naked as a jaybird

March 11, 2003 12:56 PM

Naked as a Jaybird is a new book from Taschen chronicling the 8-year lifespan of Jaybird magazine, which rode the hippy wave into a new "groovy nudism." Published under various titles, from Campus Jaybird to Amateur Jaybird and even Women's Home Jaybird, the magazine found a gray area between naturism and porn, all the while embodying the same distinctively playful design aesthetic that typified the counterculture (think album cover art and Laugh-In). Here's an interview with Dian Hanson, editor of the Taschen retrospective and an interesting person in her own right.
(Obviously, many of these links are not safe for work.)
posted by me3dia (4 comments total)

Can't look at most of this right now, but here's another reason to love Taschen.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 1:17 PM on March 11, 2003

Great FPP. Thanks! I love the Hanson interview especially; definitely makes me want the book even more.
posted by Sidhedevil at 1:18 PM on March 11, 2003

I am looking forward to reading Dian Hanson's book when it comes out. Loved the interview - it sounds like she will really get into the psychology behind the various fetishisms. Loved this little tidbit:

MICHELLE: So if I were to ask you what men in Japan masturbate to ...
DIAN: Bondage! And schoolgirls.
MICHELLE: You're not finding anything that breaks that stereotype?
DIAN: Well, there's some glamour material. But in Japan, pornographic magazines that are sold on the newsstands can't show pubic hair or genitals, so panties have been fetishized enormously. The Japanese are the masters of panty eroticism. And don't forget the gorgeous precision of their ropes and knots.
posted by widdershins at 1:38 PM on March 11, 2003

Dian Hanson is brilliant. for more on her take on fetishes, here's a longer interview from New York Metro.

(this guy implies that Metro ripped off his interview, but i'm not seeing it ... still a decent interview)
posted by mrgrimm at 2:25 PM on March 11, 2003