Noting both sides, gay video game designer Robert Yang made a bathroom cruising video game in 2017 entitled The Tearoom as a way to highlight a real-life historic 1962 police sting on a public bathroom in Mansfield, Ohio, as a way to highlight ongoing police violence and public shaming of queer men seeking consensual adult encounters in public. On the other hand, it’s also considered by some to be a dark side of queer sexuality and history that has been used to shame queer men for their otherwise harmless sexual proclivities (often in the name of protecting children or public decency). On one hand, it’s considered so seedy, sexy and transgressive that “toilet tramp” hookup scenes have become a common scenario in gay porn (and even inspired drawings of gay erotic illustrator Tom of Finland). Cruising public restrooms has become an ingrained part of queer history, with mixed feelings surrounding it.
