Imagine a world before internet porn; terrifying isn’t it? Well back in the 1950’s, when it was still illegal to be gay, cheap paperback erotica was the only game in town. Gay pulp was sold alongside other pulp fiction paperbacks that dealt with equally taboo subjects such prostitution, interracial romances, lesbianism and rape. The lurid titles and titillating illustrations were designed to catch the attention of closet cases and flamers alike.
The first pulp paperback to deal
openly with homosexuality was 1952’s Men into Beast by George Viereck. This nonfiction account of Viereck’s
imprisonment deals the indignities that men suffer while in prison and of
course details man to man prison sex and male rape. Just imagine how erotic
this books cover must have seemed to a gay man in the early 1950’s!
By 1964 literary novels with erotic
content such as Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Portnoy’s Complaint had battled it
out with the U.S censorship laws and won. The number of American gay erotic
paperbacks soared from 30 in 1965 to over a 100 in 1966! The new paperbacks
were explicitly pornographic sold like crazy so small publishing companies sprang up to deal with
the demand.
By the late 1970’s and into the 80’s,
the gay pulp market was gradually disappeared, giving way to gay porn magazines and
eventually gay porn videos.
Check this great online archive Gay Pulp Erotic: http://www.gayontherange.com
Gay pulp fiction is highly
collectable these days, some titles sell for more than $40 or $50 on
Ebay. Thrift stores such as Out of the Closet are a great place to find these
old gems for a fraction of that price.
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Thank you, Jeffrey. They're wonderful. I can't help wondering about the writing. Are any of them readable?
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