Ian Giles is a gay filmmaker from the U.K. His new documentary After BUTT examines the cultural legacy of BUTT magazine.
BUTT ran quarterly from 2001 through 2011 and helped an entire generation define just what it means to be gay. It was sort of a half lifestyle, half porn zine, known for it’s iconic pink pages, candid interviews, and, well, lots of amateur photos of dudes’ butts.
Related: “Dream Boat” documentary may have you rethinking your next gay cruise
The zine was created by Dutch publishers Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom, who ran the publication out of a small basement office in Amsterdam for ten years.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
In an interview with UAL, Giles explains that he first discovered BUTT when he was in college in the mid 2000s.
“Within BUTT’s pages were images of men in their messy east London flats, shot in daylight; it challenged the mainstream presentation of gay men,” he says. “These were real people, all be it very hip and hairy ones, they opened up what a gay man could look like, do and be.”
Related: This amazing rediscovered documentary shows the vogue scene before “Paris Is Burning”
For the documentary, he interviewed BUTT’s former publishers, editors, and writers then transcribed the interviews, which were then portrayed by a group of young, gay men.
“I wanted to transfer narratives between generations,” he explains. “Through interviewing men in their 40s and then working with men in their 20s I was able to understand how far we have come within a relatively short space of time.”
Reflecting on the origins of the magazine, Jop van Bennekom, played by a man in his early 20s, says:
I think we responded to what was, basically, a representational crisis of homosexuality. The representation of gay was so commodified, so made into a lifestyle, very clean, so commercial … Porn was still stuck in the AIDS crisis, there wasn’t anything spontaneous about gay porn. We started with how we can make a magazine that we think represents us: the gays we know, the sex we like.
Over time, Jonkers and van Bennekom eventually felt they found the answers to the questions they were asking when they first started producing the magazine, and so they stopped printing it. The website is still active.
After BUTT is currently being shown at the Chelsea Space art gallery in London. It runs through March 2.
Related: This ‘Kiki’ is marvelous! New vogue documentary is a must-see.
Kangol
Such a fascinating magazine. Two highlights were when they featured Kele Okereke, now a solo star but formerly of Bloc Party, and when they ran the interview with photos of Brontez Purnell, who was then creating unforgettable music with the Younger Lovers. BUTT was ahead of the curve in both instances.
Brian
I never knew it was an actual magazine, I always just assumed it was only a website. I used to check it out occasionally, but it’s been years now.
cancorv
I can see from my desk 10 of the little mags that used to come with the postie, always very welcome and engaging. Then someone gave me the big book that contained many issues in one, but I lent it and haven’t seen it for a few years. Their interviews were so off the wall – they were inspirational. John Cameron Mitchell, Wolfgang Tillmans, Owen Pallett, and then a bloke I shouldn’t name who stole my boyfriend from me, who actually turned up to be much nicer than my boyfriend. And then Butt published a very positive review of my little book. I missed the mags arriving, and haven’t developed the same relationship with the website. And now a film! How am I going to get to see that?
timm h
I don’t suppose we’ll be able to obtain it once it completes the run(s).
cancorv
timm – you mean get a copy of the film? I’m trying to get to London for it, so I’ll ask.
DCguy
The title of this magazine is very vague……what was it about?
underboy
best / hottest / smartest queer mag ever, no question! in a world full of OUT magazines – which loves to lift queers up with cover articles about straight people and ads for $8,000 sweaters – BUTT stands head and shoulders above the rest.