Porn magazine

Porn magazines are part of the history of erotic images, a form for their demonstration and distribution ^[2] .

In 1880, for the first time, halftone printing was used for cheap photo printing ^[3] . The invention of halftone printing brought pornography and eroticism into a new direction at the beginning of the 20th century. New printing processes made it easy to reproduce black-and-white photographs, whereas earlier graphic artists in terms of illustrations were limited to engravings, woodcuts and clippings ^[4] . This was the first format that allowed pornography to become a mass market phenomenon, it has become cheaper and more accessible than all previous types ^[2] .

Originally appearing in France, new magazines showed nude (often hired burlesque performers as models) and half-naked photographs both on the cover and inside. Then it will be called softcore , but at one time these publications were quite shocking. Soon, such prints began to disguise themselves either as “art magazines” or as publications dedicated to the new cult of naturism , with names such as Photo Bits , Body in Art , “Figure Photography”, Nude Living ("Naked Life") and Modern Art for Men ("Modern Art for Men") ^[2] . In 1900, the British magazine Health & Efficiency (now H&E naturist , often simply H&E ) was first published, and in the late 1920s began to publish articles on naturism ^[5] . Gradually, these materials began to dominate, especially as the absorption of other magazines took place. From time to time, in the aftermath of World War II, H&E primarily served the soft porn market.

Another early form of pornography was comics known as the Tijuana Bibles , which appeared in the United States in the 1920s and existed before the publication of glossy color men's magazines. These were roughly drawn scenes, often using popular cartoon characters and culture ^[6] .

In the 1940s, the word “ pinup ” appeared; it was originally used to refer to photographs that were pulled out of men's magazines and calendars and “pinned” ( English to pin up ) to the walls of US soldiers during World War II . While the images of the 1940s were mostly focused on the legs, by the 1950s the emphasis shifted to the chest . One of the most popular pinup models was Betty Grabble and Marilyn Monroe . Monroe continued to be a popular model for men's magazines in the 1950s.

The 1950s were marked by the growth of the first mass market soft-porn magazines: Modern Man in 1952 and Playboy in 1953 ^[7] . Hugh Hefner's Playboy kicked off a new style of men's glossy magazines. ^[8] Hefner coined the term “centrefold” ^[9] and in the first edition of Playboy used a nude photograph of Marilyn Monroe ^[10] , despite her objections. Another term that has become popular among Playboy readers is Playboy Playmate ( eng. - “playboy girlfriend”). These newfangled magazines depicted naked or half-naked women, sometimes imitating masturbation, but in fact their genitals or pubic hair were not shown.

In 1963, Lui began to compete with Playboy in France, while Bob Guccione did the same in the UK in 1965, creating the Penthouse ^[11] . Penthouse style was different from other magazines; in his photographs the women did not look at the camera lens, it seemed as if they were doing their own thing. This change of attention has affected the erotic images of women. Penthouse was also the first magazine to publish photos with pubic hair and full nudity (shot in front); and one and the other at that time was considered to be beyond the bounds of erotica, in the field of pornography. In 1965, another Playboy and Penthouse competitor, Mayfair, began to be launched in the UK. In September 1969, Penthouse began publishing in the United States, also competing with Playboy. ^[11] In order to maintain its market share, Playboy, like Penthouse, began printing pubic hair photographs, at the risk of being blamed for obscenity and starting “pubic wars” ^[11] ( Latin Pubic Wars , pun for Punic Wars - Latin Punic Wars ). As competition between the two magazines intensified, photographs became more and more frank ^[11] . In the late 1960s, some magazines began to move on to more candid photos, often focusing on the buttocks as the standard for what readers could legally show and want.

By the 1970s, magazines containing images of the pubic area were becoming more widespread. In 1971, Paul Raymond began publishing Men Only in the UK, and then Club International in 1972 ^[12] . In January 1971, Playboy became the first to clearly show pubic hair in a photograph. The first completely naked model photographed in front was Miss Playboy in January 1972. In 1974, Larry Flynt first published the US Hustler , which contained more explicit material. During the 1970s, some researchers found increasingly coarse images in magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse , after which, by the end of the decade, they had returned to their higher-quality style ^[13] . Paul Raymond Publications began publishing Escort in 1980 in the UK, Razzle in 1983, and Men's World in 1988.

Sales of porn magazines in the United States declined significantly from 1979 ^[14] , by almost 50% between 1980 and 1989 ^[15] . The fact that the number of rape in the United States has increased over the same period casts doubt on the correlation between the sale of magazines and sexual offenses ^[16] . Almost all studies conducted from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s confirmed that porn magazines contained significantly less coarse images than porn films ^[13] .

In the 1990s, magazines such as Hustler began publishing harsher content such as sexual penetration, lesbianism and homosexuality , group sex , masturbation, and fetishism ^{[1] [2] [8]} . In the late 1990s and 2000s, the market for pornographic magazines shrank as they were challenged by new “men's magazines” publishing erotic photographs such as FHM and Loaded ^[1] . The availability of pornographic DVDs and, above all, Internet pornography ^{[1] [17]} also led to a decrease in magazine sales. Many magazines have created their own websites, which also show pornographic films ^[1] . Despite the drop in sales, the best-selling American adult magazines still have a high circulation compared to most popular magazines and are among the best-selling magazines among all the others ^[15] .

The British adult magazine market is currently dominated by Paul Raymond Publications ^[17] , which publishes eight of the top ten best-selling porn magazines in the UK ^[17] . In 2001, there were about 100 adult magazines in the UK ^[17] .

Some magazines print photos of “ordinary” women provided by readers, for example, sections of the “wife of readers” of some British magazines and the American Beaver Hunt ^[1] . Many magazines also publish stories about the sexual exploits of readers, most of which are actually written by journalists ^[1] . Many magazines contain a large number of telephone sex announcements, which are an important source of income ^[1] .

Magazines for the gay community flourished, the most famous and one of the first was Physique Pictorial , launched in 1951 by American photographer Bob Mizer , when he was trying to sell male model services. It was published in black and white for almost 50 years. The magazine was innovative in using props and costumes to depict now standard gay icons such as cowboys , gladiators and sailors ^{[2] [18] [19]} .

A successful magazine requires significant investment in capital goods and a distribution network ^[7] . Large print presses and numerous specialized workers, such as graphic designers and typesetters, are required ^[7] . Currently, the launch of a new magazine can cost about $ 20 million, and releasing magazines is much more expensive than porn films and pornography on the Internet ^[7] .

Like all magazines, porn magazines depend on advertising revenue, which can make the magazine make the materials less explicit ^[7] .

Depending on the laws of each particular jurisdiction, porn magazines can be sold in stores , newsstands, and gas stations ^[1] . It is possible that they will need to be sold on the top shelf ^[20] , under the counter or in plastic packaging. Some retail chains and many independent retail outlets do not sell porn magazines. They can also be sold in sex shops or by mail.

• Hanson, Dian. Dian Hanson's The History of Men's Magazines vol. 1 From 1900 to Post WW II .. - Taschen, 2004 .-- ISBN 3822822299 .
• Hanson, Dian. Dian Hanson's The History of Men's Magazines vol. 2 From Post-War to 1959 .. - Taschen, 2004 .-- ISBN 3822826251 .
• Hanson, Dian. Dian Hanson's The History of Men's Magazines vol. 3 1960's at the newsstand .. - Taschen, 2005 .-- ISBN 3822829765 .
• Hanson, Dian. Dian Hanson's The History of Men's Magazines vol. 4 1960's under the counter .. - Taschen, 2005 .-- ISBN 3822836354 .
• Hanson, Dian. Dian Hanson's The History of Men's Magazines vol. 5 1970's at the newsstand .. - Taschen, 2005. - ISBN 3822836362 .
• Hanson, Dian. Dian Hanson's The History of Men's Magazines vol. 6 1970's under the counter .. - Taschen, 2005 .-- ISBN 3822836370 .
• Kimmel, Michael S. The gender of desire: essays on male sexuality . - SUNY Press , 2005 .-- ISBN 0-7914-6337-0 .
• Pendergast, Tom. Creating the Modern Man: American Magazines and Consumer Culture, 1900-1950. - University of Missouri Press, 2000. - ISBN 9780826262240 .