FAQs
Do you ship to my country?
We ship everywhere! No seriously, everywhere. Yes, even subscriptions.
How often does Filament come out?
Quarterly - 1 March, June, September and December every year.
Where can I buy Filament from?
This is literally our most frequently asked question, and we are at a loss as to just how we can make it more obvious: here.
Is it cheaper to buy Filament online or from a stockist?
The price you pay, including postage/shipping, would be approximately the same. Although exchange rates do move around so you might find that one of them is cheaper. Subscriptions are of course, always the cheapest way.
I think Filament should be stocked in my favourite shop!
That's great! Tell them that! Shops decide what they sell, not publishers, so showing shops your demand for Filament often what leads to us getting stocked. Simply visit the shop or email them and tell them that you'd like to buy Filament there.
When will you despatch my order?
We usually despatch orders every second day, every day if busy, every third day if quiet. If you want yours in a hurry, it never hurts to say so in the 'message to seller' box as you check out; it might just stimulate a special trip to the post box.
Where is Filament based?
Filament is published in London, involving contributors all over the world. We work hard to ensure our content is
internationally relevant, but you will have to put up with us spelling like the English.
Why is the magazine called Filament?
A filament is:
- the bit of a light bulb that lights up.
- the part of a flower that holds the male reproductive stuff.
- the largest structure in the known universe.
What does 'the thinking woman's crumpet' mean?
A crumpet is a toasted bread snack popular in the UK and other commonwealth countries. 'Crumpet' is also a quaint colloquialism for 'an attractive person'. British humourist Frank Muir coined the phrase 'the thinking man's crumpet' to refer to an intelligent and attractive woman. Similarly 'the thinking woman's crumpet' describes an attractive and intelligent man. By putting it on our magazine, we're saying that inside you'll find intelligence and attractive men, all intended for women. The humour is a little dead now, but at least you know.
Why does the world need a magazine like Filament?
Women are 10 times more likely than men to undergo cosmetic surgery and 43 times more likely than men to suffer an eating disorder. Is this because women are ‘naturally’ life-threateningly obsessed with their appearance, or is this
in some way influenced by women’s media? Many men’s magazines don’t discuss
men’s appearance, but nearly all women’s magazines discuss women’s
appearance.
We thought, hey, wouldn't it be cool if there was a women's magazine that was all about smart stuff instead of what we look like, with gorgeous men in states of undress in it, instead of women. And it might just do some good in the world too.
Women aren't visual. Everyone knows that.
This is a popular adage that seems to have arisen from early, unsophisticated research. Once upon a time, researchers looking at these kinds of questions would ask women and men to look at erotic images and say whether they were turned on. Men generally answered yes, and the women answered no. Such methods are highly subject to the participants giving socially desirable answers. Recent research has used more advanced technology to circumvent the problem of subjects potentially giving socially desirable answers, and found that women and men are equally aroused by erotic images. Here is one such study.
Other magazines have shown men in various states of undress, and they've failed.
Fewer than ten such magazines have ever existed, at least in English-speaking countries. One of these magazines lasted for 25 years, and four lasted more than five years. If you selected ten men's erotica/porn magazines from history at random, you'd probably find a similar success rate.
But surely you must have lots of gay readers?
About 8.5% of our readers are men. Or course we welcome male readers, gay, straight or other, but we design our editorial content and photography specifically for women. We think that if you try to please everyone you end up pleasing no one.
I didn't enjoy _________ magazine. How is Filament different?
There is a lot of good information out there about how some of these magazines ultimately lost their audience, or just didn't quite 'work'. There have been whole books written on the subject. We used these resources in developing Filament, addressing the issues that the readers of these magazines weren't so keen on.
- We cover all sorts of topics - Filament is not purely a sex or erotic magazine.
- We don’t focus on things to do with women's appearance, like fashion and diets.
- Our photospreads are designed for women. We don't use photography
designed for the gay market.
- We use both published academic research on
women’s preference and our online research community to find out what most women find erotic, and design our photoshoots based on that.
This makes Filament unique. And awesome.
How can you possibly use research to make porn?! I mean, it's so clinical!
You probably won't like our mag. It's more for women who embrace new ways of thinking and think that using your brain is hot.
So you're saying that women and gay men don't like the same types of men and photography?
No, we're saying that getting photography from the gay market and repackaging it in a women's magazine is a strange way to try and cater to women. Sadly, that's how most similar magazines have done things. No one would assume that erotica designed for and by lesbians would be the best thing to turn on straight men, so it seems strange to think that women are just gay men in skirts when it comes to erotic image. We don't know whether there's a difference, we're simply starting with women in finding out what works for women.
Is Filament a feminist magazine?
There are several great feminist magazines out there, such as Bitch, Bust and Subtext. Meanwhile, some mainstream women's media is becoming increasingly anti-feminist. We felt there was a need for a middle ground - a platform where women who don't identify as feminists, as well as those who do, can exchange ideas.
Is Filament R18?
We haven't been classified R18 by any censorship authority, but let’s be clear: Filament contains some explicit content, and it's intended for adults. If you’re under 18 and found a copy shoved in a hedge,
shove it back. We also strongly suggest you be on another website, such as
this one.
Why print? It’s all about the electronic formats these days.
Whether print or electronic is the best depends on the nature of your content and audience. We put a lot of work into identifying which would work best for exactly what we are trying to achieve. Other publishers make other choices, and that's because their content and audience differs from ours: not because either print or electronic is always best.
Surely popularising erotic images of men legitimises degrading images of women?
‘Erotic’ and ‘degrading’ are polar opposites as far as we’re concerned. It’s natural to be attracted to viewing the human
form erotically, and there is nothing inherently degrading about the subject being less clothed or more aroused. In conducting
our research we’ve been heartened by the kinds of things women are asking to see, namely more erotic imagery that depicts
the subject as a person, not a sex object. We’re proud of catering to such twisted fancies.
So you're saying straight men and straight women like opposite sorts of erotic photography?
Actually, some people have commented that our photography is a bit like what you might find in 1970s or 1980s Playboy, but featuring men rather than women.
By not writing about celebrity gossip, fashion or diets, are you saying that women shouldn’t be interested in those things?
Many people are interested in celebrities and personal appearance to some extent, but
by looking at women’s magazine on the whole,
you’d think celebrities and personal appearance are the only things women are interested in. We want to offer women the option to read
a women’s magazine that’s about other stuff.
Is Filament explicit?
We have explicit moments, but we put explicit images to the same test as any other image:
it has to be well composed, imaginative and generally representative
of The Female Gaze.
There is no evidence to suggest women prefer ‘subtle’ images to explicit ones, but nobody likes explicitness
for its own sake. So if you want to see a hard cock on every page, Filament is probably not the magazine you want.
Same applies if seeing one would make you faint.
Is Filament porn?
We're yet to hear a comprehensive argument for what comprises 'porn', 'erotica' or 'art', so we're pretty relaxed about what you call us.
Will you be publishing spreads of women in future?
We already publish spreads that include women with men - couple shots and the like - but it's very unlikely that we'll be featuring erotic pictorials of solo women in future. This is not because we don't realise that women sometimes find looking at other women erotic, but because many of our readers simply want a break from the many erotic images of women that they see everywhere, all the time. If you're looking for erotic images of men and women in the same place, try our friends Shot with Desire or Catnip magazine.
Meh. I don't want intelligent articles. I just want to read about sex.
All power to you! Try Scarlet magazine or Erotic Review.
I'm only interested in man-on-man for women. Do you do much of that?
We do some man-on-man for women. If that's your sole passion, we recommend Syzygy magazine.
Why are some of your writers men?
Good writing is good writing – the gender of the writer is irrelevant.
Why are some of your photographers men?
Making erotic images that work well for a broad range of women isn't as simple as being a woman. It's often easier for women, but we also work with male photographers who we think do a mighty fine job.
How can I contribute to Filament?
We're always looking for new contributors. Please check out the guidelines that apply to your talent below:
We are also always in need of graphic designers, illustrators, web developers,
and make-up artists -
contact us.
I love your site! Who did your __________?
Susan Pugsley designed, Jamie Pullar dot netted,
ScramWorks gave special technical advice and Suraya Sidhu Singh wrote.
Roman Skyva, Crystal Matthews, Britt Marie Trensmar, David Davis, Migle Backovaite and Jacqueline Dunkley-Insight supplied left panel photographs.
Digital marketing strategy by Interactive Mix Ltd.