To those posters above smugly bringing up HIV, in my experience (by the 90s), public cruising, however slutty, was much "safer" than grindr hookups today. I've seen my share - parks, beaches, department stores, university bathrooms, the Ramble, Vaseline Alley, Volunteer Park, Collingwood, Buena Vista, Meatrack, P Street Beach, the Fens (to say nothing of European parks!) and at least 90% of the action was oral, j/o, and voyeurism. It is not that easy or comfortable to fuck in a Macys bathroom, a honda civic, or a laurel bush, and also not necessary when the thrill of the chase, of new discovery, of the prospect of an impromptu circle jerk or bukakke was as hot as hot can be. Besides, cruisers were far more likely to be sober, and when people did fuck, they actually used condoms, precisely because it was anonymous. All of my and my friends' HIV scares came not from cruising but from trusting a trick who didn't really know their status, or more often, getting wasted or high and exercising poor judgment in a private bedroom.
Hookups today, meanwhile, are pretty daunting for this eldergay - condoms are out but not nearly as many people are on Prep as claiming to be. We are willing to believe someone who says they are on Prep even though we used to know enough to doubt people's word about their status. And because it's ultimately a lot of time and effort to actually consummate a grindr hook-up, first-date buttsex is far more likely to be on the menu than it ever was in cruising, especially with the younger folks nursed on OnlyFans.
Look, I'm glad people aren't scared of sex anymore, that young people are more adventurous about sex acts, and that anal sex outside of a relationship no longer has the scarlet letter of slut deserving HIV. And I can't deny the danger of mugging or getting busted by the cops, both of which I have seen, or the poison of the closet for many cruisers, and definitely the countless hours wasted sitting on a dingy toilet in the student union. But I really miss long moonlit nights and lazy afternoons in Buena Vista Park, the smell of eucalyptus and pine and crunch of secret trails underfoot, all of the varied and handsome men and varied and beautiful cocks, and most of all, the smell of a man's bare neck when pulled close for that first bluejeans boner grope on a cold night. Why can't we have that and all the good new stuff?
