Question

why ethical violations occurred in Laud Humphreys study of tearooms

Answer 1

Lord Humphreys is an American sociologist and journalist. While researching casual homosexual experiences he called Tearoom trade, concerns were raised about other forms of harm to research subjects. Humphreys interested in gaining knowledge not only about practicing homosexuals, but also about men who lived in public heterosexual lives but often engaged in private homosexual experiences. Upon witnessing these ethical violations in public toilets in parks(tearooms), in 1970 he published a book based on his Ph.D. thesis, entitled 'Tearoom Trade: A Study of Homosexual Encounters in Public Places.' The research analyzes male sexual activity in the public toilets. According to him, the people involved in such activities came from different social backgrounds with different reasons to seek similar partners for ethical violations in such places. He collected data on locations, frequency of acts, men's age, roles they played, and whether or not money changed hands. He conducted research to identify men who were willing to risk arrest to indulge in unethical activities in public places and to discover the dynamics and patterns of human behavior involved. The main findings of his research was that most individuals in the tea room's homosexual activities led the remaining of their lives with heterosexuals. He exposes sexual preferences and biases by presenting statistics on male attitudes towards homosexuals. He chooses carefully from the hundreds of thousands reported sexual assaults, including males on male rapes and acts, and other male relationships. The book also reveals that male offenders have a history of homosexuality, even those pretending to have no sexual interaction with other men. These men are also widely seen in the media as victims, or in cases where they confess their homosexuality, as being a secret homosexual. Lord Humphreys calls for gender equality for all gays and lesbians and supports legislation that would require uniform policies on all personal interactions between homosexuals, such as hospitals and schools.