He came to think of himself as something of a sociologist (a “pioneering sex researcher,” he wrote), but Foos is not a scholar, and he was never detached. Over decades, Foos kept meticulous notes, which he wrote in a faux-scholarly, detached tone, grandly referring to himself in the third person. Foos was an unabashed voyeur, and he spied on his guests as they cleaned their toes, used the toilet, ate fast food, argued and - to his great masturbatory delight - engaged in sexual relations. Gay Talese’s new book of nonfiction, “The Voyeur’s Motel,” recounts the years that a Colorado motel owner, Gerald Foos, spent secretly observing his paying guests through special vents installed in the ceilings of some of his rooms.
What do we call those who watch the voyeur?
