ARTICLES AND ESSAYS: GAY PRESS

by Jack Fritscher

Jack Fritscher’s articles and essays in the gay press span nearly five decades of cultural commentary, journalism, and literary criticism, appearing in thirteen of the most influential gay magazines in American publishing history. From his groundbreaking early work in Drummer beginning in 1977 through his contributions to Alphatribe, Homosurrealism, and Physique Pictorial into the 2020s, Fritscher documented gay culture, leather history, and LGBTQ icons with the authority of both an insider and a scholar. This archive preserves that complete body of journalism as an irreplaceable record of gay press history from 1977 to 2024.

Checkmate No 33 cover
BARTab 2011-07 cover
Alphatribe magazine
Bear magazine
Drummer cover No 024
Homosurrealism cover
DRUMMERCHECKMATE
BAY AREA REPORTER (BAR)BARTab
PHYSIQUE PICTORIALHOMOSURREAILISM
BEARINCHES
ALPHATRIBEMANHOOD RITUALS (MR)
INTERNATIONAL LEATHERMANSUPER MR
SKIN

DRUMMER Magazine

FEATURE ARTICLEISSUEDATE
The Academy: Incarceration for Pleasure1451990-12
Basic Plumbing Unplugged0271979-02
The Battered Lex Barker0261979-01
Bears! How to Hunt Buckskin-Leather Mountain Men1191988-07
The Best Little Brothel in San Fancisco0301979-07
Bodybuilding: How to Judge it Inside and Out1241988-12
Bondage: Blest Be the Tie That Binds0241978-09
Castro Street Blues: 19780241978-09
The Catacombs: Fist Fucking in a Handball Palace0231978-07
Cigar Blues0221978-05
Cock Casting0151977-05
Grand National Rodeo Blues: Cowboys and Mounties0261979-01
The First International Mr. Leather (IML) May 20, 19790311979-09
Gay Jock Sports0201978-01
High Performance (Or: Sex Without a Net)0261978-01
Leather Christmas 19770191977-12
The Leatherneck0181978-08
The Mineshaft0191977-12
Noodles Romanoff and The Golden Gloves0291979-05
Pentimento for Robert Mapplethorpe (Caro Ricardo)1331989-09
Pissing in the Wind: The Mineshaft0201977-12
Pumping Roger: A Night at the Nob Hill Theater0211978-03
Prison Blues: Confessions of a Prison-Tour Junkie0211978-03
Rear-View Mirror #1: Home Is the Sailor! Home from the Sea!1261989-03
Rear-View Mirror #2: The Incredible Lightness of Being Leather-Bars and Bikes1271988-04
Rear-View Mirror #3: Leather's Founding Daddies1291989-06
Steve Reeves' Screen Test0191977-12
Remembrance of Sleaze Past, Present, and Future1391990-05
Reviewing Straight Magazines: Some Babes in the Woods0231978-07
Rex Revisited Son of D1978-09
The Robert Mapplethorpe Gallery-Censored Son of D1978-09
Rubberotica: Confessions of a Rubber Freak1181988-07
Russo-Mania: Inside Porn Star Donnie Russo1701993-12
The Janus Society - S&M: The Last Taboo0271979-02
Scottish Games: Men in Kilts0251978-12
Drummer Goes to a Slave Auction at the Arena0221978-05
Solo Sex: A Man's Guide1231988-09
The Artist A Jay: Al Shapiro1071987-08
Tit Torture Blues0301979-06
Turkish Delight: Macho Wrestling Son of D1978-09

drummer

CHECKMATE Magazine

IssueArticle
1997-05 No 19"Drum and Drummer: Memoirs of the Beginning" (pt 1)PDF
1997-09 No 20"Drum and Drummer: Memoirs of the Beginning" (pt 2)PDF
"Drum and Drummer: Memoirs of the Beginning" (parts 1 & 2)
2000-08 No 32"Mapping the Genome of Leather SM (pt 1)PDF
2000-11 No 33"Mapping the Genome of Leather SM (pt 2)PDF
"Mapping the Genome of Leather SM (parts 1 & 2)

drummer

BAY AREA REPORTER (BAR)

Bay Area ReporterInterview byPDF
1989-06-29John KarrPDF
2025-09-22Cornelius WashingtonPDF

drummer

BARTab Magazine

IssueArticle
2010-07PerversatilityPDF
2010-09Mad MenPDF
2010-12Rainbow ChristmasPDF
2011-04Gay by DesignPDF
2011-05Star Barkeep (Toni Tavarossi)PDF
2011-07LeatherneckingPDF
2011-09Leather's Burning ManPDF
2011-10Monster MashPDF
2012-05Bar Queen: Camille O'GradyPDF
2012-06Before the ParadePDF
2012-07Take Me to the RiverPDF

drummer

PHYSIQUE PICTORIAL Magazine

IssueArticle
No 64 Spring 2023Leading Questions about the Legendary Larry Townsend
No 70 Autumn 2024REX Requiem (exerpt from Inventing the Gay Gaze)

drummer

HOMOSURREALISM Magazine

IssueArticle
Vol 3 No 12 2023 JunPeter BerlinPDF
Vol 3 No 3 2021 AugCenceling MapplethorpePDF
24 Bond Street & Holly SolomonPDF
Wakefield PoolePDF
Death and Desire on Venice BeachPDF
Race, Sex, and Gender - National Leather Association Lifetime Achievement Award PDF
Pioneer Homosurrealist: Edward ParentePDF
Sam Steward - Godfather of HomosurrealismPDF
Stonewall 50th AnniversaryPDF

drummer

BEAR Magazine

IssueArticle
No 6 1988DesiderBEARataPDF

drummer

INCHES Magazine

IssueArticle
Vol 1 No 7 1986 JanMantalk: Friction Fiction Dilemma!PDF

drummer

ALPHATRIBE Magazine

IssueArticle
No 5 2017 Jul-AugArchetypes of our ArchetribePDF
No 6 2017 Oct-DecWhat Happened at Folsom 1984, Didn't Stay at FolsomPDF
No 7 2018 Jan-MarJust Men: Mapplethorpe and MePDF
No 8 2018 Apr-JunRemembering the Legendary Larry TownsendPDF
No 9 2018 Jul-SepTerry Legrand, Born to Raise Hell, DiesPDF
No 10 2018 Jul-SepCynthia Slater - Mistress and Myth: A MemoirPDF
No 12 2019 Apr-JenWalking the Leather Carpet: The First IML ContestPDF

drummer

MANHOOD RITUALS Magazine

IssueArticle
No 3 1999The Exploding Cigar BluesPDF

drummer

INTERNATIONAL LEATHERMAN Magazine

IssueArticle
No 12 1997 Mar-AprThe Chris (Bull Stanton) Duffy ScandalPDF

drumme

SUPER MR Magazine

IssueArticle
No 6 2000Confessions of a Jailhouse-Tour Junkie! Part 1 (see Drummer No 21)PDF
No 7 2001Confessions of a Jailhouse-Tour Junkie! Part 2 (see Drummer No 21)PDF
Drummer No 021 Mar 1978: Confessions of a Jailhouse-Tour Junkie!

drumme

SKIN Magazine

IssueArticle
Vol 2 No 6 1981Rexwerk: An Erotic PortfolioPDF
Vol 2 No 6 1981Peter Berlin Today!: A Legend in His Own TimePDF
Vol 2 No 6 1981A. Jay's Comic StrippingPDF

Also explore Jack Fritscher’s articles and essays in the Catholic Press.

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