trade

The biggest gay club in both London and New York. Trade is possibly the second best club in London (after Slimelight, obviously) with a great atmosphere, fabulous music and people really getting into the spirit of things.

Trade is known for its top DJs, such as Tall Paul, Boy George, Pete Tong, Sacha and John Digweed.

If you get the chance, go. Highly recommended, and you don't even need to be gay, as i have successly proved.

A Civilization advance.
One of the oldest and most widespread social institutions is the exchange of goods, or trade. The most basic level of trade is barter--two people exchanging items with each other. The introduction of regulated currency that could be exchanged for items resulted in easier, more convenient trade. Merchants soon roamed the world, connecting different lands with webs of economic interdependence.
Prerequisites: Currency and Code of Laws.
Allows for: Banking and Medicine.

Back to The Everything Civilopedia...

As difficult as this may be to believe today, when one's sexual orientation is typically defined based on the physiological gender of one's sexual partner, for the vast majority of human history up until about the 1950s, in nearly all cultures and societies, sexual orientation was defined based not on the gender of one's partner but on the type of role one played in the sexual encounter.

In 19th century and early 20th century London and New York, the word trade was a slang term used in male homosexual communities to describe a man who normally slept with women, but was willing to sleep with other men as long as he was the "top" in the encounter. The term "trade" derived from the fact that in most cases the man would be paid for his services with money or other remuneration.

What is so interesting about this concept is that while the man who accepted penetration by other men was seen as abnormal and discriminated against during this period, the "trade", because he only ever played a traditionally masculine role in the sexual encounter, was in no way looked down upon, or considered abnormal in any way. Indeed, he might even be specifically sought out by his wealthier partner for his perceived hypermasculinity, and might even be asked to engage in sadistic behavior toward the "bottom," in a practice referred to euphemistically as "rough trade." Because of these two aspects of monetary exchange and a desire for masculine men in the pursuing of sex with "trade," the typical image of a "trade" in 19th century New York was of a relatively poor but burly manual laborer, such as a dockworker.

The reason why "trade" as a slang term in the homosexual world is almost unknown today is that since the 1950s, shifting conceptions of homosexuality and heterosexuality have led to the disappearance of "trade." As homosexuality increasingly came to be defined by one's choice of partner rather than one's sexual role, the number of "heterosexual" men willing to sleep with other men on occasion for money drastically declined, to basically zero, as these men could no longer engage in this practice without risking severe stigmatization. It was in this context that when older homosexuals were interviewed by researchers in the 1970s and 1980s, many of them claimed that life was better for them in the early half of the 20th century and bitterly complained that nowadays there were no more "trade" to sleep with.

Trade (?), n. [Formerly, a path, OE. tred a footmark. See Tread, n. & v.]

1.

A track; a trail; a way; a path; also, passage; travel; resort.

[Obs.]

A postern with a blind wicket there was,
A common trade to pass through Priam's house. Surrey.

Hath tracted forth some salvage beastes trade. Spenser.

Or, I'll be buried in the king's highway,
Some way of common trade, where subjects' feet
May hourly trample on their sovereign's head. Shak.

2.

Course; custom; practice; occupation; employment.

[Obs.] "The right trade of religion."

Udall.

There those five sisters had continual trade. Spenser.

Long did I love this lady,
Long was my travel, long my trade to win her. Massinger.

Thy sin's not accidental but a trade. Shak.

3.

Business of any kind; matter of mutual consideration; affair; dealing.

[Obs.]

Have you any further trade with us? Shak.

4.

Specifically: The act or business of exchanging commodities by barter, or by buying and selling for money; commerce; traffic; barter.

⇒ Trade comprehends every species of exchange or dealing, either in the produce of land, in manufactures, in bills, or in money; but it is chiefly used to denote the barter or purchase and sale of goods, wares, and merchandise, either by wholesale or retail. Trade is either foreign or domestic. Foreign trade consists in the exportation and importation of goods, or the exchange of the commodities of different countries. Domestic, or home, trade is the exchange, or buying and selling, of goods within a country. Trade is also by the wholesale, that is, by the package or in large quantities, generally to be sold again, or it is by retail, or in small parcels. The carrying trade is the business of transporting commodities from one country to another, or between places in the same country, by land or water.

5.

The business which a person has learned, and which he engages in, for procuring subsistence, or for profit; occupation; especially, mechanical employment as distinguished from the liberal arts, the learned professions, and agriculture; as, we speak of the trade of a smith, of a carpenter, or mason, but not now of the trade of a farmer, or a lawyer, or a physician.

Accursed usury was all his trade. Spenser.

The homely, slighted, shepherd's trade. Milton.

I will instruct thee in my trade. Shak.

6.

Instruments of any occupation.

[Obs.]

The house and household goods, his trade of war. Dryden.

7.

A company of men engaged in the same occupation; thus, booksellers and publishers speak of the customs of the trade, and are collectively designated as the trade.

8. pl.

The trade winds.

9.

Refuse or rubbish from a mine.

[Prov. Eng.]

Syn. -- Profession; occupation; office; calling; avocation; employment; commerce; dealing; traffic.

Board of trade. See under Board. -- Trade dollar. See under Dollar. -- Trade price, the price at which goods are sold to members of the same trade, or by wholesale dealers to retailers. Trade sale, an auction by and for the trade, especially that of the booksellers. -- Trade wind, a wind in the torrid zone, and often a little beyond at, which blows from the same quarter throughout the year, except when affected by local causes; -- so called because of its usefulness to navigators, and hence to trade.

⇒ The general direction of the trade winds is from N. E. to S. W. on the north side of the equator, and from S. E. to N. W. on the south side of the equator. They are produced by the joint effect of the rotation of the earth and the movement of the air from the polar toward the equatorial regions, to supply the vacancy caused by heating, rarefaction, and consequent ascent of the air in the latter regions. The trade winds are principally limited to two belts in the tropical regions, one on each side of the equator, and separated by a belt which is characterized by calms or variable weather.

 

© Webster 1913.

---

Trade (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Traded; p. pr. & vb. n. Trading.]

1.

To barter, or to buy and sell; to be engaged in the exchange, purchase, or sale of goods, wares, merchandise, or anything else; to traffic; to bargain; to carry on commerce as a business.

A free port, where nations . . . resorted with their goods and traded. Arbuthnot.

2.

To buy and sell or exchange property in a single instance.

3.

To have dealings; to be concerned or associated; -- usually followed by with.

How did you dare to trade and traffic with Macbeth? Shak.

 

© Webster 1913.

---

Trade, v. t.

To sell or exchange in commerce; to barter.

They traded the persons of men. Ezek. xxvii. 13.

To dicker and to swop, to trade rifles and watches. Cooper.

 

© Webster 1913.

---

Trade, obs.

imp. of Tread.

 

© Webster 1913.