A multicultural feminist analysis of Laud Humphreys’ Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places

Abstract

The focus of this article is a comparative analysis of the values inherent in multicultural feminism, and their consistency with the field of sociology of sexualities using Laud Humphreys’ Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places as an reflection of that growing body of work. The following six feminist values, as discussed in Cammaert and Larsen (1988), will be discussed through the filter of the Tearoom Trade: Impersonal Sex in Public Places: (1) the personal is political; (2) acknowledging that oppression often results in limited life choices for the “out” group; (3) equalization of the power dynamics between the “in” and “out” groups so they can begin to share power with each other; (4) androgyny and masculinity; (5) social action/empowerment; and (6) expanding the existing knowledge base of data associated with the sociology of sexualities.