Saturday, October 9, 2010

Dogging

I just came across this article in the New York Times about "dogging," which is English slang for having sex in public in places where people will see you and watch. In the town of Puttenham, in Surrey, so many people are coming from out of town (usual pun disclaimer) that it is becoming quite a nuisance.

Puttenham, about an hour’s drive from London, has fewer than 2,500 residents and is famous for its ancient church; its friendly pub, the Good Intent; and its proud inclusion in both the Domesday Book — an 11th-century survey of English lands — and “Brave New World.”

Unhappily for many people here, it is also famous for being featured on lists of good places to go “dogging” — that is, to have sex in public, sometimes with partners you have just met online, so that others can watch. So popular is the woodsy field below the ridge as a spot for gay sex (mostly during the day) and heterosexual sex (mostly at night) that the police have designated it a “public sex environment.”
Read the whole thing.

Okay, people. I do not object to having sex outside in public areas. I have had sex outside in public areas. I've actually done it kind of recently. However, when your outdoor sex has a voyeuristic aspect, you are including other people in your outdoor sex, and including people in sex with you without asking their permission first is WRONG. I would be all in favor of a world where people could take off their clothes and have sex wherever the mood struck and no one would have a problem with it. But we don't live in a world like that and people do have a problem with it. So let's do our best to respect everybody's bountries. Okay, mates?

2 comments:

  1. Very funny to hear that this is a UK-only phenomenon. I used to live near a 'dogging spot', and it could be hideous. It's one thing to choose a secluded spot late at night, but too often I'd head off for a nice walk along by the river, only to - literally - stumble across a couple having sex at the side of the path. We Brits, repressed? Not a bit of it, particularly after a few cans of special brew. Grim.

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  2. I have to hand it to you. You are definitely not repressed!

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