Editing Cottaging (section)

==Cultural response==
* After the murder of playwright [[Joe Orton]] by his boyfriend [[Kenneth Halliwell]] in 1967, Orton's diaries were published and included explicit accounts of cottaging in London toilets. The diaries were the basis of the 1987 film ''[[Prick Up Your Ears]]'' and the play of the same name.<ref name=Gilbey2007>{{cite news |title=Prick Up Your Ears again: Revisiting Stephen Frears' Joe Orton biopic brought back memories of 1987, when it was a good time for gay cinema, but a bad time to be gay |date=29 March 2007 |last=Gilbey |first=Ryan |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2007/mar/29/prickupyourearsagain |quote=The impressively matter-of-fact scenes of Orton cottaging – picking up sexual partners in public lavatories – won't ruffle any feathers now that [[George Michael]]'s extracurricular exploits have made that practice a topic fit for discussion in the People's Friend. If the story was set in today's Britain, Orton could simply have done his cruising on [[Gaydar (website)|Gaydar]], though you'd have to agree the film would be the poorer for it. }}</ref>
* The film ''[[Get Real (film)|Get Real]]'' was based on the 1992 play ''[[What's Wrong with Angry?]]'', which features schoolboys cottaging as a key theme.<ref name=PinkTony2008>{{cite news |title=Interview: What's wrong with angry? Gay play revived for Edinburgh |last=Grew |first=Tony |date=17 July 2008 |newspaper=Pink News |access-date=21 October 2009 |url=http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-8405.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921154044/http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-8405.html |archive-date=21 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*The 1992 play ''Porcelain'' by [[Singaporeans|Singaporean]]-born playwright [[Chay Yew]] describes cottaging as a backdrop of violence between a gay Asian man and his white lover in a [[Bethnal Green]] lavatory.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/ct-porcelain-chay-yew-review-story.html|title=Chinese immigrant's story in Chay Yew's insightful 'Porcelain'|last=Reid|first=Kerry|website=chicagotribune.com|date=24 June 2015 |access-date=2020-02-18}}</ref>
* The Chinese film ''[[East Palace, West Palace]]'', released in 1996, is centred on cottaging activity in Beijing.<ref name=Telegraph20090220>{{cite news |title=An erotic relationship of convenience |last=Spencer |first=Charles |date=20 February 2009 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4710358/An-erotic-relationship-of-convenience.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615023623/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4710358/An-erotic-relationship-of-convenience.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 June 2010}}</ref>
*The modern dance company, [[DV8 Physical Theatre|DV8]], staged a piece in 2003 called'' [[Men who have sex with men|Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM)]]'', which explicitly portrayed the theme of cottaging.<ref name="Arditti1993">{{cite news|last=Arditti|first=Michael|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/dance--at-the-theatre-of-blood-and-bruises-dv8-tread-a-fine-line-between-athleticism-and-masochism-their-new-work-msm-goes-one-step-further-michael-arditti-reports-1502507.html|title=Dance: At the theatre of blood and bruises: DV8 tread a fine line between athleticism and masochism. Their new work MSM goes one step further.|date=6 November 1993|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|quote=Unlike his previous work, which was created from company improvisations, MSM is based on detailed research. The piece sprang from a project at the National Theatre Studio in which Newson and six hand-picked actors conducted formal interviews with men who 'cottaged'. They were given two days' technical training by a consultant and worked to a very specific brief, with guideline questions including personal background, age, job, how they defined themselves sexually and first 'cottaging' experience.}}</ref>
* [[Nicholas de Jongh]]'s play ''[[Plague Over England]]'' was based on the arrest and conviction of [[John Gielgud]] for cottaging and premièred in 2008.<ref name=Nightingale2008>{{cite news |title=Plague Over England at Finborough Theatre, London SW10 |last=Nightingale |first=Benedict |date=1 March 2008 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article3463540.ece |quote=The protagonist is Jasper Britton’s recently-knighted [[John Gielgud]] and the central event his conviction for some Chelsea cottaging that amounted to barely more than a smile. But this was 1953, a time when the [[Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu#Trial and imprisonment|Montagu scandal]] would soon be inflaming the pharisees and Pecksniffs. The actor contemplated suicide and faced ruin, only to find that his public was more supportive than even the gay impresario [[Binkie Beaumont]], who had to be gently blackmailed into retaining Gielgud as the star of a pre-London tour. Days after being fined and pilloried in the press, he walked on to the stage in Liverpool to a standing ovation. }}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
* The 2017 video game ''The Tearoom'' by independent developer [[Robert Yang]] simulates cottaging practices set in a public restroom in 1962 Mansfield, Ohio.<ref name=Kotaku>{{cite web|website=Kotaku|last=Starkey|first=Dan|date=30 June 2017|title=Penis-Gun Game Explores Illegal Gay Hookups In The '60s|url=https://kotaku.com/penis-gun-game-explores-illegal-gay-hookups-in-the-60s-1796561708|accessdate=27 December 2023}}</ref>