The Opacity of Cruising: Ruins, Parks, and other Scenarios of Desire (Valencia, Alicante, Castelló, and Murcia, 1971-1978)

Abstract

Based on the files of the Dangerousness and Social Rehabilitation Court of València (1971-1978), this article traces the territories and veiled codes of cruising that facilitated consensual sexual encounters under the protection of nighttime, ruins, and anonymity. This mapping reveals how queer networks and culture extended from parks to private apartments, and the centrality of gestures in a choreographed language of mutual recognition. Through furtive encounters in spaces away from normative visibility, initiates built a parallel sociability and were thus able to reconcile their erotic impulses with their daily obligations. Cruising became an integral part of the daily rhythms of urban life through the strategies of opacity. Similarly, defendants resorted to a stereotyped account of their actions, presenting themselves as automatons of the night to avoid revealing the reality of their desires and motivations. To problematize the mechanics of these stories, the article concludes with a polyphony of oral testimonies that show how the (dis)valuation of cruising by the participants was related to how they experienced their own agency in promiscuity.