Fetish Magazine

(#1 $15 6700 Valijean Ave. Van Nuys CA 91406)
by Angela Dauthi

Here we go, kids… A new fetish ‘zine, full of glossy color pictures, an article or two, glossy black and white pictures, an artist’s profile, more pictures… all for $15.00! I’m not sure why these ‘zines are always priced so high. Maybe because their target audience is small but desperate enough to pay through the nose. Anyway, Fetish certainly gives you plenty of bang (and spank) for your buck, starting with the cover model, Chloe (everyone’s new favorite multi-orgasmic porn star/fetish girl. If she’s faking, she fooled me). Many of the pictures are video stills from medium to high budget B/D movies featuring adult stars like Stephanie Swift, Jenna Fine, and Persephone. The images are clean, clear, and although there’s an abundance of silicone, they’re kinky enough to warrant a high rating on anyone’s perv-o meter. Where Fetish shines, though, is in the photographer’s profiles. Justice Howard is an erotic genius, concentrating on corsets, shoes, and latex, all done with an expert’s eye for angle and light, and for snagging the Chili Peppers’ Dave Navarro for a shot. Charles Gatewood, on the other hand, is of the “modern primitive” school, and figures piercings, tattoos, and other such modification devices into his photographs, some of which are fascinatingly explicit. The articles aren’t as interesting, just blurbs really, and the fiction is awful. For those of you who like specifics, here’s just some of what to expect from Fetish: The 1997 Fetish Ball in L.A., platform shoes with penis heels, liquid latex being ripped off naked bodies, toilet training, whipping, Body Electric Tattoo, suspension, clothespins, spreader bars, suction pumps, confinement masks, Japanese rope bondage, hot wax, fire torture, boot worship, an S/M restaurant in NYC (where else?), riding crops, French maids, nipple piercing, genital piercing, bathtubs, nipple clamps, paddling, pony bits and bridles, inverted suspension, black lesbian bondage (a rarity for some reason), faux watersports, and ads that are almost as good as the pictorials. Okay, not bad for $15.00. If only the writing would get better…