What little remains of Man’s Country, Chicago’s most venerable bathhouse until its closure after nearly forty-five years in business, is interned at the Leather Archives and Museum (LA&M) in Rogers Park. There are several murals by the artist Dom Orejudos, deceased partner of Chuck Renslow, who founded both institutions. (Renslow died in 2017, the same year that Man’s Country shuttered.) Then, there’s the gloryhole—one of four salvaged, via jigsaw, from the Clark Street bathhouse. More apertured OBS board than hole, it exudes a strange aura, like a morning’s recollection of a wet dream heavily informed by construction-site porno. This is perhaps overly generous. As an architectural device, the gloryhole facilitates connections in unassuming places. Torn from its substrate, however, it’s less than nothing.
But I am neglecting a rather large something: The hole has been covered by a dildo. A monstrous one. Manufactured by the sex toy company Fort Troff, The Real Deal Dong sports a sheath of thinner silicone that moves with the hand’s torquing motion, like a real for…