Fetish Magazines: Underground Publishing, BDSM Culture and the History of Alternative Desire

Fetish magazines played an important role in documenting underground communities, BDSM culture, alternative fashion, and erotic visual history. Before digital platforms, these publications created spaces where identity, aesthetics, and unconventional forms of desire could be explored.

Long before digital platforms, fetish culture survived — and spread — through magazines. Printed pages carried coded images, secret languages, and entire communities across borders. These publications were not entertainment alone; they were lifelines, archives, and manifestos of erotic identity.

This is a worldwide timeline of fetish magazines — from the earliest underground pioneers to contemporary titles — tracing how desire became culture.

1950s–1960s | The First Fetish Magazines (Foundations)

Bizarre (USA, 1946–1959)

One of the earliest and most influential fetish magazines, published by John Willie.

Focused on:

• bondage

• corsetry

• stylized female dominance

• illustrated fetish fantasy

Bizarre established the visual grammar of modern fetish.

Exotique (USA, 1955–1959)

A photographic fetish magazine emphasizing:

• glamour

• submission aesthetics

• narrative fetish scenes

It softened taboo imagery, making fetish visually elegant.

AtomAge / Atomage (France, 1950s–60s)

One of the earliest European fetish publications, blending:

• atomic-age aesthetics

• surrealism

• bondage imagery

• fashion and fetish

AtomAge helped position fetish as artistic and conceptual, not merely pornographic — a lineage Atomique consciously honors.

1960s–1970s | Fetish Meets Counterculture

Penthouse (USA, founded 1965)

Though mainstream, Penthouse regularly published:

• fetish-inspired editorials

• bondage themes

• power-play imagery

It introduced fetish aesthetics to mass audiences.

OUI (USA / France, 1972)

A European-influenced erotic magazine that embraced:

• avant-garde photography

• fetish fashion

• sexual liberation aesthetics

1970s–1980s | Leather, BDSM, and Gay Fetish Press

Drummer (USA, 1975–1999)

The definitive gay leather magazine.Covered:

• BDSM

• leather culture

• clubs

• political organizing

• personal ads

Drummer was a cultural institution, not just a magazine.

Honcho (USA, 1977–2002)

Focused on:

• hypermasculinity

• leather men

• fetish identity

Shaped gay fetish iconography.

Skin Two (UK, founded 1983)

Perhaps the most influential BDSM and fetish magazine worldwide.

Covered:

• latex

• leather

• bondage

• fetish fashion

• club culture

Skin Two turned fetish into lifestyle and design.

Dungeon Master (USA, 1980s–90s)

A hardcore BDSM publication focused on:

• discipline

• sadomasochism

• instructional content

Served serious practitioners.

1990s | Fetish as Fashion, Art, and Identity

Dazed & Confused (UK)

Not a fetish magazine per se, but heavily fetish-influenced:

• latex

• dominance aesthetics

• queer subculture

Helped bring fetish into fashion.

Marquis (USA, 1994–2000)

Founded by Glen Hanson and Robert Mapplethorpe’s circle.Combined:

• fetish photography

• art

• high-production values

Marquis elevated fetish to gallery-level aesthetics.

Bound & Gagged (USA, 1990s–present)

Focused on:

• bondage erotica

• serialized fetish narratives

2000s | Fetish Goes Global

Darkside (Germany)

European fetish publication focusing on:

• industrial aesthetics

• BDSM

• alternative fashion

FetishMag (Netherlands)

Blended:

• fetish fashion

• club culture

• photography

AORTA (Germany)

Avant-garde queer and fetish magazine combining:

• radical sexuality

• politics

• art

• underground culture

2010s–Present | Contemporary & Hybrid Publications

BUTT Magazine (Netherlands)

Minimalist queer erotic magazine:

• intimate

• sex-positive

• anti-porn aesthetics

Richardson (USA)

High-art erotic magazine featuring:

• fetish imagery

• photography

• intellectual essays

SLUTEVER (UK)

Digital-first but print-rooted:

• feminist fetish

• sex education

• kink culture

Girls Like Us / STRIPLVGHT (Global)

Queer and fetish-adjacent publications exploring:

• identity

• body politics

• alternative sexuality

Before digital feeds, fetish traveled by envelope, by hand, by trust.

These magazines were more than paper — they were maps to desire.

To know fetish history is to know these publications. And to honor them is to understand that fetish culture was never niche — it was simply underground.

At Atomique, we continue that tradition: curated, intentional, unapologetic.

Written by Otávio Santiago

Founder of Atomique Fetish — exploring fetish design, power, and identity

Cultural designer & researcher