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Cruising 101

Jun 13, 202440 minSeason 1Ep. 2
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Episode description

We all know Sniffies - and the pandemic - ignited a gay cruising renaissance in cities around the world. But where did cruising begin - and how has it changed over time? This week, Gabe and Chris welcome writer and activist Leo Herrera to talk about his new manual, “(Analog) Cruising”, which offers tips and tricks for making the most out of your cruising experiences, whether you’re a beginner or seasoned pro

 

Follow Sniffies' Cruising Confessions: cruisingconfessions.com

 

Try Sniffies: sniffies.com

 

Follow Sniffies on Social:

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Follow the hosts:

Gabe Gonzalez: instagram.com/gaybonez

Chris Patterson-Rosso: instagram.com/cprgivesyoulife

 

Guests featured in this episode: 

Leo Herrera

iftheylived.org

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

Speaker 1

Hey, viewers, Sniffy's Cruising Confessions is an explicit podcast about queer sex, filter dirty words and unfiltered descriptions of sexual activities. If hearing about orgies, anonymous sex, kink, fetish, and more offends your sensibilities, you might want to skip this. Viewer discretion is advised. It's definitely not for kids.

Speaker 2

Gabe.

Speaker 3

Yes, Chris, tell me about your hottest cruising experience.

Speaker 1

I've got to say I once was very curious about the Blue Store rip and I had never been there before, and everybody was like, oh, the video boosts at the Blue Store, and I was like, well, let me go try a piece of queer history. I went downstairs to the video booths and there was nobody. There was like me and this older guy who had clearly also taken his lunch break.

Speaker 2

To go to the bus. And I was like, all right, baby, it's you and me. Guy. Let's it. We're either staring at a screen or we're gonna make the most of this.

Speaker 1

And it was one of those things where it was like neither of us were what the other one was looking for, but we were like this could be.

Speaker 2

Yeah. It was like a really good.

Speaker 1

Hookup did in an exchange a name, didn't exchange number, like absolutely nothing, and then we just left and I never saw that personally again.

Speaker 2

It was really it was fun, how about you.

Speaker 3

It was late one night and I was headed to a friend's house to stay in the city. I'm supposed to going to Brooklyn and there's this like hot guy who's like on the other side of the door, and like we're making eyes at each other, making eyes.

Speaker 2

There's a door between you, well.

Speaker 3

You know, like the subway door, and then see yeah, yeah, So like I'm like looking over and I like, I I'm like, it's kind of hot. Two stops and then he comes and sits in front of me. He starts adjusting. I started adjusting. We start playing with each other with the with with ourselves, and uh, finally he just like motions for me to get off the train. We get off the train and we like hook up on the

train platform. We don't say a word this entire time, and then wait for the next train that was coming in like six minutes. Get on the train. He gets off of the next time. I give a little nod and uh, yeah, I'm tracking hot.

Speaker 1

I am coming into this episode like a cruising novice like I need a cruising one O one, you're like grad school Like ready, h for.

Speaker 2

Sure she holds multiple degrees in cruising. Okay, that is amazing. That's a great story.

Speaker 3

Not gonna lie every time I get on the train and I'm hoping he's on it, just to like for a repeating.

Speaker 1

Whenever I revisit the Blue Store, I hope that man in his suit is there as well.

Speaker 2

No, I love that. That is really really incredible.

Speaker 1

Yeah, we all know that Sniffy's and the Pandemic kind of ignited a gay cruising renaissance in cities around the world. But where did cruising begin and how has it changed over time?

Speaker 3

Well, this week we welcome writer and activist Leo Herrara to talk about his new manual and a Log Cruising, which offers amazing advice to make cruising easier, whether you're a beginner or you're like me, a season pro.

Speaker 2

Welcome to Sniffy's Cruising Confessions.

Speaker 3

I am Gabe Goonsilers, I'm Chris Patterson rosso each week weeks for the Sublime world of Queer Sex, cruising and Relationship, where.

Speaker 1

We talking to queer folks of all kinds, ask them questions, swap sex stories, share intimate revelations.

Speaker 4

A lot of us are discovering ourselves in cruising spaces.

Speaker 3

This happened to me at this toilet stall, in the library or the airport.

Speaker 2

I feel like everybody's gonna fuck a little harder here, Damn.

Speaker 3

So I was like the neighborhood slot, and I took pride in that.

Speaker 2

I was so afraid but yet so intrigued. And the more I gave to him, the more you could take.

Speaker 4

If you're having sex on Sniffy's, you already have a moral deficit.

Speaker 3

I think if you're a gay or career person on Instagram or Twitter, you definitely have seen our first guest work.

Speaker 1

Leo Herredra is a Mexican writer, activist, and filmmaker best known for his viral essay Means that explored queerness, race, and disease.

Speaker 3

Not to mention his incredible Herrara Words substack, where he publishes long form essays on queer culture and sex.

Speaker 1

Leo's latest project is a new manual called Analog Cruising, which, opinion every Cruising Confessions listener and Sniffy's user.

Speaker 2

Should probably read for sure. Welcome Leohredra. How are you And I'm going so good, Thank you so much for having me. So glad you're here.

Speaker 1

Let's pretend I have been living under a rock for the past thousand years. Uh, And I asked you what cruising is. How would you give us, like a very base simple definition of cruising.

Speaker 4

Cruising is when two people look at each other and know they're going to have sex and then have sex.

Speaker 2

It's a really simple note. Yes, simple, Yeah, truly one of the oldest art forms. I mean, the beauty is in the simplicity, right, Yeah, I like that. And it seems like.

Speaker 1

The eyes and eye contact is maybe like part of the vocabulary or nonverbal language of cruising.

Speaker 4

Eye contact is the mother tongue. Everything starts with eye contact and then builds from there. So you start by looking at one another. And as most game I know, if you're in a crowded you can look around and you will spot out the other gay just by the way that you guys look at each other. If you look away and then look back and you're still looking at one another, that is a whole romance novel waiting to happen right in that split second. Gay men are

so good at nonverbal communication. Because we've had to do it for so long for safety issues. Once we learn to sort of harness that for sexual issues, it sort of opens.

Speaker 2

Up this entire different world for us.

Speaker 4

Whether it's park cruising, cruising someone on a subway, in a dark room at a sex club, at a bath house, there's sort of different rules of engagement for each of those spaces, but they always always start off with eye contact.

Speaker 3

So, thinking about cruising, what do we know about where it started?

Speaker 4

You know, it's one of those things where, because there's so little historical records about gay culture, we're never really gonna know. But my thought about that is it's probably when two cavemans saw each other and look down and they're like that, it's a huge cave mancock, and then they dragged each other.

Speaker 2

To a cave and then had sex before language.

Speaker 4

Began, and then they probably had you know, a little like drawings up on a cave men.

Speaker 1

Well, I love those are proto only fans. Those drawings were only fans before we knew what it was.

Speaker 2

It's great, it's amazing totally.

Speaker 4

And so we have some records, Unfortunately a lot of them are police records of you know, sting operations, and things like that. When you're studying queer history, you have to sort of read between the lines of certain things. But what's interesting to me is that cruising is ingrained in the gay DNA.

Speaker 2

So almost the history. In a way, it's valuable, but you don't need.

Speaker 4

To know it to go cruising. It's just something that you can sort of instinctively pick up because it's basically all instinct. I'm also curious why like parks and public places became sort of the focal point for cruising, and whether or not that has a lot to do with like police persecution or the persecution of queer spaces, especially

like mid twentieth century, right. I mean, the reason that those parks exist is because that's all we had, you know, before queer bars were a thing, or before they were allowed to be legal, which hasn't been that long. I mean, people would cruise, you know, neither Coliseum or in you know, when Aversta Park in San Francisco or the Rambles in New York. A lot of black and brown men would go to Prospect Park, to the Veil of Cashmere, which is one of my favorite names of any cruising area.

So that's sort of you know, they're just born out of necessity, but they're also you know, born out of adventure. How many married men who were secretly gay would take a walk in the park, you know, after dinner time, and so a lot of those spaces are created by a community that just needed to find each other for sexual and just communal reasons.

Speaker 2

I live across the sea from Prospect Park. I have been there. I bet you it's wonderful. I'll save.

Speaker 3

It's definitely been great for that because you can sort of check in when you're going to be there, which I love. I love that feature actually where you can sort of like I'm going to be there at twelve forty three.

Speaker 2

You're a prompt girly.

Speaker 1

You're like, look, we got the audition at eight, we got it. Yeah, I'm going to be in the veil Kashmir as seven.

Speaker 2

You can veil me and it will be fantastic. It will be great. Yeah.

Speaker 4

So it's like, it's interesting, how cruising sort of you know, we had a very hyper focused on only digital tools for so long, and we're sort of seeing that pendulum go back to where we're experiencing sort of a hybrid cruising word incorporates a little bit of digital elements to it, but at the end of the day, you're still stucking dick at apart and it's still beautiful.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 3

Back in the early days, pre internet, when I was cruising, I like had all these skills, and then we sort of got away from that, and then like when cruising started started happening it again, I was like, oh, I don't have these skills anymore. I don't know how to look at someone and get the okay and walk with them and do the thing, and like, you know, I've sort of had forgotten that, and you know, now that I'm doing it again, it's like, Oh, it's kind of

like old hat. It's like getting on a bicycle again. They're all in there, all those skills.

Speaker 1

And even learning about where to find cruising spots is so interesting because the idea, right is that these spaces are somewhat secretive. It's word of mouth, it's passed along through through gay channels. I remember the first cruising spot I ever learned about was in college and I was

like freshly out. I was like nineteen or twenty, and it was this park about like a mile away from my campus in Providence, and it was a park where you knew people were cruising, and you knew when you were getting to the cruising spot because there'd be like little used condoms on the ground.

Speaker 2

Tall. Yeah, but I had to drive to get there.

Speaker 1

So I remember driving my friends to this park, or my friend's car to this park. I went alone, and I parked and I went and I did my thing, and I like made furtive eye contact with someone and I got a little scared and I left and then I went back and then I had a really fun time. And when I got back to my friend's car, the car wasn't working anymore. So I was like stranded in a known cruising spot in Providence, and I was like, who am I going to call to come pick me up?

Outside this gay cruising park lo and behold another cruiser. A man driving a truck was driving by and he's like, hey, buddy, you need car help, And I was like yeah, and.

Speaker 2

Then we hooked up in his truck. Before it was wild.

Speaker 1

Honestly, it felt like I was living a porno and I was like, oh, but this can be life.

Speaker 2

Like you can live a little fantasy at the park if you want too.

Speaker 4

And that's what makes cruising so exciting because you never know what narrative you're gonna get. Yeah, use this digital narrative machine that you're like, oh, I'm into this, and I'm into that. You're gonna go here, and you're gonna go to that. Please don't gost me or please show it me when you show up at a park and when you're doing like cruising on a subway, like you literally don't know what that story arc is gonna be. And even when it's not good, you know, knock on

wood and you're still safe. You know, even when it's not fantastic, even if you don't get late, it's always such a story.

Speaker 2

Yeah, and even when it's tragic.

Speaker 4

It's always a fantastic part of the things that sort of mold you as a gay person.

Speaker 1

How have you seen sort of cruising evolve. I guess over the past twenty thirty years. In particular, I think.

Speaker 2

It evolves in the way that we do use technology.

Speaker 4

But also one of the biggest watershed moments was the release of Prep in twenty thirteen and how that sort of started to lift the stigma that a lot of these spaces had for such a long time.

Speaker 2

You know, bathhouses were closed because of aids. There was this stigma attached to it.

Speaker 4

When I started going to dark rooms and sex clubs in the early in two thousand and five, you know, when I was twenty something, there was still a lot

of stigma. People were really really scared of those places, and older men had dealt with such a traumatic experience through the crisis that they just weren't There was so much shame attached to them and so much fear, And so now that we've sort of lifted it, you can see that these spaces are gradually filling up with younger men that are very curious about them, and filling up with older men who removed themselves from them for so long. So that's one of the biggest parts of how it's changed.

But the wonderful part about cruising is that it never really changes. It is such a constant in our community. It sort of adapts to the culture, and it adapts to the safety of everything, and it adapts to laws. But it's still two men looking at each other being like, I'm gonna suck that dick.

Speaker 2

Happen, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 4

I think it's such a beautiful part of our culture because it takes us back to such a primal place, and it's also a litmus test of how we're doing politically, how we're doing medically, how we're doing socially.

Speaker 2

It's it's it says a lot to.

Speaker 4

Me that we're even having a conversation like this for ag n Apple Sniffy's, because for so long most gay men ninety nine percent of their hookups were digital. There's so many more doc rooms at parties. There's so much more value attached to a bath house, for example, like the EMPOS outbreak, when we really learned how dependent we could be on them to get our vaccines and to get our safe sex information.

Speaker 1

I actually got my empox vaccine at a mobile vaccine truck that showed out, showed up right outside of a sex party, and I was like, oh, this is easier than trying to sign up on the City of New York's website.

Speaker 2

Like I just had to go to.

Speaker 3

The sex party and it was an increasing was great.

Speaker 1

I made friends in line, like it was a great time, and the nurses were sitting there like this is the most people we've seen show up to one of these mobile vans. And I think a lot of times people think that sexual community or sexual subcultures are just solely focused on sex, but there's also a care element and a community element that I think is so interesting.

Speaker 4

And those spaces can exist without a care element, Like a lot of all cruising areas and all cruising interactions depend on a bay level of respect and consent and excitement and pride in who you are and what your needs are. So you can't go into a cruising space feeling terrible about yourself, not being able to look at someone in the eyes, caring a lot of shame about what you're doing because it's not sexy, nobody wants.

Speaker 2

To fuck back up.

Speaker 4

You really need a level of base pride in your culture and your community to enjoy those spaces. The queens that have the best time, that are proud to be there and having a good time. Even if you're not having sex, you're making friends and you're just gathering a story to tell later on.

Speaker 1

So I'm wondering how did people share cruising spots or tips or etiquette, or like even learn how to cruise with each other pre internet?

Speaker 4

So cruising is one of our oldest forms of oral histories. So it was just something that somebody told somebody else who told somebody else, who told somebody else. When we were able to get you know, classifi as in newspapers and use codes, we did have ways to sort of communicate that with each other. But one of the most

interesting parts about cruising is that it's so instinctual. So when you go into a park and you see the little nooks and crannies and you see somebody standing there, you're gonna be like, Oh, that's an interesting thing over there. I wonder what's happening there? Why is there a guy

just standing there? And so a lot of our cruising spots and a lot of the way that cruising evolves is instinctual and like the most minimal word of mouth, because we needed to protect ourselves from the law and from queer bashings and the politics of our own culture.

Speaker 1

Is so interesting to me, like the sort of languages that surround cruising, both verbal and nonverbal, are constantly evolving and really just depend on like who's the person you hear?

Speaker 2

Yeah? Right?

Speaker 1

I learned how to cruise from you outside. We were standing outside waiting to be left from the in from the studio. Chris turns to their left, sees this man walking down the sidewalk and goes ooh, he looks yummy. The man approaches us Christs and not avert their eyes. The entire time passes us. Chris turns looks at it like waiting for him to look back, and I was like, maybe I need him to look back for you.

Speaker 2

That was that was like masterclass outside the.

Speaker 4

Whole world is then that waiting of are they going to turn back? And that moment that they do is one of the most exciting things that can happen to you.

Speaker 2

I get such a rush from it, like get yeah.

Speaker 3

I Like, I'm a sober person, so I don't get a lot of highs these days, so like this is my new high.

Speaker 2

Just like getting the look back in the smile and then that's it. I just sort of going my way. I have no intention of poking up. I just want to get the look back.

Speaker 4

There's a dopamine explosion, says hey, you should probably pay attention to that.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I mean, the joke's on your brain because you're not going to appropriate.

Speaker 3

But still so thinking about the danger of cruising, right, we look at like these police raids, how has it changed from the past to the present.

Speaker 4

You know, I think we'd like to tell ourselves that everything's totally fine, but as we know, police presence and queer culture is always going to have a really terrible relationship. But even our bars, you know, are still dealing with raids and parties get shut down all the time for that, so we always have to be really hyper aware of that. And as soon as we, you know, drop that vigilance, that's when we're really going to get in trouble.

Speaker 2

So the first rule in my park.

Speaker 4

Cruising guide is to inform yourself on the police activity in the area.

Speaker 2

And sometimes it just takes.

Speaker 4

One toddler to pick up a dirty condom and that Karen mom is going to run to that park, you know, to the police, and then they're gonna mow down all the bushes, and that happens all the time.

Speaker 3

To be honest, I kind of love the danger. The thrill of kind of getting hot is kind of really hot to me, and like the urgency of having to get off so I can get out, so I you know what I mean, Like I kind of love that.

Speaker 4

Yeah, yeah, So that's interesting because to me, I'm the opposite. I hate the idea of getting caught, so and every every cruising area is going to have a different element of that danger because it is such a dopamine rush to be like, oh my god, what if somebody comes up?

But there's you know, there's different levels of rushes to each space and sort of one of the one of the most exciting parts is figuring out, like what is the thing that turns you on the most about cruising and about being sort of exposed to the elements or exposed to other people. That's the beauty of these cruising areas is that they are made to be able to see out and not and for the outside to not see in. So most cruising areas are not going to be very you know, they're not going to be about

exposure and exhibitionism. But one of the things that I do remind people when I'm doing I'm working on my dark Room cruising guide right now, and one of the rules is to just take this moment into like skin room and understand that you're hearingsing something that is very very rare to the rest of the world, Like to be able to go into a bar and to go into a back room and there's a dozen guys fucking it's really specific to us and we're one of the

very few cultures that can make a friend in the dark.

Speaker 2

And so there's a beauty of that.

Speaker 4

So you're going through this veil of consciousness where you're experiencing this thing that is private, that there are entire our entire culture builds to be a private thing, and you get to step into this looking glass of sexuality. That's really I mean, that's where the rush for me comes sometimes because that's magic.

Speaker 2

It's magic, it's sex magic, it's sex magic. That's what we're channeling here today. Chapter one of them are throw that in my culture, baby, come on.

Speaker 1

A thing I see a lot, especially online, because everyone's got an opinion about having sex on Twitter, is that because we have apps, we don't need physical cruising spaces, or that we are somehow subjecting people to dangerous scenarios by engaging and cruising in public spaces. How would you sort of unpack that or address that concern, whether or not it is being asked in good faith.

Speaker 4

I think we're always going to need physical cruising spaces, and we're already learning sort of the damages of social media, for example, and how they, you know, cause a disconnect with one another. The thing that people have to remember is that a lot of us are discovering ourselves in cruising spaces. So it might be easy to get on an app and be like I'm into this, this, this, this and this, but a lot of us don't have that. You know, a lot of us discover our sexuality through practice,

and that's what cruising spaces are meant for. So, for example, I learned that I was into larger guys when I was in a bathhouse, and that wouldn't have been the case if I had just ordered in what I thought that I was supposed to be attracted to. A lot of other people don't have the luxury of getting on an app or being out of the closet. Even so, cruising spaces allow us to come into our own sexually and also to explore things that maybe wouldn't have occurred

to us. Is something that's really priceless and something that can't be replicated digitally.

Speaker 3

We're going to take a sh up break and when we get back, we'll hear Leo's personal advice for first time cruisers and two distinct locations more Sniffy's cruising confessions.

Speaker 2

On the way.

Speaker 1

Welcome back, we are chatting with Leo Herredra. So, Leo, your new book is called Analog Cruising, Can you tell us a bit about it? What prompted you to write it and what are we going.

Speaker 2

To find in it?

Speaker 4

So what prompted the Cruising Guide is how much interest there is in cruising and also at the same time, how we don't know a lot about it because it hasn't been spoken about very openly for a really long time as we sort of got more dependent on the apps, and so many younger people will ask me, like the really the most basic parts of it, like what can I expect when I walk into a bath house?

Speaker 2

The moment I like, how do I check in? What should I bring?

Speaker 4

Or how do I stand in a part? How do I depend on not having my phone?

Speaker 3

I mean, I will say as a person, I read them before this interview, and I felt so nostalgic reading them, experiencing like remembering my first time cruising in a park, or like going to the pathouse in particular, like getting the courage to go to the bath house, trying to find someone to go with me, and sort of like going through your checklist and being like, God, I really wish I had had this because there was so much

of the unknown. I just sort of like showed up at the bath house and I was like, Okay, now what you know and asking a lot of questions at the front desk, and they're all rolling their eyes at me, like girl, just go in and have a good time, you know.

Speaker 2

But it's such a rite of passage.

Speaker 4

But I think we could have made it a little easier for ourselves. And because of the stigma associated to these spaces, I had to do the same thing like we've all had to. It's such a moment to like get the courage to walk into a bath house and not know what's.

Speaker 2

On the other side.

Speaker 4

And there's an excitement to that, but I feel like there's also an unfairness to how scary it could be for some people.

Speaker 2

You know.

Speaker 4

One of the most basic questions that I get about park cruising, for example, is like where do I stand?

Speaker 2

Which is so adorable when like a twenty one year.

Speaker 4

Old like messages you on Instagra and be like, I'd love to you, but I just don't know how to stand, And You're like, oh, wow, where are you gonna know? Like where who would have taught you that? So I'm going to read you guys. One of the one of the things I'm most proud of in this cruising guide, Tip number six says, pretend you're in a museum. Walk around at the same pace as an art exhibit and use a similar volume. You're either the art or the viewer.

Mosey around or stand and wait. Tick off your headphones, put your phone away, and pay attention. If you're interested in someone, walk to them and stand the distance as you would a painting. So already you're already letting them know, like, don't be talking a lot, like how would you be in an art exhibit? And are you the person who is being gazed upon or are you the one that's

sort of looking around for that? And so those kinds of really real world tips, I'm really surprised at how helpful they've been and how people will be Like, I did it, I did the thing, I went to the cruising area.

Speaker 3

What happens when you get rejected? How do we behave in that in these instances?

Speaker 4

One of the things, one of the most important things that we learn in cruising spaces is to not take rejection as a reflection of ourselves. And one of the I think one of the worst parts about the apps is how they allow us to just reject one another in a way that we probably wouldn't in person, Like I would never go up to some and to be like, that's an ugly dick, but you.

Speaker 2

Know that's crazy, or to just stop talking to them. Yeah, so I might. I might. I might be the type that would, but I was just saying, godasa likely, so I think it.

Speaker 4

Really sometimes the apps encourage some sort of our more sociopathic qualities in the Bathhouse Guy Tip number eight is do not take rejection as a reflection on you. If you get a no, just not courteous, they'll leave their space because you don't know why they've said no to you.

Speaker 2

They might be a voyeur.

Speaker 4

Here in the guide that says, you know, it might just be a voyeur or exhibitionist or biding their time. It may also mean not write this minute and they'll find you later. So you have to sort of leave yourself and leave all the demons in your head and understand like they might just not be into me right now. It might just might not be their type, they might

not be in the mood. They might just want to just chill for a minute, So it kind of makes you sort of be an adult and accept rejection and also give it and return in a way that's courteous and then the way that you would want somebody to do that for you.

Speaker 2

So one of the.

Speaker 4

Biggest concerns in cruising spaces for younger folks is.

Speaker 2

Like, am I going to say no to the old ugly guy?

Speaker 4

Like that's one of the one of the main questions, Like what if somebody touches me and I don't want them to, And it's very simple.

Speaker 2

You just tap tap them on the arm and then you say no, thank you, and that's it.

Speaker 4

Most people that are seizing cruisers in these spaces understand it's like, Okay, that's not for me. And if you have to get verbal and be like no, they've already broken enough rules that they don't belong in that space.

It teaches us how to accept rejection and to give rejection, and that sort of strengthens us and strengthens our sort of emotional immune system, because that's the scariest part of any kind of interaction, is that someone's going to say no. One of the things that I learned because of my elders was that's the worst thing that can happen.

Speaker 2

Yes, yeah, someone just says no and you deal with it.

Speaker 4

And one of the other tips in the guide is like, don't go to these spaces when you're not feeling okay, you're really depressed, if you're really anxious, if you're like, if I don't get laid tonight, I don't know what I'm gonna do. That's really unhealthy and so and I've done it before, and a lot of us, you know, we'll go through a terrible breakup and we'll be like, I'm just gonna go get fucked in a bathhouse and you know, fuck the pain a way, and there's a

time and a space for that. But when that doesn't function right, it could do real damage. So it's important to approach cruising and when you're already feeling centered. If you're expecting a stranger to make you feel good about yourself, that's a whole different other conversation.

Speaker 2

That you have to have with yourself.

Speaker 3

I am always the person to injury myself to someone that I think is attractive, and my friends are always like, how do you do that? And I think it's from going to the bathhouses and having this like exactly the worst thing that could happen is someone just says no, and like the other possibilities are endless, you know, and like, so what if they say no, I live in New York City.

Speaker 2

There is another dick around the corner.

Speaker 4

But yeah, that's one of the most important things that I was taught. Was wasn't just you know what my elders were, my elder with a specific elder who is this big ginger bear where I was like, how do.

Speaker 2

You always pick up these beautiful boys?

Speaker 4

And he said, I just ask, and the worst thing that can happen is is they say no. But and the second part, so that was even just as important. He said, that just leaves room for a yes somewhere else exactly, And once you sort of fix your mind around that where you don't fixate on that guy rejected me. That guy rejected me. He was like, yeah, I got rejected. The night's still young. Let's keep it moving, let's keep it pushing, and maybe we'll find what we want tonight,

or maybe we won't. But that rush of coming up to somebody and introducing yourself, it builds up stamina, and it builds up sort of your strength, not only as a sexual person but as like a queer person. Yes, because we're so used to rejection by the outside world that.

Speaker 2

If we can't get rejection from one another in a sexual, playful way, how are we gonna deal with the rest of the world that wants to kill us.

Speaker 1

It is so funny because I really do think that that being part of like a queer community has prepared me for performance and comedy. The one thing that I always hear when it comes to cruising and stand up comedy is be prepared for a ton of rejections. Yeah, And I was like, all right, I picked a lifestyle where I'm gonna hear no ninety five percent of the time. Yeah, and I'm gonna relish every letter in that word ultimately.

Speaker 4

I mean, I'm a scrawny little guy, you know, I'm a skyreletvel brown guy who's attracted to big, big bears.

Speaker 2

Like I've gotten said no a.

Speaker 4

Ton of times, but the times that they've said yes, Babe, changing for everybody.

Speaker 2

For every party involved.

Speaker 1

I love that You're like, I'm gonna, you know, I changed their life.

Speaker 2

I love that.

Speaker 1

I do kind of want to get down to these two spaces that you've introduced in your writing. The bath house and the park. What would you say are the differences and similarities between these these two locations of cruising.

Speaker 4

I think of the park it's sort of the Olympics of cruising. It's a really difficult learning curve. It's really intimidating. You're you're dependent on the elements you're dependent on. Cops are exposed to mom's jogging. It's depending on how the park is. You're not so sure, but the rewards of that are so high. Like I love park cruising when I'm in Berlin because I never know what I'm going to get, and it's just I have my own ritual.

I get to I wear something really like nondescript. I take my little flask or my little like white claw

and wait. And a parks, for example, teaches you how to wait, and it teaches you to understand the you might not get what you want and you don't even know if you're gonna have an orgasm, whereas a bath house is more about the amenities and you can bring a friend with you, and they were built for socializing, and they were built sort of as a response to being exposed in the elements in parks and things like that. So it's almost like their opposite ends of safety and

of relaxation. So you're not going to be that relaxed in the park if you're looking recruising, if you're too relaxed, then you're not doing it right because you have to be very vigilant about everything, whereas a bath house, all you got to do is just lay in a steam room and wait and see if somebody hot comes in. And the worst thing that can happen is you sat

in a steamroom and relaxed. One of my favorite bath houses, you know, there's a little there's a little place to have a little salad and a little white wine, so you can bring a friend to those and you can sort of like lean into it.

Speaker 2

There's also a lot of.

Speaker 4

Intimidation involved because you have to get completely naked and you have to be walking around a towel, and a lot of us have a lot of you know, self consciousness about our bodies, so they're both kind of have a give and take.

Speaker 2

And all cruising areas are like that.

Speaker 4

So I'm doing guides for arcades and for dark rooms and for sex clubs.

Speaker 2

Which are a little bit different than the bath house.

Speaker 4

And all of them have sort of different rules of engagement, and in the book, I have like a kiki level of like this is how much kinkiki here, or like you know, this is how you should be thinking about safety, whereas like a park, your safety is very very important, whereas't a bath house.

Speaker 2

You know, just don't be.

Speaker 4

Fucked up and crack your skull on a tile and you'll be fine. Each one of these spaces has a different rule of engagement and a different rule of what consent looks like and how verbal consent is. And within those spaces, like for example, in a bath house, you don't just start groping people in the locker room, right, That's not what you would do. That's kind of rude. But if there's a maze for a steam room, that

gets a little bit more gropy. So those things are sort of they can be spelled out, and that's why I'm spelling them out in these guides. But after a while you sort of start to realize that they all have a rhythm and that you you just have to pay attention. And I think that's the thing that sort of gets lost when we get too dependent on apps, as we start learning how to like look up, look up, like look up.

Speaker 2

Mary as well.

Speaker 3

Tell everybody what is your favorite cruising moment? Oh my god, oh my.

Speaker 4

Least favorite actually happened this year, and this guy broke every single room, like every single rule imaginable. I was in a park in Berlin and there was a power bottom against the tree and I went in there and I did my thing and I'm fucking I'm really hard and I smelled that he at Popper's, so I was like, hey, can I take a whiff of those? And as I'm jackhammering this man, he looks back and goes, no, I'm not a store.

Speaker 2

Get your own. I was like, oh my god, I'm inside you. Correct, Yeah, like we are. We are in an intimate act. We are showing things to each other. Wow.

Speaker 4

I was like, are you I'm like, I pop out and I'm like, are you fucking kidding me? And the queens around me were like no, she did it. And now I was like, get the fuck out of here. I'm like, are you out of your fucking mind talking to me like that?

Speaker 1

Wait, but at this point you've got there are other people there as well, so you've got like a little crowd.

Speaker 2

This is like the third actually people got there.

Speaker 4

Were sort of like whoa, yeah, and so I'm like, get the fuck out.

Speaker 2

Of here, you rude ass bitch.

Speaker 4

And I'm like, no, you're not having sex with anybody here, and I was like, I want to make sure you're having super uncomfortable So we sort of like hissed him out of there.

Speaker 2

And this other queen who I who would wouldn't have been my type, but she was like, I can't believe that happened. And I was like, was that just me? Because it's like, you know, midnight? Is it just me? Was that like the rudest thing you've ever heard ever?

Speaker 4

She was like, we don't talk to each other like that in these faces, Like I was just it was so gross, and me and him just sat there and we talked for a while, and then after we were done talking. He was not my type at all, but after we were done talking, we had this thing that we shirt.

Speaker 2

I was like, we were both like, you know, I'm trying.

Speaker 4

Having sex and it was so hot because we shared this moment out there, and then out of nowhere, these two just my type guys came in to like surround us, and I was like I couldn't have ordered either of them if I had tried, and so all of a sudden, this moment that was so rude and kind of a little bit demoralizing and was really I was like, I've never.

Speaker 2

Felt so used as the top before. All of a sudden it.

Speaker 4

Became this communal kind of like experience. And then even though me and this guy weren't exactly one another's type, we sort of connected sexually, and then that energy and us having sat there and like kind of processed it brought all of these people around us, and then all of a sudden we both had exactly what we wanted.

This other guy was like he was he was like, this is just my type, and I'm like, these two are just my type too, And it ended up turning into this like really tender, sweet orgy of like six people outside in the summer in a park.

Speaker 2

And it would have never happened had that first kuyd have.

Speaker 4

Been a total dick and it And there was a moment there that I wanted to leave because I felt so grossed out by that experience and being talked to sort of that way and the way the way that he talked to me and treated me, and I didn't leave, and instead I sort of, you know, commiserated with a sister, and that created this whole nother energy and this whole experience that I wouldn't have had otherwise.

Speaker 2

So that's my favorite, my two favorite ones, And that was a perfect story.

Speaker 1

It would have been such a gag if you'd asked for popersy and turned around tap tap tap no.

Speaker 2

No, that would have been so much better. I'm not a store who the.

Speaker 1

Yeah, the store ising like I had a line ready and wanted to try it out on an unwilling crowd.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 4

I think the thing that I would leave the audience with about cruising is always just to trust your gut and your comfort level whenever you're in any of these spaces, and if something doesn't feel right, you are not obligated to partake, You're not obligated to be there.

Speaker 2

You're not missing out on anything.

Speaker 4

Those spaces will always be there for you for when you are ready perfect.

Speaker 2

Trust your gut before you slide something inside it.

Speaker 3

Leo, thank you so much for stopping by to educate me, Gabe and our listeners on cruising.

Speaker 1

Absolutely, this has been so much fun and so enlightening. I'd love to know, Leo, where can folks listening or watching find you online.

Speaker 4

I am at Instagram and Twitter at Herrera Images and on substack at Herrera Words, and you'll be able to buy my analog cruising.

Speaker 2

Guide at if They Lived dot org. Awesome. All right, y'all, don't go anywhere. I'm all right.

Speaker 3

It's almost an end of our show, which means it's time to play pump and dump.

Speaker 1

We're gonna get some topics and we have to vote pump or dump, pump being a very positive affirmation and dump being a literal dump where you're throwing it out. All right, So our first one is Captain Rush, the little known mascot of Rush Poppers.

Speaker 2

They used to have one. He's a superhero.

Speaker 3

Yeah, and I think he wears a crop top.

Speaker 1

He's got like a crop top and like like leggings on, like form fitting leggings. Yeah, that's a pump. It's a pump for me. Yeah, yeah, I like. I like an off brand Dollar Store superhero. Look, it's my favorite for sure. So here's the next topic for you. Pickleball absolute dumb any athletics dump. I didn't say that.

Speaker 2

Yeah, if it needs a racket and a ball, I'm out. I'm so sorry. Yeah, no, that's a dump for me.

Speaker 1

I'm not you know, we don't learn how to play pickleball, are you kidding? I disappointed my parents enough when they learned I couldn't play baseball. There's nothing left for me after that. We're done with sports, all right.

Speaker 3

Next on our list is Art the Clown. I don't know who that is either, but also clowns. It's an immediate dump for me. Oh no, clowns are not sexy.

Speaker 2

I'm so sorry. No, but you're thinking circus clown.

Speaker 3

But clowns are like terrifying. Yeah, but those are circus clown There's no way you can make a clown sexy.

Speaker 2

I'm so sorry.

Speaker 3

I promise you they're fun. They can be.

Speaker 2

I will say.

Speaker 1

One of my favorite clowns I've ever seen is named your Girlfriend, and they were performing actually at our producer Adam's Inferno party, and it was a really great performance.

Speaker 2

It was spectacular.

Speaker 1

All right, Art the Clown is a dump, but I stand clowning, just not horror clowns, all right.

Speaker 3

The last one is the man in the Sniffy's logo. There's a man, There's a man. There's a man in the logo. Yeah, like in the little swivel.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it's this guy. It's him, it's him.

Speaker 1

He told me about this guest of honor, like you see you know how like that little wave.

Speaker 2

Yeah, this is him and he's got his dick under the stall. I love on.

Speaker 1

Wait actually, like yeah, can we get a little can I inspect more close?

Speaker 3

There's like a very a lot worth inspector Dick.

Speaker 1

I want to know who modeled for this, and I want to find them and meet them in person. Okay, this is incredible. I just I really I need everyone to know the ratio of Dick to boy.

Speaker 2

This is out of thicker than his forum.

Speaker 1

It is absolutely thicker than his forums. And his balls are about as large as like half of his face each ball. Yeah, this is really great. These are impeccable proportions. I need to know who's his surgeon. It's very lovely from the back, Okay, we can work on that. From the front, it's amazing. Okay, So the man in the Sniffy's logo is pomp.

Speaker 2

We got it all right. We learned so much this week, we really did.

Speaker 1

I have to thank Leohreda for calling in. That was such a fun interview. Please remember to check out his substack, edit it out words, and his new manual Analog Cruising.

Speaker 3

And if you want to read even more about cruising in general, head over to Sniffy's hash where we're posting a list of our favorite books about gay cruiser.

Speaker 1

Including one from nineteen thirty eight. People have been cruising for a very long time.

Speaker 2

Thank you for watching or listening.

Speaker 1

Sniffy's Cruising Confessions is directed by Adam Barron, produced by Stevie Williams and Cameron Femino, and executive produced by Eli Martin.

Speaker 3

Cruising Confessions is presented by Sniffy's the Ultimate Map Cruising Platforms. We're Gay by incurious people ready to cruise. Check out the map at sniffys dot com and follow Sniffy's on all socials at Sniffy's app.

Speaker 2

Put your put, put your put, your

Speaker 4

H

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