1976 redux

this might be why I'm a pervert

1976 was a milestone year.  It was the 200th birthday of the United States, it was the year I lost my virginity in a furtive foray behind a chicken coop, and it also marked the first time I managed to get my hands on a copy of Penthouse magazine.  From time to time a copy of Playboy might have been found in our home, but that magazine never garnered my interest the way it's kinkier competitor, Penthouse managed to attract me.

Playboy was hot, but Penthouse was a fucking revelation.

Not only were the picture spreads more to my taste, featuring fetish imagery that's still appealing to me today, but there were also letters.  I'll be very honest, Penthouse letters fueled my adolescent jack off sessions.

As an only child it wasn't too terribly difficult to find pretty regular alone time, so I had a luxury many other didn't enjoy, I was able to take my time.  My personal ritual was to warm up with the pictures, followed by some seriously rapt attention to the prose, which never failed to bring on an eventual climax.  Penthouse letters was where I learned that I wasn't alone in fantasizing about bondage and discipline.

It was a revelation to discover that the old magazines I used to enjoy as a youth are still appreciated and discussed today at a site called The Seduction of Venus, where I discovered a post devoted to the very first fetish photo spread I can remember encountering, My Funny Valentine by Stan Malinowski.

While the photos are a little on the tame side compared to what one finds online today, they were rather racy for their day, and they did have an influence on my sexuality and desires that still holds true today.  There's no escaping that fetish and BDSM fuel my desires, and that this pictorial (along with others that were similar) influenced the sexual evolution that brought me to today . . .