Fridae

A few days ago, one of my more sleazy friends practically dragged me to one of the more "infamous" cinemas in town. The theatre wasn't well known because it screened racy, R-rated movies, but because the patrons also often indulged in racy activities. Yes, live sex right in the comfort of your very own movie seat.

I'm not sure if similar phenomena take place in seedy cinemas in other countries, but in Manila, it happens with some frequency. In fact, walk into any normal cinema and you'll often find guys trying to either pick up someone, for fun or pay, by loitering around the area behind the seats, near the entrance. You'll see a lot of them sizing you up as you enter, whether you're interested in popping some buttons with your popcorn.

So, despite my misgivings, I went along. The funny thing is, a lot of people knew what went on in there, even the straights. Could have been my imagination, but I was sure I was getting knowing looks from the people outside, even the shrivelled, toothless old lady manning the ticket booth.

We walked into the dim depths of the theatre proper, and were greeted by the sight of some nameless local starlet's face moaning in feigned ecstasy on the screen. Trying my best to ignore it, we looked around for seats. Not that the cinema was full. Like I mentioned, you'll often find a few guys loitering around near the entrance at any cinema. This one however, seemed to have most of the patrons standing.

We moved in, also trying to ignore the sticky floors. I desperately hoped that was spilled Coke. Finding a strategically located pair of seats, we sat down and started looking around. Less than five minutes after that, I was alone - my erstwhile friend deciding he was gonna walk around and perhaps take a pee. Right.

Perhaps it was the lateness of the hour that made people more daring. But 5 rows down, I could see a head bobbing up and down over the lap of the guy next to him, and in the dimmer reaches of the cinema, I could see at least three people having a nice little getting-to-know-ya party. There were numerous couples around too who were presumably engaged in mutual manual manipulations.

Unlike cinemas in other countries, there wasn't a break between screenings here. People could happily indulge their needs for as long as they wanted, as the movies ran continuously, with no troublesome lights coming on. You can walk in during any part of the action, in fact.

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Being here reminded me of my much younger days when I was a horny little bastard and was curious about these cinemas. I remembered being propositioned a few times, but never really had the guts to do it in public, although I gave some teenager a hand-job once. (Before you go ewww, remember that I was a teenager then, too.) I even remembered someone asking me once, in fairly bad English, if I would like to be "friends".

Given that it's hard to establish a mutually interesting conversation with someone who looked vaguely horse-like in the dimness of a theatre, I politely declined.

One of my other friends sneers at the people who go to get their rocks off in the movie houses. "It's so lowbrow. I mean, it's so tacky and cheap!" I asked him what was the basic difference between doing it in a Manila cinema and in a Bangkok sauna, and he replied "The admission, of course. And the clientele."

In a way, it's true. You'll often find the less affluent, the less educated, and the younger-with-no-money guys in the cinemas. Or people slumming, like my friend. When I asked him why, given that he could afford to go to better places, he told me he liked the thrill of it. More than just the anonymity, he in fact liked the crassness of it. It was sometimes tawdry, and that's what he found exciting. Takes all kinds, I guess.

In the midst of my musings, I was suddenly startled to feel a hand stroking my leg. I looked beside me at the guy doing the stroking, and decided no, so I just smiled and shook my head. He smiled back, nodded, and left to try his luck on someone else.

Deciding that I'd had enough, I looked around for my friend. It was a bad movie anyway. I spotted him making the rounds of the balcony section, so I got up and went to get him. I told him that he could stay if he wished, but he said he'd gotten what he was looking for.

As we walked out, I teased him by saying, "I hope you washed your hands."

He smiled impishly. "Nope. No water in the toilets."

Wonderful.