Magazine Review - Filament #1

Thanks to this article on Erotica Cover Watch, I subscribed to the first issue of Filament, a new British magazine subtitled "the thinking woman's crumpet". It aims at readers who are NOT interested solely in fashion, makeup and sleb gossip, but want intelligent articles on a range of subjects, along with pictures of attractive men. It's published every 3 months and costs £7 an issue. Ambitious, idealistic and determined to cater for women who aren't normally paid any attention by the media, it struck me as exactly the sort of thing I wanted to see and ought to be supporting.

Now I've got my hands on the first issue and I feel sort of bad reviewing it - because it is so obviously a work in progress. Don't just take my word for it: here's part of the editorial from p74:
"It's challenging trying to get the kind of material you know your audience wants, especially when you're inventing a new style of photography and media for women. Nothing went exactly according to plan, and while we're proud of what we've achieved, it's not necessarily a representation of where we're going." This is followed by a list of changes/new features to be brought in in future, including "Naughtier photography".

Ah, yes. Sadly, the one aspect of the magazine that is supposed to be its big draw - the eyecandy - is its biggest let-down. There are four photo-sets. Two are well-shot portfolios of pretty young men (examples in this post). Two are out-of-focus portfolios of blokes I wouldn't even notice if I passed them on the street. There's no cock. There's no nudity. All the models retain their trousers and one doesn't even get his shirt off. If these are the "erotic pictures for the female gaze" we've been promised, I can't help feeling cheated.

On the flip side, the range of written material was a great deal better than I was expecting. Best by a long shot was an article on the witchcraft trials which went back to the source material to deconstruct the myth that it was all about helpless women being victimised by mysogynistic men, to present a rather more complex picture. Yes, the huge majority of those murdered were women - but so were their accusers. The article brings out how much of the witchcraft persecutions (at least in Britain) was rooted in social competition between women in a system that allowed them no other route to status. Absolutely fascinating, and wouldn't look out of place in History Today.

Other interesting topics covered include an dissection of the soft-core-porn-is-harmless/hard-core-porn-is-harmful polarisation that society lazily assumes (I love me a bit of ethical philosophy!), an article on the social bumps of bringing up a child if you are an atheist, and a swathe of stuff on playing musical instruments. There are a bunch of more typical articles too: advice columns, a look at pubic hair fashion and what women are really doing with their muffs (as opposed to what is seen in the fashion mags and in porn), interviews with women in techie/geek jobs, book reviews (SF! This magazine really is aimed at geeks!), poetry and two pieces of erotic fiction (one of them m/m though extremely softcore). It's an eclectic, surprising mix. I liked it, though I did think there was a lot of blank page-space with some articles being ridiculously brief, and the interview with Muslim comedian Shazia Mirza was a wasted opportunity, consisting as it did of only of 7 questions.

So, I am going to buy the next issue of Filament because I think it has great potential. But dear grief guys - get your photography sorted out, please.

You can subscribe to Filament at their website - it is not sold in the shops. You will need either a Paypal account or plastic (and they really want you to take the Paypal route). Subscription is for one magazine, without obligation.

UPDATE: You can now find the response to this review from Filament's Editor in the comments attached to this post.