The media coverage of the whole Senator Larry Craig situation is becoming an instructional guide in the art of misdirection. Why on earth is the focus on bathroom sex? I mean, other than the fact that it's sensational and sells papers, and because it's way easier to prey on the fears that the uneducated already have about gay men and what they do to one another than discuss the real issues at hand.

We've got reporters left and right bringing up pedophilia, as though that had anything to do with anything (sorry, but was the officer that Craig allegedly advanced on an eight-year-old?), and Tucker Carlson even took the opportunity to tell a charming anecdote about how he was propositioned in a bathroom and subsequently beat up the guy who came on to him (because apparently violence is the usual response to a come-on in Tucker's world).

We've made clear how disgusting we find all this. And now we'd like to take a different approach to the media's fascination with public gay sex by looking at its anthropological significance.

For your lack of enjoyment, here's a sampling of some of the more exploitative gay public sex scenes in movie history. If you have others to add, please do so in the comments!

The Sweetest Thing

In this light comedy (very light on the comedy, IMHO), galpals Cameron Diaz and Christina Applegate go on a roadtrip to crash a wedding and find a hot guy (Thomas Jane). On the way they take a break at a rest stop, and find that there's a hole in the stall of the men's room at the end of a Yellow Brick Road drawn on the wall. Cameron peeks inside and gets poked in the eye with a penis, demonstrating that even straight women are in harm's way when it comes to gay bathroom sex. Don't believe me? Watch for yourself.

There's Something About Mary

What is it with Cameron Diaz and rest stop sex?! In this presumably wacky comedy, Ben Stiller finds himself being mistakenly arrested with a bunch of truckstop bathroom cruisers. The fellas even perform in the final music montage! Maybe all that toe-tapping paid off.

Basic Instinct

The girl-girl-guy scene between Sharon Stone and another lady in a club bathroom is pretty hard to forget, and was likely on everyone's mind when the film was protested back upon its release. Lest we think that it's only gay men who hook up with random people in toilet stalls, rest assured that bisexual women do the same when their characters are written and directed by straight men.

Cruising

Interestingly, no bathroom sex to be had in this legendary Al Pacino gaysploitationfest, although there is peepshow sex (and murder), Central Park sex (and murder) and lots of flat-out in-the-open bar sex. The lesson here: any time two gay men are allowed within 20 feet of one another, they will have sex, regardless of where or who they are.

The NY Times just ran one of the more inspired articles I've seen in a while -- it's all about whether your car signifies whether you're gay or not. Check back in tomorrow for breaking pieces on "Does this shirt make me look gay?", "Does this little dog make me look gay?", and of course, "Does this civil partnership make me look gay?"

The article notes that some people think that certain car models look "gay" (Mazda Miata, Volkswagen Beetle, Mini Cooper -- anything cute and fun that doesn't fit children, apparently), while others are more "straight" (Cadillac Escalade, Pontiac Grand Am -- any gas-guzzling land-yacht generally driven by cigar-chomping white men over 65 and door-to-door cosmetics saleswomen, apparently). Wow. There's some hard-hitting investigative journalism for you.

My favorite bit is the part right at the beginning, when they quote straight people who have had their dates ruined when the people that they were dating thought that they were homos because of their wheels:

A few years ago, Meghan Daum, an op-ed contributor to The Los Angeles Times, wrote about a promising first date with a man that never led to a second one because, she later learned, the guy saw that she drove a Subaru Outback station wagon and concluded she must be a lesbian.

Just a thought: maybe a guy who would jump to ridiculous conclusions regarding your sexuality based on the car that you drive isn't the most stable partner to begin with. And maybe it was actually the fact that you crushed a beercan on your forehead during dinner that made him think you were a lesbian.

I'm not sure what I expect from the Style section, but this is just preposterous, and totally worth reading for a laugh or two.

Oh -- and as for the Beetle, I can't say I'm surprised. I always thought Herbie looked a bit light in his brake shoes.