Nine independent erotic magazines

It feels like there are lots of sexy magazines around at the moment. Not so much the traditional top shelf stuff, but more the sort of adventurous, revealing, and intensely personal magazines that tend to be made by independent publishers. And that’s not surprising – the big tech platforms have made it clear that sex simply doesn’t figure in their vision of the world, so while Meta’s algorithm works tirelessly to ensure that no nipple shall pollute Instagram’s pure grid, people who want to talk about sexy stuff are forced to look elsewhere.

Independent magazines offer an intimate experience – quiet and personal, they often lean into their tactility, emphasising the feel of the paper and the smell of the ink, and allowing publishers to build a close bond with their readers. They also tend to serve niches within niches, and each of the following magazines addresses itself to a slightly different readership. They exist for many reasons – they might want to promote a specific social or political agenda, or build a brand, or just have fun. (And sometimes all of the above.) But as conservative forces around the world try to dictate gender identities and constrain sexual freedoms, they’re a beautiful reminder that for the most part people are messy and weird, and simply not made to fit into those clean, rational boxes.

Hrishnytsia
Translating to ‘Sinner’ in English, Hrishnytsia is published by Ukrainian artist Julie Poly to create, “a space to explore sexuality, self-discovery, intimacy and a reimagining of gender”. As you can see from the pictures above, it’s also a glorious, overwhelming playground of clashing typography and lowbrow sexy fun. This fourth issue is themed ‘Games’, and comes complete with scratchcard panels on the front and back covers to reveal the models’ underwear, and a sinner lottery card inside the issue. Mariia Vyshedska’s photos of suggestive tree trunks show a commitment to fun over sex (it’s the first main story in the magazine, running across 16 pages), but even when things get more fleshy there’s a sense that Hrishnytsia wants to avoid the pornographic – readers’ nudes are discretely censored, and even a trip to a strip club manages to not show anything too explicit.
sinner.me

Boot Mag
I’m not really sure what Boot Mag is, but I like it a lot. Issue two opens with Jesse Glazzard’s photos of women wrestling in slime-filled paddling pools, and Donna Marcus Duke writing about their obsession with gunge. Starting with the gunge tank staple of kids’ TV in the 90s, they wonder about the strange power of goo; at once bodily and alien, alluring and repellent: “Mess is that which is outside control, what happens when shit hits the fan. Getting messy reveals our powerlessness in the face of matter, a succumbing to the inevitability of dirt. Mess makes us subs to the world. What then is evermore humiliating, and ergo hot, is being gunged with a smile on your face – getting messy and loving it, relishing the carnival inversion of status.”

This magazine is as sexy as it is strange, like Trees Heil’s photo shoot featuring models carefully posed to obscure their faces, or Brothtarn’s pictures of northern England, a place, “simultaneously fetishised and reviled”, and occasionally punctuated by the erotic. In fact it says a lot that the most conventionally sexy series in the magazine is by superstar provocateur Bruce LaBruce, with selected images taken from his book, The Revolution Is My Boyfriend.
bootmag.world

Pulp
A new magazine from art director Jack Rowe and writer Megan Wallace, Pulp is inspired by pulp novels, the zines of the queercore movement, and London’s kink club scene. It’s slim and staple-bound and it could easily feel unassuming, but it punches well above its weight thanks to a collection of personal stories that challenge conventional ideas of sex. For example El Hardwick and Orion Isaacs speak about t-fags, their project that, “aims to photograph and interview trans men, transmasc and non-binary T4T individuals, couples and polycules who self-identify with the term ‘fag’”. Playful and empowering, it feels mischievously adventurous and overwhelmingly positive, and the pair speak about how it fits within their own professional and artistic interests.

But not everything in Pulp feels so safe, and I found some of the radically open writing to be viscerally affecting. For example Quinn Rhodes explores his submissive fetish, considering how his autism, and his girlfriend’s autism, and his vaginismus could be part of what leads him into humiliating acts like having his hands cuffed behind his back and wasabi smeared up his nostrils. He says the pain is not the point, explaining that he likes to suffer, rather than actually being in pain, and I can’t remember the last time I read something that was so vulnerable and uncomfortable. He concludes, “That’s what sex can look like: intimate, nasty, gentle, fucked up. Not strictly like sex at all.” I feel like that’s the reason why Pulp exists; it provides a platform for perspectives that aren’t often heard, expanding the definition of what sex and desire can be.
pulpzine.bigcartel.com

AFM
Published by the dating app Feeld, AFM stands for A Fucking Magazine, or possibly A Feeld Magazine. It’s beautifully produced – a lovely, thick volume filled with short stories, interviews, and thoughts about sex, relationships, and the pursuit of happiness. Ana Kirova, CEO of Feeld, sets the tone early on when she describes what pleasure feels like: “It feels like floating on your back in water and looking at the sky. Like staying very close to the tea leaves when the hot water touches them first – to hear the leaves open. Like travelling to see old friends, making strange gifts, saying yes whenever the body twitches with hesitation…”

My favourite parts of the magazine come when AFM’s contributors are obviously having fun rather than talking about it, and for example there’s a photo-led how-to with the artist and latex fetishist Maya Fuhr, as she teaches readers how to make their own latex. (“Each layer takes about three hours to dry. This is a waiting game, the submissive pleasure of anticipating.”) There’s also a great interview with Bruce LaBruce by Michael Costain, in which the two men speak about pleasure, rebellion, and transgression, set alongside a selection of photography taken from The Revolution Is My Boyfriend. The interview and images cover 22 pages, giving a long, thoughtful overview of LaBruce’s career so far, and his enduring disregard for anything resembling authority.
feeld.co/magazine

Gooseberry
Standing out from the rest of the magazines in this selection, Gooseberry is more interested in the world of love and relationships than the erotic. A small and quiet publication, “unpacking love, one story at a time”, it spends lots of time talking about sex, but without leaning into an overtly sexy aesthetic. For example a story that explores the sex party scene in South Wales is titled Tea, Coffee and a Good Spread!, and it emphasises the friendliness, community, and gentle sense of order that underpins the gatherings: “There are definitely rules at parties; no playing in the living room or kitchen, it’s always behind closed doors. No nudity, unless of course you’re in the bedroom.” The theme of this seventh issue is ‘Conflict’, but the tone is overwhelmingly calm, with lots of sensitive, detailed advice on subjects like the art of erotic communication, the ethics of online dating, and tips for thriving in a non-monogamous relationship.
gooseberrymag.com

Moan
An erotic magazine that prioritises the female gaze, Moan was created to challenge the stigma attached to sexual pleasures and sex-positive narratives. Every year editor Kat (she prefers not to use her surname) puts out a call for submissions, and then assembles a new issue from the intimate thoughts and images shared by people around the world. She’s an illustrator and the magazine is known for its explicit artwork, risograph printed in a restricted colour palette. There’s explicit photography too, but whereas the printing allows the illustrations to be crisp and sharp, the photography is harder to see. This fifth issue is printed black on silver, the low contrast ensuring that while detail is obscured, the eye is drawn instead to the lovely, swirling shapes visible in the hand-mixed metallic ink.
moanzine.com

The BitterSweet Review
“A literary magazine for queers and their friends”, The BitterSweet Review was started as a riposte to the high-brow literary world, providing a place where young queer artists and writers could publish their work. This second issue is themed ‘I started a joke’, and it covers the places where humour (and humourlessness) intersect with queer culture, “from the sardonic to the acerbic, the absurd to the tragicomic, the melancholic to the sanguine”.

That might mean Michelle Tea’s quietly resigned thoughts about a polyamorous relationship that couldn’t last. Or Maz Murray’s spoken word pastiche, My Body is a Mortgage, in which they lament the amount of money needed to change their body; “I’ve had too many avocado toasts and now I / can’t afford a penis”. Or the photography of Greer Lankton, whose dolls are often understood as grotesques, but which writer Amelia Abraham argues are actually, “in specific ways, undoubtedly amusing, sometimes droll, even.” We delivered this issue to Stack subscribers when it came out, and I love its clever, stylish interpretation of sex and sexuality.
thebittersweetreview.com

Fluffer Everyday
A glossy magazine dedicated to the thrill of sexy encounters, Fluffer Everyday was originally built around the sexiness of the everyday, as editor Sotiris Trechas explained in an interview with us when the first issue launched in 2017: “For me, a fluffer is someone that makes your heart beat faster, arouses you in a way to make your work, your day, or even your life easier and more bearable. The guy that makes your coffee everyday in the coffee shop, your dentist, the super hot ginger you walk by on the street. Everyone could be your fluffer. And everyday you could have a different one! So that’s how Fluffer Everyday was born.”

A new limited edition series of zines, The Fluffer Body kicked off at the end of last year with Fluffer Feet, dedicated to foot fetishes. And the last full issue of the magazine had already shifted focus – while there are still everyday fluffers on the page, they’ve been joined by stars like Casey Spooner of Fischerspooner, and actor and dancer Léa Vlamos, creating a more glamorous approach to the erotic. In his introduction to the issue, Sotiris tells readers that their sexuality is their strongest weapon, and he dedicates the issue to, “The proud, bold, and beautiful people out there that inspire us in so many ways. To love our body, to accept ourselves, to enjoy sex, to embrace what it means to be human. Because if more people enjoyed their sexuality and let loose, I am pretty sure we could have skipped some wars.”
instagram.com/fluffereveryday

Erotic Review
Launched in 1995 as a photocopied newsletter, the Erotic Review reached the height of its fame in the late 90s under editor Rowan Pelling, before following the trajectory of many great magazines over the last 20-odd years and shedding readers before finally coming to rest as an online-only publication. The last owner was all set to pull the plug when writer Lucy Roeber stepped in, determined to bring it back as a fully-fledged print magazine, making something of real substance that readers will want to keep on their shelves forever.

This is Lucy’s first time editing and publishing a magazine, and she’s doing an incredible job. The writing is top notch, and each issue she invites a guest art curator to pick the artworks that will be featured. In this second issue writer and curator Enuma Okoro took charge of the visuals, putting together a selection that includes Loie Hollowell’s abstract bodily landscapes, and Ana Prvački’s bronze penises and illustrated musical scores. We delivered this issue to Stack subscribers in November last year, and I’m really looking forward to seeing where Lucy takes the magazine next.
ermagazine.com