The New York Review of Magazines

Good Old Days

By Chris Fleisher

Circulation..........200,000
Date of Birth.........1964
Frequency..........Monthly
Price..........$2.95
Natural Habitat........In the wicker basket beside Grandma's rocking chair.

I SINCERELY believe that Wes Hoskins, an eighty-year-old contributor to the monthly magazine Good Old Days, wants to pass along his insights to younger generations. The tone of his essay, “Bits of Life,” published in the February 2004 issue, is earnest and direct. He clearly wants me—a twenty-sevenyear- old—to absorb everything he has learned. The problem is, I can’t figure out what to do with it.

Take, for example, the third lesson in Hoskins’s piece. “Another bit of information I’d like to convey to young people is that there were two kinds of ranch hands in the history of the West,” he writes. “Understanding how climate, ingenuity and resources shaped Americans’ lives in the past can enhance our appreciation of the importance of water, land and population charting in our nation’s future.”

I’m all for charting a better future for our nation, but Hoskins fails to explain the relevancy of ranch hands to the lesson and leaves the “young people” he addresses with an empty fact. Seems he and most of the other contributors are not so much interested in paving the way for what is to come as they are in preserving what they’ve lost. The tagline for the publication is “The magazine that remembers the best,” and these cozy, safe stories provide a pretty simplistic idea of what “the best” entails. At first glance, Days’s readership seems to be people whose blood pressure might explode upon seeing a hiphop feature on “CBS Sunday Morning,” and who will then take two Valium pills with a “Hot Toddy” and say, “Wake me when it’s 1924 again.”

Yes, I know this is a ridiculous caricature. Obviously, not everyone who remembers “the old days” is mired in the past. The success of the magazine demonstrates that my hypothesis is overly simplistic. Days is a monthly that has been published since 1964 and, according to editor Ken Tate, has a circulation of almost 200,000. Judging by the letters to the editor and the “Wanted Ads,” this loyal readership spans the nation from Lawndale, California, to Joppa, Alabama, and up to Nova Scotia, Canada. A lot of people like this magazine, and they do not necessarily share the same income bracket, geographic area or gender. These readers simply share a need to be reassured that there was a time when life was simple and good.

Each cover evokes a certain Norman Rockwell feeling. The February 2004 issue shows a boy sharing hot cocoa with someone who is, presumably, his grandfather. The old man, wearing long johns and overalls, looks lovingly down at the young boy and is, no doubt, passing along wise lessons he’s gleaned over the years. The boy is either truly enraptured or humoring the old fart.

The February issue has plenty of cozy imagery and a stern defense of the wood stove. In the editor’s note, “Looking Back,” Tate seems to wag his finger at anybody who invested in those new-fangled heat pumps. “These cold days of February make me thankful that Janice and I still heat the old home place with wood,” Tate writes. “Daddy heated with wood until the day he died, and Mama kept the home fire burning with well-seasoned hickory and oak for quite a while after that.” Tate then goes on to explain how chopping wood was so invigorating—the smell and all—and laments that he’s no longer “as sure with the chain saw” as he once was.

A lot of the articles in Days are like this. The goal is comfort, not reform. These writers are not muckraking journalists in search of scandal and news—quite the opposite. Days is an anti-news magazine.

So how has Days managed to stick around for forty years? For starters, it is cheap to produce. With the exception of a few advertisements, the black-and-white layouts are printed on newsprint. Most of the contributions are from readers rather than paid staff. The advertisers in Days understand that this magazine cuts across a varied and, perhaps vulnerable, demographic. Two-page ads like “Golden Greats of Musical Nostalgia” (which, incidentally, feature the only nonwhite faces in the entire magazine via Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong and The Mills Brothers) run a few pages before a full-color advertisement declaring, “Grape Juice is an Artery-Clearing Wonder!” Also included are ads promising to free you from arthritis pain, a pill called Focus Factor and a glossy page for Floyd Cramer’s “Beautiful Songs of Faith.” The ads in Days get at two rather beguiling conceits for the aging consumer—healing and nostalgia.

Finally, and perhaps most important, Days has lasted because it sells escapism very well and most people need to go to a happy place once in a while. But the ads, articles and advice in Days add up to a portrait of a bygone era that never was. A lot of these “good old” stories are, ironically, Depression-era tales. Stories like “Gingerbread Boys,” written by a woman who used gingerbread cookies as an inexpensive Valentine’s gift, or “My Dad’s Living Gift,” about a lost pet who found his way home, are naïve in their conception and selective in what they remember. But they are timeless—wood fires will never cease to be cozy, loyal pets like a German Shepherd named “Jack” will always save the day, and February will always be a time for Valentines and presidents. Meanwhile, these remembrances of “the good old days” overlook two world wars, Jim Crow, Brown vs. Board of Education, McCarthyism, and any hint of murder, divorce or revolution. People rarely “die.” They “pass,” “leave us” or are simply “gone.” All pets are loyal, fathers are “Daddy,” and people may not have had a lot, but they had each other.

I’ll admit, I enjoyed reading Days for the same reason I actually enjoy (though pretend not to) movies like “Finding Nemo,” “Toy Story,” or any other Dreamworks or Disney schmaltz. I want to be reassured that I can rely on friends, community and the silver lining in every bad experience. I want to think of my life as a narrative, with conflict, rising action and a happy ending. Like Hoskins, I hope that if I live eighty years, maybe I will have my own sentimental advice to pass on to younger generations. Who knows if a word of it will be relevant.

Sex Doesn't Sell

...If you're a gay magazine
By Chris Fleisher

WHEN it comes to magazines, the “sex sells” mantra is a golden truism rarely challenged. Take Maxim, one of the great magazine success stories over the last few years. Founded in 1997 with a modest circulation of 175,000, it is now the leading men’s-interest magazine, with a 2.5 million circulation, achieved—apparently—through its raunchy, juvenile approach to sex. A typical Maxim feature: “Found Porn,” where readers send in objects that could be interpreted as sexual (a brand of pipe cleaner called Ream-N-Klean and a picture of a toy monkey humping a banana). A typical cover line: “Monkeys & Lesbians.” Maxim takes sex to a lowest-common-denominator level, and it sells.

Or, if you prefer women’s mags, consider the racy Cosmopolitan. March’s cover has “Men on Sex,” “Very Sexy Things to Do After Sex” and “Hilarious Hook-Ups.”

But there is one telling exception to this sexy strategy. Despite the progress made over the past ten years, gay and lesbian magazines still struggle to emerge from the shadow of taboo sex. Advertisers worry about embroiling themselves in controversy and newsstands refuse to carry titles that might offend customers. For these smaller magazines, advertising and newsstand dollars mean life or death and, so far, many have learned that gay sex can be a tough sell.

There are about ten national gay and lesbian magazines in the United States right now, and only Out and The Advocate have a circulation of more than 100,000. The Advocate is a newsmagazine that sees its competition as Time and Newsweek rather than other gay and lesbian lifestyle publications. It treats sexual content as a newsmagazine would—as news, not titillation. The March 2 issue, published near Academy Awards time, featured the sexy Charlize Theron, but, like many of the celebrities in the magazine, she’s a straight person with some connection to the gay and lesbian community (for her Oscar-winning performance as a bisexual in “Monster”). Other leading titles, such as the gay men’s magazine Genre, are similarly conservative. Genre, a style magazine, sells home and fashion the old-fashioned way—by showing pictures of things for your home and men wearing stylish suits. Of course, the same could be said of GQ, but what separates these two magazines is what each tells its readers about sex. GQ’s March issue tells its guys how to “Meet a Geisha” and “Four Ways Into Your Beloved’s Pants.” Genre’s advice is a bit safer. In a March advice piece titled “Open Wide and Say…” Genre advises gay men to be honest and upfront about their sexual orientation—when they go to the doctor.

For lesbians, the pickings are even slimmer. Curve, a top lesbian magazine with a circulation of more than 68,000, has (surprise!) a straight celebrity, Cyndi Lauper, gracing its April cover and, inside, a lot of travel suggestions—but not a hint of sex. Girlfriends, which claims to be “The No. 1 Lesbian Monthly,” gets a little bit hotter in the April issue with an article called “Mooning Over Miami” about Miami’s biggest “Dyke Party,” but it eventually becomes just another travel article—go to Miami to see a “magical eye-candyland” and Miami’s great, um, Spanish monastery.

Even when gay magazines do use sexual content, it tends to be muted. Since 1992, Out magazine—the most widely read national gay publication, with a circulation of more than 113,000—has built its reputation on being upfront about gay sexuality. The April issue’s cover lines tantalize its readers with “Young Gay Men and Dangerous Sex” and promise a feature about “Queer as Folk” actor Robert Gant called “Sex & the Single Guy,” accompanied by “His Most Revealing Photos Ever!” But open up the magazine, and the content tells a different story. The “revealing photos” have Gant fully dressed and, in one, wearing a tuxedo. His faceless companions (male and female) are nude or scantily clad, but the model who reveals the most is a bare-breasted woman. Far from sexy, the article on dangerous sex deals with a familiar topic to gay readers: HIV. Though the writer, Kai Wright, argues that public health is going to have to “broaden its one-note song on the dangers of eros and start affirming the sexual part of sexually transmitted diseases,” the article is social commentary, not playfulness.

Seems that what’s truly “in” for gay magazines are suggestions of sex but not the same kind of sexual advice freely given to straight people. Straight guys could turn to the April issue of Men’s Health and find out how a woman fakes an orgasm or get seventeen seduction strategies from a selfproclaimed Casanova. But the kind of sex advice that straight men enjoy in Men’s Health is scarcely found in Out. The advice comes with a softer suggestion for improving relationships. The March issue’s article provides eight short tips for gay dating. But if you believe that all guys want to do is score, then gay men may want to skip this one. The piece talks more about how to build a lasting relationship (“Be a Zen beaver and give it time. Your dam will come.”) than gettin’ down and dirty.

“We have been very careful to walk the line and not overdo or overemphasize the sexual content of a legitimate news or entertainment story,” said Eric Chandler, public relations manager of LPI Media, which publishes The Advocate and Out. “We’re very cognizant of this so that we don’t have incidents with our advertisers.” It’s not just an issue of covers and content. It’s also a matter of advertising and newsstand placement. And here the explanation lies less within the gay and lesbian communities than with the mainstream.

Heterosexuals, insofar as they represent America, matter a lot in two important arenas that affect the gay-magazine industry: advertising and distribution. As gay magazines attempt to expand their sales, courting major advertisers and getting wider distribution on newsstands are absolute musts. Major gay and lesbian magazines are starting to get wide distribution in Barnes & Noble bookstores and attract business from such advertisers as Tommy Hilfiger and Volvo. But, as Chandler pointed out, these successes have come as a result of careful consideration of sexual content that might offend mainstream tastes.

Even the advertisements that tailor their messages to a gay and lesbian audience are not sexual. Absolut Vodka, a longtime advertiser in gay publications, was one of the first major companies to create gay-specific advertising. But the advertisements are rarely, if ever, sexual. In one popular ad, Absolut wrapped a bottle in a rainbow flag and printed “Absolut Diversity” at the bottom. Sex was nowhere in sight. Even companies like Calvin Klein, which is notorious for its provocative ads, run sexual ads but with straight couples. These companies are willing to be associated with gay communities, and they’re willing to be sexual, but not at the same time.

Outside of advertising, the most important financial crutch is newsstand distribution. When distributors start to worry about offending their heterosexual customers, placement becomes a huge issue for gay magazines. Chain stores like Barnes & Noble have set up gay and lesbian sections in some of their stores’ magazine racks, but most small newsstands don’t have such sections. They often set gay newsmagazines like The Advocate in the porn section rather than beside Time. Even in many bookstores, the gay men’s magazines are set in the “Men’s Interest” section, back on the third and fourth shelf, next to or, in some cases, behind Playboy, while racy heterosexual magazines like FHM, Blender and Maxim occupy the front shelf.

“In the broader picture, [mainstream America] hasn’t gone much further in accepting gay sex than where we were fifteen years ago,” said Michael Bronski, a journalist and cultural critic who has written for The Village Voice and Z Magazine. He pointed out that television shows like “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” and “Will & Grace” present gay men who have virtually no sex lives at all. And though shows like “Queer as Folk” and “The L Word” are more explicit about gay and lesbian sex, Bronski said the difference is in the sexual orientation of the viewers.

“I don’t see the average heterosexual American man as being all that interested in seeing gay sex,” he said. “Queer Eye” is shown on a basic cable channel (Bravo) and “Will & Grace” is shown on NBC—both channels for which the basic audience demographic is broader and many of the viewers are likely to be heterosexual. Bronski said he suspects that this is not the case for more sexual shows like “Folk,” which has a dominantly homosexual audience.

But, he continued, it isn’t just mainstream America’s lack of interest in gay sex that is at issue. He thinks America is still uncomfortable with sex in general, whatever its orientation. “We’ve come a long way since the Fifties,” Bronski said. “But, with all our obsessions with sex, all we need is a little instance, like Janet Jackson’s breast, to literally bring a federal case against somebody.”

Although heterosexuals may be getting more comfortable with straight sexual images, gay and lesbian sex can still take on a kind of foreign and, often, forbidding mystique. After all, the sodomy law was repealed only last summer, and while some straight people may be accepting gay sex, the larger mainstream may not be ready to start celebrating it on TV or in their magazines.

But one emerging gay magazine isn’t waiting for the mainstream to come around. “We have to address sexuality,” said JR Pratts, publisher of the gay magazine Instinct. “We are a gay men’s magazine and sexuality is part of being gay.” Launching just a few months after its heterosexual counterpart, Maxim, in 1997, the editors of Instinct began with the philosophy that they were going to stop being polite and start having fun.

Instinct’s cover leaves little to the imagination. April’s “Swimsuit Spectacular” proclaims “16 Eye-Popping Pages of Sexy Studs” and shows an oiled-up hunk in a Speedo. Inside, the regular “Matchmaker” feature, which sets up two guys on a blind date, takes a “go for it” attitude and shows pictures of a happy couple making out. Instinct wants the reader to know that getting action on the first date isn’t a bad thing.

Early on, the magazine managed to survive with only gay-specific advertisers (such as Key West travel packages) and products. National advertisers began to trickle in as the buzz about the magazine grew, but not without certain consequences. “I remember the second year, we had a small picture of two guys embracing. A national advertiser told us to bag the magazine,” Pratts said, referring to the cellophane wrapping that is required of magazines like Hustler and Penthouse. Pratts said he went out immediately and bought copies of Maxim and Details, two magazines in which that advertiser had also bought space. Pratts showed the advertising representative sexual images of men and women that, he claims, were much more explicit than what Instinct was planning to do.

“I said, ‘If you’re doing this because we’re gay, we are going to make so much noise,’” Pratts said. Not only did Instinct retain the advertiser, it has managed to pull in a few more national brands like Bud Light and Camel while raising its initial circulation of 25,000 to 65,000 in just six years. “With all the recent attention, this is the most exciting time in our community right now,” said Pratts. “The gay market in America is exploding!”

He’s right—to a certain extent. The progress gays and lesbians have made in gaining wider acceptance in mainstream America is difficult to deny, but “hetero America” will have to crawl before it can walk. The sodomy law may have been repealed and gay marriage is at the forefront of political discussion, but one has the sense that mainstream media still struggle to accept gay sexuality. What’s the difference between showing a shirtless guy on the cover of Instinct and showing one on the cover of Men’s Health? “A guy without a shirt in a gay publication will always be seen as more sexual,” said Todd Evans, president of Rivendell Media, which handles advertising for Instinct.

On most newsstands, that’s enough of a reason to hide the gay and lesbian magazines on the back shelf. Sure, part of this has to do with sales numbers, but if that were the only explanation, Playboy would be sitting right next to the candy rack by the front door. As Bronski pointed out, Americans may be obsessed with the idea of sex without really wanting to dive in and explore it. If they were, Janet wouldn’t have needed to apologize and gay men would be able to read about how they can please each other in bed without offending the straight guy next to them at the magazine rack, who is thumbing through the story about monkeys and lesbians.

“As we’ve seen with the same-sex marriage debate, with more exposure there will be more acceptance,” said Bronski. For gay and lesbian magazines, hope may simmer in magazines like Instinct if it continues to flourish without watering down sexual content. Sooner or later, the magazines may even start to migrate toward the front shelf at the magazine stand. Exposure leads to acceptance, right? If that particular truism holds up, then acceptance may evolve into celebration. And that sells.

What Are You Reading?

Chris Fleisher and Carrie Giddins canvass politicos to see which magazines they rely on to stay up-to-date

For the past few years,NYRMhas asked writers and editors in the biz what they're reading in order to stay informed and on top of their game. But this election year, we decided to throw in a little twist. Instead of asking other writers and editors, we went to people in politics and asked them, "In this election year, what magazines are you reading and why?"

Kate Michelman president, NARAL Pro-Choice America: "THERE are four magazines that I read pretty regularly and religiously—The New Yorker, The Nation, The Atlantic and The American Prospect. The political philosophy of The Nation is one that I embrace. The New Yorker, I love Seymour Hersh; I love its "Talk of the Town;" I like its political pieces. The Atlantic just had two important articles on the war in Iraq by James Fallows. The American Prospect I love as well. I love economic politics."

Grover Norquist president, Americans for Tax Reform: "I READ The Nation to find out what the hard left is thinking; when they're depressed, I'm encouraged (and vice-versa). Then I read The American Prospect to find out what the dangerous left is thinking. The American Enterprise magazine tells me what serious conservatives are working on. Then I look at Reason magazine to find out what will be on the political agenda four elections from now."

Cheryl Jacques president and executive director, Human Rights Campaign: "THE Economist gives me a good view of world politics. The Weekly Standard and The New Republic provide me with insight into the entire political spectrum. And, of course, I'm partial to Equality, HRC's own political news quarterly for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. It's one of the few magazines with which I agree entirely."

Ann Fishman executive director, Association of State Democratic Chairs: "I READ Newsweek, The Economist, Runner's World and Health regularly. I read The Economist because it is helpful to get a slightly different perspective on American politics. Its coverage of world news is much better than any magazines published here. I don't think many of the best-selling magazines like Time and Newsweek are very good. I think the reporters are lazy and they tend toward the sensational. I still prefer The New York Times and The Washington Post for my daily fixes."

Rachel Miller legislative assistant, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D—California: "I READ National Journal because it keeps me up-to-date on all that happened in Washington during the week. As for The New Yorker, I love the sarcasm and wit. Plus, I enjoy reading the short stories—makes me remember there's a world outside of politics. As for the fitness magazines (Shape, Fitness), it's just my hobby. I love to work out and lift weights, so they give me some motivation and ideas."

Tom Nicholls legislative assistant, Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, D—Pennsylvania: "TYPICALLY I read The New Republic and National Journal on a weekly basis. The former is great on both an intellectual and i s s u e - driven level and matches well with my beliefs. The latter is my nonpartisan, what's-going-on-on-the-Hill magazine. Both are delivered to my office for free, so that helps, too."

David Hunter deputy director of media logistics, Democratic National Convention: "I COMMUTE back and forth to Boston and am working in a pretty intense job and really get most of my news online with the AP Wire and assorted news Web sites like The Note from ABC and First Read from MSNBC. However, when I do go home over the weekend, I read the magazines at home. I have a subscription to Newsweek, as it has more in-depth articles. The other magazine I read is Washingtonian, as it has lots of articles that are pertinent to my city, Washington, D.C."

John Regan president, Smart Campaigns (an opposition research firm): "AS a campaign professional, I try to balance my reading between publications that 'insiders' read and mainstream magazines that the average voter—or potential voter—relies on for news. I regularly read Time and Newsweek, which provide a fairly objective, easily digestible summary of the week's events. I read The Economist for its superb news coverage and international perspective and California Journal, a substantive monthly on California politics, culture and government. I also read Trout magazine. I m a fly-fisher, and do a lot of work for river conservation groups."

Randy Broz principal, Development Group, Inc. (a fundraising firm): "I ENJOY reading Black Enterprise. My company directs the fundraising operations for several members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Black Enterprise provides excellent tips for the entrepreneurial small-business owner and also provides good information and insight into the current state of affairs of the African-American community. I recently became a first-time homeowner in Washington, D.C., and when I've any free time away from work, reading This Old House is a nice way to take my mind off of work and focus on my projects at the house."

Mike Kondratick director of grassroots teleservices, Direct Impact (a grassroots campaign firm): "I READ CongressDaily and The Hotline because they provide the most concise and comprehensive analyses of current political events. They allow me to get an account of how our clients' issues are being received in the media and in Congress, and they serve as a great source for new clients by providing background on a wide variety of issues. I read Slate online because it provides a unique, somewhat lighter perspective, not just on political issues, but also on issues related to culture, business and sports. I also read The New Republic because I think it provides the most thoughtful, progressive analysis of current political events."