Physique Magazines
by David Bianco
At the turn of the 20th century, Bernarr Macfadden - a publisher, health
enthusiast, and presumed heterosexual - began putting out the first male
bodybuilding magazine in the United States. Physical Culture was filled
with almost-nude photographs of sculpted, athletic male bodies, which made it
understandably popular among gay men. Macfadden, however, didn't intend his
magazine for sexual titillation. When he became aware of its homosexual
following, he publicly denounced his gay readers as "painted, perfumed,
kohl-eyed, lisping, mincing youths," whom he encouraged other men to beat up.
Macfadden's success with the magazine sparked the founding of many copycats,
none of which were intended for a gay gaze. Just after World War II, however,
gay photographers began to publish their own work celebrating the male body
beautiful. Two gay-run photo studios, Bruce of Los Angeles and the Athletic
Model Guild, led what became known in gay culture as the physique movement.
Initially, these photographers peddled their work through their own
mail-order pin-up businesses. Fifteen cents bought a full catalog of
available photos. Bob Mizer was only 23 when he started AMG and its catalog
in 1945. He originally operated out of a spare room in his mother's house.
She wasn't particularly happy that he was gay, but she cooperated because she
liked the extra income he shared with her. When Mizer's business boomed, he
built a separate studio next door to Mom. He recruited models at gyms and
along Venice Beach, searching for a particular type: chiseled, muscular,
white. Many of the models he hired were heterosexual.
Popular demand for these homoerotic images grew, and Mizer looked for another
way to distribute them. In 1951, he began publishing Physique Pictorial, a
pocket-sized magazine created especially for a gay audience. Eventually there
were several dozen physique magazines, serving as many as 70,000 readers by
1958. Many also included illustrations and launched the careers of erotic
artists such as Tom of Finland. Gay men signed up for subscriptions or bought
the magazines at newsstands, though at that time doing either was
considered extremely risky.
Because of the oppressive atmosphere of the 1950s, physique magazines were
careful to disguise their homoerotic intent. Postal inspectors and FBI agents
were on the lookout for pornographic content, such as "excessive genital
delineation." They particularly targeted gay publications, trying to indict
them for violation of the 1873 Comstock Act, which prohibited sending obscene
material through the mail. To avoid harassment, Physique Pictorial adopted
a lofty mission statement: "A fine healthy physique," it claimed, was "a
great compliment to our creator who planned for the utmost perfection in all
of his universe." A beautiful body, according to Mizer's publication,
"makes the soul sing."
A number of early physique magazines, with names like Grecian Guild
Pictorial, Adonis, and American Apollo, tried to cover their tracks by
purporting to foster the "Grecian" ideals of morality, honesty, and physical
beauty. Photos of men in G-strings or with carefully placed fig leaves ran
next to articles on the development of the mind and spirit, often written by
clergy members. "I seek a sound mind in a sound body," was the Grecian
Guild Pictorial's credo. "I am a Grecian." The word "Grecian," however, could
easily be read as underground code for "gay." Grecian Guild Pictorial
became increasingly campy and tongue-in-cheek over time, comparing its own
images to "the magnificent art treasures handed down from antiquity."
Also popular in the 1950s were "all-American" physique magazines with names
like Vim and Trim. Unlike other physique magazines of the time,
all-American ones regularly included images of African-American men. They
typically featured photographs of muscle men engaged in weight-lifting
contests and carried articles about the benefits of exercise. Though Vim
and others were geared toward gay men, they camouflaged their purpose by
promoting the traditionally masculine, he-man interests of sports and competition.
Despite all these efforts at concealment, physique magazines came under
repeated attack from the U.S. Post Office and law enforcement agencies and
were often required to defend their right to exist in court. In 1965, one
case, Manual Enterprises v. Day, went all the way to the Supreme Court.
A significant victory was won when the high court ruled against the obscenity
charge, stating that the publication in question lacked "patent
offensiveness," even though it was "unpleasant, uncouth, and tawdry."
The court decision in Manual Enterprises v. Day made way for a flourishing
of gay pornography, complete with full frontal nudity. Physique magazines
were too tame by comparison and either fizzled out or completely revamped
themselves to meet the new trend. Mizer began producing low-budget movies
with (as The Advocate reported in 1970) "hunky actors" and "slapped-together settings"
like Marine barracks and locker rooms. These movies were the direct descendants
of the first modern gay erotica, physique magazines.
The Complete Reprint of Physique Pictorial, 3 vols. (Taschen, 1997).
Ellenzweig, Allen. The Homoerotic Photograph: Male Images from
Durieu/Delacroix to Mapplethorpe (Columbia University Press, 1992).
Hooven, F. Valentine, III. Beefcake: The Muscle Magazines of America,
1950-1970 (1995).
Morgan, Tracy D. "Pages of Whiteness: Race, Physique Magazines, and the
Emergence of Public Gay Culture." in Queer Studies: A Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, and Transgender Anthology, eds. Brett Beemyn and Mickey
Eliason (New York University Press, 1996).
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