Type of site | Online cruising and hookup service |
|---|---|
| Available in | Multiple languages |
| Owner | Pink Triangle Press |
| URL | Website |
| Registration | Required |
| Launched | 1999 |
| Current status | Online |
Squirt.org, launched by Pink Triangle Press in 1999, is a Canadian website which describes itself as a place "where men meet other men for sex, cruising, hookups, dating, fun and friendship". [1] The website, based in Toronto, is available worldwide. It includes user-generated listings of parks, saunas, public toilets and popular sexual locations for men who have sex with men (MSM). [2] [3] It was called "unique and ideal for cruising world-wide" by the 2006 Spartacus International Gay Guide. [4]
Squirt.org is primarily a hookup website, and profiles are uncensored. The site has profiles for standard hookups, live-cam chat rooms, gay cruising spots, videos, and "cocktales" (erotic user-generated stories). Squirt.org, available free of charge, also has a pay tier with additional services. [5] [6] [7]
In smaller cities, the site may list public parks, truck stops, and mall bathrooms (known as locales) for gay encounters. Listings for larger cities may include gyms, malls, hotel washrooms, city parks, libraries, sex clubs, bathhouses and saunas, fetish and strip clubs, beaches, public washrooms, video arcades, theaters, cinemas, booths, and college and university campuses. [8] [9]
The website's cruising listings include a location's general description and directions to it. There is a description of the type of people who go there, and when the location is generally active; cruising tips may also be included about the location. Some listings include a section for pet peeves and warnings to users about local police activity or security monitoring. Each location includes a comment section for sharing personal anecdotes. [10]
Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has noted that listings and postings on the website make people "easy targets" and "bring places to the attention of people who would be prepared to close them down". [11] Increased sexual activities in public toilets (cottaging) due to their listing on the website have caused facilities to close in the United Kingdom [12] and Australia. [13] [14]
Squirt.org launched its mobile site in 2009. Due to the changes in the gay online dating marketplace caused by Grindr, however, it released a new format in 2012, adopting the GPS location-based technology used by Grindr and Scruff. Squirt Mobile is available via web browser, making it accessible by almost any mobile device. It is not available in app stores due to guidelines related to nudity, which is permitted on Squirt Mobile. The app was first released in the UK and, later, worldwide. [15] [16]
The website has been controversial due to its alleged promotion of illegal activity, and municipal police in some jurisdictions have been known to have their vice units monitor similar websites. [17] Due to its facilitation of seeking out others for unprotected sex ("barebacking"), the website has been used in sexually transmitted infection (STI) and HIV/AIDS research and outreach, [18] [19] and research on "hookup" sites for MSM. The website has co-operated with HIV/AIDS outreach programs, which have provided sexual-health information to its users. [20]
The site's 2015 "Non-Stop Cruising" campaign sparked a backlash in Dallas after complaints were received about its billboard, which featured three ethnically diverse men embracing. [21] In September 2015, the Toronto Transit Commission decided to remove advertisements for the website from its subway trains after riders complained that the ads promoted illegal sexual activity. [22]
Its advertisements were removed from bus stops in Cardiff in 2016, following claims that they were inappropriate. [23] In 2016, the Dutch Advertising Standards Board received a number of complaints about indecency in large signs and posters of shirtless men in Amsterdam and other large cities. The board disagreed with the accusations, saying that the men were not posing in a sexual manner or suggestive of sexual acts. [24]
In 2017 in the United States, a 60-year-old man who met a 13-year-old boy on the website was arrested for sexual assault. [25] The website opposed the Trump administration's view of LGBT rights in early 2017, using the slogan "Make America Gay Again" (a parody of "Make America Great Again", Trump's campaign slogan) on posters in Los Angeles and New York City to coincide with the inauguration of Donald Trump. [26]
Group sex is sexual activity involving more than two people. Participants in group sex can be of any sexual orientation or gender. Any form of sexual activity can be adopted to involve more than two participants, but some forms have their own names.
Cruising for sex or cruising is walking or driving about a locality, called a cruising ground, in search of a sex partner, usually of the anonymous, casual, one-time variety. The term is also used when technology is used to find casual sex, such as using an Internet site or a telephone service.
Pink Triangle Press is an independent, Canadian media organization specializing in LGBTQ2S+ journalism, television and online interactive media. Founded in 1971, Pink Triangle Press is one of the longest-publishing LGBTQ2S+ media groups in the world. Today, Pink Triangle Press publishes Xtra, an online magazine and community platform covering LGBTQ2S+ culture, politics and health. Pink Triangle Press also publishes a series of newsletters including Pink Ticket Travel and Wander+Lust. Pink Ticket Travel is a Queer travel newsletter featuring travel tips and guidelines for LGBTQ2S+ travelers. Wander+Lust is a newsletter featuring travel tips and tricks for gay and bi men, including insider recommendations and exclusive offers.
A gay bathhouse, also known as a gay sauna or a gay steambath, is a public bath targeted towards gay and bisexual men. In gay slang, a bathhouse may be called just "the baths", "the sauna", or "the tubs". Historically, they have been used for sexual activity.
Casual sex is sexual activity that takes place outside a romantic relationship and implies an absence of commitment, emotional attachment, or familiarity between sexual partners. Examples are sexual activity while casually dating, one-night stands, prostitution or swinging and friends with benefits relationships.
Gay cruising describes the act of searching about a public place in pursuit of a partner for sex. This activity has existed in England and Wales since at least the 17th century and has a colourful legal history. It differs from prostitution in that the parties involved do not seek money for sex, and from gay nightclubs or bathhouses in that they are not on private premises, although they may take place on private land to which the public have been granted access.
Treasure Island Media is an independent U.S. gay pornographic studio founded in 1998 by Paul Morris that primarily produces bareback films. It was the first commercial producer to specialize in bareback films as part of the emerging 1990s underground interest in the pre-condom era of gay porn that was concerned with the freedom of the sexual experience. The studio is named after Morris's favorite childhood book, Treasure Island. In addition to the original San Francisco office, TIM has production offices in New York, London and Mexico City.
In Australia, the term beat is used to refer to an area frequented by gay men, where sexual acts occur. This use of the word parodies the beat walked by a police officer or a prostitute. Most commonly, public toilets, parks, and nightclubs are used as beats, though sometimes suburban car parks become beats after nightfall. Sex researchers have found that a considerable proportion of men who use "beats" are men who have sex with men (MSMs) rather than gay-identifying. This is possibly because, while gay men have a plethora of venues for meeting legitimately, MSMs – who are often closeted – may not wish to risk being observed in gay venues.
A glory hole is a hole in a wall or partition, often between public lavatory cubicles or sex video arcade booths and lounges, for people to engage in sexual activity or to observe the person on the opposite side.
Manhunt is a geosocial networking website and online dating application that facilitates male same-sex introductions. The majority of profiles are sexually explicit and include nude photographs and graphic language and are by patrons that are looking to hook up. Some profiles, however, are specifically not designated as primarily sexually-oriented and explicitly state they are not cruising for sex.
Stop Murder Music is a campaign to oppose Caribbean artists who produce music with lyrics alleged to glorify murder of homosexual men. The campaign was mainly against Jamaican musicians, primarily dancehall and reggae artists such as Buju Banton, Bounty Killer, and the Bobo Ashanti Rastafarians Sizzla and Capleton.
Sex on premises venue (SOPV) is the term used primarily in British and Australian medical literature for the various commercial venues expressly for engaging in public sex, as opposed to spaces such as parks which may be used for sexual behavior but are intended for general public use.
Party and play (PnP), also known as chemsex or wired play, refers to the practice of consuming drugs to enhance sexual activity. This sexual subculture involves recreational drug users engaging in high-risk sexual behaviors under the influence of drugs, often within specific sub-groups. Activities may include unprotected sex with multiple partners during sessions over extended periods, sometimes lasting days. The drug of choice is typically methamphetamine, commonly referred to as crystal meth, tina, or T. Other substances like mephedrone, GHB, GBL, ketamine, and alkyl nitrites are also used. The term slamsex is used for injection drug users.
This is a partial, non-exhaustive list of notable online dating websites and mobile apps.
Grindr is a location-based social networking and online dating application targeted towards gay and bisexual men, and transgender people.
dudesnude is a popular social networking website dedicated to gay, bisexual, bicurious and men who have sex with men. The site was launched in 2002 and it has over 500,000 members. The website's purpose is to facilitate chat, dating, and setting up sexual encounters known as a "hookup". The site also has a live-streaming feature, where members can chat with others while masturbating on webcam. The company slogan is "picture, video, and profile sharing for men!" The company is based in London and the homepage is flanked by a bare chested man staring upward, partially obscuring his face.
Since reports of emergence and spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the United States between the 1970s and 1980s, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has frequently been linked to gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) by epidemiologists and medical professionals. It was first noticed after doctors discovered clusters of Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia in homosexual men in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco in 1981. The first official report on the virus was published by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) on June 5, 1981, and detailed the cases of five young gay men who were hospitalized with serious infections. A month later, The New York Times reported that 41 homosexuals had been diagnosed with Kaposi's sarcoma, and eight had died less than 24 months after the diagnosis was made.
Hookup culture is one that accepts and encourages casual sex encounters, including one-night stands and other related activity, without necessarily including emotional intimacy, bonding or a committed relationship. It is generally associated with Western late adolescent sexuality and, in particular, United States college culture. The term hookup has an ambiguous definition because it can indicate kissing or any form of physical sexual activity between sexual partners. The term has been widely used in the U.S. since at least 2000. It has also been called nonrelationship sex, or sex without dating.
Sniffies is a map-based hookup web app for gay, bisexual, and bicurious men.
Fitlads was a social networking, dating/hookup website and app for gay and bisexual men in the United Kingdom. It was launched in April 2003, and introduced video to the app in 2008.
