How long does it take to read Tearoom Trade?
Impersonal Sex in Public Places
Laud Humphreys
Tearoom Trade by Laud Humphreys takes about 4 hours 22 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 4 hours 22 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1970. 238 pages, about 65,450 words.
9 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 7 hours 16 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 4 hours 22 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 2 hours 44 minutes |
The page count is the median across 18 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
From the time of its first publication in 1970, this book engendered controversy. It was also accorded an unusual amount of praise for a first book on a marginal, intentionally self-effacing population by a previously unknown sociologist. The book was quickly recognized as an important, imaginative, and useful contribution to our understanding of "deviant" sexual activity. Describing impersonal, anonymous sexual encounters in public restrooms - "tearooms" in the argot - the book explored the behavior of men whose closet homosexuality was kept from their families and neighbors. By combining participant observation with structured as well as informal interviews, Tearoom Trade still furnishes a controversial example of recent social science methods. This enlarged edition includes the original text, together with a retrospect. The material added includes a perspective on the social scientist at work and the ethical problems to which that work may give rise, along with debate by t.
Subjects: Homosexuality, Public comfort stations, Public toilets, Homosexualité, Sexual behavior, Gay men
