Cruising for sex has long been synonymous with gay men. David Chew explores the phenomenon of gay cruising and offers some explanations as to why cruising will remain an integral part of gay culture.

Just what is it about cruising and public sex that makes it synonymous with gay men? While I’m sure our straight counter parts participate and enjoy it as much as we do, the instant ‘link’ (unfortunately not the ‘weakest’) is that our very sexuality and situation seem to support this. The difference is that we seem to have reason to engage in this activity more than our straight peers.

Just as there are many reasons why people go to the movies, play golf or go clubbing, there are unlimited reasons as to why people are motivated and drawn to go cruising on say a Saturday afternoon, or at any other time for that matter.

Cruising as an activity has really existed long before the word ‘cruising’ even came about. The centuries-old culture of gay men alludes to the fact that gay men have always been drawn to sexual adventure outside the bedroom.

There exists a historical need for public sexual encounters because a place of community for gay people hardly existed. Long before Internet Relay Chatrooms, Gay Personal Ads and all the rest existed, cruising was probably the safest and fuss-free way one could get a bit of action. The lack of any public social place for the forming or support of the gay community boosted and kept up the practice of cruising among gay men.

Especially in a ‘closeted’ Asian country like Singapore, where anything remotely ‘gay-related’ is frowned upon, cruising is a good source of quick, anonymous, freely available sex. Or to put it in another way, cruising offers the perks of a relationship without the strings attached.

Why bother getting a relationship that is hard to maintain by itself, worse still facing social pressure and the lack of its approval, when you can get sex so easily without the intricacies of a relationship?

As a friend of mine once put it, “if every gay man wanted a relationship or get married to each other, we might actually just become extinct”.

And then of course there is this other reason which Woody Allen, self-confessed sex fiend, once said: “Love is the answer - but while you're waiting for the answer sex raises some pretty good questions.”

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