Filament Issue 2

So, a while back I received issue 2 of Filament in the post. I’ve been dipping in and out of it since, and finally feel I can write usefully about it. Here’s the thing: it’s really pretty amazing.
Filament, subtitled the thinking woman’s crumpet, is an adult magazine aimed at women, with a mix of smart articles and sexy pictures of men. The editor, Suraya Singh, aims to provide images of men that are aimed at straight women, rather than gay men. I wrote about it back before launch, here.
This issue includes an interview with the new member of Placebo, some short fiction*, and articles on: cover trends in erotic fiction for women; autism and neurodiversity; pegging; Brazilian dance/martial art/game capoeira; working as a television editor; drugs and fair trade; living with a low sex drive; and the Contagious Diseases Act of 1864. The content mix is wonderfully diverse and interesting; this is how you do “womens content” in a way that makes sense to me, i.e., that reflects the diverse interests and opinions of all the smart women I know. (Compare with this example of how not to do it.)
Almost all the articles are from a woman’s perspective, but the tone is as far from Woman’s Day as you can get; for example the autism article was written by a mother who talks about her autistic son, but the focus is on how disability is positioned in society and completely devoid of the confessional/empathetic style that would dominate a glossy’s approach to the same subject.
Note also the article on living with a low sex drive – for a mag with a strong positive focus on sexuality and on women, to live up to its own ideals, it needs to be inclusive, and it achieves that here, with a smart piece interviewing women with low sex drive that allows women to decide for themselves if that’s a problem for them, and discusses what they can do if it is. (Compare to every single magazine targetted at men, and most of the glossy mags for women, where high sex-drive is the assumed default and alternatives are either invisible or actively derided.)
So much for the words. Also, lots of photos of chaps in various states of undress, including one photo of a man with an erection. This pic was the source of a lot of difficulty in getting the magazine printed and distributed, but I think the resultant controversy (e.g. NZ newspaper articles) gave the mag a lot of publicity so a good result overall.
Anyway, it’s a great slab of culture, and while I continue to be not the target audience, I really enjoy it. It occurred to me, reading this issue, that this is the magazine that the lead character of my Ron the Body manuscript** was looking for; magazine culture is an sub-theme and motif in the book, and it’s entirely possible that Cass wouldn’t be so bloody grumpy at the start of the story if she knew Filament existed. So, definitely worth a look, especially if you’re a smart woman who’s feeling out of synch with the culture. It will remind you that you’re not crazy.
Check it out here, including plentiful preview pages.
Final note of awesome: there’s a rumour that Warren Ellis will be answering reader’s etiquette questions in issue 3.
* including the first published work by my buddy Jenni Talula
** currently accumulating rejection slips if you were wondering