Edition : First / Amsterdam / Butt / Sprint 2001 - Autumn 2011 / Hardcover. / VG+ / VG+ / 8vo, plus one folio, 48-144pp each. Numerous Colour and Black & White plates. Text in English and occasionally Dutch.
A complete run of Jonkers' and Bennekom's Butt, spanning a decade of publishing. From issue 1's reputed print run of 500 to a circulation of 24,000 at it's peak Butt changed the publishing landscape, and proved a magazine for and by queers could be a success. Bruce LaBruce "Butt has single-handedly pioneered the notion of a smart, literate gay magazine yet also manages to be very dirty." For sure from the more cultural end of queerdom, Butt is full of faces and work by them- Tillmans, Walter Pfeiffer, John Waters, AA Bronson, Ryan Mcginley and more, many before they were known to the wider public- along with regular guys that have something interesting to say. Butt's place in history will be a controversial one- many activists would argue that the magazine glosses over the reality of daily life for gay men, and instead portrays homosexuality as a glamorous lifestyle populated by the talented and good looking, it's fans and many others would argue that Butt has helped bring homosexuality in to the mainstream without compromise, whilst being interesting and entertaining at the same time, and can be seen to be continuing a line of publishing that takes in After Dark, Straight to Hell, Interview and countless zines. Either way, it's an invaluable record of a decade, and some of the people who populated it, during a time in which the portrayal of homosexuality in the media has unrecognisably changed. A rounded in depth document through interviews, anecdotes and visuals of fun, culture and fagdom in the early 21st century.
