Could it be — a truly gay magazine in China?

China’s media are certainly making awesome strides when it comes to cultural/societal/sexual issues. You have simply got to see this. Amazing.

Related Post: Gays in China

The Discussion: 12 Comments

Yar, a 404, erm, you stuffed up the link.. 🙂

Oh and the guy in the purple pants has an 8 pack.. well now I’ve seen everything.

January 8, 2004 @ 9:22 pm | Comment

that looks interesting.. but how can you say for sure the man art photos are to target males?! maybe there are more inside but if i’ve only seen the cover and the one he pulled out.. i can not conclude it’s a gay magazine…

January 9, 2004 @ 3:22 am | Comment

Yes, I agree… we’ll need to see more — a lot more — if we want to know for sure. (Though I suppose being able to read Chinese would help too.)

BTW, Danwei’s “employment” page mentions a job listing for a male stripper in Beijing — someone should let Mr. 8-pack know!

January 9, 2004 @ 7:30 am | Comment

dodo, I can’t say for sure but danewei, whose Chinese is better than mine, seems pretty certain this is a gay-oriented journal. By the pictures alone I’d have to agree — thery have all the typical characteristics.

January 9, 2004 @ 8:07 am | Comment

he should post some contents then.. not just photos.

January 9, 2004 @ 8:47 am | Comment

hailey found something, it doesn’t seem like it’s a gay magazine
http://pure-essence.net/index.php?p=762&c=1#c6007
one of my friends said it seems more like Maxim to her.

January 10, 2004 @ 2:34 am | Comment

Thanks Dodo, I will let danwei know. It sure looks gay, but I just saw a few pages,

January 10, 2004 @ 8:02 am | Comment

I saw the comments on Hailey’s site, then went back to the photos. I personally think it’s a thinly veiled gay-oriented magazine, just based on what I’ve seen. Of course they won’t put men cuddling on the cover; China’s not quite ready for that. But the photos were definitely intended to resonate with a certain audience, and Maxim would rarely feature such homoerotic images. But time will tell — if future issues continue with the male-themed photos, that will speak for itself. As many gays in China will tell you, they are still at a point where a large degree of subtlety is called for, and often things that are intended for gays have to be “coded” — wrapped around a “straight-looking” package, with enough hints for gays to pick up on it (thus the term “gaydar”). As I said, I’ll hold off any final opinion until more issues are out.

January 10, 2004 @ 9:23 am | Comment

I just saw danwei’s follow-up on this (http://www.danwei.org/2004/01/is_menbox_truly.html) and am now 100 percent convinced — this is a gay magazine, pure and simple. It isn’t even coded, it’sblatant! Wonderful.

January 10, 2004 @ 5:42 pm | Comment

Oh, there’s no doubt it’s gay. My younger brother, a Friend of Dorothy who used to live here in Beijing and was active in the community, knows some of the folks affiliated with the mag and they make no real effort to hide it. And Zhang Yi, my wedding coordinator — do they come in other sexual preferencese? — was featured in a spread in one of the magazine’s early issues; in one shot, if you look carefully enough, you can make out a wee bit of his parts betwixt his legs in a shot from behind.

January 11, 2004 @ 12:11 pm | Comment

On a related note, last year when I was in Vietnam, I was flicking through the Vietnamese Communist Party’s official Vietnamese edition of GQ or some men’s title like that.
Imagine the surprise I got when half the model photos used were lifted straight from US gay porn publications (without the naughty bits, of course) – models any western gay guy would instantly recognize. I checked with my Vietnamese friend, who was just as surprised, and he insisted that this was an official CP of V publication. Which just begs the question – How on earth…?

January 11, 2004 @ 7:11 pm | Comment

I just got back from Beijing, and bought the newish red issue of Menbox where the guy is smiling with those low low pants. It came with a black and white supplement of naked guys, and I met one of the models at Destination, a gay bar near San Li Tun. Menbox is definitely definitely a gay magazine, no matter how many Health and Travel articles they stuff into the back.

On a side note, has anyone ever read Friends? That magazine has even less ambiguity. One of them had gay personals in the little shopping magazine too.

April 18, 2005 @ 11:09 am | Comment

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