Polari is an online magazine that focuses on culture, politics and the arts through articles, columns, features, news and reviews.
Why, then, is it called Polari? Polari is a slang vocabulary that was used by gay men in Britain. It reached its apex in the repressive 1950s.
Polari enabled a stigmatized group to communicate in a way that afforded both protection and security. Polari takes its name from this vocabulary because its objective is to sustain a link between the present and a common, and oftentimes hidden, heritage.
The experience of gay sexuality in the West is multi-faceted, and complex – it is about navigating a culture from the margins; it is about what is revealed to others, and what is, at the same time, hidden; and thus it has always had its own language in order to navigate both the mainstream and an alternative to that mainstream. In so doing it developed its own subculture.
Polari is an attempt to explore and understand this subculture. It does not circumnavigate the difficult subjects, and so as well as giving the readers that they want, it also gives them what they need.
Polari consequently does not tell its reader how to think nor indeed what to think.
The modern magazine is aspirational but that often translates into the aspiration for a lifestyle. Polari is designed to be aspirational for the soul.
The primary aim of www.polarimagazine.com is to produce a collaboration between its readers and a core team of writers and artists.
To submit material, or to make suggestions, contact the editor through the contact page, or click the link below to email submissions.