Sexy Books and Magazine News

The Co-operative store chain has given lads' mags six weeks to cover-up their front pages with sealed modesty bags or be taken off sale in its stores.

The 4,000-outlet retailer said it was responding to 'concerns' by some members, customers and colleagues about images of scantily clad women on covers. Titles such as Front, Loaded, Nuts and Zoo have been given a deadline of 9 September to act by the Co-op.

Steve Murrells, retail chief executive for the Co-operative Group, said:

As a community-based retailer, we have listened to the concerns of our customers and members, many of whom say they object to their children being able to see overt sexual images in our stores. 'Welcome move'

Whilst we have tried to mitigate the likelihood of young children seeing the images with a number of measures in store, the most effective way of doing this is for these magazines to be put in individual, sealed modesty bags. As an interim measure, we have introduced our own opaque screens on shelf to reinforce our existing policy limiting the display of such material.

Women and Equalities Minister Jo Swinson said the Co-op's move was very welcome :

Many parents aren't comfortable with the way that sexualised imagery has become like wallpaper - everywhere from the bus stop to the corner shop. Adults should be left to make their own decisions about what legal sexual images they look at, but the place for these is not next to the sweets at children's eye-level. I hope other retailers will follow the Co-operative's lead.

But of course the gender extremists of the Lose the Lads' Mags campaign said the Co-op was not going far enough and are calling for a complete ban:

The Co-operative are attempting to sell their customers short. The so-called 'modesty bags' they are demanding from publishers are designed to allow the Co-operative to continue profiting from sexist, harmful lads' mags - but just a bit more discreetly.

Update: Uncooperative

8th August 2013. See  article from  bbc.co.uk

The publisher of Nuts men's magazine is refusing to place modesty bags over its magazines, and says it is willing to risk a drop in readership.

The miserable management of the Co-op supermarket had demanded the magazine be delivered in plastic bags that would conceal provocative images of women on the front cover. The chain threatened that it would stop stocking the magazine from 9 September if that did not happen.

Nuts called it an astonishing ultimatum . Editor Dominic Smith told Newsbeat he had been shocked when he heard about it in the media. He said if Co-op now removed Nuts from its shelves, it would encourage its readers to shop elsewhere.

I think Co-op will be surprised that we're not putting it in the bag. I think they were probably hoping for a nice easy PR win. If we do sell a few less issues, then so be it.

Update: Boycott the Co-op

9th August 2013. See article from independent.co.uk

The Co-op has re-iterated that it will ban Nuts and Zoo for not taking up the option of modesty bags:

Our position has not changed. If Nuts and Zoo, or any of the other publications, Loaded and Front, do not put their titles into modesty bags by the date we've given of September 9, we will no longer sell the magazines.

Kate Jones, the Co-operative's head of product development, admitted that the store would lose money over the move. Speaking on ITV's Daybreak, she said:

We will be losing money but we are responding to our customers' concerns.

These are the publications that our customers are telling us they're concerned about. We do everything we can to ensure they are out of sight of children shopping in our shops.

But sometimes during the trading day displays get disrupted. We think a modesty cover would be a fail-safe solution.

Zoo, Nuts and Front have agreed to self censor their front covers as demanded by Tesco. The supermarket has been lobbied by anti-sex miserablists. The new censorship code will apply only to the magazines' covers.

Highly explicit front covers of lads' mags may be a thing of the past, Tesco said. Zoo, Nuts and Front have agreed to make their covers more modest , the retailer said, meaning no more nudity, with less salacious coverlines and a more conservative feel.

Latest Issue of Nuts

In addition to demanding toned-down covers, the store said Nuts, Zoo, Front and Bizarre would now be sold only to customers over 18, to reassure parents who do not want their children to be able to purchase these titles , and the magazines will be displayed at the back of sales racks, where their covers will be obscured by other magazines.

Of course the censorship campaigners dismissed the move as a half-measure that doesn't address the harm of these publications .

Kat Banyard, founder of UK Feminista, one of two groups behind the Lose the Lad Mags campaign , said that lobbying to have the titles removed from shelves altogether would continue, because they are deeply harmful. They fuel sexist behaviours which underpin violence against women.

Nuts, which is published by IPC Media, said it had introduced new covers ... which have a more conservative tone several weeks ago, adding: We are delighted with our readers' response and this week's issue is our biggest selling since February. While previous issues have shown women fully topless with their nipples covered by headlines or their hands or hair, and promising the boobiest shoot ever or big-boobed brunettes , recent editions of Nuts feature models in less highly sexualised poses, wearing slightly more modest lingerie.

Nuts magazine writes:

I am tweeting this message because I strongly disagree with UK Feminista's campaign to ban Nuts - and other popular men's magazines - from being on sale in supermarkets.

These magazines are entirely legal and bring entertainment and enjoyment to many thousands of men - and women - across the UK, and I see no reason why they should be banned to appease the views of a minority protest group.

This proposed move is a blatant act of censorship with UK Feminista seeking to ban something just because it doesn't happen to like it.

Magazines like Nuts feature a broad range of content, are stocked out of the reach of children, and are enjoyed by a large number of supermarket customers whose voices also deserve to be heard.

Therefore I am politely asking the members of UK Feminists to...

Keep your hands off our nuts!

The magazine has also started the #KeepTheLadsMags hashtag.

Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department have arrested Akira O-ta, the head of the editorial department at the publisher Core Magazine, and two others for distributing supposedly obscene images. The arrestees are accused of carrying and selling magazines with manga and photos of sex scenes and other content with insufficient censoring.

O-ta and one other suspect have denied the charges, saying, We didn't think they were obscene. The third arrestee reportedly admitted to the charges.

The three suspects are accused of selling about 24,500 copies of the manga magazine Comic Mega Store with sex scenes between males and females. They are also accused of selling about 36,000 copies of Nyan 2 Club , a magazine for reader-submitted adult photographs. Both magazines were marked with the 18+ label.

Both magazines makes minimal use of mosaic censoring over certain areas, but the police said it verbally warned the magazines' staff that there is a possibility that these magazines could still be labeled as obscene.

Update: The Ministry of Unpixellated Porn

26th July 2013. Thanks to Alan

This idiocy leaves me gobsmacked. Japanese uncensored porn is all over the internet. Back in the days of dial-up, when porn consisted largely of still images, fans of Japanese dirty pics could download something called Mozkiller , which removed the mosaic censorship.

This also seems to be a very modern obsession. I remember going to an exhibition of ukiyo-e paintings by the respected artist Utamaro (1753-1806) at the British Museum, including many detailed pornographic pictures. In fact, one old boy was looking at some of the smaller pics through a magnifying glass to get a better view of the action.. (Yes, he was wearing a mac!) I believe the exhibition was supported by major Japanese galleries and the relevant ministry.

The UK's adult trade magazine, Erotic Trade Only (ETO) runs an annual awards show. These are the major awards for Britain's online and offline sex shop trade. Here's a selection of the winners for 2013's awards that may be of interest to customers.

Best Erotic Author:  EL James

• Rachel Kramer Bussel
• Sylvia Day
• KD Grace
• EL James
• Kay Jaybee

Best Erotic Journalist: Cara Sutra

• Emily Dubberley [cliterati.co.uk]
• Cara Sutra [carasutra.co.uk]
• Molly Moore [Mollysdailykiss.com]
• Nymphomaniac Ness [nymphomaniacness.com]
• Suzanne Parker [sextoysbuzz.com]

Services to the Industry: EL James

• Jacqueline Gold [Ann Summers]
• Stuart Inglis (AITA)
• Katherine Hoyle [Sh!]
• EL James [Author of Fifty Shades trilogy]
• Hilary Pilford [Scala UK]

The Guardian asks:

Are you offended by pornographic images on magazine and newspaper shelves in supermarkets and service stations? Have you spotted sexualised imagery you consider offensive on T-shirts or other goods on the high street? Does it make you angry that you and perhaps your kids too are inadvertently exposed to this kind of material by retailers as they go out and about?

The Guardian would like you to help document the story by looking for specific examples that you come across. If you care about the issue and would like to get involved, help us report the story by sharing photos of any problematic imagery you've seen in public.

Comment: Whipping up outrage over sexual imagery on the high street…

Dan comments from  mediasnoops2.wordpress.com

The UK's adult trade magazine, Erotic Trade Only (ETO) runs an annual awards show. These are the major awards for Britain's online and offline sex shop trade.

Here's a selection of the nominations for 2013's awards.

Best Erotic Author

• Rachel Kramer Bussel
• Sylvia Day
• KD Grace
• EL James
• Kay Jaybee

Best Erotic Journalist

• Emily Dubberley [cliterati.co.uk]
• Cara Sutra [carasutra.co.uk]
• Molly Moore [Mollysdailykiss.com]
• Nymphomaniac Ness [nymphomaniacness.com]
• Suzanne Parker [sextoysbuzz.com]

Services to the Industry

• Jacqueline Gold [Ann Summers]
• Stuart Inglis (AITA)
• Katherine Hoyle [Sh!]
• EL James [Author of Fifty Shades trilogy]
• Hilary Pilford [Scala UK]

A US catholic nutter organisation is claiming 'outrage' over the cover of the latest edition of the UK's Loaded magazine.

The 'offending' cover has glamour model Lucy Pinder cantily covered in priestly regalia with the headline For God's Sake .

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, whinged to TMZ:

Lucy Pinder shouldn't have any problem turning men's heads, so it is all the more gratuitous to see her wearing a priest's stole, stitched with crosses, nicely covering her plus-sized chest.

If Lucy has any guts, perhaps next time she'll carefully drape herself in some Islamic garb during Ramadan. And then run for the hills.

Lucy Pinder retorted:

The shoot is meant to be fun and very tongue-in-cheek, so chill, Catholics.

The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has published new advice for retailers on the considerations they should make when presenting men's lifestyle magazines with cover imagery regarded as inappropriate for children.

James Lowman, CEO of the ACS said:

Retailers recognise this and there is a longstanding voluntary commitment in place to display 'lads' magazines in a way that reduces their visibility to children.

The new guidance recommends locating lads' mags away from areas considered to be in a child's eye line; avoiding placement next to children's magazines; and ensuring that all point-of-sale materials associated with the titles are treated in the same way as the magazine itself. Smaller-sized stores are also advised to partly obscure the titles with other magazines to ensure potentially offensive images cannot be seen, or to use modesty boards to hide covers.

Children and families minister Edward Timpson said:

I am pleased to offer my support to this practical easy-to-follow guide for retailers on how to display 'lads' mags' so that they are out of the sight of children. I hope that it will help retailers respond to the concerns of their customers and demonstrate that they can play their part in building the family-friendly society we all want to see.

The religious group, United Sikhs, has been 'offended' by an article titled Turban Legend in Australian lads' mag, The Picture .

The article uses an image of a Nihang Sikh, a centuries-old warrior with hands clasped in prayer, as a back drop for a display of nude models. United Sikhs commented:

The entire magazine displays raunchy nudity and is replete with foul, irreverent and inappropriate language and the tone ridicules the dumalla (turban) and Nihang Sikhs.

United Sikhs is of the view that the publishers have breached both Federal and State criminal, civil and human rights laws. We are lodging a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission.

United Sikhs is activating its Legal Team to issue formal legal notices to the publishers, printers and distributors and to launch the necessary legal action under Federal, States/Territories laws including the Australian Human Rights Commission;

United Sikhs supports and advocates for the democratic right of all Australians to free speech... [BUT] ...Such a right comes tempered with responsibilities to fellow ethnic and culturally diverse Australians.

United Sikhs calls on all Australian MPs to stand up and publicly condemn irresponsible and morally offensive publications such as this article and to call on the publishers to exercise common decency, restraint and responsibility towards fellow ethnic and culturally diverse Australians.

United Sikhs calls on all Australian Governments to review, revise and refine legislation and processes in response to, and to curtail the conduct displayed in, publications such as this.