Dark room (sexuality)
Encyclopedia
A darkroom or dark room is a darkened room, sometimes located in a nightclub
, gay bathhouse
or sex club
, where sexual activity can take place. When located in bars, dark rooms are also known as backrooms or blackrooms.
n gay bar
s and clubs in the 1960s and 1970s, and can still be found in some bars.
Dark rooms are still a feature of some gay bars and clubs throughout Europe.
s and bathhouses
.
A sex club's dark room may be as simple as a small darkened area large enough for two or three people, or may comprise a large portion of the club's floor area, with mazes, glory hole
s, private nooks, steel bars resembling prison
cells, and varying floor levels.
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
, gay bathhouse
Gay bathhouse
Gay bathhouses, also known as gay saunas or steam baths, are commercial bathhouses for men to have sex with other men. In gay slang in some regions these venues are also known colloquially as "the baths" or "the tubs," and should not be confused with public bathing.Not all men who visit gay...
or sex club
Sex club
Sex clubs are either groups that organize sex related activities or an establishment where patrons can engage in sex acts with other patrons. A sex club differs from a brothel in that, while sex club patrons typically pay a fee to enter the club, they have sex with other patrons rather than with...
, where sexual activity can take place. When located in bars, dark rooms are also known as backrooms or blackrooms.
Dark rooms in bars
Dark rooms were common features of North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n gay bar
Gay bar
A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...
s and clubs in the 1960s and 1970s, and can still be found in some bars.
Dark rooms are still a feature of some gay bars and clubs throughout Europe.
Dark rooms in sex clubs and bathhouses
Dark rooms may be advertised as an amenity or attraction of sex clubSex club
Sex clubs are either groups that organize sex related activities or an establishment where patrons can engage in sex acts with other patrons. A sex club differs from a brothel in that, while sex club patrons typically pay a fee to enter the club, they have sex with other patrons rather than with...
s and bathhouses
Gay bathhouse
Gay bathhouses, also known as gay saunas or steam baths, are commercial bathhouses for men to have sex with other men. In gay slang in some regions these venues are also known colloquially as "the baths" or "the tubs," and should not be confused with public bathing.Not all men who visit gay...
.
A sex club's dark room may be as simple as a small darkened area large enough for two or three people, or may comprise a large portion of the club's floor area, with mazes, glory hole
Glory hole (sexual)
A glory hole is a hole in a wall, or other partition, often between public lavatory stalls or adult video arcade booths for people to engage in sexual activity or observe the person in the next cubicle while one or both parties masturbate. The partition maintains anonymity...
s, private nooks, steel bars resembling prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
cells, and varying floor levels.