TRADE 4 ated by members of the police force, have heterosexual or bisexual, an attitudewhich had their careers ruined through being also perpetuates archaic concepts under detected in the process of "tea-room trade." which only the receiver or pathic was Insignificant as the offense may have been, considered to be departing from gender the publicity attending the arrest and norms of appropriate sexual behavior. The eventual trial, and the inclusion of the modem slang usage probably derives from offender's name in centralized files of the association with young male prosti- "known sex deviates," were enough to tutes, engaged in "the sex trade," who are stigmatize the individual for life. Some- only available in the penetrator role. times the authorities attempt to discour- Trade is generally a term which is not self- age sex in toilets by removing the stall applied, but only used by the receptive doors or modifying the structures archi- partner or by uninvolved homosexuals. tecturally so that privacy will be reduced. The prevalence of trade behavior A special adaptation of toilets for is usually underestimated since its adher- sexual purposes is often found in the form ents seldom write books, join organiza- of "glory holes," openings surreptitiously tions, or fill out survey questionnaires. drilled or carved into the partitions sepa- Nevertheless, it may well be that, from a rating the stalls. These serve for the inser- global perspective that includes Med- tion of the erect penis which is then fel- iterranean, shamanistic, pederastic, and lated by the occupant of the other booth. Asian patterns, there are more "trade" This practice combines anonymity, a sense men than reciprocating homosexuals, and of concentration on the affected organ, even in advanced western societies this and an element of danger that goes even may be the case for members of the work- beyond the usual one of employing the ing class, where the sense that only the public john for sexual purposes. The prob- passive partner is homosexual is best pre- lem of being unpleasantly surprised was served. Certainly there are extensive areas obviated in the glory-hole clubs, commer- of sexual encounter outside prostitution cial establishments that enjoyed some in which trade behavior is not only com- popularity in the late 1970s. With the mon in westem industrial societies, but rising awareness of the need for safe sex, expected by the receptive partner: cruising these clubs have largely faded away. Not military men, seafarers, truck drivers, so, however, the do-it-yourselfglory holes hitchhikers, teenagers, patrons of toilets in public toilets: despite an often relent- frequented by thegeneral public, frequent- less campaign by custodians to close these ers of interstate highway rest areas, those apertures, they mysteriously keep reap- involved in interracial sex, and men in jail pearing. or prison. The trade pattern seems to serve BIBLIOGRAPHY. Edward W. Delph, The as an intermediate stage of coming out Silent Community: Public Homosexual Encounters, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, often enough to have engendered the 1978; Laud Humphreys, Tearoom Trade: widespread homosexual saying "Today's Impersonal Sex in Public Places, trade is tomorrow's competition," but it Chicago: Aldine, 1970. would be a mistake to draw too broad a Ward Houser conclusion from this saying, which may also reflect the tendency which causes TRADE some homosexuals to label anyone and As a term of gay slang, this word everyone a queen. It is not a saying with is the modem parallel of ancient Greek, much currency among those homosexuals Latin, and Old Norse terms for a male who who prefer trade for various reasons and remains strictly in the active role of pene- who are perhaps more knowledgeable about trator, and who usually considers himself their patterns. Those who are familiarwith 4 TRADE scenes in which "situational" trade homo- Such individuals seekto deny and sexuality can be observed over a longer reverse their original biological gender and period of time (prisons, military areas, cross over into the role of the opposite boarding schools) do not see much evi- gender. Transsexuals emulate the charac- dence to support the validity of the say- teristics of the opposite gender in behav- ing; if anything, they would report that ior, dress, attitude, and sexual orientation, "today's trade is tomorrow's married and aspire to attain the anatomical struc- heterosexual." ture of the genitalia of the opposite sex. "Rough trade" is a term denoting The request for the so-called sex-change a potentially dangerous or ruffian male, operation becomes the obsessive goal of virtually always self-defined as heterosex- the transsexual's life and brings him to the ual, and who often demonstrates feelings door of the physician, but in their request of guilt or remorse after ejaculation which for sex reassignment surgery (SRS) they can erupt into violence directed at his present themselves to thesurgeon, not the partner. Nevertheless, there are not a few psychiatrist. They reject the implication homosexuals who find rough trade par- that psychiatric referral is required, since ticularly appealing. Many professional they do not conceive their dilemma in male prostitutes are termed "rough psychiatric terms but as a consequence of trade" because of their image as "tough having been born into the wrong body. In guys" even though their actual potential a sense, transsexualism may be considered for violence is low, a few highly publicized iatrogenic, in that advances in surgical exceptions notwithstanding. technique and hormonal therapy now Research on homosexuality in permit the realization of longings for sex- this century has tended to avoid role ual metamorphosis that once belonged to analysis and focused instead on self-de- the realm of mythology and fairy tales. fined homosexuals rather than occasional History. This fact became known participants. Clearly, the trade phenome- to the public after the famous Jorgensen non needs a great deal more research be- case in 1952, in which the reporting endo- fore investigators can contemplate closing crinologist received letters from hundreds the books on the phenomenon of same-sex of individuals requesting SRS. A former relations. sergeant in the American army was trans- Stephen Donaldson formed from a male into an externally functioning female by a Danish plastic TRAGEDY surgeon, Paul Fogh-Andersen, in Copen- See Theatre and Drama. hagen, and Christine Jorgensen, as the in- dividual was subsequently named, made headlines throughout the world. Contro- TRANSSEXUALISM versy and criticism erupted almost at once Transsexualism is the wish for and have continued to the present day, as change of sex. This longing may be defined some psychiatrists branded the whole as a gender identity disorder character- procedure as medical malpractice. ized by the subject's intense desire for However sensationalized the transformation by hormonal or surgical case may have been, it called public atten- means, or both, into the gender opposite tion to the fact that surgical relief was his original one at birth. This insistence is available to the sufferer from gender grounded in complete identification with dysphoria, and thousands of such indi- the gender role of the opposite sex. The viduals came forward to demand the sex transsexual is thus the ultimate form of change operation. Many of these individu- what has come to be known as the gender als were referred to Harry Benjamin dysphoria syndrome. (1885-1987))who promoted the term trans-