Moan pictures the female gaze
I’ve been off for the last few weeks, enjoying some time away from my laptop, but I’m back at it now and for this first podcast episode of the new season I’ve got a conversation with Kat, the woman who makes Moan, a magazine of sensuality and eroticism that prioritises the female gaze.
I think this is a really interesting one, because it’s full of contradictions: It’s a very personal project for her, but she likes to remain slightly separate from it – for example she doesn’t include her name anywhere in the magazine and we’re not using her surname in this episode.
It has a lot of explicit imagery, but it’s definitely not pornographic, and in fact there’s something about the risograph print and production that makes it feel like more of an art book than anything else. And it’s a magazine that has carefully established its identity over the last five years, but it sounds like that’s all about to change as Moan enters a new phase in its existence: I spoke to her in the middle of July and at that point she was just about to go away on holiday, but as you’ll hear, she’s ready to take the magazine on to the next level, and her plan was that she’d get started on issue six in earnest this month, with a view to having it on shelves in time for International Women’s Day in March.
It was lovely speaking with Kat about her experiences of publishing this magazine, so I hope you’ll enjoy the episode. If you want to hear more conversations with independent magazine makers, have a browse through our archive, and of course follow us wherever you get your podcasts so we can deliver our new episodes to you as soon as they’re ready.
