Gay sex saunas are facing scrutiny this week after one in Manchester establishment’s ‘dirty’ and unhygienic conditions were slammed by a coroner when a man lay dead in his own faeces for hours.
Stephen Green, 46, was found in a ‘rest room’ in his own excrement at the Gay Village’s H20 sauna on Sackville Street by an attendant – yet he thought Stephen was sleeping. He cleaned up the faeces and sprayed some air freshener, but then left him.
It was not until a number of hours later that another worker realised Stephen had died after taking drugs and alcohol despite having heart problems.
During the inquest, Stephen’s death raised concerns not only about the hygiene standards of the venue after blood, urine and faeces was found there, but also about the health and safety conditions since a man could lie dead in a cubicle for so long with nobody realising.
Gay men frequent pay-to-enter saunas for consensual sex with other men and can enjoy the use of sexual paraphernalia, jacuzzis and ‘glory holes’ if they wish.
Yet when the saunas are open all night and men are entering them often drunk, or even under the influence of drugs, is the health and safety of these men sometimes at risk?
MM spoke to some of the men who use gay saunas and also former employees to find out.
Jack* is a former employee at the ‘The Basement’ complex urban spa and sauna, who allegedly have had Greater Manchester councillors among their clientele.
“I saw a number of important local figures who would often come in, such as Greater Manchester councillors, so they were well aware of what was going on but discretion is the word in the sauna world,” he explained.
Jack, who worked at the Basement for around two years, revealed how many problems arose after visitors combined drugs and alcohol – which in some instances led to assaults occurring.
“The sauna enforces a strict zero policy for drugs in the sauna but we never did body searches on entry and people are very good at hiding things or many would have taken things before they came in,” he explained.
“Some people combined GHB with alcohol making them very drowsy and incidents in the jacuzzi happened where they would fall asleep and I would have to drag them out or they would drown.”
Numerous sexual assaults at saunas have been reported to Greater Manchester Police including an instance of rape in 2008, however some men like Alex* have found it too difficult to come forward.
“I was once the victim of a violent sexual assault by a man at a sauna, who it turned out, had violently attacked other men,” he said.
“The police and hospital were very helpful, but I was too frightened to go to court – the whole incident was so scary.
“After it happened I had PEP [Post-Exposure Prophylaxis – a treatment for individuals who may have been exposed to HIV] and when I found out I didn’t have HIV I just tried to forget about it.”
Alex now steers clear of saunas and believes that the modern sauna culture is putting individuals at risk as some do not even realise they have been assaulted.
“Sexual assault is becoming more and more common in saunas and often gay men do not feel they have anywhere to go or even recognise an incident as assault,” he explained.
“The Police and St Mary’s [St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre] said to me that it is very rare for people to prosecute even when they do know what has happened because of reasons similar to what I felt – fear and shock.
“It appears now that there is a worrying ‘bareback’ [sex without using condoms] and almost acceptance of exploitation culture happening – whether this is bareback pornography, or in Britain in general people are ignoring safe sex messages or just give up protecting themselves, whatever the reason, something is going very wrong.”
Tom* is a former employee of a sauna based in South England. He recalls how on certain occasions the managers were very lax in regards to enforcing health and safety and he believes this put people’s health seriously at risk.
“One busy time we ran out of clean towels so one of the managers said ‘if you see any that look clean that are lying around just fold them back up and put them on the shelf,’” he said.
“We also didn’t have a sharps bin if we found needles and there were no special bags for putting excrement, or bodily fluids in. We just had normal bin bags and then all the rubbish would be put out the back together in a big bin which is collected by the council.
“Fortunately I never had to remove any needles but if that had happened I’m not sure what I would have done. I suppose I would have just used my gloves, wrapped the needle in something and then put it in the bin because we weren’t told what to do if we found needles.”
Tom says that the combination of drink and drugs also led to sexual assaults in the sauna.
“People treated the place like a hotel and falling asleep was a big issue because of the drink and drugs,” he said. “We were trained to wake people up but there were occasions when people were sexually assaulted while they were asleep. It was terrible.”
However some in the gay community feel that it is not just sauna owners who should be held responsible but also the local authorities and the police.
David Henry, Director of Queer Youth Network, said: “I think the council and police have turned a blind eye to everything because for them it’s an improvement on the sexual acts that used to take place down by some of the canals.
“At one point there were a lot of people who would just go there cruising and a lot of residents complained because the whole area was supposed to be regenerated.
“There doesn’t seem to be anyone liaising between these saunas and the council. It’s as if the council are just turning a blind eye and there is nothing formal in their arrangements at all.”
Others, such as LGBT Campaigner Adam Prince, believe that it is due to a worrying drug culture that has brought the UK’s gay sauna scene into disrepute.
“I personally think saunas are safer than the cruising areas where there’s been murders and lots of robbings but I think a lot of this is to do with a very dangerous drug culture which keeps getting bigger,” the member of Facts About Manchester Pride Group said.
“Now crystal meth is entering the UK and that drug will destroy, damage, heighten risk and violence and this risk is increased due to the lack of testing or safety.
“People are taking drugs that are more risky and I firmly believe testing centres or home kits should be made for users, to try and wipe out these dangerous substances and return to safer recreational drugs.”
Mr Henry argues that even though the conditions vastly need to improve in the UK’s saunas, the scene now has a stigma attached to it which demonises the entire gay community. Mr Henry says this stigma needs to be banished.
“Obviously some men do go into saunas to sleep with a lot of men, but tarring everyone with the same brush is wrong. You can go in there just to socialise and there are computers to use and TV rooms in some of them,” he said.
“I would say that they do more good than they do harm and people must understand that things are done well there – such as the Outreach Programme where a nurse will do testing in these places every two weeks and a lot of useful information is available.
“Of course in terms of health and safety saunas must be brought up to standard, which obviously can only be monitored if councils actually go in there and check.”
*Names changed to protect identities
Picture courtesy of Hugo Photography, with thanks.
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