This is my small collection
of lesbian sexploitation retro-mags.
Lesbianism at this time was
still taboo, which of course made it a prime subject for exploitation.
What's easy to see for anyone
collecting sexploitation artifacts is that the idea of lesbianism
finally played a HUGE part in the sexploitation era, especially
in the later half of the 1960s.
Notice that I use the word
“idea” because the portrayal of lesbians in the
feral world of sexploitation in no way reflects women in the
real world.
Sexploitation is fantasy world,
don't forget. A theater of the unconscious (Freud would say
“subconscious”).
These “lesbians”
therefore are the imagined (even mythologized) characters
of dreams—maybe even female manifestations of the male
psyche—and usually pitched as rampant transgressors,
bad-asses, and rule-breakers.
Ring a bell?
Consciously or unconsciously,
Russ Meyer picked up on this when he made FASTER PUSSYCAT!
KILL! KILL!...
“Belted, Buckled and Booted*!...” went the poster
tag. The lesbian overtones of the film emphasized that these
women were outsiders—moral outlaws—out for kicks and damn
well whatever, with an obvious disregard for the mores of
society, especially those established and enforced by men.
Pretty fuckin' cool.
Attitude, once again, is what
makes these artifacts—the whole sexploitation era—so
much fun.
Since many of these imagined
lesbians were like superwomen, it only makes sense that they
would be portrayed as having an unrelenting libido, as well
as a driving interest in competitive “male” sports
like wrestling and boxing. Of course, lesbians only participated
in competitive sports while topless.
In this ad, even the presentation
of a vibrator was an excuse to wrestle!
Oh, those lusty lesbians!
So, what's not to like?
I don't see these lesbian
artifacts as “girlie” mags, by the way. These are
not the soft-focused, dim-witted portrayals of girlie-girls
that appear in more mainstream trash, even today.
More than a few of these artifacts
owe a debt to the sexploitation movie magazines of the era,
which I'll post in another section soon. And, like those sexploitation
movie mags, the content of the layouts is often in-your-face
tabloid-style and politically incorrect.
After 1968, these sexploitation
mags changed somewhat, showing more explicit nudity. (Until
then the ladies were only photographed topless, with an occasional
naked butt, here and there. In other words, these would be
rated “R” today. After 1968, they would rated “X” [or what
would be “NC-17”] for full frontal nudity [including male
nudity]. With the advent of hardcore—showing penetration
or oral sex—after 1970, they would be rated XXX.)
A surprising amount of sexploitation,
including the content of so-called “sleaze” novels, would
be rated PG-13 today.
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* Boots, for
a long time, were associated with masculinity (i.e. the “master”
of the house). Which is why you'll often see boots emphasized
in the sexploitation mags of the era featuring dominas. Click
here
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