Why Take the Risk of Public Sex?

The story of a quickie in an office bathroom got one scribe wondering: Why risk job, humiliation, and even prison to do it in a public place? Diane Mapes admits in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer to fooling around by a river, but never on a beach or a church during Mass—the sites of two recent scenes that sparked police action. And 22% of Americans have admitted to having public sex. So why do it?

“It's about heightening the thrill, about doing what's considered naughty,” a sex therapist says. “It’s deliberately thumbing your nose at the rules.” Still, writes Mapes, some common sense will help keep the cops at bay: Don't hog the ladies' room, lock bathroom doors, and—for God’s sake—skip the church confessional. (More sex stories.)