"My aunt turned 80 last weekend, and to celebrate, a bunch of us flew out to the West Coast to visit her. While planning the trip, I realized that where we were staying was just a short train ride from a fairly popular gay bathhouse I'd been curious about for a while. I figured the day after the party would be the perfect time to finally check it out."
"My family knows I'm gay and has always been supportive, but I didn't want to be explicit about my plan. I've never shared details of my sex life with them, and I have no desire to start now. It's more information than I'm comfortable giving, and probably more than they'd want to hear, anyway. On top of that, being gay adds this whole awkward layer of feeling like I'd need to explain what terms like "gay bathhouse" and "cruising" even mean."
"To make sure I wasn't abandoning them, I casually asked if anyone minded if I took a day to myself. Everyone insisted it would be fine. But then I got bombarded with questions throughout the trip: "Where are you thinking of going?" "What do you want to do?" "How long will you be out?" "Have you thought about visiting so-and-so?" I don't think they were being nosy; they were probably just making small talk, but it was super awkward nonetheless."
A traveler attended an aunt's 80th birthday and planned a private visit to a nearby gay bathhouse the day after the party. The traveler preferred not to disclose sexual details to supportive family and felt uncomfortable explaining terms like "gay bathhouse" and "cruising." A request for a day alone was met with repeated follow-up questions that felt intrusive and put the traveler on the spot. The traveler sought a truthful response that would avoid inviting further questions without resorting to lies. The reply to the query begins with a comment that is only partially shown.
Read at Slate Magazine
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]