looking for sex: the art of cruising
by Douglas Messerli
The word cruising (from the Dutch kruisen)—as
opposed to the older meaning of the word surrounding the notion of taking a
boat or ship cruise—came into the language as gay code that generally involved
visiting bars, adult video arcades, public toilets, parks, open woods, saunas,
and gyms with the intent finding someone for anonymous sex. Obviously in a gay
bar, sauna, or gym that activity would not be unexpected and, if one were a
regular, not so very anonymous; so it gradually shifted to indicate the more
dangerous aspects of looking for someone for gay sex in public venues which
included even the streets. Gradually, of course, as homosexuality became more
assimilated into society, the word expanded to mean looking for sex by both
straight and gay men and women, as in “cruising for chicks,” or “crusin’ for
boys,” while evidently in Australia and England it was long used by both
heterosexual and homosexual males.
In
my choices from the films, I have focused on the search in more public
locations where, as The Modern Gay’s Guide recently warned, “So, just
because you’ve spotted your handsome hook up, doesn’t mean it’s time to go full
balls to the walls. It may be a false alarm, could be a genuine late-night
walker, so make sure, that you’re sure. Really sure. Make a subtle move, wait
for them to reciprocate, then slowly go for it. If you’re unsure, it’s a no -go
hun. When you know, you go!”
Indeed, for many gay men it is the risk that is part of the thrill, the
possibility of not only choosing the wrong person but of being observed by
others and even, at worst, discovered by police or other authorities.
The Gay’s Guide advises: “Going anywhere alone has a degree of
risk associated, add in late nights or discreet locations and you’re going to
want to make sure you’re staying safe. So, make sure someone knows where you
are and when you’re home (nothing like a ‘late night jog’, am I right boys??),
make sure you know your surroundings, and make sure you’re not putting yourself
in any compromising situations…safety wise.”
Yet
for many, that is precisely the pleasure of the act. Moreover, in countries
with few other places available or with strong cultural and moral punishments
if a man were to be seen in a gay bar or other homosexual gathering place, it
is the only way to find sexual relief. Even more particularly, cruising is
understandably the chosen method to seek out sex for married men and for
underage boys who cannot yet visit the bars.
If it may be exciting for some, it is also unfulfilling for many given
the rituals involved, the many possible interruptions, and the sense of urgency
often surrounding the various sexual acts. Moreover, given the anonymity of
such sex, the dangers of disease are increased. The possibility of a “hook up”
catching a glimpse of a hotter looking guy and simply walking off is always
part of the equation. And, finally, in public parks, woods, and even cemeteries
(as in France) where such activity is common, one must always accommodate
nature itself.
The word, even more recently, has been used to describe any kind of
predetermined search or journey, and the world has in general lost some of its
gay coded sense of dangerousness.
Numerous LGBTQ films, feature and short, have involved cruising as a
major activity or theme, two of the earliest being Peter de Rome’s Daydream
from a Crosstown Bus and Underground, both of 1972. I have
chosen just a handful of films to represent the subject. Since I have already
gathered a grouping on bathroom sex and discussed that subject in full, I’ve
excluded any bathroom cruising from this gathering. There is, however, British
director John Lochland’s search through the steamy environs of a London sauna
in his film of 2008, Sweat. And beaches and the surrounding woods are
the cruising grounds of French director Alain Guiraudie’s feature film L'Inconnu
du lac (The Stranger by the Lake) of 2013 and the Portuguese short Pedro
(2016) directed by Marco Leão and André Santos, both films of which are
filled with danger and threat, in the latter case by a boy’s mother acting
presumably as her son’s pimp. Along with the characters we cruise urban parks
in US director Leland Montgomery’s Cruisers (2015), Canadian filmmaker
Britt Randle’s Run Rabbit (2014), and German director Edwin Brienen’s, Cruising
Ballet (2022), in two of which the characters also make quick visits also
to the public toilets. US director Michael Hyman’s Billy’s Blowjobs (2017)
take the cruise to an abandoned lot in Los Angeles, representative of the
urban underworld where cruising is also common; and German director Sven
Hensel’s Cruising (2016) returns us to an urban woods. Perhaps the
cruising grounds we never imagined is the lush farmlands or rural Normandy in
France where Marine Levéel’s 2019 short La traction des poles (Magnetic
Harvest) takes place, but we should have known that gay farmers throughout
the world naturally return to nature for their sexual relief. Spanish filmmaker
Manu Roma’s short documentary Anonymous (2021) provides us with a
general summary of the central cruising grounds. If nothing else, these 10
films reveal that cruising is an international activity that will not quickly
be abandoned.
Los Angeles, September 10, 2025
Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog
(September 2025).
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