Today I'm posting a triple feature on bath houses. The Romans are said to have invented the
concept of public bathing facilities, but there is some archaeological evidence they might have
been around even longer than that. In part one, we look at the Turkish hammam, a type of facility
that closely approximates the Roman. These photos came to me undated, but some
of the details make me think they are several decades old.
As for sexual activity in hammams, the official line is that it is not allowed, but according to a 2019 travel blogger, "I received assurances from my hotel concierge, the taxi driver, and the guy at the front desk that this place was absolutely not a gay bath house. After twenty minutes, the groans emanating from the dark corners convinced me that their definition of gay differed from mine. I can only imagine what the hammams advertised as gay might be like."
There was a place here years ago that catered to mostly Turkish men, although all were welcome. Quite the eye opener and always busy!
ReplyDeleteSomebody once said about the Turks, "They claim to have no homosexusls, but most of the men do it. Very odd, that."
DeleteIt is odd. At this place everyone went just for the Turks. They were never one to disappoint!
DeleteYou have to remember that the homosexual identity is only a very recent development in Western culture, the term was coined in the nineteenth century. The majority of societies throughout history acknowledged homosexual acts without labeling it as an exclusive behavior. The “Great Awakenings” of the 18th and 19th centuries basically created it.
ReplyDeleteYes, the labeling made it easier to exclude and persecute people by branding them as "other."
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