Asian Babes

Last updated
Asian Babes
Asian babes magazine logo.svg
Asian Babes.jpg
Front cover from a 2002 issue
Former editors Richard Desmond
Categories Softcore pornography
Founded1992
Final issuec. 2012
Company Remnant Media
Country United Kingdom
Language English
ISSN 1367-7284
OCLC 498515623

Asian Babes was a British softcore pornographic magazine which featured photographs of women of South Asian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino, and Thai origin. [1] [2] The magazine was launched in March 1992 and initially used only Indian and other South Asian models from the United Kingdom. [3] Later, Asian models from other countries were also included. [4] The magazine was initially published by Northern & Shell, a newspaper and magazine publishing group owned by the businessman Richard Desmond. In 2004 Northern & Shell sold the magazine to Remnant Media, as part of a package of Northern & Shell's other pornographic titles. Remnant went into administration in 2007 and the magazine was then bought by Trojan Publishing and subsequently by Interactive Publishing. [5] Asian Babes had ceased publication by 2012. [4]

Contents

History

In 1983, Northern & Shell obtained the licence to publish Penthouse in the United Kingdom which led to its development of a portfolio of adult titles, [6] with Asian Babes being among them. [7] [8] It was one of the first British pornographic magazines to feature Asian models, and was initially published on an experimental basis. It was, however, an immediate success, with sales of 160,000 copies. [3] The company was also responsible for the release of Electric Blue softcore pornography videos titled Asian Babes in 1993. [3] [9] [10] According to a 1995 survey by the magazine, most of its readers were white men. [11]

Asian Babes, along with other titles such as Readers' Wives, was part of Desmond's portfolio of soft-porn magazines which was offered for sale in 2001. [12] There were concerns that some investors were reluctant to invest in pornography, and that the market for such magazines was changing. [12] Asian Babes was finally sold in 2004 as part of a package of 45 titles to Remnant Media for a reported £20 million (approximately US$39 million). [13] After the magazine had been sold, the Bank of Scotland issued an apology for having loaned £5 million (US$9.8 million) to Remnant Media in order to facilitate the purchase. [14] Remnant Media went into administration in 2007 and the title was bought by Trojan Publishing and subsequently Interactive Publishing. [5] The magazine had ceased publication by 2012. [4]

Controversy

The publication of Asian Babes caused controversy in the British Asian community. Models came into conflict with their families [4] and boycotts were organised against newsagents selling the magazine. [3]

Desmond's ownership of a company that published pornographic magazines was often criticized and frequently used to bolster criticism of his business practices. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a columnist for The Independent newspaper in London, England, characterized Desmond as "the seedy porn baron who gives this nation Mega Boobs and Asian Babes and other yuck and muck". [15] The column criticized the way in which Desmond had made use of the Daily Express ; [16] Alibhai-Brown's column was not focused on Desmond's publishing activities with regard to pornography. She went on to say: "Actually, I am less bothered about the porn mags than many.... I made myself look at Asian Babes and it is true that the 'babes' themselves look exceedingly full of life, not pushed into any of the poses". [15]

Information about Desmond's ownership of the company that published Asian Babes and other adult magazines was included in a BBC Online 2004 profile [17] which described the controversy surrounding his ownership of a "top-shelf" (pornographic) magazine business [18] at the same time he was attempting to purchase The Daily Telegraph .

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pornographic film</span> Films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse and satisfy the viewer

Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, adult films, sex films, 18+ films, or also known as blue movie or blue film, are films that present sexually explicit subject matter in order to arouse, fascinate, or satisfy the viewer. Pornographic films present sexual fantasies and usually include erotically stimulating material such as nudity (softcore) and sexual intercourse (hardcore). A distinction is sometimes made between "erotic" and "pornographic" films on the basis that the latter category contains more explicit sexuality, and focuses more on arousal than storytelling; the distinction is highly subjective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hardcore pornography</span> Explicit graphic depictions of sexual acts

Hardcore pornography or hardcore porn is pornography that features detailed depictions of sexual organs or sexual acts such as vaginal, anal, oral or manual intercourse, ejaculation, and fetish play. The term is in contrast with less-explicit softcore pornography. Hardcore pornography usually takes the form of photographs, films, and cartoons. Since the mid-1990s, hardcore pornography has become widely available on the internet, making it more accessible than ever before.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pornography in Japan</span>

In Japan, pornography has unique characteristics that readily distinguish it from western pornography. Pornographic films are known as "adult videos" (AV) in Japan, so Japanese adult videos (JAV) refers to the Japanese Adult Video industry. Animated films are referred to as hentai in English, but in Japan the terms "adult anime" and "erotic animation" are used. In addition to pornographic videos and magazines featuring live actors, there are now categories of pornographic manga and anime, and pornographic computer games.

Alternative porn, a shortening of "alternative pornography," is a subgenre of pornography that is centered around alternative subcultures, such as goths, hipsters, emos, scenes, skaters or ravers, and is often produced by small and independent websites or filmmakers. It often features models with body modifications such as tattoos, piercings, or scarifications, or temporary modifications such as dyed hair or extreme makeup. The term indie porn is occasionally used, though this term is more generally used as a synonym for independent pornography, regardless of affinity with any kind of alternative subculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Television X</span> British pornographic television channel

Television X (TVX) is a series of adult pay-per-view television channels in the United Kingdom owned by Aylo Global Entertainment (Europe) Limited. Until 2020, it was owned by Portland TV which was a subsidiary of Richard Desmond's publishing company Northern & Shell until 2016. All of the programmes on the main Television X channel are filmed and produced in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yasmin Alibhai-Brown</span> British journalist and author (born 1949)

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is a British journalist and author. A columnist for the i newspaper and the Evening Standard, she is a commentator on immigration, diversity, and multiculturalism issues.

Paul Raymond Publications is a British publisher of softcore monthly pornographic magazine titles, including Escort, Club International, Mayfair, Men Only, Men's World and Razzle. The company's lawyers scrutinise the magazine content before publication to ensure that it is likely to comply with the Obscene Publications Act 1959 since UK law does not allow hardcore R18 imagery to be sold on newsstands. The magazines are generally available in most newsagents, although some larger retailers require them to be sold in bags to protect minors from seeing the cover photographs. The magazines have also been published in digital format since 2013. They were initially available from the dedicated Paul Raymond digital newsstand, but since that closed they have been sold via the publisher's main website which contains both softcore and hardcore pornography. Blue Active Media Ltd. is the parent company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pornographic magazine</span> Magazines that contain content of an explicitly sexual nature

Pornographic magazines or erotic magazines, sometimes known as adult magazines or sex magazines, are magazines that contain content of an explicitly sexual nature. Publications of this kind may contain images of attractive naked subjects, as is the case in softcore pornography, and, in the usual case of hardcore pornography, depictions of masturbation, oral, manual, vaginal, or anal sex.

Remnant Media was a British publisher of magazines, especially pornographic magazines. Remnant Media published Asian Babes, Readers Wives, Horny Housewives, Mega Boobs, Mothers-in-Law, Big Ones, Just 18, and 60 Plus. Remnant Media also published the gay lifestyle magazine Attitude until January 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pornography in Europe</span>

Pornography has been dominated by a few pan-European producers and distributors, the most notable of which is the Private Media Group that successfully claimed the position previously held by Color Climax Corporation in the early 1990s. Most European countries also have local pornography producers, from Portugal to Serbia, who face varying levels of competition with international producers. The legal status of pornography varies widely in Europe; its production and distribution are illegal in countries such as Ukraine, Belarus and Bulgaria, while Hungary has liberal pornography laws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Desmond</span> English publisher and businessman (born 1951)

Richard Clive Desmond is a British publisher, businessman, and former pornographer. According to the 2021 Sunday Times Rich List, Desmond was the 107th richest person in the United Kingdom. He is the founder of Northern & Shell, a publisher known for running The Health Lottery and for having owned a variety of pornographic titles and of celebrity magazines, Britain's Channel 5, pornographic television network Portland, and Express Newspapers.

Sport Newspapers was the British publishing firm responsible for the Daily Sport, Sunday Sport newspapers and a number of mid shelf and top shelf magazine titles, such as Adult Sport, Sport Babes, Sport Reader's Wives and Ladsmag. It was founded in 1986 by David Sullivan, to launch the newspaper Sunday Sport. The company offices were in Manchester, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern & Shell</span> British publishing and television group

Northern & Shell is a British publishing group, founded in December 1974 and owned since then by Richard Desmond. Formerly a publisher of pornographic magazines including Penthouse and Asian Babes, it published the Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday, and the magazines OK!, New! and Star until these were sold to Trinity Mirror in February 2018. Northern & Shell also owned three entertainment television channels: Channel 5, 5* and 5USA until 2015. It owned Portland TV, which operates pornographic TV channels including Television X and Red Hot TV; the company sold Portland in April 2016.

In the United Kingdom, pornography is regulated by a variety of laws, regulations, judicial processes, and voluntary schemes. Pornographic material generally has to be assessed by regulators or courts to determine its legality. British censorship laws with regard to pornography have often been some of the most restrictive in Western Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pornographic film actor</span> Person who performs in pornography

A pornographic film actor or actress, pornographic performer, adult entertainer, or porn star is a person who performs sex acts on video that is usually characterized as a pornographic movie. Such videos tend to be made in a number of distinct pornographic subgenres and attempt to present a sexual fantasy; the actors selected for a particular role are primarily selected on their ability to create or fit that fantasy. Pornographic videos are characterized as either softcore, which does not contain depictions of sexual penetration or extreme fetishism, and hardcore, which can contain depictions of penetration or extreme fetishism, or both. The genres and sexual intensity of videos is mainly determined by demand. Depending on the genre of the film, the on-screen appearance, age, and physical features of the actors and their ability to create the sexual mood of the video is of critical importance. Most actors specialize in certain genres, such as straight, bisexual, gay, lesbian, bondage, strap-on, anal, double penetration, semen swallowing, teenage, orgy, age roleplay, fauxcest, interracial or MILFs and more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gay pornography</span> Pornography depicting sex acts between males

Gay pornography is the representation of sexual activity between males. Its primary goal is sexual arousal in its audience. Softcore gay pornography also exists; which at one time constituted the genre, and may be produced as beefcake pornography directed toward heterosexual female, homosexual male, and bisexual audiences of any gender.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bomis</span> Dot-com company (1996–2007)

Bomis was a dot-com company best known for supporting the creations of free-content online-encyclopedia projects Nupedia and Wikipedia. It was co-founded in 1996 by Jimmy Wales, Tim Shell, and Michael Davis. By 2007, the company was inactive, with its Wikipedia-related resources transferred to the Wikimedia Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pornography in Asia</span>

Pornography in Asia is pornography created in Asia, watched in Asia, or consumed or displayed in other parts of the world as one or more genres of Asian porn.

References

  1. ↑ "Asian Babes". XXX MagStore. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  2. ↑ Too, Yun Lee; Brant, Clare (1994), Rethinking sexual harassment, Pluto Press, pp. 88–92, ISBN   978-0-7453-0837-1 – via National Library of Australia
  3. 1 2 3 4 Amit Roy (31 May 1993). "British Asian girls drop their inhibitions, take to soft porn". India Today. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Amit Roy (18 September 2012). "Asian babes in puritan's past – Rage at Kate's topless snaps masks a skeleton". The Telegraph. Calcutta, India. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  5. 1 2 Bowers, Simon (12 February 2008). "Flotation for porn publisher". The Guardian.
  6. ↑ "About Northern & Shell". Northern & Shell. N&S Network. Archived from the original on 20 January 2007. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  7. ↑ Jane Arthurs, Jean Grimshaw, "Women's bodies: discipline and transgression", Continuum International Publishing Group, 1999, ISBN   0-304-33963-6, pp.191-192
  8. ↑ Clarissa Smith, "One for the girls!: the pleasures and practices of reading women's porn", European Communication Research and Education Association Series, Intellect Books, 2007, ISBN   1-84150-164-6, p.57
  9. ↑ Lisa Z. Sigel (2005). International Exposure: Perspectives on Modern European Pornography, 1800–2000. Rutgers University Press. p. 171. ISBN   9780813541044.
  10. ↑ Richard Desmond (2015). The Real Deal. Random House. ISBN   9781473518544.
  11. ↑ Mohan Luthra (1997). Britain's Black Population: Social Change, Public Policy and Agenda. Arena. p. 35. ISBN   9781857421897.
  12. 1 2 "Desmond to sell 'adult' titles". BBC. 11 January 2001. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
  13. ↑ Andrew Clennell (2 March 2004). "Desmond breaks links with porn as he fights for 'Telegraph'". The Independent. Independent News and Media Limited. Archived from the original on 22 March 2007. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
  14. ↑ "Bank apologises for porn funding: The Bank of Scotland has launched a policy review after negative publicity over a deal involving pornographic magazines". BBC Online News. BBC. 22 March 2004. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
  15. 1 2 Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (3 March 2002). "I can take Mr Desmond's porn but not his racism". The Independent. Independent News and Media Limited. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
  16. ↑ Chris Jones (25 November 2000). "Richard Desmond: Express route to respectability". BBC News World Edition. BBC. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
  17. ↑ Jorn Madslien (12 February 2004). "Profile: Richard Desmond". BBC News Online. BBC. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
  18. ↑ Jorn Madslien (7 May 2006). "How much should you pay for sex?". The Observer. Guardian News and Media Limited 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.