BigShinyThing

Launched five years ago by Gert Jonkers and Jop Van Bennekom, BUTT magazine sought to present a less shiny, muscle-bound aspect of gay male sexuality and has so far featured turns by fashion designer Bernhard Willhelm and Michael Stipe. Gus Van Sant, Marc Jacob and Casey Spooner are among the other luminaries who have been interviewed by the little pink low-fi mag. But it’s not just about famous people and mates of the contributors. BUTT has also featured a gay dustbin man, a gay farmer and a gay toilet cleaner just for good measure. And all with lovely (and occasionally pretty hardcore) pics by regular contributor (and Turner prize winner) Wolfgang Tillmans.

Jop, interviewed in this month’s i-D, says of the magazine’s inception:

The whole gay world was so closeted in a way. It felt boring to be homosexual. The subversive side was not being represented in the media, instead it was all about gay pride, all about being a consumer — you just felt like you were just a target for a new deodorant. There was hardly any representation of alternative gay culture at the time. We wanted to do interviews with people that were more real, with no shame. Get people to tell the truth — talk about their fears, or even just talk about something mundane. Hopefully BUTT can suggest that it is cool to be gay again.

Putting the Sex Back into Homosexuality: the Best of BUTT Magazine so far is published by Taschen.

BST cautionary note: BUTT’s content is not for the faint of heart and definitely NSFW — unless you work in Prowler.