 | This article needs more citations. (November 2009) |
A fetish magazine is a type of magazine originating in the late 1940s which is devoted to sexual fetishism. The content is generally aimed at being erotic rather than pornographic. Fetish magazines are usually devoted to a specific fetish, such as leather fetishism, rubber and PVC fetishism, cross-dressing, bondage, sadomasochism, female domination, sexual roleplay, corporal punishment, etc. Much of the content in fetish magazines is baffling to people who do not share the particular fetishes discussed and depicted.
The most well-known early examples are Bizarre (1946–1959) published by John Willie and Leonard Burtman's Exotique, Masque, Connoisseur, Bizarre Life, High Heels, Unique World, and Corporal. London Life, a British fetish magazine published in the inter-war period of the 20th century, dates back to the 1920s.
An early study, The Undergrowth of Literature by Gillian Freeman (1967), concluded that such magazines provide a catharsis for those whose sexual needs are otherwise unsatisfied: she identified rubberwear magazines as the most popular at the time.
