Pulp Fiction That's Totally Gay

Anyone familiar with the trashy dimestore pulp novels of the 50s & 60s might also know that there was a similar genre at the time aimed at (or for??) gays and lesbians. This subgenre of sleaze was arguably even trashier and seedier than its heterosexual counterparts. Instead of naughty nurses sneaking in shadows with horny detectives, dirty male hustlers and gangs of pink predators roamed the night streets spreading their perversity across the land.



Although on the surface the subject matter is condescending and exploitative of gays, there is a campy wink, a knowing nod, a sense of adventure, that seems to suggest that this was all in fun. This naive representation of the gay "lifestyle" was nonetheless surprising simply for the existence of a discussion of anything gay at all in this straightlaced period of American history. Pre-Stonewall, pre-gay rights movement, these off-the-wall subversive images stood alone in their own little world.

Ryan Richardson of GayontheRange.com states, "Like most every other 1960's sleaze publication, gay paperback covers portrayed a fantasy world full of clichés and misguidedness and absurdities." Along with the fun and the camp, he acknowledges, "There are, of course, plenty of pathological and unfunny treatments mixed in as well." In essence, we can look upon these artifacts as time caspule-type benchmarks of how far we've come in cultural representation of gays and lesbians, and in some respects - because we still see some of these stereotypes even today - how far we have left to go.

Below are more of my favorites: