Quim (magazine)

Last updated
Quim
Quim magazine logo.svg
Quim, for dykes of all sexual persuasions Issue 3 Winter 1991 Cover.jpg
Winter 1991 cover
EditorSophie Moorcock
EditorLulu Belliveau
Categorieslesbian, erotica
First issue1989
Final issue2001
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Quim: for dykes of all sexual persuasions was a British sex positive lesbian softcore magazine published between 1989 and 1994 [1] with a further issue published in 2001. [2] The magazine was edited by Sophie Moorcock and Lulu Belliveau, who had previously worked as a photo editor at On Our Backs , the first US magazine of women's erotica. Influences [3] included Shocking Pink a young women's zine produced in London between 1979–1992, [4] Chain Reaction [5] a lesbian S/M club that opened in Vauxhall in 1987, and Sheila McLaughlin's 1987 film She Must Be Seeing Things . [6] The magazine had an irregular publication cycle that depended on when funding and content were available. [7]

Contents

Content and contributors

The editorial stance of Quim was anti-censorship and pro-sex, [8] and there was little censorship of content, [6] most of which was submitted by volunteer contributors. Quim featured articles, creative writing, art and photography covering topics including fantasies, orgasm, masturbation, safe sex, sex toys and sadomasochism. In 1991, "Quim Notebooks" were circulated in gay and lesbian bars and bookshops to encourage contributors to submit stories and ideas to the magazine. [9]

The first edition included an interview with Susie Bright, editor of On Our Backs . [10] Issue five centred on the experiences of black lesbians. [11] [12] The sixth and final edition focused on the eviction of a lesbian house and hub for direct action at Bird in Bush Road. [2] The magazine published fiction by authors including Pat Califia, Jane Solanas, Jo Fisk and Leonora Rogers Wright, [11] and photography by Della Grace and Lola Flash. [6]

Reception and legacy

The first issue of the magazine received a hostile response, and it was two years before the second issue was published. [6] Owing to the explicit and sadomasochistic nature of the content, a number of lesbian and gay bookshops, including Sisterwise [13] and Gay's the Word, [14] refused to carry the magazine. [15] The magazine remained controversial and continued to receive unfavourable reviews in the gay press. [8]

Quim was later credited, along with On Our Backs, with laying the foundations for later women's erotica including the Australian magazine Slit and Madonna's Sex book. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erotica</span> Category of sexually stimulating media

Erotica is art, literature or photography that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use any artistic form to depict erotic content, including painting, sculpture, drama, film or music. Erotic literature and erotic photography have become genres in their own right. Erotica also exists in a number of subgenres including gay, lesbian, women's, monster, tentacle erotica and bondage erotica.

John Preston was an American author of gay erotica and an editor of gay nonfiction anthologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susie Bright</span> American writer and feminist

Susannah Bright is an American feminist, author and journalist, often on the subject of politics and sexuality.

<i>The Body Politic</i> Early LGBT magazine in Canada (1971 to 1987)

The Body Politic was a Canadian monthly magazine, which was published from 1971 to 1987. It was one of Canada's first significant gay publications, and played a prominent role in the development of the LGBT community in Canada.

Rites was a Canadian magazine, published for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities in Canada from 1984 to 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roz Kaveney</span> British writer, critic, and poet (born 1949)

Roz Kaveney is a British writer, critic, and poet, best known for her critical works about pop culture and for being a core member of the Midnight Rose collective. Kaveney's works include fiction and non-fiction, poetry, reviewing, and editing. Kaveney is also a civil liberties and transgender rights activist. She has contributed to several newspapers such as The Independent and The Guardian. She is also a founding member of Feminists Against Censorship and a former deputy chair of Liberty. She was an editor of the transgender-related magazine META.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gay pulp fiction</span> Genre of pulp fiction literature

Gay pulp fiction, or gay pulps, refers to printed works, primarily fiction, that include references to male homosexuality, specifically male gay sex, and that are cheaply produced, typically in paperback books made of wood pulp paper; lesbian pulp fiction is similar work about women. Michael Bronski, the editor of an anthology of gay pulp writing, notes in his introduction, "Gay pulp is not an exact term, and it is used somewhat loosely to refer to a variety of books that had very different origins and markets". People often use the term to refer to the "classic" gay pulps that were produced before about 1970, but it may also be used to refer to the gay erotica or pornography in paperback book or digest magazine form produced since that date.

The Pink Paper was a UK publication covering gay and lesbian issues published by Millivres Prowler Limited. Founded in 1987 as a newspaper, it switched to internet-only publication in June 2009. The decision to go online-only was announced in June 2009 and attributed to economic conditions, and at the time management said a printed version might reappear in the future.

Women's erotica is any erotic material that caters specifically to women target-demographic of various sexual preferences. When erotica is specifically directed at lesbians, it is referred to as lesbian erotica. Women's erotica is available from a variety of media including video games, websites, books, comics, short stories, films, photography, magazines, hentai and audio. The content may cover many aspects of sexuality, from relationships to fetishes; the main idea being to convey sex-positivism from a woman's perspective, or to feature female empowerment and sexual fantasies.

Ana María Simo is a New York playwright, essayist and novelist. Born in Cuba, educated in France, and writing in English, she has collaborated with such experimental artists as composer Zeena Parkins, choreographer Stephanie Skura and filmmakers Ela Troyano and Abigail Child.

Del LaGrace Volcano is an American artist, performer, and activist from California. A formally trained photographer, Volcano's work includes installation, performance and film and interrogates the performance of gender on several levels, especially the performance of masculinity and femininity.

<i>Gay Comix</i> Underground comics series

Gay Comix is an underground comics series published from 1980 to 1998 featuring cartoons by and for gay men and lesbians. The comic books had the tagline "Lesbians and Gay Men Put It On Paper!"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manuela Kay</span> German journalist, author and publisher (born 1964)

Manuela Kay is a German journalist, author and publisher.

The Pink Triangle Trust is a UK-registered charity that offers educational materials about LBGTQ issues and the application of humanism to the study of these issues. Its long-standing secretary was George Broadhead.

The LGBT community in London is one of the largest within Europe. LGBT culture of London, England, is centred on Old Compton Street in Soho. There are also LGBT pubs and restaurants across London in Haggerston, Dalston and Vauxhall.

Kate Charlesworth is a British cartoonist and artist who has produced comics and illustrations since the 1970s. Her work has appeared in LGBT publications such as The Pink Paper, Gay News, Strip AIDS, Dyke's Delight, and AARGH, as well as The Guardian, The Independent, and New Internationalist. Lesbian and Gay Studies: A Critical Introduction calls her a "notable by-and-for lesbian" cartoonist.

Jearld Frederick Moldenhauer was born in Niagara Falls, New York on August 9, 1946. He has been a gay activist from his college years onward, and was the founder of the Cornell Student Homophile League, the University of Toronto Homophile Association (UTHA), and The Body Politic gay liberation journal, Canada's most significant gay periodical. He was a founding member of Toronto Gay Action (TGA), and the Toronto Gay Alliance toward Equality (GATE). On February 13, 1972, he became the first gay liberation representative to address a political party conference in Canada when he addressed a convention of The Waffle, a left-wing faction of the New Democratic Party. In 1973 he began collecting the books, newspapers and ephemera that seeded and grew into the Canadian Lesbian & Gay Archives. He opened Glad Day Bookshop, the first gay and lesbian bookstore in Canada, in 1970 and operated it until 1991 when he sold the store to John Scythes. In 1979 he opened a second Glad Day Bookshop in Boston, Mass. Glad Day Bookshop Toronto is now considered the oldest gay/lesbian bookshop in the world. Glad Day Bookshop Boston closed its doors in the summer of 2000, when its lease expired and its building was sold.

References

  1. 1 2 Buchanan, Justine (1 May 2010). "Top Shelf Girls". Diva.
  2. 1 2 "Quim's Cum-Back". Diva. No. 65. 15 October 2001.
  3. Smith, Anna-Marie (22 September 1992). "Brits gone BAD". The Advocate. 612: 72–73 via ProQuest.
  4. Blaze, Cath (13 August 2011). "A shocking shade of pink". The F-Word. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  5. Abraham, Amelia (5 July 2017). "Squats, Sex Clubs and Punk: The Lesbian London of the 1980s". Vice. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Gibson, Linda (25 October 1992). "Quim's on show". The Pink Paper. No. 249.
  7. "Quim Out". Diva. 1 April 1994.
  8. 1 2 Cary, James (6 July 1991). "Quim: has your time come?". The Pink Paper. No. 182. Gay Times Ltd.
  9. "Bar books for dyke ideas". The Pink Paper. No. 164. Gay Times Ltd. 2 March 1991.
  10. "New Magazine". The Pink Paper. No. 61. 25 February 1989.
  11. 1 2 "QUIM MAGAZINE; For Dykes of All Sexual Persuasions No. 5, 1994 by Belliveau, Lulu and Sophie Moorock (editors): (1994) | Alta-Glamour Inc". www.abebooks.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2020-06-13. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  12. Talking black : lesbians of African and Asian descent speak out. Mason-John, Valerie. London: Cassell. 1995. ISBN   0-304-32963-0. OCLC   32510249.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  13. ""Quim" hits the streets". The Pink Paper. No. 174. 11 May 1991.
  14. Jarman, Derek, 1942-1994. (14 December 2017). Smiling in slow motion. London. ISBN   978-1-4735-5906-6. OCLC   1029297722.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. Khambatta, Ann (August 1989). "Quim - Lesbian Erotica?". Spare Rib. 204: 28 via Journal Archives.