From The Editor: DNA #302 And A Milestone
Suddenly, 25 years later…
This month, I’m delighted to announce that a major project DNA has been working on has come to fruition. It marks a significant milestone for the magazine: 25 years of publishing.
To celebrate, I have been working with George Savoulas, the curator of Qtopia, the LGBTQIA+ museum in Sydney, and video editor Eva Osting, to create a video installation, which is now exhibiting at Qtopia’s Substation venue at Taylor Square, Darlinghurst.
The installation tells the story of DNA through video footage of our Mardi Gras parade entries, our pool parties, and from behind the scenes at photo shoots. We have a sizeable archive of photography and images from the magazine, and we’ve put it all together in what I believe is a meaningful and entertaining package.
“We push back against forces that seek to demean and censor gay male culture.”
George encouraged us to explore the theme of The Male Taboo, which we began examining in DNA #300. This was a great suggestion because it helped me focus on what DNA’s purpose has been all these years. We have not just tried to entertain and inform, we have been pushing back against forces that seek to demean and censor gay male culture. The Male Taboo refers to the way male bodies that express homosexual desire or which allow themselves to be sexualised are often ridiculed and oppressed.
We see this in traditional mainstream media, we feel it daily when our images are flagged as being “against community standards” by social media, and we experience it when potential advertisers and partners tell us our content is too sexual.
In this issue’s The Male Taboo features, Robert La Bua sums up the history of the portrayal of the gay male body through art, Charlie Pullman looks at the way the HIV epidemic impacted our culture and the way we began presenting our physical selves to the world, and I give some examples of the hypocrisy and double standards in the advertising industry.
Our Qtopia video installation is not just about the body. DNA has always sought to bring the “difficult reads” to light. These are the stories we need to tell and the history we need to understand, no matter how uncomfortable it is to read: the Nazi concentration camps where we were killed, the modern countries that still legislate against us and actively persecute us, and the personal battles we can face with drugs, mental health and dysfunctional relationships.
Still, there is plenty to celebrate. Today, DNA is read in 175 countries in print and digital formats – and banned in over 60. Our readers are not just gay and bisexual men; our readers include transmen, lesbians, and some readers mums!
The Qtopia installation represents not just a milestone for DNA, it’s an achievement for me personally. I launched the magazine 25 years ago and have been editor ever since. That’s over 300 issues I have put together! I started DNA because I believed the media available to gay men at the time was not up to scratch; I thought we deserved something better and that I could deliver that. But I also wanted to create an environment of creativity, discovery and fun that I’d feel happy to work in: I made my own job! Twenty-five years on, that feels like a luxury, and I’m incredibly grateful to be here still.
And the reason for that is you, dear reader. Without those of you who click on our posts, download or digital editions, subscribe to our print editions, or follow us on social media, well… thank you for your part in DNA’s 25-year history.
I realise the video installation is not accessible to most readers; it is only in Sydney and is not available online for now. But it does run for 12 months, so if you are coming to Sydney before the end of the year, do think about checking it out. I’ll meet you there for a coffee!
Find out more about the exhibition at Qtopia Sydney.
In DNA #302, the stunning Stevan Miladinovic, shot by Serge Lee, is on the cover and I’ve found some beautiful lines of poetry by Walt Whitman to accompany his story. We are also loving that Holden Sheppard’s Invisible Boys has been adapted into a streaming series (on Stan), the rise of the Dad Bod, and that Puerto Vallarta is still the gayest hotspot on the planet, according to Marc Andrews. It’s a packed issue.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for helping us make it to 25! And, as always, your feedback is very welcome.
Andrew Creagh, Founding Editor
Print and Digital versions are out now! Get DNA #302 – The Male Taboo Issue here.
