Gay sauna worker shares hilarious, NSFW stories: From noisy straight men to drag orgies
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/10/16/g ... eson-farn/
Jameson Farn has written all about his experiences working in gay saunas in a fascinating new book titled Bathhouse Babylon. The volume has been billed as a “behind the scenes account of the bathhouse world” offering a “private insider’s viewpoint”.
For years, gay saunas have been a place of refuge for queer people. The establishments generally allow men – those who identify as gay, bisexual, queer or even straight – to come together in a shared space to explore their sexualities.
Gay saunas are still going strong in many parts of the world, but many have shuttered as queer people became more open about their identities. Dating apps such as Grindr have allowed many gay and bisexual men to have hook-ups and other sexual experiences without walking into a gay sauna.
That’s why it’s so important that incredible story of the gay sauna is not forgotten. These bathhouses were – and continue to be – vital entry routes into queer sexuality for LGBT+ people across the world.
Below, Jameson Farn shares some of his best anecdotes from his many years working in gay saunas, from the straight men who frequent bathhouses to what he describes as “the lonely hearts club”. For example, here is one of these stories.
"Older men had a habit of ‘fainting’ and being rescued by naked men":
One thing all three of these men of a certain age would have in common is a term we used to each other called the “pulling a princess” effect. Meaning, things were too hot to handle.
No matter what day or time of night, at some point one of these types of men would be soaking up the heat from either the dry sauna or steam room for a bit too long. Maybe if men were having sex in there, they didn’t want to leave and miss out on what they were seeing or feeling but they would be in there for so long that they would pass out.
Right away we’d turn the lights up, have the heat or steam shut down, barricade the room and outer area to let in fresh air while we checked on them, we would give them some juice to try and drink while attempting to revive them, very rarely we’d have to call for an ambulance who would take care of them on the spot and then be on their way.
If we recognized them to be a repeat offender of this kind of antic, that’s when we would tell each other that someone was “pulling a princess”. We knew it had begun as part of a game for them to play, as they were immediately granted attention, were fawned over, were even physically removed by men that were pretty much naked or ambulance attendants. And you knew they were up to no good when they would also try to grab your crotch while being taken out of the hot room.