The sequel to Bathhouse Blues, this second edition continues to explore the gay culture of the tubs. The baths are the only gay meeting place where you can see a cross-section of every queer group imaginable under the same roof. Only little is available about bathhouse culture until now. This book will shatter myths and open some eyes. You will learn even more about an activity that many gay men have enjoyed for decades.

Drawing from my diaries and over 13 years of experience in the bathhouse industry across North America, Bathhouse Babylon offers an unfiltered, behind-the-scenes look at this unique world. The book charts my journey from a regular customer to managing three gay sauna establishments, providing an insider's perspective that is as candid as it is captivating. Bathhouse Babylon reveals the intricate subculture of bathhouses, a realm often hidden from the public eye. Through vivid storytelling, it shares the unusual and shocking sex stories that are an integral part of this environment. Yet, the narrative also delves into the sociological aspects, exploring the dynamics at play in a venue teeming with half-naked men in party mode. Topics such as drug use, money-driven owners, escorts, celebrities, diversity challenges, business competition, and sex addiction are examined in depth. If you can imagine it, it happens in a bathhouse. Originally published in 2021, "Bathhouse Babylon - Full Release" has been completely rewritten in this final version, featuring additional chapters packed with even more salacious tales of sex and scandal.

Nominated for a 34th annual Lambda Literary Award • A scintillating thriller with an emotional punch: “The tension builds to unbearably claustrophobic levels. To say more would rob readers of the 'no, he didn’t' suspense that makes Bath Haus an unexpectedly twisted, heart-pounding cat-versus-mouse thriller" (Los Angeles Times). Oliver Park, a recovering addict from Indiana, finally has everything he ever wanted: sobriety and a loving, wealthy partner in Nathan, a prominent DC trauma surgeon. Despite their difference in age and disparate backgrounds, they've made a perfect life together. With everything to lose, Oliver shouldn't be visiting Haus, a gay bathhouse. But through the entrance he goes, and it's a line crossed. Inside, he follows a man into a private room, and it's the final line. Whatever happens next, Nathan can never know. But then, everything goes wrong, terribly wrong, and Oliver barely escapes with his life. He races home in full-blown terror as the hand-shaped bruise grows dark on his neck. The truth will destroy Nathan and everything they have together, so Oliver does the thing he used to do so well: he lies. What follows is a classic runaway-train narrative, full of the exquisite escalations, edge-of-your-seat thrills, and oh-my-god twists. P. J. Vernon's Bath Haus is perfect for readers curious for their next must-read novel.

Explore the impact of AIDS on the gay bathhouse culture Public health policy on bathhouses has been limited and poorly documented. This book—the first to be published on this timely and important topic—will help you become knowledgeable about gay bathhouses. Unlike most other places where men have sex in public, gay bathhouses are subject to government-imposed health regulations. Gay Bathhouses and Public Health Policy examines the bathhouse environment and how it differs from other public sex environments. It describes public policies that have been implemented, discussing policies for HIV prevention, testing, and intervention; issues related to civil liberties; and the legal aspects of these policies. This essential book also includes a fascinating chapter about other types of sex businesses—bookstores, theaters, and sex clubs—and how public policy affected them in the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Helpful tables and figures make the information in this well referenced book easy to access and understand. From the editors: “From a public health perspective, the baths first came to attention as a result of an exponential increase in sexually transmitted infections among men in the 1970s. The spread of these infections among gay men stimulated the public health community to seek ways to combat them. Although there appears to have been some mention of closing bathhouses as an approach, the predominant message was to educate, test, and treat. Of course, AIDS was a different matter in a different time. By early 1984, the once rare call for closure had gained a powerful voice as well as support in powerful gay circles. The tension between the baths and public heath that resulted from the closure debates continues to exist in some cities, but there are also a number of examples of health professionals from local health departments and academic institutions who have established good relationships with owners and managers of bathhouses. Today, 40 of bathhouses in the United States offer HIV testing, which typically requires collaboration either with the local health department or with community-based organizations that run outreach HIV-testing programs.” Gay Bathhouses and Public Health Policy will inform you about: the unique relationship between bathhouse patrons and the environment within which they engage in sexual activities the history of gay bathhouses in the United States, including their transformation from Turkish baths, Russian baths, public baths, health resorts, and spas into gay institutions the San Francisco bathhouse battles of 1984 and their impact on civil liberties, AIDS awareness, and health policy the legal aspects of regulating bathhouses—highlighting cases from 1984 to 1995 where the government sought to close a sex-facilitating business or where such a business sought to invalidate laws and ordinances banning sexual activity an uncensored 1984 report from Coming Up! magazine on sexual activity at bathhouses how the city of Seattle designed and implemented an HIV-counseling and testing program for bathhouses and more!

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‘Live at the Continental’...The inside story of the world famous Continental Baths I built the Continental Baths in 1968 and discovered Bette Midler in 1969. The Baths were not only an expression of sexual liberation, but also heralded in a rebirth of Cabaret in the city of New York. Artists of the ilk of Barry Manilow, Manhattan Transfer, Peter Allen, Margaret Whiting, Melba Moore, Liz Torres, Patti LaBelle and countless others in addition to Bette got their first big break at the Continental Baths. The Baths and I are the subject of several chapters in the latest biography of Bette called Bette (1995 Birch Lane press, Carol Publishing Group). The Baths and I have also been extensively written about in Bette’s own book, A View From A Broad, Barry Manilow’s autobiography My Sweet Life; James Gavin’s Intimate Nights; The Golden Age of Cabaret, Stephen Maclean’s The Boy From Oz, and countless other books depicting the age of sexual revolution etc. In addition the Baths were the subject of a major motion picture The Ritz, which was released in the late seventies. The Continental was a phenomenon that came out of a pre-AIDS world that we will probably never experience again. But more than just being a bathhouse and showplace, the Baths were a place where people came out of their closets and found out who they were. It was the first gay establishment to treat gay people as equals and not exploit them. It was instrumental in having the laws against homosexuality rescinded and gave birth, along with Stonewall, to a whole generation where gay was in. Beyond that it ushered in an era of sexual liberation and alternative lifestyles that, to this day, has never been equaled. I feel that it is now time for me to tell the whole story of the Baths for the first time. The inside story of how and why it came about, and the whole subculture is engendered. But far from being just another chronicle of a bygone era, and as I was a rather prominent fellow in the gay world, having been crowned ‘King Queen’ in a 16-page Rolling Stone article, I also relate my own life story, leading up to what motivated me to create such a place and the ramifications it had on myself and my family as I, too, was liberated together with the Baths. Much has been written about the Baths, but the story of how it came about---the 200 raids by the New York Police Department; the pressures from the Mafia; the famous people who visited it; the relationships that were formed; the drug culture that existed in the city; the political upheaval in the city of New York---all of this has never been revealed. During the 8 years that the Continental was in vogue, over 1 million people a year came through its doors. I believe that there is a large market for this book in the gay world, where it is internationally famous, and in the straight world, because of the prominence of its stars. The gay population of the US, using Kinsey’s formula of about 10% to 16% of the population, would be well over 20 million. Latest census figures show that 25% of that population is over the age of 40. These 5 million people, I would presume, would be our primary target. The book, however, would not only appeal to those who lived through the 70’s, but also to the young amongst us to whom the 70’s, the Baths and Bette Midler represent a fascinating golden era that they will never experience, but can only read about. Woven through the book is my own journey as I simultaneously pursued an operatic career, having sung with some of the most famous opera stars in the world in Germany, France, the United States, Canada and Australia. I also try to explore and share the confusion and frustrations I have felt as a bisexual, not understood by the gay or the straight world.

The award-winning, field-defining history of gay life in New York City in the early to mid-20th century Gay New York brilliantly shatters the myth that before the 1960s gay life existed only in the closet, where gay men were isolated, invisible, and self-hating. Drawing on a rich trove of diaries, legal records, and other unpublished documents, George Chauncey constructs a fascinating portrait of a vibrant, cohesive gay world that is not supposed to have existed. Called "monumental" (Washington Post), "unassailable" (Boston Globe), "brilliant" (The Nation), and "a first-rate book of history" (The New York Times), Gay New Yorkforever changed how we think about the history of gay life in New York City, and beyond.