From Archer Magazine
Asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction to others. It doesn’t mean not having sex at all – in fact, many asexual people do have sex, and some enjoy it. Being asexual – or ‘ace’, as some of us call it – refers to a lack of sexual attraction, not activity. I first knew there …
Since the realisation that I was attracted to men in my early adolescence, I’ve never had any doubt that the desire was entirely innate and immutable. I’ve never been attracted to women, and I couldn’t imagine feeling any other way. Not everybody attracted to the same sex feels this way, however. A minority of …
Bisexuality refers to someone who experiences attraction (of one or more of the following kinds: sexual, romantic, emotional or affectionate) over their lifetime to more than one gender. As with any identity, it’s important for individuals to choose their own label, if they wish to have one at all. And to respect all labels and …
LISTEN: In Conversation with Archer feat. Simona Castricum, Dion Kagan + Rochelle Siemienowicz
“If you’re very serious when you’re talking about taboos, you’re very unlikely to put other people at ease.” – Dion Kagan, Archer Magazine #5 launch To celebrate the launch of Archer Magazine’s fifth issue, we heard readings from three writers that appear in the new edition, and interrogated their work with a short Q&A. Their articles revolve around …
Following the release of her memoir, Reckoning, actor and comedian Magda Szubanski chats to us about sexuality, creativity and family. This article was originally published in Archer Magazine #5, buy your copy here. A: When was the first time you saw a gay or lesbian character that you identified with in a positive way? MS: …
I remember the first time I really noticed that sexuality was important to older people. I was working as a nurse unit manager in a residential aged care unit when a nurse reported that John, one of the male residents, was masturbating while she assisted him to shower. She felt she “shouldn’t have to put …
Porn and pleasure: Navigating the feminist conflict between morality and desire in watching porn
Guilty pleasure doesn’t entirely sum up my relationship to porn. Ambivalence, the deep type that derives love and hate from the same source, maybe better describes it.
Our Puritan forebears got a lot of things wrong. But they got one thing right: dancing really does lead to sex. For several decades of my life, I looked to sadomasochism as my source of embodied ecstatic practice. Once or twice a week, I’d go to a public dungeon where I would spank or get …
The author of Sex in your seventies spoke to dozens of septuagenarians to find that sexuality is still varied and complex later in life. When two people, as a couple, do not have intimacy, it makes their relationship less warm. There can be too much sexual contact, or too little – you must draw a …
For children with different bodies, honesty and disclosure can help to avoid a lifetime of shame. In 2010, I completed an autobiographical documentary called Orchids: My Intersex Adventure. Orchids is a highly personal account of being intersex – or rather, of having an intersex variation called Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS). This experience defined my childhood, …
For me, the world of BDSM is generally a gentle and peaceful place. In this subculture, I find my boundaries respected in unique ways, and the majority of folk are able to engage in more than idle chit-chat.
While fashion as a form of self-expression can be both a political and a personal tool, it says as much about our social codes and perceived norms as it does about our diverse sexual preferences.
Over the past couple of years, more than any other time in my adult life, I’ve made some important discoveries about my sexuality. This period has been marked by an increased interest in new and different forms of sex. It has been marked by my entry into what I call the ‘fetish life’. I am …
I passed by a familiar face at the top of the stairs. He smiled knowingly at me. I remembered him from a one-time fuck some months ago – a face that had popped up on apps a few times, but had never materialised in the flesh again, until now. We spoke openly, the silence …
From 2015, Archer Magazine is being stocked in cities across the USA, including New York, Austin, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle. The world’s most inclusive publication about sexuality and gender, Archer Magazine shines a spotlight on individuals and communities ignored by mainstream media, representing diverse attitudes to sex and gender. Preview the mag here. It’s time to …
By our own hands: society’s fraught and shameful relationship with masturbation
I had my hair permed for the first and last time when I was 10 years old. An hour or two after we returned home from the hairdressers, my mother caught me masturbating in the lounge room. In 1986, it was acceptable for 10-year-olds to get perms, but not to masturbate in the lounge …
“I can honestly say that my love-life in my seventies was the best I have enjoyed in my long life.” Why does society assume older people are without sexual or gender identity, desire or the need for self-discovery? Archer’s groundbreaking fourth issue challenges that assumption. Featuring: * Sex over 70 by Doreen Wendt-Weir * Gender transition by Sally Conning …
Transgender stories may be complex to tell, but they are crucial in filling the space around ‘male’ and ‘female’. Here’s a concept that needs a word. I am walking my dog on the beach. It’s cold and windy. Winter is here and the beach is sparsely populated, the way Melbourne beaches are during winter. A …
A guy I went to school with recently said to me, “You know who has the most accurate gaydar? A 15-year-old straight boy at an Australian high school.” It’s a pretty dark joke. Back in the 1990s, I was in the year above this same guy at school. Every time he got up on stage …
As my girlfriend sat down on my lap and we lost ourselves in the moment for art, I embraced the ‘personal is political’ mantra and pashed with all my activist passion, to dispel the myth that people with disabilities don’t have sexual desire: I had it.
I have never heard an orgasm. This isn’t exactly one of the highest items on my bucket list. Still, it does creep into my thoughts – usually when I’m in the middle of the act – and I wonder if sound really does enhance the experience. I wonder a lot of things. I’m 30 and …
It’s disappointing, not being able to have multiple orgasms anymore. Not that I’d swap them for the deep sense of happiness I now feel inhabiting a male body, but losing that ability was not something I’d anticipated as a result of transitioning my physical body from female to male. Ditto waking up one day and …