Ten Years that Shook the (Men's Magazine) World
By Dian Hanson
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Sweden started publishing nudist magazines after the war. In the late 50s art nude and pin-up titles were added. Ten years later the country was producing the most shockingly explicit magazines the world had ever seen, selling them right out of vending machines on street corners, tossing out its obscenity laws and inspiring the rest of Northern Europe to follow. How did Scandinavia leap from shy conservatism to wholesale debauchery in such a short span?
As Hefner was launching his global assault in 1960, the international domestic frenzy was winding down. Both the birth control pill and a safe method for performing abortion were in the news that year, though only The Pill was made available to the public. Everywhere concern was shifting from producing more children to saving those already born from reckless nuclear proliferation. We forget that in 1960 even France had the bomb. Coinciding with this, the first children from the post-war "baby boom" were reaching their teens. Over the next few years this largest and most coddled generation of teenagers would start acting, well, like teenagers. In 1961 the first "Ban The Bomb" demonstrations took place in Europe and America. In August that year the Berlin Wall went up, fracturing the onetime center of European sexual sophistication and men's magazine production. In September President John F. Kennedy had a letter published in Life magazine urging Americans to build bomb shelters. As nuclear terror gripped much of the country Timothy Leary dropped acid, sowing the seeds of the psychedelic revolution. Back in Germany war widow Beate Uhse did her part to make love, not war, by building the world's first adult bookstore in Flensburg. She initially struggled to stock her shelves, producing her own crude, poorly printed, but nonetheless sexually explicit magazines.
In 1961, while Castro kicked US butt at the Bay of Pigs, Albert Ferro, the handsome son of an Italian diplomat, decided it was his destiny to decriminalize pornography in Europe. Using his charm and wealth he convinced his many girlfriends to pose for explicit photos. Using his diplomatic immunity he carried suitcases of photos and 8mm films to bookshops from Copenhagen to Nice.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Sweden started publishing nudist magazines after the war. In the late 50s art nude and pin-up titles were added. Ten years later the country was producing the most shockingly explicit magazines the world had ever seen, selling them right out of vending machines on street corners, tossing out its obscenity laws and inspiring the rest of Northern Europe to follow. How did Scandinavia leap from shy conservatism to wholesale debauchery in such a short span?
As Hefner was launching his global assault in 1960, the international domestic frenzy was winding down. Both the birth control pill and a safe method for performing abortion were in the news that year, though only The Pill was made available to the public. Everywhere concern was shifting from producing more children to saving those already born from reckless nuclear proliferation. We forget that in 1960 even France had the bomb. Coinciding with this, the first children from the post-war "baby boom" were reaching their teens. Over the next few years this largest and most coddled generation of teenagers would start acting, well, like teenagers. In 1961 the first "Ban The Bomb" demonstrations took place in Europe and America. In August that year the Berlin Wall went up, fracturing the onetime center of European sexual sophistication and men's magazine production. In September President John F. Kennedy had a letter published in Life magazine urging Americans to build bomb shelters. As nuclear terror gripped much of the country Timothy Leary dropped acid, sowing the seeds of the psychedelic revolution. Back in Germany war widow Beate Uhse did her part to make love, not war, by building the world's first adult bookstore in Flensburg. She initially struggled to stock her shelves, producing her own crude, poorly printed, but nonetheless sexually explicit magazines.
In 1961, while Castro kicked US butt at the Bay of Pigs, Albert Ferro, the handsome son of an Italian diplomat, decided it was his destiny to decriminalize pornography in Europe. Using his charm and wealth he convinced his many girlfriends to pose for explicit photos. Using his diplomatic immunity he carried suitcases of photos and 8mm films to bookshops from Copenhagen to Nice.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
History of Men's Magazines Vol. 3
Hardcover, 21.3 x 27.7 cm (8.4 x 10.9 in.), 460 pages
Special Price: $ 29.99
Save $ 30.00!
Special Price: $ 29.99
Save $ 30.00!
Swinging Sixties at the newsstand
Champagne, USA 1961