Whippoorwill

When I grew up in the 1950s, not only was nudity the practice in the locker room and showers, but all swimming at the YMCA was nude…separate days for men and women. In those days, swim suits were wool with cotton belts. The cloth shed and gummed up the primitive filtration systems. So swimsuits were forbidden in the pool. No one thought anything of it. People grew up in large families with only one bathroom, so everyone grew up seeing siblings and parents naked. Kids from the country grew up swimming naked at the swimming hole. High schools and college dorms had separate sex facilities but it was always gang showers. Anyone who demurred would have been mocked mercilessly. Somehow the religious fanatics succeeded in convincing the current generations that the human body is sinful. I find that attitude sick.

I usually find the masseur’s hot cock in my hand does the trick.

Absolutely, go for it next time.

Not sure where you are flying from, but a transcontinental flight and difference of several time zones would suggest you might be ready to pass out after some play time and an orgasm. Do you really want to pass out, dead to the world, with a virtual stranger in your hotel room?....2hrs max.

71 out of 90

Yeah, don't make it weird, it doesn't need to be. San Francisco, my hometown, is a small place, and over the years my regular masseurs and I inevitably bump into each other. Give a nod of recognition, or say hi and move on, as you would with any other acquaintance. Neither you nor he have exclusive rights to the gym. You don't embarrass him, he doesn't embarrass you. Easy. Don't overthink it.

Graham Patrick Martin

Taylor Zakhim Perez and Nicholas Galitzine

Regarding the proper positioning on the toilet for easiest evacuation...I lived in the Middle East for two years, when pretty much all there was were squat toilets...basically a ceramic tile hole in the floor, with foot pads on either side. It took some months for the intestine to rearrange itself in order to achieve complete evacuation. And likewise, upon returning to the US, to rearrange itself for sit down toilets. The joke among expats was "When you get back to the States you'll be leaving footprints on the toilet seat for a couple of months,." And it was true.

T-Rooms are a sacred place...over thousands of years, many of us had our first gay experiences with a stranger there. Before gay was "in", before the internet, before porn was readily available, when you were too young to be in a bar...T-rooms opened a whole new world we had been unknowingly searching for our entire lives. They were a revelation, a source of first gay friends, a sex education manual. etc. Don't knock the practice.

Slightly off topic, but I have getting PT and the therapist wears rubber gloves and a mask. I hate it because he is a very cute 20-something year old hunk, and just my type. I can't figure if he is gay or straight. I see him through my HMO at no charge, and he is doing wonders with my issue. We are both fully clothed and doing nothing in the nether regions, but I really hate the barrier to touch. I have concluded he really needs to get the bejesus fucked out of him so he's not so germaphobic. Unfortunately, that won't happen with me.

I was mentioning this thread to some young(er) (early 60s couple) friends who had recently been to a pool party, hosted by an older couple they slightly know. Now in my day, pool party = orgy. I asked how it was...and the answer was "Lots of handsy old guys, and a sprinkling of young bucks who obviously wanted to be there. We're so glad that these guys are still going for it...the flesh may sometimes be weak but the spirit was there." Thank goodness there are still holdouts from the purity police.

It's called reading the room. Gay bars, baths, clubs, etc. are places to be with other gay men...that's why they exist, that's why we go there. What each of us are looking for at any moment in any venue, we generally signal with our body language, our dress, our eyes, etc. It takes being alert to what we are signaling to others, and what they are signaling to us. Mistakes are made...but take it as a learning experience, both ways.

On my first European trip, in 1964, almost all hotels, in all countries, kept your passport the first night. Always made me nervous.

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