When was the last time you had a conversation about your butt? If you wanted to start a conversation about your butt, who would you talk to, and what would you say? I once asked my gay, male doctor what I could do to maintain good butt health. Thinking back on this encounter, there could have been many topics he could have addressed—such as prostate health, anal cancer and its causes, how to keep my digestive system on point, how to prevent or get rid of pesky hemorrhoids, and best practices for being ready when the time comes for a hot session. For many people—queer folks, gay men, women, trans individuals—butts are an important part of our sex lives.

In late February or early March, Ali was in his apartment in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, when he got a phone call from a local police officer. Ali took the SIM card out of his cell phone, inserted it into a spare, blank phone, and hid his regular handset. By the time he was done, two police officers were knocking on the door. They put him in a car and drove to a nearby street, where two cars were waiting. The men put him in the back seat of one of the vehicles and got in with him.

In its upper stories, the Flex bathhouse in Cleveland feels like a squash club for backslapping businessmen. There's a large gym with free weights and exercise machines on the third floor. In the common area, on the main floor, men in towels lounge on couches and watch CNN on big-screen TV's.

Gay men also tend to form deeper friendships with straight women, so they get the inside scoop on what they really want from relationships. Since it was first posted, the thread has received over 11, responses. Reddit user BrobearBerbil. Reddit user coldize. Reddit user Cananbaum.