Christopher Beam, Slate, August 29, 2007
Sen. Larry Craig was arrested in June for soliciting sex in an airport bathroom, Roll Call reported Monday. According to the police, Craig had “tapped his right foot … as a signal used by persons wishing to engage in lewd conduct.” After pleading guilty to a charge of misdemeanor disorderly conduct, the senator paid $575 in fines and fees and was sentenced to a year of probation. But since then, he has said he regrets his guilty plea and that his actions were “misconstrued”—he merely has a “wide stance” when using the toilet.
This incident raises all sorts of questions about cruising signals, congressional privilege, and the logistics of bathroom sex. Here’s a roundup of our favorites.
Is tapping your foot really code for public sex?
Yes. The signal has been around for decades in the United States and Europe. Generally, one person initiates contact by tapping his foot in a way that’s visible beneath the stall divider. If the second person responds with a similar tap, the initiator moves his foot closer to the other person’s stall. If the other person makes a similar move, the first will inch closer yet again. The pair usually goes through the whole process a few times, just to confirm that the signals aren’t an accident.
Next, one of the men will slide his hand under the divider. This usually means he’s inviting the other person to present himself, as if to say, “Show me what you got.” The partner can respond by kneeling on the floor and presenting his penis or rear end underneath the divider. Or he can swipe his own hand under the divider, as if to say, “You go first.” Some married men make a point of displaying their wedding band (like Sen. Craig allegedly did) to make themselves more alluring.
Just how sexy can you get when there’s a divider in the way?
It depends on the bathroom. If the participants were in the last stall in a long row, they might have enough privacy to get it on right there beneath the divider. Alternatively, one person can enter the other’s stall by surreptitiously ducking out and back. Positions vary depending on the space, but one classic setup has one man sit on the toilet while the other straddles his legs and receives oral sex. (In the 1970s, some men frequenting the popular bathrooms at Bloomingdale’s in New York would hide their legs by standing in a pair of shopping bags.)
“HANGIN’ it OUT WITH SENATOR LARRY CRAIG”
http://WWW.ILOVEPOETRY.COM/VIEWPOEM.ASP?ID=93231
Just how he rolls?
Comment by tsumbra — September 2, 2007 @ 9:20 am