included a "Gory Hole" as the event was Halloween themed. The participant was instructed to guess what inanimate object was poking out of the hole while blindfolded and unable to use their hands.

The Lonely Island returned to form with SNL Digital Short "Sushi Glory Hole" on the October 6, 2024 episode of Saturday Night Live.

References

References

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2. Burger, John Robert. (1995). "One-Handed Histories: The Eroto-Politics of Gay Male Video". Haworth Press.
3. (10 July 2020). "We Asked People Why They Use Glory Holes. Boy, Did They Answer.". BuzzFeed News.
4. DiMauro, Anthony. (2020-09-01). "A Forgotten Sex Act's Unlikely Renaissance in the Pandemic".
5. Blachford, Gregg. (2002). "Sexualities: Difference and the diversity of sexualities". Taylor & Francis.
6. Bapst, Don. (June 2001). "Glory Holes and the Men who use Them". Journal of Homosexuality.
7. Tewksbury, Richard. (2004). "The Intellectual Legacy of Laud Humphreys: His Impact on Research and Thinking about Men's Public Sexual Encounters". International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy.
8. Dean, Tim. (2000). "Beyond Sexuality". University of Chicago Press.
9. "A History of Homoerotica".
10. Murphy, Rhodes. (2019-07-29). "Who Do We Have to Thank for "Glory Holes"—Glass Blowers or Gays?".
11. "Homosexuality in Eighteenth-Century England: Trials of Thomas Vaughan and Thomas Davis, 1707".
12. (2017-07-14). "A Probing History of Glory Holes".
13. (2018-12-11). "Loo door 'too tacky to display'".
14. Herald, Your. (2018-12-07). "WA's glorious history".
15. Rhodes, Adam M.. (2020-10-29). "Gay bathhouses were barely surviving. And then came COVID-19.".
16. Jaffe, Harold. (2005). "Terror-Dot-Gov". Raw Dog Screaming Press.