The Independent has a piece about a new women’s erotica magazine being launched in the UK. It’s called Filament and it’s tagline is “the thinking woman’s crumpet.”
Suraya Singh is yet another woman who felt that porn wasn’t offering her what she needed so she’s made her own. She’s got fairly negative things to say about existing women’s erotica, so she’s put me offside somewhat, but all power to her for doing a whole bunch of research into what women want to see.
The Filament version of “what women want” is not Playgirl-style beefcake but “toned men with oval-shaped, often quite feminine faces.” The first issue of the mag features pictorials of said men, found through asking guys on the street if they wanted to pose. There’s no full frontal nudity, although that possibility hasn’t been ruled out.
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I do applaud the mag for their list of what they won’t do: diets, celebrities, “men are from mars, women from venus” crap, makeovers, shopping etc. Sounds like the old Australian Women’s Forum ethic that I always found so appealing.
Naysayer Rowan Pelling says he believes making erotica for women is “notoriously difficult.” I do enjoy it when people say that. It thins the herd.
What’s puzzling me is this: why take a risk with a hard copy magazine? If this journal is supposed to be wank material, they’re pushing shit uphill. Meatworld porn just can’t compete with the privacy and instant, easy availability of internet porn. Even if your nude guys have feminine faces. And if you’re not even going to show peen, forget it.
So, what would inspire a woman to buy a magazine with semi-nude male pics in it and wait for it to arrive in the post? I’m really thinking it’s gonna have to be something along the lines of “artistic” in the same way that Black + White magazine can do arty nudes. Then you can buy the thing and just admire the shadowy moody photography and put it on your coffee table.
Either that or the pictorials are a few sexy pages to flick past on your way to the interesting articles, which in the Playboy tradition, is what you’ve really bought the magazine for (no, really, you do). Thankfully, the sample article on the site discussing the ethics of pornography looks well worth reading.
A few years ago Sweet Action was touted as the hip new thing in porn for women. They only made it to 3 issues. I’m very interested to see if Filament can stay the distance.
I like the idea of a print magazine. I stare at a computer all day at work, so I often don’t want to be on one after hours. If I want to relax on the couch or in bed, a magazine is better. And, many people still don’t have good Internet access in their homes.
I can also get on board with semi-nude. I enjoy drooling over photos of a really hot guy, even if he is covered up.