sex, gore, naked flesh, boy toys -- all good stuff! (FHM)

Member Name: Buzby

Product:	FHM
Date:	08/07/01 (3420 review reads)
Rating:

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Disadvantages: see op

I am not a great reader of magazines, I much prefer a good book, but occasionally I do read FHM.

Let me start by saying that I enjoy male magazines much more than female magazines.
Male magazines get on with the job in hand – entertaining their reader.
Female magazines are a strange mixture of boosting your confidence and self-esteem with ‘girl power’ and articles on how it doesn’t matter if you are fat/ugly/have one labia bigger that the other/have big boobs/no boobs etc etc, then fill up the spaces between the articles with pictures of scantily clad, perfect bodies, fashion for size 6 people and articles on how to lose weight/tone up. - (If you weren’t paranoid to start with, you will be when you’ve read one.

For review purposes I am using the current issue of FHM (August 2001) a monthly magazine priced at £3.

Nice colourful cover, with a picture of Sarah Michelle Gellar (that’s Buffy the vampire slayer to you) wielding a gold handled horse riding whip!?!?

There are 276 pages of FHM a whopping 105 of which are adverts!!
The magazine doesn’t actually begin until page 25, after you have gone through adverts, contents and editorial credits etc.

The magazine finally begins with ‘LETTERS TO THE EDITOR’

REPORTER: which includes (among other things);
Roswell High’s Majandra Delfino posing semi-nude, boxing orang-utans and a gruesome picture of a fireman with his hand blown of!

REVIEWS: a run of the mill affair, reviewing film, music, books and including a Q&A feature with Sisqu.

Next comes;
AMAZING TRUE TALES
BAR ROOM JOKES
and ‘LABORATORY OF LOVE’ which sees Grub Smith joining a wedded couple for a threesome. (If you don’t know what a spit roast is, now’s your chance to find out!)

The strangest part of the magazine is next, an article by a Lesbian revealing (for those
that want to know) exactly what it is that Lesbians do! The reason I say it is strange is because it states quite categorically that;
a) ALL lesbians use dildos
b) ALL lesbians are turned, on by menstrual blood
c) ALL lesbians are into anal
For anyone that wasn’t aware, lesbians are people like everyone else, and like other people, are ALL different. There probably are lesbians for whom all of the above is true, there are also others for whom some of it is true, there are still more for whom NONE of it is true.
A strangely misleading article!

14 WAYS TO WIN AN ARGUMENT: is one of the more serous articles in the magazine, and has some good points.

WORLD OF WONDER: covers such joys as human castration.

EXPERT DADS: FHM’s version of agony aunts.

PC KNOW HOW: because you boys do like your toys.

FHM WORK SURVEY: exactly what it says, a survey about your work, have you slept with your boss etc, that kind of thing.

INTERVIEW: with Phil Oakley from Human League

INTERVIEW AND SCANTILY CLAD PICTURES: of Jordan Ladd, daughter of Charlie’s Angel’s Cheryl Ladd.

KING OF PAIN: interview and photos of Johnny Knox, star of MTV’s Jackass

DANGER SEX: the crash test dummies have a break from testing cars to test out some of the stranger things enjoyed by consenting adults. The how & why, risks involved and softer alternatives of such joys as; electrocution, asphyxiation, cutting and binding.

WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER: when three experienced English climbers attempted to climb America’s highest peak (Mount Mckinley), there was disaster, amputated limbs and frostbite. Includes some truly horrific photos of severe frostbite.

STUNTS: stories and pictures of stunts going wrong.

MISS NET UK: competition to find Britain’s most beautiful undiscovered model – obviously that’s me, but I won’t enter, it simpl
y wouldn’t be fair on the rest of you!

BACKYARD PARADISE: a surprisingly informative and useful article on transforming your garden.

INTERVIEW: with Jonny Wilkinson

INTERVIEW AND PICTURES: of this months cover star, Sarah Michelle-Gellar wearing more clothes than any other female in this magazine.

BON VOYAGE: 12 pages of travel info and tips, including how to spot and deal with foreign insults.

Q & A: with a death row defence lawyer.

FASHION: 27 pages of mostly overpriced fashion for the discerning male.

INTERIORS: focusing on bathrooms and toilets.

HARDWARE: pictures and write ups of various motorbikes and DVD players.

HOSPITAL: including such delightful problems as ‘Her baps are crap’ ‘I scoffed face cream’ and ‘He diddles me with tomato sauce’ (I kid you not!)

Last but not least comes;
TRUE STORIES: readers share their funniest / most embarrassing moments.

Despite the copious amount of adverts, I think FHM is pretty good value for money. If you are squeamish, this magazine probably isn’t for you. There are lots of gory stories and pictures as FHM seems to delight in other peoples misfortune, but I find these features to be fairly balanced with the useful ones, such as ‘Backyard Paradise’ ‘Bon Voyage’ and ‘Interiors.’

If you are offended by women showing more than a passing glimpse of fresh (and some are downright naked would you believe) then choose another magazine, while not exactly soft porn, FHM certainly aims to titillate.

I would certainly prefer to browse through a copy of FHM rather than the hundreds of dreadful women’s magazines, it is funnier, more interesting, and doesn’t send all its time trying to reassure a hopelessly insecure audience.

Four stars for this mag - it loses one for the unbelievable amount of adverts!

Summary: