A Critical Analysis of Laud Humphreys The Tearoom Trade

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A Critical Analysis of Laud Humphrey's The Tearoom Trade

In 1970 Laud Humphreys, then a Washington University Phd student, wrote his infamous thesis 'Tearoom Trade' which was a study of homosexual behaviour between men in public toilets in a U.S. city. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the topic, the research was highly controversial, however this was not just due to its sensitive subject matter. A number of criticisms were made of the study on the basis of its ethically dubious research methods. Nicholas von Hoffman, writing for the Washington Post at the time of publication, accused Humphrey's of 'snooping around and spying on people' (1970, p.6) and compared the research to J. Edgar Hoover's alleged phone tapping scandal. While Warwick (1973, p.35) stated that 'the net effect of Humphreys' study on the research environment is likely to be negative'. However to others it represents 'a great achievement' (Hoffman M, 1971, p.100) and is a 'rich study that adds much to better understanding of sexuality and human behaviour.' (Schacht, 2004, p.5) It is also worth noting that 'Tearoom' won the C. Wright Mills Award for research. Clearly then there are some radically differing views of Humphreys' study and is perhaps one of