Gay Magazines

by Jeff Auer

Gay magazines have changed formats dramatically over the years. Before the late 1960s it was illegal to send "obscene" materials through the mail. To get around this censorship the first gay magazines started out celebrating images of bodybuilding. These were known as physique or beefcake magazines. Among the most popular of these were:Physique Pictorial, Big, Demigods, Tomorrow's Man, Vim.

After several court cases in the 1960s ban on nudity and sexual images being sent in the mail were lifted. After this you see the emergence of hardcore or adult entertainment based gay magazines. Some of the most popular of these were:Adult based: Adam Gay XXX Showcase, Adam gay video directory, All-man magazine, Dude Magazine, Numbers Magazine, Playguy magazine, Spree magazine, Advocate classifieds, and magazines published byColt studio.

During the 1970s gay publishing also saw the emergence of news based gay liberation type papers or activist ones. Among these were:Gay Magazine, Vector magazine, Alternate magazine, The advocate magazine, and the New York Native.

Also emerging at this time were magazines that celebrated gay consumerism and lifestyle. Among these were:Blueboy magazine,David Magazine, Mandate Magazine, Queen's Quarterly, Michael's Thing, Ciao magazine,In Touch Magazine, In Touch Magazine, Honcho magazine,and Bronc.

From the 1970s on saw more local regional type magazines celebrating more local communities appear. Among these were: California Scene Magazine,Where It's At Magazine, Data-Boy, Action magazine,Entertainment West Magazine,Gayzette, Knight Life, Where the Action Is, Odyssey Magazine, Pacific Coast Times, San Francisco Gay Life, and Homo Xtra.

By the late 2000s most gay magazines have folded due to the economic crisis and the turning away of consumers from print products to online ones. The future of gay magazines looks uncertain.

<comments />