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You are here: Polari Magazine / Bulletin Board / It’s about the subculture, not a lifestyle

It’s about the subculture, not a lifestyle

12 May 2012 / Comments Off / in Bulletin Board/by Editor

The mainstream gay press in Britain tends to treat its readership as if they’re in a state of teenage arrested development. I wanted Polari to treat its subjects equally and its readership intelligently.

In an interview with Phoebe-Jane Boyd of DWPub, I talked about the thinking behind Polari Magazine, and how the aim was to explore the gay subculture and not just create another lifestyle magazine. If you want to know more about why Polari does what it does, read on!

And if you like what you read and want to write for Polari, click here.

1: About Polari.

Who reads it and how many of them are there?

The readership is remarkably diverse considering it’s an LGBT magazine. The focus is on arts, culture and community, which I think has a more universal appeal than the usual pop music and pecs. What I know about the readers is really what I learn from comments on social networks and direct emails. We bill the content as LGBT, and the readers are interested in ideas, in politics, and what it means to be part of a subculture. That said, I also have friends’ mothers who read it. The numbers per month are currently around 80,000 but that’s on the rise.

What was the initial inspiration for starting Polari?

I originally started with the idea of creating a magazine website that was about exploring the gay subculture and wasn’t just another lifestyle magazine. And that’s what I took to my business partner, Bryon, and we built it together with that in mind. The internet is full of lifestyle and news sites that are all doing pretty much the same thing. We actually started out with a “no nipple” policy to distance ourselves from the mainstream gay press, but it seemed a little too censorious. It seemed like the days when magazines were interested in ideas and politics were over. I also thought it was a good idea to write about pop culture seriously.

You recently redesigned the website, what have you improved?

The core improvement is the navigation. It’s more visual, and more intuitive. Each section of the magazine has an individual landing page, and it’s much easier to navigate through the subsections and see what articles are there. It’s given us a lot more scope. It also looks superb on the iPad and the iPhone.

Click here to read the rest of the interview.

 

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Tags: gay subculture, lgbt website, mainstream gay press, polari magazine

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About Polari Magazine

Polari Magazine is an LGBT arts and culture magazine that explores the subculture by looking at what is important to the people who are in it. It’s about the lives we lead, not the lifestyles we’re supposed to lead.

Its content is informed & insightful, and features a diverse range of writers from every section of the community. Its intent is to help LGBT readers learn about their own heritage and to sustain a link between the present and the past.

Polari is designed to nurture the idea of community, whether that be social and political, or artistic and creative. It is your magazine, whether you want to read it, or whether you want to get involved in it, if you're gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, or queer.

Polari Magazine is all these: it's a gay online magazine; it's a gay and lesbian online magazine; it's an LGBT arts and culture magazine. Ultimately, it is a queer magazine.

Latest Posts

  • Polari Magazine 2008-2014December 3, 2014 - 6:16 pm
  • Tearing Up Their Map: An Interview with LambDecember 2, 2014 - 2:45 pm
  • Future Islands • GigDecember 2, 2014 - 1:41 pm
  • Puppets with Attitude (at Christmas)December 1, 2014 - 6:30 pm
  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
  • Jaime Nanci And The Blueboys: ‘Toy’ TalkNovember 25, 2014 - 4:09 pm

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