Did you read the instructions? You should because Leo Herrera’s (analog) CRUISING will not only sharpen and hone your cruising skills but make you horny enough to go out to the park on a cold night and try it out.
The premise of the book is about putting your phone and dependence on the apps away and getting back to the practice and skill of human first contact. A quick read at just under 160 pages, (analog) CRUISING is a beautiful and funny guide to the strategies and etiquette of dropping our shorts and getting off with one another the old fashioned way.
From the public parks to dark rooms around the world, humor and reverence is given to the fact we as gay men share a common language as if imprinted in our DNA. Eye contact, body language, animal instinct and universal cues of touch seem to unite us magically regardless of our native tongue.
(analog) CRUISING walks us through the various nuances of connection, interaction and levels of implied consent that each kind of venue dictates. It teaches an old craft for those new to cruising without a blue light screen and providing a refresher course to us veteran pigs who think we know it all.
Having gone through many of the sometimes delicate learning experiences Herrera shares about through stories, outlines and his own hand drawn illustrations the read made me feel good. It’s not often our shamed underworld of cruising in the dark for a quick nut or moshing sweaty in a group of anonymous naked men is celebrated and given respect.
The primer and advice for forms of cruising such as public spaces where I have less experience was illuminating and reassuring, confidence inspiring. Half way through the book in fact I was horned up and inspired to head across the street to the large public park in my home city to give it a try.
I employed a hybrid strategy of verifying on Sniffies that there were indeed men cruising the large park in the dark. Leaving the phone in my pocket I circumnavigated the paths and the dark corners, making selective eye contact with a few repeated prospects. They seemed to be on the same loop as I – rock, tree, trash can, rock, tree, trash can.
Before I knew it a new friend and I were behind some bushes just off the path, a couple other men watching and touching themselves from a short distance away. This happened? In my red-state hometown? Suffice it to say I got my money’s worth for the book.
Most touching in this read is that Herrera presents this quick deep dive into our long history and sex culture with love and reverence. We need this right now. We are a culture, we are tribe and we have our sacred rituals that deserve be be passed down, practiced and given a place of honor.
In an age where we have rising levels of political and social oppositions it has to be remembered that as horny gay men we have it better than we ever have. We have life saving treatments for HIV, we have preventatives like PrEP and DoxyPEP to keep us healthy. We have each other.
As Herrera says at one point in the book, “We are in a sexual revolution, act accordingly”. That one statement in the book kind of gave me a man crush on him if I’m honest. He’s cute AF after all and if I cross paths with him somewhere I’m gonna practice some of new learned mojo on him.
You can learn more about Leo, his books, his work here: https://www.iftheylived.org/
Smoker of fine tires, eater of natural foods, connoisseur of aromatic leathers, pusher of limits.